Gary Bettman, Hypocrite

Jim Balsillie (the co-CEO of Research In Motion, which makes the Blackberry) wants to buy the Phoenix Coyotes and move them to Southern Ontario - probably Hamilton. Gary Bettman, for some reason, has been against this all along. I guess it shouldn't be that much of a surprise, as Bettman really doesn't care about the Canadian market.

Anyway, on Bettman's talk show yesterday (on XM Radio), he had this to say about the entire situation (you can read the entire article here, but Bettman and his cronies actually run the Phoenix Coyotes website now too, so don't expect it to be anything less than biased):

"Our fans play an essential role in all the decisions that we make. You support our clubs and we have a commitment to you. We don't run out on our fans when issues arise with our clubs. We fix the problems. Our track record of fixing clubs is pretty strong."

Ummmm, ok. Now for the truth......here's a quick blurb about Bettman's track record from his Wikipedia page:

"...four franchises relocated during Bettman's tenure: The Minnesota North Stars to Dallas (1993), the Quebec Nordiques to Denver (1995), the Winnipeg Jets to Phoenix (1996) and the Hartford Whalers to North Carolina (1997)."

It's funny that Bettman had no problem moving teams away from Winnipeg and Quebec in a flash, yet he wants to keep the bankrupt Coyotes in Phoenix at all costs. Perhaps if Balsillie were offering to move the team to Las Vegas or Kansas City the reaction would be different. Gary Bettman, you are a giant douchebag.