And the Loser is...Everyone who Cares About Hockey

          Congratulations Garry Bettman, Sidney Crosby and everyone else at the decision making table for the NHL. You have officially passed college football as the most incompetent group of people running a sport in the business.

            Oh it took quite a bit of effort to wrestle the crown away from the BCS. College football had you beat by letting a team that did not even win its own conference play for, and win the sport’s championship. Yet you, the NHL, remained determined to one day hoist the crown and hold it over your head like the most coveted trophy in sports.

            And you finally did it. When college football announced their four team playoff system you responded with the fourth work stoppage in league history.

            We have seen this debauchery three times in the last 20 years; though the numbers are bigger this time. The players were so hung up on hanging on to their precious 57 percent of total league revenue they forgot that they get more of their league’s revenue than the players in the NBA (51 percent)  and NFL(between 46 and 48 percent).

            While the owners laugh at that last statistic, they forget that guys like Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs make them look just as stupid. Jacobs, who happens to head the NHL board of governors, demanded that the new CBA have players’ deals be capped at five years. Just days before, he signed Tyler Seguin to a six year contract extension.

            And like in every lockout, the true victims of any work stoppage are the fans of the sport and the game itself.

NHL fans are golden retriever loyal to a sport run by morons. Bettman, Crosby, all of you abuse their loyalty so badly, Sarah McLachlan is on the verge of making a commercial about it. Bettman has repeatedly championed the fans’ loyalty to the sport, and then plunged a knife in their backs by stopping games.

With his third lockout in his commissioning career, Bettman has stopped his sport from conducting business and somehow still has a job. Since he has been commissioner, Bettman has been responsible for a total of 414 days of lockout; excluding the upcoming one.

Think about this. Bettman has more days locking out his players than Ryan Whitney and Joe Corvo have career assists combined.

            There is a certain determination that exists in actively pursing the title of most incompetent group of people running a sport. It takes a lot of chutzpah to shut down your league after you made close to 3 billion dollars last season; a new league record by the way.

Even though the lockout was a foregone conclusion, the inevitable remains infuriating. Enjoy the title of most incompetent sport in the business NHL; see you in 2013-2014. Maybe.