Friday, January 20, 2012

Is Jim Dolan the Spawn of Satan?

Yes, I know…funny title, right? Well that's great, glad I could get a laugh out of all of you. I'll be here all week, by the way.

Unfortunately, I am not kidding.

Yes, by now most of us have heard or read the comments of one, James L. Dolan following the Rangers 3-0 shutout over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night. For reasons unknown to anybody but himself, Jimmy Boy decided to interrupt Head Coach John Tortorella's press conference after the game and address the state of the team for the first time since before the NHL lockout in 2004. Basically the 2nd time to my knowledge he has EVER acknowledged the existence of the New York Rangers. In fact, I even wrote a blog for a website called Rangersmix.com almost 2 years ago in which I stated that I sometimes wondered if Dolan even remembered that he OWNED a hockey team.

For those of you who are not aware of what Dolan actually said, and for those who feel the need to anger yourselves just a little bit more (such as me), I present the following from our fearless leader:

“I'm very proud of the organization. I'm particularly proud of Mr. Sather because all the way back to 2004 when things weren't going so well and we had a lot of free agents here and we decided to basically re-do the strategy, Glen and I made a pact.”

Sounds great so far, right? Yeah, keep reading.

"I gave him something," Dolan continued, "Which I won't reveal today, but I gave him something to seal the pact. I said 'You can't give it back to me until we win the Stanley Cup.' And I think we're pretty close to getting that thing back.".

So, what'd you give him Jim? A family heirloom of some sort? Perhaps your father's soul (which you undoubtedly had to rip out of him in order to gain control of Cablevision in the first place)…or maybe something more symbolic of Glen's tenure here...maybe his pink slip in a frame, minus your signature?

One has to wonder...why on earth would you make a statement like that Jim, in flipping January of ALL months? Have you NOT seen this team in years past once they hit the latter part of this month in to late February? Oh wait...stupid question on my part, you haven't acknowledged the team's existence in almost 8 years...OF COURSE YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THEM PLAY!!!

There's a few issues I have here folks. The first is the obvious. It was stupid, premature, and downright asinine for Dolan to make such a proclamation that the Rangers are close to winning a Stanley Cup. Yes, they have taken leaps and bounds this year. Yes, despite losing to the Penguins at the Garden last night, they have gone far beyond what I thought they would. Yes, they are still 1st place in the Eastern Conference, and 2nd in the entire NHL, and for the most part, have looked like a bonafide Stanley Cup contender this season. And yes, I have little to no doubt that this team can make a LOT of noise come playoff time. However, to say they are close to winning a cup in the middle of the season is setting yourself up for disaster, even if it may be true. They still need to get through (historically) their hardest period of the regular season: late January, through February. Anyone who watches this team on a regular basis can tell you that. If the way they have played the last 2 weeks is any indication (particularly after last night's debacle) they may not be as ready as people may think. But thank you Jim, thank you for attempting to start that annual mid-season slide ALL by yourself by opening your big fat mouth.

The second issue I have here is that the ONLY reason Dolan is even doing this, in my opinion, is to make himself look good. Despite the way I joke that he doesn't know the Rangers exist, he does. And he knows the team is starting to make noise, both in the NHL, and in this City. And he wants to be prepared to take credit for it, should the Rangers in fact DO the unthinkable, whether it be this season, or the next. He knows the Knicks are not going anywhere, anytime soon. He may be an incompetent owner, but he's not dumb.

But where was he in the years leading up to all of this? The years when he ignored Rangers fans pleas for Sather's firing, for a rebuild that didn't start until 4 years into his tenure here, and didn't really begin to take shape until just a few years ago? Yeah, the team looks loaded now, and built for the long term. But he hasn’t acknowledged the team in SO long. Does he really think he is fooling ANYONE? Even Tortorella looked like he wanted to put his head in an oven and turn on the gas the other day.

Do us all a favor Dolan, and continue ignoring this team. Write the checks, pay the bills, let Glen continue to have carte blanche, and go back to paying all your attention to the Knicks. Just because you may have finally realized what a joke THAT team is, don't think you can just waltz into Rangerland and that people are going to embrace you. We haven't forgotten the way you constantly put the Knicks before the Rangers all the time. From not being there on Draft Day back in 2005 so you could go with Isiah Thomas to recruit Larry Brown, to the Knicks constantly getting priority on TV over the Rangers, your sudden acknowledgement of the BETTER team in Madison Square Garden is not needed, appreciated, nor wanted. It's bad enough if the Rangers ever do the unthinkable in the near future that YOU'RE going to be acknowledged by Mr. "Head moving as I talk, let me make sure the microphone is on before I speak and get booed out of the building" Commissioner himself, Gary Bettman. But in the meantime, don't insult our intelligence. Don't try and make us think you actually care about anything having to do with the Rangers after pretending they haven't existed for so long.

Bottom line, You're not fooling anybody Jim!

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