Eric on The Road

Journeys into the offbeat, off the beaten path, overlooked and forgotten - by Eric Model

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Red Fisher on Gary Bettman (Montreal Gazette)

From the Montreal Gazette:

One of my heroes, Red Fisher, again is telling it like it is. The 80 year old Fisher has been doing so for over 50 years covering teh hockey beat and teh Montreal Canadiens for the Montreal Star and now for the Montreal Gazette.

Speaking about an interview NHL Commissioner Gar Bettman gave to the Canadian Press, Fisher wrote as follows:


"......And then you had Gary telling reporters this on Tuesday: "The feedback we've got from all our business partners, particularly our broadcast partners both north and south, is that the product on the ice has never been better, that everything we did last season seemed to work, seemed to energize the players and the fans."

Oh, really? Better than when the Canadiens dominated in the 1950s and '70s? Better than the Islanders and Edmonton Oilers in the '80s?

Better than the Jean Beliveau/Doug Harvey/Maurice and Henri Richard/Dickie Moore/Bernie Geoffrion days? Better than the Guy Lafleur/Yvan Cournoyer/Big Three days? The Mike Bossy/Bryan Trottier/Denis Potvin days? The Wayne Gretzky/Paul Coffey/Jari Kurri days? The days any time Mario Lemieux was on the ice?

I think not.

Now I'm waiting for Gary to tell his "business partners" that broadcasts of games have "never been better."

Better than Danny Gallivan and Dick Irvin, Jr? Better than Rene Lecavalier? Better than ... aw, you know what I mean!"

For the whole piece see: RED FISHER, The Gazette; Published: Saturday, October 07, 2006; http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/sports/story.html?id=5b48a4c4-8ed5-4b2a-abd1-c70b1e14b224

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