Most men who have been in a relationship before have probably been in this situation.
You’re at the mall with your girlfriend/wife and walking by a shoe store, trying to keep her distracted so that she doesn’t notice the big ‘sale’ signs. Your efforts fail though as she stops talking mid-sentance and makes a sharp turn to the right, her eyes all lit up. She stops in awe to look at the store window for just a moment before bolting into the store.
She’s fallen in love with a pair of boots.
Now to the eyes of a practical man, these boots don’t seem very sensible. “How the heck are you going to be able to walk in those? I don’t think they’d be very comfortable. Wow those are expensive.. ” you say.
But she is absolutely convinced that these boots are the greatest thing to come along in a while.
“You just don’t understand. They’re very comfortable and I can wear them all the time.”
Some arguments you’re never going to win. Gotta pick your battles wisely, especially if it happens to the hockey playoffs and you’ve been watching hockey pretty much every night for months. You even convince yourself that maybe those boots really are a good investment. Afterall, if she’s going to be able to wear them all the time...
Fast forward a couple weeks and you’re going out for dinner for a special occasion. She’s excited because she finally gets to wear the boots. You walk to the restaurant, thinking “I shouldn’t have doubted her.. Those boots really do look great”. You have a nice dinner and then ask if she wants to go for a walk or maybe out dancing. When she quickly suggests going back home instead, you don’t think anything of it.
Then weeks and months pass. You’ve gone out many times since that night but haven’t seen those special boots. The next time you’re going out you think of the boots for some reason and suggest that she wear them out.
“Oh those boots are really uncomfortable. They hurt my feet when I walk in them.”
At that point there’s not much you can really do but laugh, and maybe try and get her to say that you were right.
She should have listened to you.
But she fell in love with the wrong boots and wasn’t thinking clearly at the time.
*****
I was hoping to save this story into the playoffs were over but it as the lawsuits have started rolling in I had to bring it up.
They’re just allegations right now but it looks at the very least quite possible that Gary Bettman fell for the wrong Boots.
Three lawsuits have been filed in recent days against William “Boots” Del Biaggio and he is being investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Attorney’s Office.
He’s being sued by his former friend Doug Bergeron who was the “Canadian billionaire” that Del Biaggio had planned to bring into the Predators’ ownership group.
He’s being sued by Heritage Bank, a company that his father co-founded.
He’s being sued by Modern Bank of New York for his activities in obtaining a loan used towards the Nashville purchase. Allegedly the collateral that was put up for that loan never actually belonged to Boots.
According to the Mercury News, NFL legend Joe Montana is the vice chairman of Modern Bank. Another interesting name that’s come up in these stories is Luc Robitaille, who along with Del Biaggio and three others have resigned from the Board of a company called Onco Petroleum. The company has been ordered by the Ontario Securities Commission to stop trading its securities until they file required financial reports. Del Biaggio and Robitaille are or were two of the owners of the USHL Omaha Lancers, a group that also included Mario Lemieux and Mike Eruzione (Lemieux is still listed on their website as part of the ownership group, while Del Biaggio is not).
You can read all three of the lawsuits that have been filed, courtesy of the Mercury News, who have more details in their story
here.
PDFS:
Modern Bank vs Del Biaggio
Heritage Bank vs Del Biaggio
DGB Investments Inc vs Merriman, Curhan, Ford & Co., William J. “Boots” Del Biaggio and Scott Cacchione
So how does this impact the future of the Nashville Predators?
What about Kansas City, thought to be Boots’ next move?
(“My opinion is that Kansas City is going to get a hockey team. I don’t care which one it is or if it’s a new one. I just want one and I think we’re going to get one.” - Boots in early 2007)
Does that affect potential expansion plans and maybe Jerry Bruckheimer, who rumour has it recently approached the Ducks for permission to speak to Brian Burke?
Will this increase the odds of a team in Canada at some point in the next couple years?
What role did Bettman play in bringing Boots together with David Freeman and the local group?
What exactly is the relationship between AEG and Del Biaggio?
Will Boots be the next black mark in a long-line of dubious NHL owners?
Should be fascinating to see how this story unfolds. I’ll have much more on this one once I’ve had time to read through all the documentation..
*****
As for tonight’s game, I’m hoping that Pittsburgh can pull it off. As mentioned earlier I do have a pair of tickets for game 7 in Detroit and it would be unbelievable to be in the building for Game 7 of the Cup Finals, especially in what’s really turned into a fantastic series.
I’m hopeful but not optimistic though – if I was a betting man (and I’m not) I think Detroit gets the job done tonight on the road.
Enjoy the game,
Danny –
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