And the worst part? This never should have happened.
The NHL granted the Atlanta Spirit the Thrashers, a franchise they never wanted to run. After six year of lies, lawsuits, and contempt it is all so evident now: they intended to but the Hawks, Thrashers, and Philips Arena and flip the Thrashers for a profit after purchase. This never happened and lawsuits amongst the ownership cluster that is headed by Michael Gearon and Bruce Levenson prevented a sale of the Thrashers to a local buyer. Then, the details emerged.
The Thrashers ownership never gave the Thrashers a chance; they admitted they know nothing about hockey and told fans to "deal with it" at a Town Hall meeting. They
lied and put an inferior product on the ice, and fans responded with their wallets. The Thrashers attendance has eclipsed 15,000 6 times in their 11 year history. But under Atlanta Spirit, fans refused to pay the ticket prices under awful ownership. Hm. Didn't they do that in Chicago under Bill Wirtz? Isn't that now the toughest ticket in hockey?But there's nothing left to be said about that. Not to the NHL, anyways. Gary Bettman put this team here and refused to have the guts to back it up. While the NHL dragged out a very public and very lengthy case to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix (despite averaging about 12,000 in attendance over their last two PLAYOFF seasons) the NHL turned it's back on Atlanta. Local buyers step forward and were ignored. The NHL didn't even use it's final chip--hard-balling Levenson and Gearon for part of the $110 million sale fee--to try and force the owners to sell locally. Because it's not about that to them. It's not about the facts: how youth hockey has grown ten-fold in Georgia since the Thrashers existence. That there are more corporate dollars, seven times as many people in Atlanta, a much better TV market to accompany that $2 billion TV contract the NHL just signed, or the fact that the ownership ran the franchise into the ground. No, that doesn't matter. What matters is the $60 million relocation fee to be split up amongst the Board of Governors should they pass the deal which many said they have already verbally passed. And so we, as fans, get to "deal with it".
So thanks, Bruce Levenson and Michael Gearon. Oh, and thank you too Gary Bettman. Perhaps three of the most two-faced people in all of sports. Thank you to the NHL for turning it's back on Atlanta while fighting for Phoenix, New York, and Nashville. Thanks. Us Thrashers fans, who do exist contrary to TSN and other popular beliefs, thank you sincerely.
Levenson and Gearon, I hope you take this to your grave. You are worthless scum. I hope that when you're on your death bed, you think of me. The kid who lives 1,200 miles away and dumped money into your sham of a cause. Who spent thousands of dollars to see his team play a home game. I hope you think of the kids who fell in love with the great game of hockey and who are having it ripped away. I hope you think of the late T.R. Benning and his wife Maria, better known as the "Kiss Cam Couple" at every Thrashers home game. I hope you think of Thrash pounding that foolish drum. I hope you think of the two sold out playoff games. I'm sure you do; you made money. I hope you think of Dan Snyder's eager face showing up to practice ready to give his all. I hope you think of how you've ripped away a second franchise from the great city of Atlanta all because of your ineptitude and greed.
Same goes for you, Bettman. You're a coward. You turned your back on this franchise after blocking several sales of several other teams. And why, Gary? Oh, yes, I forgot about that $60 million relocation fee. For someone who preached "growing the game", this seems like an awful strange way to grow it: by ripping it away from a "non-traditional market" over money. It's a shame, really. And I hope you think of that in your final moments too. If you don't think of Atlanta, at least think of your cowardice. To never even show your face when the times got tough. It shows a lot about this league that has been proven corrupted (thank you Colin Campbell) and cares about the almighty dollar over player safety.
This is it, Thrashers fans. Should the announcement come this week I'll be shutting this blog down. Thanks to all who have read it. I have no regrets about the past 11 seasons. I am proud to be, and will always be, a Thrashers fan. My love for the game will continue and I'll likely adopt the Hurricanes as my new favorite team. And for Gearon, Levenson, and Bettman: take it you your grave, you scum. You can take my team but you can never take away my love for the game. I know that I, for one, refuse to "deal with it."
