Russ Conway Article -- How Dare You

[CantHaveTkachev]

Clearly you don't know who Russ Conway is, so go ahead and hate the guy out of spite because, although critical of both Bettman and Goodenow, he seems to have a PA leaning. He was well-respected long before this lockout and will continue to be so after it's over.

Btw, he never said it solved the NHL's problems, he says it got the salaries to where the league wanted them.

I asked "tell me why" because I don't know who he is and why he's so respectable and I wanna know.

so the salaries go down after the rollback....you think the owners are smart enough to keep them there? of course not! Once they realized all that money they saved, they're gonna spend it.

 

[kerrly]

I can guarantee Jaded-Fan is much more of a hack than Russ Conway, a well respected investigative journalist. This guy knows more about hockey and the current situation than most other people could ever dream of. I don't care if you agree with someone, but to dismiss the guy's credibility because he doesn't share the exact same view as you is atrocious. Do some research on the guy. He knows his stuff. At least he has the guts to question King Bettman's actions and motives.

It is a totally non-objective article and he is criticizing one point of view rather than both. He tried to make it seem objective by claiming both BG and GB were egotisitcal and were supposed to be the caretakers of the game. But, that was quickly abandoned, and the side he stands on became clear as day. It was a rant, rather than a thoughful analysis of the true situation at hand.

You call this guy the best writer because you agree with his narrow-minded point of view. From my point of view, half the people on this site are just as credible as half the hockey writers out there. Opinion articles do not add to credibility, unfortunately, bias usually puts the blinders on to this fact.

 

[s7ark]

Btw, he never said it solved the NHL's problems, he says it got the salaries to where the league wanted them.

And that is the short sighted aspect. Getting salaries to where they need to be now is only step one. Keeping the salaries in check is the next one and the PA proposal did NOTHING to address that. And don't give me that "If the GM's weren't so stupid" garbage. The GMs are paid to get results and results in sports aren't like any other business.

Results in sports are winning, NOT maximizing profits. Winning comes before profits in sports, and that is why GMs HAVE to outbid eachother for the services of players or lose their job. Same with RFAs that sit out. The GM has to either pay them what they want, trade them to a team that will pay them what they want (and get a lesser return becuase everyone knows the GM has to move the guy) or not have him play and leave a hole in the team.

There needs to be a system in place to get rid of this situation or else we will eventually end up with a system like baseball where only a handful of teams can ever afford to compete for the cup. We are mostly there right now.

 

[vanlady]

Russ Conway is one of the most reliable and trusted hockey reporters in the world. Heck even the FBI used the material in his expose of Alan Eagleson, to convict him

Conway was ready to pursue it. He tackled the Eagleson issue head on. He wrote a series of reports for the Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle-Tribune in September 1991 that federal investigators used to help investigate, eventually indict and put Eagleson behind bars for fraud and theft.
Conway later put his work into a book called "Game Misconduct, Alan Eagleson and the Corruption of Hockey." Sports Illustrated rated it one of the top 100 books on sports in the 20th century.

Heck even Sports Illustrated respect the man. Players know that they owe Russ Conway, they also trust him, because of his track record.

http://www.andrewsstarspage.com/11-16cba.htm

 

[Trottier]

Guess not ... oops.

BTW, I do not defend this writer with regard to this particular article. Any salient facts that may or may not exist in his column are lost on this reader in the patronizing, somewhat sensationalistic manner in which they are presented. (Just a matter of taste.) So, I'm agnostic in this case.

Was just pointing out that if one is going to rip the article, better to rip the substance of the article, instead of falling back on the same old tired cliches.

Just my opinion.

 

[kerrly]

I haven't heard anyone call it perfect. What the article points out is that the PA proposal got the salaries pretty damn close to where the league wants them, that's a fact. And that the luxury tax wasn't steep enough, which we're all aware of.

Now, Bettman decided it wasn't good enough, so he used some make-believe numbers to "prove" it wouldn't work, saying salaries would rise 12% each year even though under the last two years of the old system, the year over year increase was somewhere around 2.5%. He also used 3% as an annual increase in revenue. Plus, owners would have to refrain from being and employing idiots. So no deal.

Alot of PA'ers on here have addressed that proposal as the answer to the NHL's problems.

Salaries only raised 2% and 3% in the last two years, because the owners were preparing for a lengthy lock-out. Maybe if the NHLPA could guarantee these numbers, it would make more of a valid argument, but they cannot and refuse to. The argument of stupid owners and blah blah blah is moronic at the very least. There are many many factors other than a few bad signings that have put the league in worse shape than that.

 

[Greschner4]

Russ Conway is one of the most reliable and trusted hockey reporters in the world. Heck even the FBI used the material in his expose of Alan Eagleson, to convict him

Conway was ready to pursue it. He tackled the Eagleson issue head on. He wrote a series of reports for the Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle-Tribune in September 1991 that federal investigators used to help investigate, eventually indict and put Eagleson behind bars for fraud and theft.
Conway later put his work into a book called "Game Misconduct, Alan Eagleson and the Corruption of Hockey." Sports Illustrated rated it one of the top 100 books on sports in the 20th century.

Heck even Sports Illustrated respect the man. Players know that they owe Russ Conway, they also trust him, because of his track record.

http://www.andrewsstarspage.com/11-16cba.htm

And kudos to him.

But in a situation like this you need to add a little more than "the players are the product," when they aren't.

 

[mooseOAK*]

I haven't heard anyone call it perfect. What the article points out is that the PA proposal got the salaries pretty damn close to where the league wants them, that's a fact. And that the luxury tax wasn't steep enough, which we're all aware of.

Now, Bettman decided it wasn't good enough, so he used some make-believe numbers to "prove" it wouldn't work, saying salaries would rise 12% each year even though under the last two years of the old system, the year over year increase was somewhere around 2.5%. He also used 3% as an annual increase in revenue. Plus, owners would have to refrain from being and employing idiots. So no deal.

So you don't think that after the NHLPA put that 24% back in the owners pockets that they wouldn't immediately plan to get them to spend it? If the NHLPA was sincere in that rollback they would agree with the NHL on some sort of system to keep in where it was but they have absolutely no intention of doing that.

 

[kerrly]

Kinda sums up the NHL's reaction every time they put out a proposal the PA wouldn't touch, don't you think?

Not at all. I haven't witnessed anything other than the league acting appropriately and debating the proposals in a very professional manor.

 

[SENSible1*]

Russ Conway is one of the most reliable and trusted hockey reporters in the world. Heck even the FBI used the material in his expose of Alan Eagleson, to convict him

Conway was ready to pursue it. He tackled the Eagleson issue head on. He wrote a series of reports for the Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle-Tribune in September 1991 that federal investigators used to help investigate, eventually indict and put Eagleson behind bars for fraud and theft.
Conway later put his work into a book called "Game Misconduct, Alan Eagleson and the Corruption of Hockey." Sports Illustrated rated it one of the top 100 books on sports in the 20th century.

Heck even Sports Illustrated respect the man. Players know that they owe Russ Conway, they also trust him, because of his track record.

http://www.andrewsstarspage.com/11-16cba.htm

The fact that he is pro-PA doesn't affect your opinion at all, right?

 

[Mighty Duck]

I guess some people have their head so far into the sand, they will never see the light again.

 

[vanlady]

The fact that he is pro-PA doesn't affect your opinion at all, right?

I even respected this guy in 94 when I was pro owner. Before you pass to much judgement I suggest you go and find out what Russ Conway went through to expose Eagleson.

 

[PecaFan]

Salaries only raised 2% and 3% in the last two years, because the owners were preparing for a lengthy lock-out.

And even then, those numbers are wrong from what I can see. More PA supporter mis-representation perhaps? I see this:

01-02: Totals $1,140,355,572
02-03: Totals $1,258,191,449
03-04: Totals $1,332,014,707

Increase from '02 to '03: $117,835,877 or 10.3%
Increase from '03 to '04: $73,823,258 or 5.9%

 

[Greschner4]

I even respected this guy in 94 when I was pro owner. Before you pass to much judgement I suggest you go and find out what Russ Conway went through to expose Eagleson.

How could you POSSIBLY be pro-owner in '94 but not now?

 

[looooob]

How could you POSSIBLY be pro-owner in '94 but not now?

I must admit I was about to ask the same question.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

I can guarantee Jaded-Fan is much more of a hack than Russ Conway, a well respected investigative journalist. This guy knows more about hockey and the current situation than most other people could ever dream of. I don't care if you agree with someone, but to dismiss the guy's credibility because he doesn't share the exact same view as you is atrocious. Do some research on the guy. He knows his stuff. At least he has the guts to question King Bettman's actions and motives.

You get no argument from me, I am certainly more of a hack than this or any other journalist. That said, I do not get paid for my words on hockey. And I freely admit that I do not know this guy, I will take your word for his brilliance and mean that sincerely. After granting all of that though, he certainly had an off day on this article, didn't he?

 

[Jarqui]

I think Conway has usually been a terrific hockey writer but there were a few significant flaws in that article today.

For instance, his comments on the Levitt effort are flawed in my opinion. The front page of his letter to Bettman stated flat out that it was a "review" which is an accounting term for looking over the books - quite different from a claim of an overall audit of the books. It was stated up front what Levittt did and what he didn't do. But Levitt's summary letter went on to describe the auditing that was done in the particular revenue areas that were in question with the NHLPA - thousands of hours of it by independent auditing firms. As that document has been on the NHL site since it's release, no one has hidden behind what it was not. Those who are familiar in the area knew what it was.

Also, I don't entirely agree with Conway. I think both sides bear significant responsibility for where we find ourselves today. I think Goodenow got off too easy in that article. He has also indeed been a significant part of the problem.

As I watch the NHL season dissolve, after the thousands upon thousands (or probably millions) of words that I've read on this dispute, I've yet to see a rational business case on how or why a cap is so damaging to the players - with real objective facts. I can understand the business motives of the owners and see what they're trying to do but I really can't when it comes to the players. I do not seem to be alone in that. The owners and most of the fans seem to have the same problem. So I tend to be more disappointed in the players because they simply haven't made their case beyond the needs of their egos and philosophies.

 

[vanlady]

How could you POSSIBLY be pro-owner in '94 but not now?

Because I believed all this same cr*p in 94, I was goona lose my team, the NHL was doomed, owners were losing millions ya da ya da. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

 

[Greschner4]

Because I believed all this same cr*p in 94, I was goona lose my team, the NHL was doomed, owners were losing millions ya da ya da. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

If you'd lived in Winnipeg, Hartford, or Quebec City you wouldn't have been fooled ....

 

[Wetcoaster]

Stopped reading after the cliche "the players are the product."

Of course you did because it did not accord with your view of the dispute.

If you had read Conway's previous proposal forwarded to the NHL and NHLPA you would have realized his approch is quite balanced.

Here is a brief bio from the HHOF on his induction as a media honoree:

Russ Conway
Sports Editor of The Eagle-Tribune in Lawrence, Massachusetts since 1981 and a nominee for a Pulitzer prize in recognition of outstanding investigative journalism, Russ Conway is the 1999 recipient of the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

 

[Wetcoaster]

Add another NHLPA apologist to the very small list. That article was a joke. To quote that 24% gimmick giveback as the cure for the bleeding of cash by the clubs shows what a big market apologist that hack writer is.

If he had been even slightly more balanced in his criticism he would have maintained a shred of credibility. As it is I want my 3 minutes back for having wasted the time reading this.

You obviously know nothing of Russ Conway's career.

Here is a brief bio from the HHOF on his induction as a media honoree:

Russ Conway
Sports Editor of The Eagle-Tribune in Lawrence, Massachusetts since 1981 and a nominee for a Pulitzer prize in recognition of outstanding investigative journalism, Russ Conway is the 1999 recipient of the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Definitely not a "hack writer" - they do not get Pulitizer nominations.

Read his proposal at the newspaper website he forwarded to the NHL and NHLPA put together with the assistance of 36 hockey experts including Scotty Bowman.

If you read the article he was critical of both sides but he obviously chastizes the owners and Bettman for reasons such lack of compromise and misleading the public:

But where's the compromise? Where?

The players union offered owners a 24-percent pay reduction. What were the objectives of the owners?

One of the NHL's goals in a new contract was to chop $380 million off its player costs. That's fact, exactly what a top league executive told The Eagle-Tribune in early November.

With a 24-percent payroll cut, based on the league's own salary numbers from the 2002-03 season, that amounted to slashing $336 million. If the league simply agreed to add a significant payroll tax, the projected savings would have been more than $400 million.

They had already reached their goal.

But no, they had to keep this fight going.

Dug in for a battle

Both sides have had their feet stuck in cement. Nobody wanted to crack it to get free.

Bettman's complete unwillingness to get away from his "cost certainty" salary cap is unacceptable. Nothing is certain in this world.

.......
The issue of trust has become an absolute disaster with good reason.

While well intended, longtime top-echelon executives want to see a "partnership" with players in a new agreement, some claim that the trust factor is a red herring. There's a fishy smell, no doubt about that.

That Levitt Report, touted by Bettman as "a superaudit" showing $273 million in league-wide losses, wasn't an audit at all.

Consider two form reports obtained by The Eagle-Tribune that were addressed to the NHL about certain information in the Levitt Report, before the league announced it over a year ago. They are tucked in the back of the report.

Included in both, clearly written, is this explanation:

"We were not engaged to, and did not, perform an audit the objective of which would be the expression of an opinion on the specified elements, accounts or items. Accordingly, we did not express such an opinion. Had we performed additional procedures, other matters might have come to our attention that would have been reported to you."

There's nothing like documentation. Look at the words -- "did not perform an audit."

No wonder Arthur Levitt himself, the former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, called it an "independent review."

But somehow the commissioner publicly turned the report into "a superaudit" and everybody took it as the gospel for nearly 10 months. It wasn't what it was cracked up to be. Why bother enhancing it?

Shame on that propaganda pitch that cost the league $1 million.

 

[Wetcoaster]

And kudos to him.

But in a situation like this you need to add a little more than "the players are the product," when they aren't.

It simply differs from your view - it is an opinion and in Conway's case an informed opinion.

 

[Wetcoaster]

tell me why this guy's a well-respected jouralist? just because he happends to question Bettman's motive's?

since when does that Dec. 9th proposal form the PA solve the NHL's problems?

waste of time to read this garbage

Let's see:

Pultizer Prize nominee, winner of the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for sports journalism, inducted as a media honoree into the Hockey Hall of Fame, produced a balanced detailed CBA proposal with the assistance of 36 hockey experts (including Scotty Bowman), exposed Alan Eagleson - is that enough?

 

[Wetcoaster]

The fact that he is pro-PA doesn't affect your opinion at all, right?

If you read his proposed CBA you might have adifferent opinion.

 

[mooseOAK*]

Of course you did because it did not accord with your view of the dispute.

If you had read Conway's previous proposal forwarded to the NHL and NHLPA you would have realized his approch is quite balanced.

Here is a brief bio from the HHOF on his induction as a media honoree:

Russ Conway
Sports Editor of The Eagle-Tribune in Lawrence, Massachusetts since 1981 and a nominee for a Pulitzer prize in recognition of outstanding investigative journalism, Russ Conway is the 1999 recipient of the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

That's nice and all but Conway's job depends on having a good relationship with the players and I would be willing to bet that he is a member of a union also.