Bettman Story...can anyone confirm if it's true?

Bear of Bad News

Your Third or Fourth Favorite HFBoards Admin
Sep 27, 2005
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nyrmessier011 said:
I'm laughing my face off at how all of you are so worked up by this.

That's a shame that you lost your face over this. Guess you'll learn not to believe obviously-stupid stories in the future.
 

Epsilon

#basta
Oct 26, 2002
48,464
369
South Cackalacky
Even if this story was true, why would any of you care? I don't see what the big deal about using a puck as a paperweight is supposed to be. In fact I'd say it's a pretty good use for it. Is Bettman supposed to have put it on a pillow under a glass case or something?
 

Timmy

Registered User
Feb 2, 2005
10,691
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nyrmessier011 said:
Now, I was told that when he got the puck, he used it as a paperweight for a week until his secretary told him it was a hockey puck. :speechles

I for one... believe it.

Is this the same secretary that keeps putting me on hold until my call is dropped?

If so, I wouldn't believe a word of what she says, that b****. :madfire:
 

Gnashville

HFBoards Hall of Famer
Jan 7, 2003
13,683
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Crossville
What have learned so far class!!!

Bettman hates Canada because he relocated The ultra successful Winnipeg Jets (they were making like $1,000,000,000,000 dollars a year selling out a 12,000 seat arena) ditto the Quebec Nordiques.
Bettman knows nothing about hockey because he took away the fights!!!!!
He expanded into horrible markets like Minnesota, and Ottawa (if you blame him for Tampa)
 
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Jazz

Registered User
nyrmessier011 said:
A friend of mine from Chicago said that when Bettman took office he was sent an honorary puck from someone else in the league office. Now, I was told that when he got the puck, he used it as a paperweight for a week until his secretary told him it was a hockey puck. :speechles

I for one... believe it.

Can anyone confirm that they also heard this story?
His kids were playing youth hockey before he joined the NHL, so I'm pretty sure he knew what a puck was.....

I'm actually surprised this thread was allowed to continue from the orginal post...
 
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Jazz

Registered User
WEEB said:
This is so funny, all you people defending Bettman.
What's funny, that we use facts in our arguements?

WEEB said:
Salaries escalated like crazy during the old CBA, which was signed by Bettman, by the way. He relocated teams out of Winnipeg, Hartford and Quebec City, wanting to get a big US TV contract by having more teams throughout the USA, which he never got by the way.
Read above - salaries started escalating when salary disclosure was introduced in 1990. How was he respsonsible for the relocation of those franchises when no local owner stepped up to buy the teams in question? Also remember that during this time, he was only a representative of the owners, and the plan to get a big US TV contract was not solely his idea. Besides, if you see all the other sports getting multi-million dollar TV deals, would you suggest that the people running hockey should sit on their asses and not try to get in on it?

WEEB said:
I know that you are all drinking the kool aid and listening to the mediatypes that are PAID to talk about how great the new myNHL is, but seriously, if you want good hockey look back at the 80s and early 90s. Would it be acceptable if, to increase scoring in baseball, the bases were moved from 90 feet to 80? Of course not, so why is it okay to add all kinds of gimmicks to the game of hockey?! Because some folks in the US don't like it? So what?! The only reason it wasn't economically viable anymore was because of this overexpansion which led to extra competition for players and thus higher salaries (good ole supply and demand), plus it diluted the level of play and made people turn it off.
So, the competition committee, made up of players and GMs, came up with the new rule changes, and even these can be blammed on Bettman.....What's next: "Oh look, it's raining....blame Bettman!"

WEEB said:
Fact is, the franchises were more profitable before Bettman entered the picture.
Yes, before Salary disclosure.
 

AdmiralPred

Registered User
Jun 9, 2005
1,923
0
Spongebob said:
Timmy said:
Is this the same secretary that keeps putting me on hold until my call is dropped?

If so, I wouldn't believe a word of what she says, that b****.
Isn't she the same one that uncovered the "record attendance sham"?
I remember following that thread. What a blast from the recent past. HA!
 

Ted Hoffman

The other Rick Zombo
Dec 15, 2002
28,855
8,110
I do recall hearing a story Derrick Goold (then beat writer for the St. Louis Blues) told about Bettman at the 2004 All-Star Game, where he [Bettman] was talking about a "relaunch" of the NHL and various things that were going to take place when it happened. Mind you, this is 7-8 months before the lockout actually started, but apparently Bettman started talking about how the "new NHL" would take shape, and Goold and several other reporters looked at each other wondering why Bettman was talking about a "relaunch" of the league unless the owners had already made the decision to hang together and force the union to accept whatever offer the owners put on the table.

At that point, Goold said he figured there would be at least 1 year of hockey lost - if not 2 - because it was clear any negotiations made by the owners would be on their terms, not the union's.
 

GSC2k2*

Guest
jflory81 said:
Major League Baseball changed the height of the pitching mound in 1969 to increase scoring
MLB has actually changed the hieight of the mound on more than one occasion. But that is kind of beside the point, much like the muddleheaded post to which you were responding.
 

GSC2k2*

Guest
Up to 62 posts so far, and yet not one of the Mensa candidates who originally set off this drivel-laden thread can respond to the question of "what is a hockey man".

Weeb, your posts amply demonstrate your utter lack of knowledge of the facts and your utter lack of insight on what is going on in the sport.

Perhaps when you embark upon year 2 of your hockey fandom, you will have something worthwhile to contribute.

On the other hand, Messier, you should know better. You have no excuse.
 

GSC2k2*

Guest
nyrmessier011 said:
ill clap for THAT. Just because he has somewhat fixed his mistakes by changing some things around doesn't mean that he is an ok commissioner now. Just because he says attendance is up, but doesnt point out the number of free tickets or childish ticket giveaways teams have concocted, doesn't mean we can all say "wow, attendance is up, it must be because of the great new rule changes, wow, thanks Gary." It seems like people just buy into rhetoric so much and it makes me nautious.
And your spelling makes me nauseous.
 

GSC2k2*

Guest
nyrmessier011 said:
ill clap for THAT. Just because he has somewhat fixed his mistakes by changing some things around doesn't mean that he is an ok commissioner now. Just because he says attendance is up, but doesnt point out the number of free tickets or childish ticket giveaways teams have concocted, doesn't mean we can all say "wow, attendance is up, it must be because of the great new rule changes, wow, thanks Gary." It seems like people just buy into rhetoric so much and it makes me nautious.

And yet another string of unsupported (and unsupportable) positions and ridiculous statements.

"Childish" ticket giveaways? What in God's name are you talking about? Do you even pay attention to what you are typing? Talk about your nonsequiters ... :confused:

Putting aside your confusing thought process, you would naturally assume that tickets have never been given away - EVER - before this year, assuming that it has even happened to any great extent (which I do not believe it has). :help:

Your one sensible statement above is "It seems like people just buy into rhetoric so much". Admittedly, however, it is not quite how you seemed to intend it. Since apparently I have to explain the point to you very clearly, let me clarify for you: THAT WAS MY POINT. Sometime shortly after Bettman was appointed as commissioner, a few morons decided that, because Bettman is a 5 foot 5 New York lawyer, and he worked about 3 years for the NBA, he could not possibly be a "hockey man". He was a "basketball guy". Unfortunately, the nitwits who would use that phrase don't have enough brainpower to find their a** with both hands and a flashlight. They don't even know what the hell they are talking about when they use that hoary old phrase, let alone determine whether Bettman is in fact a "hockey man" (assuming that even means jacks**t - which it doesn't).

In other words, with respect to Bettman's supposed lack of "hockey man"-ness, stop continuing to "buy into the rhetoric". Do you follow me now?

According to morons who STILL use that phrase, it is still 1994 and Bettman is the new kid on the block. Pull your head out of your rear, dude. Bettman has been on the job for a dozen years. Every time he speaks, he demonstrates substantial hockey knowledge. One hears more hockey knowledge from any random sentence that Bettman has uttered in the past few years than you have demonstrated through the sum total of your postings here.
 

I am Jack's Fish

Guest
gscarpenter2002 said:
Sometime shortly after Bettman was appointed as commissioner, a few morons decided that, because Bettman is a 5 foot 5 New York lawyer, and he worked about 3 years for the NBA, he could not possibly be a "hockey man". He was a "basketball guy".

Not to mention at least three articles printed in Canada during the first lockout that made comments or alluded to Bettman's religion as being a possible negative...

Forgot the columnist, but he even suggested that at one point, nothing was going to happen because it was a particular holy day...
 

rwilson99

Registered User
dannoabram said:
GARY BETTMAN IS THE WORST THING TO HAPPEN TO THE NHL since they lost stars to the wha. i despise bettman :teach:

I hate BETTMAN too!!!!!

I hate 7-6 overtime hockey games.

I hate 2 goals scored in the last 20 seconds of regulation

I hate the fact that teams in Edmonton, Carolina, Buffalo, Calgary and Ottawa have a chance to compete.

I hate record fan attendance

I hate 6-8 hours of hockey coverage on OLN every night

I hate commercials that feature big hits like Campbell on Umberger.

I'm going to go throw a temper tantrum.

:jump: :madfire: :jump:
 

KrisKing*

Guest
So let me get this straight. The main arguments that Gary Bettman is a great commissioner are as follows:

-Anyone who disagrees knows nothing about facts, and just made up everything they said, whereas anything a bettman supporter says is the gospel truth no matter what.

-Anyone who thinks bettman has done a bad job has only followed hockey for a short time and knows nothing about hockey in general. Nevermind the fact that the NHL is far less popular now then it was before bettman took over. Of course the experts on nhl history who have been following hockey forever can only remember how lousy the nhl was before the lockout (happened under bettman's rule) and that the nhl survived a year long work stoppage and improved attendance slightly.

-Gary Bettman IS a "hockey man" even though he has no experience in hockey before he got the NHL job, and obviously had a very weak grasp of the game, although admittedly it has gotten better. (of course, it should be impossible not to learn a few things on the job, he is the commissioner of the NHL)

-And besides that, there is no need for the leader of the National HOCKEY League to know anything about hockey. He is only there to market the game, and make money off the game. Why would he need to know anything about the game? Let alone the fact that he pushes his own rule changes to the owners all the time.

-And when all else fails, insult a bettman bashers spelling.
 

AdmiralPred

Registered User
Jun 9, 2005
1,923
0
richardsteele said:
So let me get this straight. The main arguments that Gary Bettman is a great commissioner are as follows:

-Anyone who disagrees knows nothing about facts, and just made up everything they said, whereas anything a bettman supporter says is the gospel truth no matter what.

-Anyone who thinks bettman has done a bad job has only followed hockey for a short time and knows nothing about hockey in general. Nevermind the fact that the NHL is far less popular now then it was before bettman took over. Of course the experts on nhl history who have been following hockey forever can only remember how lousy the nhl was before the lockout (happened under bettman's rule) and that the nhl survived a year long work stoppage and improved attendance slightly.

-Gary Bettman IS a "hockey man" even though he has no experience in hockey before he got the NHL job, and obviously had a very weak grasp of the game, although admittedly it has gotten better. (of course, it should be impossible not to learn a few things on the job, he is the commissioner of the NHL)

-And besides that, there is no need for the leader of the National HOCKEY League to know anything about hockey. He is only there to market the game, and make money off the game. Why would he need to know anything about the game? Let alone the fact that he pushes his own rule changes to the owners all the time.

-And when all else fails, insult a bettman bashers spelling.
And the wheel goes round and round...
 

don

Registered User
Aug 31, 2002
3,196
69
Nashua, NH
AdmiralPred said:
And the wheel goes round and round...

Naw, it fell off a long time ago...........and the poor horse died from still trying to pull the wagon. Let's keep beating him. :shakehead
 

GSC2k2*

Guest
I am Jack's Fish said:
Not to mention at least three articles printed in Canada during the first lockout that made comments or alluded to Bettman's religion as being a possible negative...

Forgot the columnist, but he even suggested that at one point, nothing was going to happen because it was a particular holy day...
Actually, I was going to include religion in my description of Bettman, but I decided to stay away from that. I am sure a few loonies are influenced by a tinge of anti-semitism, but only a very few, and i would have no evidence of that from the anti-Bettmanites who post here. I personally think it is more of the anti-nerdy, short New Yawk lawyer thing that is going on.

C'mon. How could that little squirt be a "hockey guy"?

And STILL waiting to hear what THAT is ...
 

I am Jack's Fish

Guest
My personal interpretation of what everyone thinks is a "hockey guy"?

-Someone who was born into the sport via family.

-Someone who was in the "hockey world" for a long time, usually at least by the time they were 10. Hockey world can be even some kid whose father was a coach, or ran a local rink, or something similiar

-Someone who was raised in a cold environment city. Canada, Massachussets, or Minnesota only. Hockey people don't come from the South, despite some cities having more rinks or leagues than northern cities.

-Someone who has played hockey since a young age. Doesnt matter the skill level, but you have had to at least played on a serious team.

-Someone who can put up with the lovable idiocy that we hockey fans possess.

-Someone who was awarded the title arbitrarily through an arcane process and shadowy underworld of unknown citizenry.

-No lawyers.
 

I am Jack's Fish

Guest
gscarpenter2002 said:
I am sure a few loonies are influenced by a tinge of anti-semitism, but only a very few, and i would have no evidence of that from the anti-Bettmanites who post here. I personally think it is more of the anti-nerdy, short New Yawk lawyer thing that is going on.

There was and is some tinges of anti-semitism concerning Bettman, although it has been a long time since it actually emerged.

More often than not, that anti-semitism emerges in the shadowy disguise as "New York Lawyer", a common refrain from one notable Canadian member of the media.

But I guess the hockey world needs a commissioner who is 10 feet tall, can shoot a puck 200 miles an hour, makes Zdeno Chara cry, and has won the Stanley Cup in a no-holds barred fighting match with Dave "The Hammer" Schultz and Link Gaetz...
 

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