Colin Wilson Believes Bettman Was Faking Emotion In Disappointment Over Last Offer Declined

Last week was supposed to be the final offer to save any sort of an NHL season. The result same as all others NOT a chance. The league and the PA can claim they have another couple of weeks to salvage what would be the bare minimum of a 48 game season but who are they kidding? Fool me once, fool me twice, it won’t happen a third time. Pack up your bags leave the negotiating table for a couple of months and get refocused on trying to put together on time for the 2013-2014 season which right now would have to be even considered questionable.After all Gary Bettman is the only commissioner in pro sports history to have three consecutive lockouts at the expiration of every single one of his designed CBA’s. So if there was ever a commissioner that would allow two seasons in a row to be missed it would most certainly be him. It’s become extremely apparent over the past couple of months the amount of hatred players have towards him. Many of them coming out and voicing this publicly taking shots at him, whether it be retweeting death threats, calling him an idiot or saying the players don’t trust him.Nashville Predators forward Colin Wilson is the next player whose decided to completely rip the commissioner believing his press conference after latest CBA offer was rejected were PHONY with tons of FAKE emotion. Check out what he said in an interview with the Winnipeg Sun:“When you saw him at his last press conference, that was him showing emotion? And he’s going, ‘I just feel so bad for the fans,’ things like that. No he doesn’t, he’s mad that his strategy isn’t working.”“I still think he came out trying to look mad, sway the media. That’s what they do. Everything they do is strategic. I’m pretty disgusted by it. I really don’t enjoy him. He doesn’t care for the game.”“[Bettman’s] job is to get the owners the best deal and to have the games being played,” he said, “but at the same time, he’s going to go out and do what’s best for his side, so if he wants to be portrayed as someone who is very caring about the game, he’s going to go out and he’s going to show emotion.“It’s a strategy. It’s a strategy on our side of things as well. When he’s going out there everything is planned, he knows what he’s going to do. I don’t think he’s going to go out and absolutely lose it on everybody when he’s being paid a lot of money to do his job. So he went out and said what he had to say and everybody came out and said, ‘Bettman really does care.’ So hats off to him. He did what he sought out to do.”Pretty strong allegations from Wilson, one’s that I cannot disagree with either despite the fact I side with the owners in this CBA battle. In case you didn’t see Bettman live last week or wanted to make your assessment into how fake or not even fake Bettman’s emotions were last check out the video of the press conference he was referring to:Watch this video on YouTube Embedded with WP YouTube Lyte.The reason why I agree with Wilson about this being fake emotion is because Bettman does not really CARE if the season gets missed despite what he says. Because if he truly did then he would have ensured their wouldn’t be a lockout for the third straight time. He should have learned a lesson from the past if the damage was so awful that could not be repaired. Clearly he has NOT, otherwise he would have persuaded the owners to accept a deal that is not exactly what they are holding out for right now.Yes I do believe this is part of Bettman’s strategy trying to get the PA to cave and give into what the owners want. At the end of the day the owners loss way less compared to the players for missing a season since so many of the franchises lose money, so essentially by not running their franchises during a lockout save money. Futhermore, at least the owners have a strategy. What is the strategy of the PA? They are always counter offering never coming up with something on their own because clearly heading into the offseason they were content with the previous CBA not wanting changes. Not a smart move knowing their was no way the owners would accept this.As I have stated from day one billionaires have multiple business’s to earn a huge income from and even if they have a bad overall year they are still set financially for life. Not a majority of the players with the average NHL salary being between $2 to $3 million per year; unless they have been great at saving up money during their short playing career. By the time you add up taxes, the cost of living which is probably very high based on their income of the past it’s not easy to miss an entire year worth of paycheques. The amount of money they could potentially save without accepting the rollbacks of approximately 7% will become even great over the lifetime of the next CBA by missing an entire year.Fair or not that is the exact angle I believe the owners are trying to work. Back them into a corner until they become desperate. The NHL players are taking a stand willing to sacrifice for the better good of the PA in the long run. Can’t say I blame them.However, at the end of the day and this is still my #1 point nobody is forcing you to play in the NHL collecting millions of dollars without putting up the financial risk of ownership. Go find work elsewhere. I dare you try? Then come back to the owners and Bettman and tell me you wouldn’t accept their CBA even if it isn’t great or worse then the previous one. Life isn’t fair. Owners always dominate since they put up all the risk. They don’t have an option to work somewhere else except shut it all down. Players are free to walk at anytime.Eventhough I agree with Wilson as his comments are rather astute in terms of Bettman’s fake emotion he’s not the only high ranking business executive making $10 million a year whose pulled off similair antics to get ahead financially. That is the world we live in most people who make that kind of money are not exactly the most genuine, down to earth and 100% honest.By saying this publicly all it will do is piss him and the owners off even more making the next offer they put out to the players even worse. While Wilson opening his mouth provided entertainment value for the fans, especially those who hate Bettman which is the majority I don’t believe it was the right move for his own cause with the NHLPA.