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No Habs? No B's? The NHL playoffs can count me out
Posted: Friday April 21, 2000 11:01 AM
This is a memo to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: Gary, the Stanley Cup playoffs for the year 2000 do not count. At least they don't count with the people who count. We're talking about the paying customers who have kept your game afloat from the start. We're talking Original Six. We're talking New York, Chicago, Boston, Montreal, Gary. We're talking tradition, logos designed sometime around the creation of all mankind. How can you possibly have a tournament to determine the champion of all hockey and not have the Rangers, the Blackhawks, the Bruins or -- quelle domage -- the Canadiens involved? I know you endeavor mightily to extend the reach of your sport, dragging computer wonks into the area in San Jose, cattle and oil barons to the festivities in Dallas, senior citizens in Phoenix and Miami, but you have left your core constituency behind. The people who made the Holy Grail holy in the first place are not represented. The people who always have cared most about this game care nothing about these playoffs. Gary, maybe it's time for a little urban renewal. Get some federal grants or something to help out these longstanding operations. Make a decision -- Pavel Bure, you're now a Ranger. Patrick Roy, back to Montreal where you belong. Rig the standings, rig the schedule next year. Do something. Downtown is dark. Main Street is closed. Stanley Cup fever, alas, has been replaced by snoring this year in the places where it always raged best. Sports Illustrated senior writer Leigh Montville appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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