A novel idea by Gary Bettman

It's common sense in the sports world that what makes for really compelling and exciting action is rivalries. Whether it be teams versus teams, or players versus players, we can all name classic antagonisms. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickleson. The Old Firm rivalry in Scotland: Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic. Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bad Boys-era of the Detroit Pistons and the Michael Jordan led Chicago Bulls. The list goes on and on.

Rivalries are the lifeblood of professional sports. It usually develops when teams have to play each other regularly, preferably with serious stakes on the line. Familiarity breeds contempt.

But there is a sidebar to rivalries. An offshoot, if you will. That is, the professional punching bag. Or, as they are described in professional wrestling, jobbers. The Washington Generals of this world. Wikipedia tells me that

"From 1953 until 1995, the Generals played exhibitions against the Globetrotters, winning only six games, the last in 1971, and losing more than 13,000."

The Atlanta Hawks. Sergio Garcia. Those teams or athletes who are good enough to, you know, be professional, but not good enough to actually win.

One brave team has stepped up and taken on that role in the NHL: the Phoenix Coyotes.

It started two years ago with Alexander Ovechkin's incredible goal on two Coyotes defenders and goalie.



Then Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles King's wanted a crack at them...



And then there was last night's game versus the similarly moribund Columbus Blue Jackets, where Rick Nash danced his way between, you guessed it, two Coyotes defensemen and scored a similarly brilliant goal.



What do all these goals have in common? Beyond the involvement of the Coyotes? They were all scored by good players on bad teams. Very bad teams. The Kings, the Blue Jackets, and the Capitals are all actively bad teams, and yet they've all posterized the Coyotes.

Maybe this is what Gary Bettman intended when he facilitated the Winnipeg Jets move to Phoenix. A team in a market that will never draw fans, that can make other teams look much better then they are. Kind of like the Washington Generals of hockey. Really, Winnipeg should be grateful that they were spared this kind of embarrassment.