Sporting Madness

Well, the Jim Balsillie story continues to develop. The most interesting news since my last post is that of Gary Bettman 's apocalyptic reaction yesterday [ James Mirtle , From the Rink ]. I'll have more analysis on this one later, but for now, I figured I'd start the day with an appropriate song. Here is my version of "The Ballad of Jim and Gary" (apologies to The Beatles ): Standing on the plane down to Phoenix, Trying to get the team refinanced. The man in the back said, "Jim Balsillie's back". I said "Hell no! Just give us a chance." Jim, you know it ain't easy, You know how hard it can be. But the way things are going You're gonna crucify me. At first, things with Jim went so well, In Pittsburgh, we thought he'd be fine. But then the press called to say, "He wants to move away," So I told him he had to refrain. Jim, you know it ain't easy, You know how hard it can be. But the way things are going You're ...

There's big news in today's Globe and Mail from columnist David Shoalts (as well as Jeff Blair , Roy MacGregor , Paul Waldie , Andrew Willis and Jane Taber ) on the idea of another NHL team for Toronto, which I initially wrote about back in October . Then, it was informal conversations between NHL governors; now, it's moved on to a two-and-a-half hour meeting between deputy commissioner Bill Daly and a group of interested businesspeople. Sounds like it's getting more serious by the minute. The primary problem involved in bringing a new team into southern Ontario is getting the Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres to go along with it thanks to their territorial rights. This is where location becomes a key issue, and it's more of an issue for the Sabres than it is for the Leafs. The Leafs already have a huge market to draw from with the massive suburban population of Toronto, and they're in incredibly good financial shape. There's an almost inexhaustible demand...