Gotta Catch 'Em All! Ice Beam Edition

The following is a story of my adventures with Pokémon yesterday. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, just assume I’m awesome.

For a while now I’ve been playing Leaf Green for a while in an attempt to catch Raikou. Since he moves around and I can’t track him until I’ve seen him once, I’ve been running around in one area hoping that it will come to me. While I still haven’t come across Raikou, I’ve managed to raise one of my Pokémon to level 100 (soon to be two) and yesterday I found some things that have made this entire venture worthwhile. As I was combing the grass in hopes of finding Raikou, I came across a shiny Mankey. Absolutely delighted, I proceeded to catch it. Later on I happened upon a shiny Sandshrew. I caught myself two shinie4s in one day! I named my Mankey Bruce after Bruce Banner (The Hulk) since it’s green. However, it has come to my attention that it’s a female. I do believe a name change is in order. Perhaps I should name it Jennifer after She-Hulk?

Anyways, that is my Pokémon story. Now for a story that a broader audience (though not necessarily the one that reads my blog) can appreciate. Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie, CEO of Research in Motion, has made several bids to buy NHL teams and bring them to Southern Ontario. Each time he has been shut out by the league. Most recently he has tried to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes who are trying to file for bankruptcy. The league’s convenor, Gary Bettman, has made statements saying that he is against the purchase and that the NHL will do what they can to stop it. He claims that it just wouldn’t be fair to the fans in Phoenix if Balsillie moved the franchise to Southern Ontario.

Wait… What fans?

An organization with a solid fan base should not be going bankrupt when others in the league are selling out every game. Moving the team from Winnipeg (the team used to be the Jets) to the middle of a desert was a poor move to begin with. A team that was selling out before the move is now strapped for cash and still Bettman is trying to keep it out of Canada. The fact of the matter is that Bettman is trying to keep Canada’s game out of Canada. Despite the overwhelming success of all Canadian teams he clings to the idea that it’s better to Americanize the NHL, even going so far as to mention the possibility of removing the Coyotes from the NHL should they fall into Balsillie’s hands. Since there is no clear economic prerogative, I can only conclude that Bettman either hates Canadians or just hates Balsillie. I’m more inclined to believe the former.

For those interested, check out makeitseven.ca. Seriously, what desert needs a hockey team?