Never forget how they put the Boots to Balsillie

Please do yourself a friggin' favour and go read Melt Your Face Off's open letter to Gary Bettman, after the jump.

It will totally make your Friday. We're willing to put that in a certificate you can frame.

"What in the hell have you been doing for the last few months, Gary?

"... Apparently, MYFO’s favorite prospective owner Jim Balsillie was so goddamned repulsive to you and your owner cartel that Philip Anschutz (LA Kings Owner) and Craig Leipold (Now the owner of the Wild) lent “Boots” Del Baggio $17 million of the $25 million he put in to buy the Predators from….Craig Leipold. So, wait, Leipold lent this douchebag money…to buy the team from himself? That’s how desperate he was to get rid of the team to someone that he liked? He was willing to take a bath on his own sale? All so Del Baggio could get such a sweetheart deal that he does better financially the worse the Predators do financially? If they bottom out, he can take sole ownership of the team and move it to Kansas City. If they thrive, he can give up his stake, make a bundle, and bolt to take the next expansion team that comes along. Plus, there’s a clause saying his money isn’t on the line when free agency comes along. So Del Biaggio essentially gets 27% of an NHL team for a grand total of 7 million dollars. I’ll get myself a footwear nickname if it means I can score that kind of deal. And, oh yeah, by the way, Del Baggio’s now under federal investigation and has declared bankruptcy. Good call, guys! This is the point in our letter where we remind you that you held this sale over the voters of Tennessee’s heads to approve a tax hike for the stadium, otherwise, you’d let Boots yank the team to Kansas City anyway.

"Now here’s the kicker…you claim you didn’t know this fraternity-style circle-jerk was going on. I’ll repeat, again: HOW DO YOU LET THAT HAPPEN? You are the commissioner for a top-flight sports league in the most industrialized nation in the world. You are supposedly the most powerful man in your sport. Now, you claim that while owners are lending each other money to keep the franchises in their own little AllTel Circle of Friends, you thought everything was hunky dory?

Mirtle is much more on the ball with these hockey matters. One irony is that one Canadian newspaper listed Luc Robitaille, who's entangled with

Related:
An open letter to Gary Bettman (Melt Your Face Off)
Bettman blindsided by backdoor dealings (Rick Westhead, Toronto Star, June 24)