The Hockey News: Who Cares About Canada?

Ken Campbell of the Hockey News posted a diatribe criticizing Montreal Canadiens president Pierre Boivin when he, as Campbell put it, “carped” about the sagging Canadian dollar.

“…it was pretty pathetic” wrote Campbell.

Boivin, in a speech to Montreal's Board of Trade last week, was quoted as saying, “We better not return to the 78-cent dollar because we'll be in the same position we were before the lockout…If we calculate against an 80-cent dollar, we're not any further ahead than we were before the lockout."

In his disrespectful, journalistic spit at the state of Canadian NHL teams, Campbell at least correctly points out that the recent NHL/NHLPA collective-bargaining agreement, “…that was supposed to solve all the financial woes and create a competitive and financial utopia for all 30 teams was struck in July 2005…” when the average value of the Canadian dollar was 81.2 cents against the U.S. buck.

 However, he apparently fails to understand that the lock-out was staged for one reason and one reason alone…to break the player’s union. Which it did. The owners, both US and Canadian, immediately went back to inflating player salaries with genius deals like the Scott Gomez contract.

In his article, (which can be viewed here: http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?page=campbell081125), Campbell then goes on to snivel about the what he evidently thinks is the unfair advantage of living in a country where economic Darwinism sometimes takes a back seat to social responsibility.

He jealously points a finger at the fact that the Canadian government came close to a bailout package for all six Canadian teams (Though the actual execution of this highly theoretical proposal was far from a forgone conclusion).  

Unable to credit the importance of Canada, and Canadian fans to the sport of hockey, he mocks the six Canadian franchises saying that, “…many people have been led to believe (Canadian-based NHL teams) are the sole driving force behind any of the league's financial success since the lockout.

Then he whines, “Funny how these Canadian teams didn't mind greasing their palms with the American dollars that came with the Canadian Assistance Plan, one that forced big-market U.S. teams to prop up those north of the 49th parallel.” 

“Forget also that Canadian teams get tax breaks all the time in the form of corporations that purchase tickets and write them off as a business expense,” he belly aches, “I know of one small businessman who buys a pair of Leafs season tickets every year and claims them as a business expense. He then sells off the majority of the seats for much higher than face value and makes a killing on them…What a country.”

Anytime someone starts a sentence with, “I know this guy…” you better grab the salt. For instance, I know this American salesman who takes his clients out on $5,000 strip-joint junkets and then writes it off as a business lunch.

The old “data-point-of-one-makes-a-trend” faulty logic comes flying form this guy’s sanctimonious head with little acknowledgement of the horrendous tax breaks given to the US corporate elite who pay sickening sums to CEOs of failing companies and then get bailed out by the US government, or the large number of corporate suites in various NFL, NBA and NHL venues that get written of as a business expense because they are “entertaining clients”.

And that’s not to mention the confusing episodes where rich, fat cats like Jerry Jones and Tom Hicks pawn off the lion’s share of the cost of  new stadiums to Arlington taxpayers, who would usually rather die than suffer a new tariff.

“So,” he closes, “excuse us if we don't shed too many tears for the downtrodden Canadian franchises. And please, spare us if we ask the Mr. Boivins of the NHL to stop their blubbering.”

Sure…you wouldn't want to feel too sorry for Canadian franchises would you, Mr Campbell? Probably because you are too busy making excuses for pathetic American franchises that can barely hold themselves together. Nashville gets five mulligans as it circles the drain of financial failure, while Carolina, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Buffalo, and Columbus struggle weakly to put butts in the seats.

The NHL will go the extra mile to protect poorly chosen American franchises and simply say "tough darts" to the Canadian ones then move them to the US (see Winnipeg & Quebec).

And every time a us team struggles or the TV ratings go down, you’ll hear Americans shrugging their apathetic shoulders and saying “Ahh, nobody cares about hockey anyway –it’s the fourth of four pro sports.” Then they take another useless swing at tricking up the rules of the game…to no effect.

Of course! To hell with the Canadian Teams - screw -em! All that matters is the USA.

Lord help any country that considers its own well-being over that of the Blessed US of A.

Talk about blubbering—It's too bad that it was the financial shenanigans of US mega corporations that have run the economy into the john. And let's not forget it was mostly American teams and an American biased Commissioner that orchestrated the lock-out and new CBA. But that doesn't count, does it?  Screw Canada!

Let's put a hockey team in Kansas City… or better yet Oklahoma, a place where most people there wouldn’t know what a puck was, even if it hit them right in the pie hole.

Another fantastic plan would be to send all the Canadian players home - that way they could stop "greasing their palms with American money" and get jobs as lumberjacks. With the strength of the Euro, the NHL's baby steps across the Atlantic is another genius idea. However, this may give Mr. Campbell something more to cry about. And we wouldn't want that... would we?