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" (Permanent soundtrack to the last post of the week, from the blog&amp;#039;s second-favorite Canadian...)      I think the blog has gone long enough \u2014 especially considering who its most-favorite Canadian is \u2014 without mentioning that Gary Bettman is, without question, the biggest bag of hammers in the history of professional sports. He&amp;#039;s already masterminded one lockout that cost the NHL \u2014 and its tremendously loyal fan base \u2014 an entire season, whereby the Cup had to spend two years in (gah!) Tampa, and through which Bettman and his owners got practically everything they wanted, and now he&amp;#039;s locked out the players again. Hockey has spent 80 years behaving as though it were owned by the Marx Brothers. Elsewhere in commissionerhood, David Stern has announced he&amp;#039;s hanging it up in the NBA. I first met him when I was covering the then-annual Celtics-Lakers playoff extravaganzas and, one night in L.A., he came down to the press hospitality suite. At which point, Brian McIntyre, the great NBA PR man, organized the first annual Hit The Commissioner With A Pizza For A Buck Contest. We were encouraged to throw a buck into a jar on the bar, all of the money earmarked for NBA charities, which would entitle us to wing one of those small Marriott pizzas at the wall above Stern&amp;#039;s head. I wish he&amp;#039;d retired that evening, because then I wouldn&amp;#039;t have to deal with his Napoleonic insistence on a dress code, and his inexcusable blackjacking of a franchise out of Seattle, probably one of the league&amp;#039;s most devoted markets. Zirin is right about a lot of this. So Willard Romney warned us all dow in Florida at the debate the other night that we might be on our way to being Greece. If that&amp;#039;s the case, we can at least take comfort in the fact that Greek professional sports franchises have developed impressive survival skills: So Yiannis Batziolas, chairman of the Voukefalas club that competes in the A1 amateur league, decided to turn to the local brothel owner for help. &amp;quot;We had a very serious financial problem so I thought, why not?&amp;quot; Batziolas, who has managed the club since 2010, told Reuters from the team&amp;#039;s home city of Larissa in central Greece. Their new sponsor Soula Alevridou, a stocky 67-year-old woman who owns three luxury brothels, agreed to cover all costs and the players now flaunt pink shorts and T-shirts emblazoned with her brothels&amp;#039; logos, including &amp;quot;Villa Erotica&amp;quot;. &amp;quot;The players couldn&amp;#039;t believe it at first but now they&amp;#039;re happy about it,&amp;quot; Batziolas said, estimating the club needs about 10,000 euros a year to survive. &amp;quot;The first thing they said to me - half-joking, half-serious - was &amp;#039;What kind of bonuses will we get?&amp;#039;&amp;quot; he added, laughing. First of all, Yiannis? &amp;quot;Half-joking,&amp;quot; my eye. This could catch on. Of course, anyone who&amp;#039;s wandered through the average advertising-festooned American sports arena recently will come to the inevitable conclusion that most American franchises are half-whorehouse anyway, at least metaphorically. Also, too: Recession-proof industries \u2014 dying and fking. That&amp;#039;s what I call a stimulus package. (You were thinking it, too. You know you were.) And we know it wasn&amp;#039;t Tony Romo. And, see? You only made her mad. All the other news of the weekend hereabouts is, of course... AIEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!REALLY BAD WEAAAATHHHHHEERRR!!!!!!!!!!!111!!!!!! RUN AND HIDE!!!!!!!!!!!! FALL OVER THE CAMERA CREWS ON THE WAY TO THE LAST BOTTLE OF MILK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111 FRANKENSTORM!!!!!!!!!!!! I, for one, won&amp;#039;t believe it until I see: a) the idiots out on the beach, standing behind the local newsdrone, drunk as hell and doing cartwheels; b) the poor EyeCenterNews newbie who has to cover the ravaged local grocery stores; c) the elderly crank who &amp;quot;rode it out in &amp;#039;36 and ain&amp;#039;t moving this time, either,&amp;quot; and c) Jim Cantore on my front lawn. Also, too: Possible connection to famous debate non-issue global climate change? Oh, hell fck, no. As it happens, I&amp;#039;m going to be spending the weekend in New Hampshire, where, if the good Lord&amp;#039;s willin&amp;#039; and the creek don&amp;#039;t rise, I&amp;#039;ll be seeing Joe Biden on Monday next. With any luck, I&amp;#039;ll be back for the beginning of the Home Stretch with storm-related gobshitery. Until then, play nice, ya bastids, or I&amp;#039;m not letting any of yez follow any Greek soccer teams. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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