How insignificant are the Phoenix Coyotes? Not even the news of a major sports franchise filing for bankruptcy can stir enough interest to warrant a thread, until now....3 days after the fact. Granted, this is a football driven site but I think we've all read posts about Brady's hangnail, a text message from Jay Cutler to his dog or the favorite recipe of Brett Favre. So why nothing about Wayne Gretsky's team going down in flames and potentially taking the city of Glendale, AZ with it? I'm of the opinion that no-one really cares because the Coyotes were doomed the moment they hammered their stake in the ground in the "Valley of the Sun". You know...the desert? Since moving to Phoenix in 1996 from Winnipeg, the Coyotes have engaged in a downward spiral of financial losses. Why? Escalating salaries at the time of the move, poor facilities (America West Arena), poor choice of location for their current home (Jobing.com Arena), a never-ending series of roster moves that has left the team with virtually no identity and a fan base as fickle as there is in professional sports. What appeared to be the makings of a franchise hell bent on making the playoff with quality players (Jeremy Roenick, Keith Tkachuk, Rick Tocchet, Dallas Drake, Nikolai Khabibulin, Shane Doane, Mike Gartner) soon felt the money pinch and were forced to dismantle their core asset, the team. Led by team captain Shane Doane and players like..well..err..uuhhh, the Coyotes have managed to post losing seasons and a diminishing gate attendance since arrival of "The Great One" in 2005, the year after the NHL lockout. What was hoped to be the Phoenix rising from the ashes has turned out to be a futile effort by the NHL, Gretsky and current owner, Jerry Moyes. For as great as Gretsky was on the ice, his self appointed position as Head Coach and $7M/year salary has been little more than disaster. Having never coached a single game at any level in hockey, it was and is clear that Wayne may rival Matt Millen as the worst at any level of management or coaching in sports. To think otherwise is complete denial. While I do not pin the demise of this franchise on the shoulders of one man, it highlights the brutal fact that the star power of one cannot overshadow the fact that we as fans demand a winner. So what's in store for the Coyotes now that their souls are being bared in the courts? Gary Bettman and his incompetency has stated the NHL controls the Coyotes fate, not the bankruptcy court, and it is his intent on keeping the Coyotes in the Phoenix area. That would be good for the city of Glendale and its citizen who were sold a bill of goods. The problem here is that the 'Yotes have the third worst attendance in the NHL and there is nothing on the horizon that would appear to be able to change that trend, even a winner. The Arizona Cardinals and their storybook season couldn't sell out the University of Phoenix stadium for the first round playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL playoffs. Why would somebody think that the Coyotes could sell out even one game in a 41-game home season? For as much as I enjoy having a hometown NHL team to satisfy my occasional interest, I struggle to support a sport that's played on ice in the desert. IMO, it's time to pack em' up and move 'em out. Or as the title of the Jane Fonda movie stated, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They"?
