OK, I'll have to admit it and I'm sure it will shock both of you readers, but I'm not a huge Gary Bettman fan right now. I know, I know, that is surprising. It's as if NHL team owners really, really want to not have an NHL season, and I just don't get it. OK, I get why they really don't want an NHL season around Phoenix and maybe Columbus ... but honestly, the billionaires club has other things to keep themselves occupied whereas the NHL players have little else but themselves to worry about and if they don't get to play, they don't get paid, or they get some pay, or maybe some will be paid for awhile. I don't know how their contracts work, but the NHLPA has a lot more to lose in the pending lockout than do the owners.
So having said I'm not a Bettman fan, I have to give the guy some credit because after all, he did find his way to Estevan a few years ago at the behest of Brian Burke and others to give a big boost to the local fundraising effort that resulted in the opening of Spectra Place, which may soon be renamed Affinity Place. He didn't disappoint.
When Spectra was officially opened the first time (I believe we had three openings that qualified as being official openings), I thought back to those with big names in hockey and the sports world who were willing to come here and lend us some support in getting our showpiece facility built and Bettman was among the first along with Yzerman, Burke, et al. They didn't have to, but they choose to do so.
Just a little quiet moment here now ... in defence of Gary Bettman.
Following the media conference in Estevan he was slated to be at another venue on short notice but his ride was held up so I accidentally ended up strolling down a corridor at ECS engaged in a rather pleasant off the record chat with the guy. We then stood in the foyer at ECS for another five to 10 minutes and continued our chat.
Since the tiny event was off the record, I can't say what we discussed business-wise, but I think Mr. Bettman would allow me to share a few thoughts regarding what transpired.
First, he comes off as appearing rather arrogant while he's on his game and in front of the microphones. Well, away from the notebooks and microphones, he still has that look, that demeanour and it's really not that threatening. He's a lawyer ... so he's required to look that way. Hey, I'm allowed one cheap shot lawyer reference in each column, it's in my contract!
I can say that Gary Bettman loves to be with his extended family, but finds his work doesn't allow him much time with them so when he does find that time, he likes to isolate himself with them ... doing things where others can't interfere or interrupt. For instance, he likes to do a little canoeing or boating. He enjoys time in upstate New York when he can get away.
He doesn't mind tough questions and rarely tees off. He is pretty good at retaining his composure. He's been at the game long enough to know how to do that without even thinking about it.
He learned to enjoy the game of hockey, he keeps in contact with his friend David Stern who does similar work with the NBA. After all, the circle of major league sports commissioners is a pretty slight and tight one.
In other words, Bettman is kinda like the rest of us, only richer.
I know that doesn't help you like him any more than you did two minutes ago, but when I see Gary Bettman at the podium, displaying that little curled mouth sneer while answering questions in a rather off-handed manner, I think back to our chat in the hallways of ECS a few years ago and try to give him some leeway in my mind.
He's just a guy doing his job and he has a group of 29 or 30 rich crazy guys as his boss, which can't be easy. So I hearken back to our quiet one on one off the record chat about normal things in life.
Sometimes it works. Not always, but sometimes.
