LITTLE ROCK — Emotions count for something
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney touts his business skills by drawing on a career at Bain Capital, where he helped remake failing enterprises through venture capital deals.
Well, Romney’s former employer decided eight years ago that it wanted to get into the hockey business. It didn’t want to just buy a franchise, either. It wanted the entire NHL for a cool $4 billion, Bloomberg reported this week.
The pitch was made during 2005 at a meeting in New York, where three members of Bain argued that consolidation would streamline costs, boost TV revenue and drive down player salaries.
“They actually clapped at the end of the presentation,” Robert Caporale, who was from partner Game Time LLC, told Bloomberg. “Which was interesting, because part of the presentation, the part that my colleagues asked me to give, was the one where we said, ‘You’re running this business all wrong.’ ”
The owners took a pass, and their reason seemingly stumped Bain officials.
It seems owners cared about more than just money and believed that teams “had far more emotional value than real worth,” according to the article.
Oh, and those guys in jerseys with missing teeth who chase the puck remained a slight problem.
“The problem is,” said Susan Chaplinsky, who teaches at the University of Virginia’s business school, “although there’s a lot of seemingly physical assets around this, in the stadiums and all that, at the heart of this there’s one huge intangible asset, which is the players.” Really, already?
If you had Week 1 in the pool for the length of time it would take before Tim Tebow trade rumors begin: Congratulations, you win.
“I think he will be a good soldier,” an NFL source told the New York Daily News on Wednesday “At the end of the year, I think he will express those concerns to the Jets. He will want to move on. The one thing about Tebow is he is the quintessential team player. He would never do anything that is going to undermine the team, but he’s football-aholic. It’s in his blood.”
Sure, Tebow ran only five times for 11 yards and didn’t throw a pass in the Jets’ season-opening victory against the Buffalo Bills, but Tebow mania knows no bounds.
Here’s a better idea: Wait to see if Mark Sanchez continues to play well and Tebow’s snaps diminish. Until that happens, just sit tight.
Hurricane blows
The award for Rant of the Week goes to former Miami Hurricanes defensive tackle Dan Sileo, a radio host on WQAM-AM in Miami, who was not pleased with his alma mater following a 52-13 loss at Kansas State last week.
“There needs to be some ‘come to Jesus’ conversations,” Sileo said in his roughly three-minute rant.
“You cannot go to Manhattan, Kan., and get your a++ drug up and down the field by a team that’s ranked [No.] 21. ... Do you know what they did after they beat the living p+++ out of us? They were ranked No. 21. There’s no respect for our program.
“How did it get to a point where we have so little respect? It’s one thing to get beat, but it’s another thing for people to look down on us like we’re Eastern Michigan.”
Sileo then took a deep sigh, but he wasn’t finished.
“I’m going to have an aneurysm the next time I don’t see someone hitting somebody,” Sileo said.
“When there is a quarterback just standing there on a quarterback sneak, you know what I want someone to do? Pull a knife and stick him. Gouge his eyes. Hit him in the knees. ... Show me you care.”
Quote of the day “They’re a physical team, a physical offense. We’ve got to bring our big boy pads and be physical back.” Arkansas safety Eric Bennett on facing top ranked Alabama
Sports, Pages 20 on 09/14/2012