For the bullet summary, please go here.
This guy’s no patsy! He’s not NHL material!
‘Jim, you have poor character! Jim, didn’t you hear us? You have poor character. Jim! Won’t you listen to us? Come on man, get it through your head, your character is poor. Poor Jim, poor! Aren’t you listening? See we told you. Jim doesn’t listen. That’s cause he is of poor character.’
‘ We tried time and again to ask Jim to play by the league’s rules. But, he just wants to do his own thing. He keeps wanting to move this team, or that team, or any team to Southern Ontario. That is not what is approved by the NHL, and that makes Jim in violation of league processes.
See, that means Jim is of poor character. Would somebody please stop this guy, already!’
‘Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam, and the skies are not cloudy all day.’
If the fights going on at the ownership level, spill out on the ice, the NHL may just have a chance at survival! Don Cherry was right! There will always be fighting in hockey! It’s part of the game!
Didn’t you hear?
The NHL’s Board of Governors is all one big happy family. Look at the smiles on the faces of the representatives on the BOG. Look, they are smiling. No, that IS a smile, not a forced grimace. It IS a smile, OK?
Bring on Canuck # 2 to show Jim how unpatriotic he is for fighting for hockey in Canada! Yes, if Anthony Leblanc and his ‘Canadians are snapping up real estate in Arizona by the hundreds’ wasn’t enough Canadian guilt, let’s bring on another. Are ya crackin’ yet Jim! Didn’t you learn from Anthony?
Do ya need more ‘dilithium Crystals’…..’Cap’n she’s breaking up, I don’t know how much longer I can keep her going’!
Wow!
Can anybody give this Canadian a break! I am talking about me. For that matter, can anybody give another Canadian a break. This time I am talking about Jim Balsille.
Eugene Melnyk, the owner of the Senators felt sorry for Jim before, but is just mad as heck at him now. Melnyk says Jim thinks he should not be the owner of the Senators. Is that it?
Mr. Melnyk, since you like writing direct letters aired in public. How about I send you one?
Ok,here goes….
Dear Eugene:
Can I call you squeeky? Or how about, Squeeky Clean Eugene? Does that sound about right? Can’t dig up any muck on you so it must be true. Unlike your friends, who seem to have muck all over them.
'Squeeky clean' Eugene Melnyk
First off, do any of your horses race at the tracks of Jeremy Jacobs? Just askin’. After all, when you are in the horse business like Jacobs, it would become a ‘nagging’ question, whether you and he would be in that club together too. Small world, and all that. That wouldn’t have anything to do with you supporting the BOG, and not supporting Balisillie would it?
Did your ‘horsing around’ get you an easier ticket to the NHL winners circle?
The way this club works, you need to have connections outside hockey as we are learning. So, I hope you don’t mind the questions related to the whole horse thing.
You felt sorry for Jim Balsillie when you figured he had a snowballs chance in Barbados to survive his bid to own a team.
You know Barbados?
Of course you do, you live there and don’t pay the great Canadian income taxes the rest of us Canadians pay. Isn’t that right, Mr. Great Canadian?
Isn’t it ironic, the closer you get to Ottawa, the less taxes you pay? Do you know Brian Mulroney by any chance? Just askin’ again.
OK, so you felt sorry for Jim Balsillie for what exactly? That he couldn’t put a team where most of us Canadians that want to see pro hockey live? Is that it? Would it have been OK with you, had he bought a team, and left it where he was supposed to leave it? Would that have been OK with you Mr. Melnyk?
Well, Eugene, how do you feel about the Phoenix Coyotes? Do you think they deserve to stay in Phoenix? Do you think Jerry Reinsdorf is the best owner for them? How do you feel about the concession demands he has for the taxpayers of Phoenix? You do remember taxes don’t you? Ya, well how do you feel about the taxpayers having to foot the bill for lots of hockey that they really don’t want, when the City of Glendale could easily change the hockey spots for other events, likely more than making up lost hockey revenue? How do you feel about that?
Or, how do you feel about the fact that Jerry Reinsdorf wants an out clause, where he and your other friends at the NHL can pretend to care about Phoenix, all the while, laughing and waiting to say, ‘oh well Phoenix, sorry, moving now’. Does that sound like a move of good character to you?
Mr. Melnyk. With all due respect, to accuse Jim Balsillie of poor character is the pot calling the kettle black, at the very least.
If Jim Balsillie was truly of poor character, the NHL Board of Governors should welcome him with open arms, as he would fit right in.
Tit for tat? Who gives a rat’s butt? Really!
This isn’t about liking or having to like anybody. This is a businessman buying an asset. He is helping another businessman sell the asset.
But I have to tell you. I would really like to know how you ‘cracked the lineup’ to get into this good boys club.
Is this club like the movie, Stepford Wives. Toe the line, keep the smile, and play by all the rules like you have no value or opinion of your own? Is that what it means to get into this club?
All I have seen so far myself is a steady stream of proof, showing corruption, greed, collusion, and networking, that has everything to do with unfair business practices. Keep rubbing your friends back and he’ll give you something back.
Well, Mr. Melnyk (who lives in Barbados and avoids true Canadian taxes), you profess to be the wonderful Canadian?
Where was your support of Mr. Balsillie before he pointed out your faults? He did so to prove nobody is perfect. You can thank the NHL for dragging you in the mud. They set this up with their accusations of poor character.
I hope your hockey team is a little tougher in spirit than you seem to be.
Eugene, the way I see it. Jim Balsillie is a man of integrity. He sees what is wrong, and he is using the court to try to crack a lineup that he doesn’t have to like. He doesn’t have to be ‘friends’ with. He just needs to get on the inside, give hockey back to Canada where it belongs.
Eugene, maybe Jim is just trying to say he is no different than you, and deserves a team too.
Does he care if he is liked in the process? Heck no, and why should he?
This is ‘Go to the mattresses time’. It’s business. Nothing more. Just business.
At least I'm in....Sorry about your luck fellow Canuck!
And, I would suspect Jim Balsillie, who is a Canadian living in Canada, contributes to the income tax pool of this country. Bad, bad, man!
And to think, you could probably walk your tax return to Parliament Hill in Ottawa before or after the Senators play. Tsk tsk tsk!
More reading if you can stand reading about the ‘squeeky clean’:
- Globe Sports (How to ruin a judge’s vacation with filings)
- ESPN (Melnyk responds)
- Slam (Melnyk fires back)
- Earth Times
