NATIONAL HYPOCRITES LEAGUE

AS GARY'S WORLD TURNS....

I'm sure by now that everyone is aware of the latest turn GBB's on-going soap opera... THE MESS IN THE MESA.... but just in case you missed it, here's the scoop from TSN:

The NHL has asked a bankruptcy judge to throw out Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie's bid to buy the Phoenix Coyotes based on the league's overwhelming rejection of him as a potential owner.

The 26-page motion, accompanied by declarations from Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold, says the owners have concluded that Balsillie would be untrustworthy and that the court has no right to overturn their July 29 vote.

Hang on, it gets worse:

• "We voted to deny approval to Mr. Balsillie because we concluded he lacks the good character and integrity required of a new owner" required under NHL bylaws, said Jacobs, chairman of the league's board of governors.

• "This court should put an end to Mr. Moyes' and Mr. Balsillie's jointly devised scheme to force entry into the league through the bankruptcy 'side door,"' the NHL said in its Friday filing."There is only a front door, and it is now unavailable to Mr. Balsillie in accordance with the NHL's constitution and bylaws."

• The NHL said it has been established in prior court cases that a professional sports league has the right to ratify who owns its teams as long as there is reasonable justification for its decision."Settled law is that the court may not 'second-guess' the NHL board's decision under the undisputable facts of this case," the league said.

• "Based on my owner experiences with Mr. Balsillie, I have formed a highly unfavourable opinion regarding him, including his suitability as an NHL owner," Leipold said in his declaration.

Thank goodness Saint Gary and the Knights of the National Hypocrites League are ready to defend the fair maidens and virgins that make up the realm of the NHL from the Mongol hordes led by Jim-ghis Khan himself.

"He'll make us all speak with a funny accent. He'll make us put a letter U into words that shouldn't have them, like FLAVOR and HONOR. He won't do what he's told - he's an uppity Canuck."

We at the Canadian Revolution can attest that no one here is a personal friend or close business associate of Jim Balsillie. But we're pretty confident that, given the rogues' gallery of incarcerated American NHL owners, Mr. Balsillie is no worse than any of the others.... and definitely will be better than most.

In fact, the first American owner, New York Americans owner Bill Dwyer, was a well-known gangster and bootlegger. Prohibition made him rich - and owning the Americans made him that much more famous.

How about the Norris family? James Norris Sr, long-time owner of the Detroit Red Wings, and his son Jim Norris, who owned the Chicago Blackhawks, had ties to some of the sleaziest swindlers. In the late 1950s the United States senate even investigated the Norris family's relationships with mafia king pins, most notably Frankie Carbo.

Of a more current vintage, some of the more unsavoury NHL owners (or those nicer fellows who simply played by their own, ethically-challenged rules) have included:

• Bruce McNall, LA Kings. Not only should he be held partially responsible for the Theft of Gretzky in 1988, but in 1994 he pled guilty to five counts of conspiracy and fraud, and admitted to bilking six banks out of $236 million over a ten-year period. He was released on probation in 2001

• Former Los Angeles Kings owner Jeffrey P. Sudikoff was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $3 million for illegal insider trading in connection with his now-defunct communications firm.

• Would-be Islanders owner John Spano, who passed muster with the NHL BOG, caught a case of the financial shorts just before closing on his $165MM purchase of the Islanders in 1996. In 2000, he was sentenced to 71 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution of $11.9 million to his victims, including the Islanders ($3.4 million), two Dallas businesses ($4.4 million), and Mario Lemieux ($1.25 million).

• Sanjay Kumar, former co-owner of the Islanders (post-Spano) and Computer Associates, who pled guilty to obstruction of justice and securities fraud charges on April 24, 2006. He's in the Big House for a while (12 years).

• Let's not forget the Rigas family, led by proud papa John J. Rigas, head of Adelphia Communications and former owner of the Sabres. In 2005, he was convicted for multiple accounts of fraud and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

• No list of recent scoundrels would be complete without mentioning what some might say is the greatest example: Boots del Biaggio. Mr. Leipold definitely remembers Boots... as does Gary. Boots was part of a group that figured into Craig the Carpetbagger's flip of the Nashville Titanics (oops, endangered Predators) for the more comfortable and wintery climes of the Wild of Minnesota. Here's a whole story on the Buying into Boots by Gary, the NHL Board of Governors (including Jacobs) but especially Leipold.

• And, in 2008, Ducks owner Henry Samueli pled guilty for lying to SEC for $2.2 billion of backdating. Samueli agreed to a sentence of five years probation, a $250,000 criminal fine, and a $12 million payment to the US Treasury. He was suspended indefinitely as the Anaheim Ducks' team owner.

Okay, compared to the scoundrels and charlatans who dot this list, what's wrong with Jim? We know he has money.... he heads a company that makes globally-critically communications easier. He's passionate and knowledgable about the sport of hockey and the history of the NHL. He's got a well-connected network of well-wishers and supporters including mayors, premiers, prime ministers and everyday Canadians.

So what could possibly make him so inappropriate a candidate to own an NHL franchise when these other criminals passed scrutiny and due dilligence with the League's American head office? Gary, we know you courted him to act as leverage against the city of Pittsburgh. We know that he was proactively approached to become involved in the Predators situation.

We have a pretty good guess as to the only possible reason that his application was denied. He's a proud, hockey-loving Canadian who was willing to overpay for the right to play Lazarus and bring a dead franchise back to life in the beating heart of hockey's home. That can be the only reason - in fact, they said so.

They, by the way, bear a little closer examination. A quick Google check on Mr. Jacobs will reveal that he was ESPN's 2002 'winner' as THE WORST OWNER IN PRO SPORTS... and he followed that achievement up with another outstanding showing by coming in 7th in 2005 in a list of the GREEDIEST OWNERS IN PRO SPORTS. Wow, what a swell guy! He is consistently booed whenever he appears on the Jumbotron in Boston arena, hated for his frugal ways and consistent need to place profits over performance. In his 35 years of ownership, the Bruins have not won the Stanley Cup. Their greatest recent Legend, Raymond Bourque, had to be traded to Colorado to acquire the one prize that had eluded him in his previously spotless hockey career.

Our friend, Craig 'The Carpetbagger' Leipold? He was deeply in bed with Boots, loaning him the money to close Boots' purchase of Leipold's shares.... even though Boots had admitted to a case of the shorts. That money - $10MM - will probably never be recovered.... but for Leipold, it was a cost-of-doing-business in terms of facilitating his flip of the Predators for the Wild.... a doomed franchise for a more-certain shot at success.

So how is this all likely to play out?

We'll we're not prophets or prognosticators here at the Canadian Revolution, but it would seem likeliest that the bankruptcy court will accept the highest bid for the assets under its mandate. At current, Jim Balsillie has publically offered more than any other known contending bids - in fact, his bid is more than $60MM over the NHL BOG-approved Reinsdorf bid (which came with plenty of hidden 'sweeteners' from the city of Glendale, Arizona).

Unless the NHL can convince a group - or assemble a group of its own -to bid more than the known highest offer, the court will award the assets to Balsillie. The NHL has stated - categorically - that they will not accept Mr. Balsillie as an owner of the principal asset, the NHL franchise. The other assets would include Player Contracts and intellectual property rights to both the Coyotes and Jets logos and marks.

Will the NHL assemble or cajole a higher competitive bid? Perhaps, if supported by interests outside the NHL realm like the NFL, MLB or the NBA which view this as a precedent-setter with significant ramifications to their leagues, sports, teams and franchises.

That seems unlikely, though. The other route is an appeal of the bankruptcy courts decision, along with an injunction against Balsillie and the immediate suspension of the Coyotes from NHL operation in the upcoming season. Balsillie will have a team - but no league to play in.

And that's where the Canadian League and the Canadian Revolution come into play.

Mr. Balsillie, expect our package later this week.