He Just Doesn't Get It...

In his latest attempt to illustrate his ignorance, Larry Brooks calls attention to a problem that nobody else seems to see.

You see folks; Ol' Lar here doesn't understand the difference between somebody who owns a team and somebody who owns a venue. Now, here in Washington, D.C. some of the teams own the venue that they play in (Redskins and the Bullets) while others play in a venue owed by somebody else (Caps, Nats, Mistakes, and United). As a matter of fact, most teams play in a venue owned by somebody else. The Bullets play a little game of being a different division of their owner's company but for all intents and purposes, they own the Phone Booth. The Caps and Mistakes have a small part of it, but they do not have a controlling interest.

Yet, Ol' Lar seems to think that if Team A owns the building that Team B plays in, that Team A has control over Team B. Clearly Ol' Lar has no idea of the difference between owning a building and owning a team. Clearly Ol' Lar didn't hear about the offer to get the Penguin Scum out of Pittsburgh. Yeah, under that proposed deal, the L.A. Kings are going to have the Penguin Scum over a barrel... That K.C. franchise is doomed from the start... "Dishonest Abe" Polin and his lackeys are going to insist that the Caps trade A.O. because they own the building he plays in and they don't like him...

Good thing Dan Snyder owns FedEx Field by himself and doesn't have to take orders from a landlord...

But what Ol' Lar seems to have forgotten in his quixotic search for outrage against Gary Bettman is that the NHL recently allowed the owner of the Penguin Scum to suit up and play for his team. No other Major Professional Sports League has done that. Here's a guy in the days leading up to the lockout that was firmly in both the player's union and owner's camps. Where was Ol' Lar and his crying about "conflict of interest" then? Where was the Union Mouthpiece's outrage over this owner paying himself a cut rate and driving down the salaries of other NHL players?

If anything, we know that the NHL doesn't care as much about the ownership of its franchises as most major professional sports leagues do. There have been under funded ownership groups (some criminally so) in Bettman's tenure but my personal favorite was the owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning that Gary Bettman approved but never met, ever. Even after this guy bought and started running the team, Bettman never met the guy. Of course, he's since sold the Ning, but to this day, Bettman has never met the guy. So even though this is par for the course, it comes down to Ol' Lar to shine a light on this "conflict of interest."

Great catch there pal. I'm sure everybody else is ignoring it because they don't want to have to give you credit for doing their jobs for them...

BTW did anybody else notice this little gem at the end of his article?

Rangers seeking to lure Devils to Garden if arena in Newark does not open on time.

Why!!! Where's the outrage??? Where's Bettman??? Where's the propriety???

Freakin' putz...