Is there some sort of terrible commissioner contest going on?

Some days I really get the idea that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig are in some sort of perverse contest to see who can ruin their respective league's the fastest. What's that? You put hockey franchises in Phoenix and Atlanta? I'll end the All Star Game in a tie and introduce interleague play!

This week has been a classic example of this one downmanship.

It started with Bud Selig, or the office of the league commissioner deciding that the World Series games should all start at 8:30... sorry, 8:29 eastern standard time every night, even though both teams are in the eastern time zone. I am sure this was to make the World Series more accessible to the Midwest and West Coast fans. However, it means that young fans of the Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies have to stay up until at least 11:30 at night to watch their home teams play. Any sensible parent would have to send their kids to bed around 10 on a school night. How does a sport, recovering from a major faith-shaking scandal, expect to grow young fans and get them interested in the sport if they can't even watch the championship series in its entirety?

Apparently, Gary Bettman saw this and felt he could do better. (Worse?) After a week of excited speculation that a Western conference hockey team, likely the Nashville Predators, would be bought by Research in Motion co-owner Jim Balsille and moved to Toronto, Gary Bettman announced that it was a baseless rumour that would never happen. Why? He didn't say. One can only assume that he is against the idea of an unsuccessful and unpopular team being moved to a proven hockey hotbed that could easily support a second franchise because he dislikes the idea of people enjoying the National Hockey League.

Not to be outdone, Bud Selig decided that Game 5 of the World Series should be played even though it was raining and there was no sign of abatement. The hometown Phillies were starting ace Cole Hamels, and, if they won, would win the World Series. However, the rain was so bad that halfway through the sixth inning the game was suspended as a 2-2 tie. Hamels was still on the mound at the end of the game, can't possibly be expected to start the day after throwing six innings worth of pitches in the pouring rain and freezing temperatures. Essentially, his start last night has been wasted and has given the Rays another shot at winning the game.

I shudder to think how Bettman will top this disaster...