Whether it was expanding to sun-soaked, hockey-agnostic locales instead of hockey-mad Canadian cities, depriving us of 1 1/2 years of hockey through two lookouts, or letting American TV networks have their way with our game (FoxTrax Puck and non-traditional scheduling, anyone?), Bettman continues to rub our frost-bitten noses in the fact that we are not now, nor will ever be his BFF. His “eff-you Canada” attitude was probably never more obvious than the cruel enjoyment he took out of squashing Jim Balsillie’s moves to bring the Coyotes home to Canada, even though it meant keeping them captive in the hockey “hotbed” of Phoenix (emphasis on hot).
It must secretly kill the man that most of the players in his league are still toque-wearing, “eh”-saying Canadians.
"What are you looking at, Canada?"
Even now, while the city of Winnipeg is rejoicing at the prospect of the NHL coming home, “Buzz-Kill” Bettman is, um, peeing on their parade. We get it, the deal’s not done, details have to be finalized, a blah blah blah…. Dude, would it kill you to let them have a little joy in their lives? You’re the kid that reminds all the other kids enjoying their last weekend of freedom in August that school starts again on Tuesday. Nobody likes that kid, not even their parents. Let the Winnipeggers (Winnipegians?) have their bottle. They’ve earned it.
So, the question isn’t if Bettman hates Canadians, but why? What did we do Gary? Did a Canadian girl break your heart once? Maybe you had a bad poutine on a trip to Montreal? We’re really quite nice Mr. Bettman, and everybody else seems to like us.
So why not you?
Long live Wood Buffalo
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