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February 09, 2006
The Hockey Gambling Ring
Yesterday, the story about how ex-NHLer Rick Tocchet and some of his associates ran a nationwide gambling rink fell into a familiar pattern. After 36 hours of revelations and shock, all the players have collected themselves and talked with their lawyers. From here on in, with some possible exceptions (like when we get the names of the players who placed bets with Tocchet's operation), new information will be released from official sources, so everybody involved will know what's coming before a reporter calls or puts a microphone in their face -- which means we won't see anything like Wayne Gretzky's impromptu Tuesday session with the media, which was an object lesson in what not to do in crisis PR. Here's an interesting aside from Tom Benjamin: Who does Gretzky think he is kidding? I wondered about Wayne's ability to pick his friends and partners when Bruce McNall went down, and I'm wondering again. At best, Tocchet is guilty of extreme stupidity. At worst... And the "You'll have to ask her" response to questions about his wife was beyond lame. For those of you unfamiliar with McNall, click here. Here's what happened yesterday: Rick Tocchet did fly to the New York area, but delayed his visit to NHL HQ by a few hours so he could talk to his lawyer in Northern New Jersey. Later, Tocchet's counsel released a statement claiming that his client was innocent. Later, we found out that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had hired the former Federal prosecutor who put the Unabomber behind bars, Robert J. Cleary, to conduct the league's own investigation into the matter. I guess that makes Tocchet the "Unabookie". Finally, close to Midnight, the league announced that it had granted Tocchet an indefinite leave of absence with some interesting elements: Tocchet, who works under Coyotes head coach Wayne Gretzky, must immediately cease all contact and communication with all NHL and team personnel and stay away for the duration of his leave. He will not be allowed to return without Bettman's consent. In other words, don't call us, we'll call you. My guess is that Tocchet will never sniff the inside of an NHL rink, much less a locker room, for the rest of his life -- no matter what the outcome of his legal troubles. What does it all mean? Here's James Mirtle: Can you, as a hockey fan, ignore this story outright? Definitely. The games are going to continue to be played and the great plays will be added to a season already full of highlights. Hockey's popularity in the United States is also not likely to suffer much, at least where the dollar amounts are concerned. All too true (James also mentions some other names who have already lawyered up: Mark Recchi and John Leclair. And he quotes a sum of $500,000 when it comes to how much Gretzky's wife bet with the ring.). When Bettman came to Washington to deliver a speech at the National Press Club, I mentioned that Bettman's trip was as much about changing perceptions as it was about making real world changes inside the league. One of the NHL's biggest problems was the fact that mainstream media coverage of hockey had dwelled on business issues for so long, thanks to the lockout and bad financial news, that it was hard to change the conversation about hockey back to what was happening on the ice. Ever since the league resolved the lockout over the Summer and announced its return, the news, despite some grumbling from certain portions of the fan base, has been almost universally positive. So by and large, with the exception over the feud with Dick Pound over steroids, Bettman's comeback plan for the league hadd been successful. But instead, at least in terms of perception, the league that we thought was climbing out of the hole was actually right back there and still digging. Who knows how far the bottom will go?
Eric
06:31 AM
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