At the initial stages, where you ever thinking to abandon Dundon?
Dundon had me at "hello."
Seriously, I gave up on Karmanos as a steward of the club during the second lockout in 2005. It became clear to me, as my issues as a concerned employee at the time got a lot of attention, that the people running the organization were stunningly mediocre, all the way to the top. It also became clear that Karmanos and Rutherford were 100 percent comfortable with this.
The championship in 2006 definitely shocked a lot of people, and probably bought Karmanos a decade or more of good will, but in the end, the stench of mediocrity is impossible to fully eliminate. Then JR completed what he started and ran us into the ground, and Ron Francis was a bitter disappointment. But at the end of the day, nobody really had a chance as long as Karmanos was around. Mediocrity was always going to be acceptable.
Dundon changed everything for me on Day 1, and I've never had a doubt. If anything, the success was much faster and more clearcut than I'd even imagined. I *knew* this level of success and excitement was possible with this club, but it was never going to happen under Karmanos.