Is it STILL Hockey Season?

I don't usually talk (or care) about professional sports. Way too much overpaid ballyhoo in my mind. However, there's something about the current NHL controversy that has me shaking my head even more than usual. Keep in mind the last time I paid much attention to the NHL was back when there were 6 teams and the best season ever was the one with the strike. Soooo.....

RIM owner and founder Jim Balsillie wants to buy and move the Phoenix team (hmmm - what's the name? Roadrunners? Coyotes? Such a silly place to have a hockey team...but when you have team names like the "Mighty Ducks"...) to southern Ontario. The NHL, eyes ever fixated on the American market, persists on throwing up roadblocks ...er... I guess that should be throwing body checks.... They claim that letting the court decide would be a "dangerous" precedent. They talk of imposing a $100 million "relocation" fee.

The Phoenix franchise has been losing money for years, perhaps ever since it moved there. That's been over a decade now? How much longer does the NHL think it's going to take before the financials turn the corner? What's dangerous about letting the current "owners" sell the team to whoever is silly enough to buy it? And if you can't do what you want with something you own, do you really own it? Hockey in Phoenix? Potential of playoffs in Phoenix in June? You must be kidding. If Jimmy's ego will be massaged by buying the team and moving it (back) to Canada, let him. As much as I don't really care, hockey in southern Ontario (or the Peg, for that matter) makes more sense than Phoenix. And as for the NHL management? Two minutes for interference.