The Bad Sports Model That Is The Boston Bruins

The news that the Boston Bruins' choice to be new GM has in effect quit the job (may need to register to see story) is the most graphic display yet of the disconnect that exists between the hockey world and the universally unpopular owner of the Boston Bruins, Jeremy Jacobs.

The search for a new GM began after the firing of Mike O'Connell following one of the worst seasons in Bruins history. The disaster that was the 2005-6 season was an embarassment for the team, and in a way that put the lie to the rhetoric of Jacobs and other Bruins brass once the NHL's disasterous 2004-5 lockout was finally resolved. Having fought for the economic model under which the NHL now operates, the Bruins should have been in the best position to win a championship out of the gates. Instead the team assembled by O'Connell faltered badly early in the season and finally collapsed after the Olympic break.

The suspicion is considerable that interim GM Jeff Gorton will wind up being the official GM, a scenario that would likely confirm the universal cynicism that exists about the Bruins, a cynicism that holds that owner Jeremy Jacobs and his brass, concerned only with raking in concession profits from their ownership of the Boston Garden (both the original and the rebuilt facility of today), consistently skimp on quality personnel on and off the ice and refuse to hire managers or coaches with fresh new approaches to the game and to management of the team - "All they want is 'yes' men," as WEEI sports personality Pete Shepperd angrilly puts it.

But even if an outsider, from the Ottawa Senators management staff or elsewhere, is brought in, the issue of GM autonomy will likely still exist. And it provides a graphic case study in what not to do in pro sports. The blunt truth of the matter is that the Boston Bruins are the case study of a fundamentally flawed sports model. It used to be the Los Angeles Clippers and the Cincinatti Bengals that were the case studies of fundamentally flawed sports models, but right now that can't be said about either team.

The upshot here is that the Bruins' AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, are a consistent playoff team with the 1999 Calder Cup championship in their resume. Talk about little brother showing up big brother.