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Yahoo Sports — The worst-kept secret in hockey is becoming less secret by the minute:The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the NHL will expand to Las Vegas and leave Quebec City on the back burner.
A person with direct knowledge of the NHL’s decision says the league has settled on Las Vegas as its choice for expansion, provided organizers can come up with a $500 million fee. The person spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because details have not been released by the league ahead of its Board of Governors meeting on June 22. Quebec City was also considered for expansion. A second person who had been briefed on the decision said Las Vegas was a “done deal” following the recommendation of the NHL’s executive committee. The 2017-18 season would be the earliest the league would expand.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that “the NHL’s Executive Committee voted unanimously to recommend expansion to Las Vegas.” He also reports the team is expected to be the Las Vegas Black Knights.
(Vegas-NHL pic via calvinayre.com)
First of all… The Las Vegas Black Knights… great name. Love it. All black unis? Knight Helmet-style hockey helmets? Couple sweet little shortened nicknames… the BK’s… the B-Knights… the Blackies… Oh shit wait, that might be a problem. Yeah, that’s gonna cause some issues. PC Police is gonna be on that like white on rice – and yeah of course your boy intended that pun.
Anyway, yeah, they’ll just be the Las Vegas Knights by the time this is made official. And that’s fine. Las Vegas Knights is shorter, easier to say. The Nets absolutely dropped the ball by passing up Brooklyn Knights when they moved, that’s their loss. And honestly, if there’s any city that should get the honor of “______ Knights”, I think we can all agree it’s Las Vegas.
Las Vegas Knights just sounds right. It’s a perfect fit for that city. Or at least nearly perfect. If only because The Las Vegas 5am And The ATM Won’t Let You Withdraw More Money So You Toss A Coin Between Spending Your Last Few Dollars On A Giant McDonald’s Breakfast Or A Cheap Hooker With The Eerps’s doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.
Name aside though, this should be great news, right?
I mean think about it… they kind of have to legalize sports gambling throughout the country now, don’t they?
1.)… You can’t give one team that much of a leg up when it comes to recruiting free agents right? No State Income Tax in Texas and Florida… Warm Weather and Women in California… Strip Clubs in Atlanta and Houston… Global Marketability in New York… Star Power in LA… all of those things are great recruiting pitches.
But gambling? I mean… come on. Find me a ultra-competitive-20-something-year-old athlete who isn’t choosing legalized gambling over everything else any city can offer. Bad game? Hit the roulette table. Tough practice? High stakes poker room. Friends from the other team in town? You take them out to a show, get them drunk until they’re numb, let them gamble away their money until the sun comes up… boom, competitive advantage. You know how NBA teams will have a game in LA, go out on a Saturday, and post an absolutely garbage effort on Sunday? Well what the fuck do you think is gonna happen in Las Vegas? You think these guys are just gonna hit the spa and have a low-key dinner? You get one, two trips to Vegas per year… What red blooded American Male or weird sketchy Eastern European hockey player isn’t going out their one night in Vegas? How can you possibly expect them not to?
What’s the only solution? Legalized gambling everywhere. Nullify the advantage of Vegas. That’s only fair. You go to Vegas right now? You’re gonna run your wallet dry, get too drunk, possibly catch an STD, and leave on Sunday morning with week-long hangover and an irreparably damaged sense of self-worth that’s barely higher than your crippled checking account.
But if gambling is legal everywhere? Then there’s really not that much of a reason to go all-out. Find me a hole in that logic… You can’t.
And second of all…
2.) GAMBLING SHOULD BE LEGAL EVERYWHERE ALREADY. THERE’S NO REASON IT SHOULDN’T BE. AND THE EXPANSION OF THE NHL AND EVENTUALLY THE NFL TO LAS VEGAS SHOULDN’T EVEN MATTER WHEN THIS SHIT SHOULD’VE BEEN LEGALIZED YEARS AGO.
Look, to be honest, I don’t know all the facts here. Seriously, I don’t know all the facts. I just say “gambling should be legal” because I want it to be legal so I can gamble any time any place, no questions asked. I assume it will help our economy or something. You know, tax it, regulate it, blah blah blah. But there’s also the whole “out government has no idea how to do anything right” aspect, so do we really want to leave it in their hands?
Who really knows? I mean, I’m sure a lot of people know. I’m just not one of those people. I’m a blogger, not an investigative journalist. If you think I’m going to do the due-diligence and present a factually correct, well-versed argument as to why sports gambling should be legalized in America, you’ve come to the wrong place.
All I know is that in the year 2016, I shouldn’t have to drive two hours to an old Indian Reservation to throw my paycheck away on the Roulette table. I shouldn’t have to wait until my buddies Venmo me when I win on poker night. I shouldn’t have to have a shady bookie or an offshore account to bet the U.S. Open this week. And yeah, while I can still bet games and gamble relatively freely, it just seems logical in my (stupid) mind that this multi-bazillion dollar sports and casino gambling industry should operate above the table when EVERYONE is taking part in it.
At the very least, I need this shit to be regulated so that someone can prevent me from betting more money than I currently can afford on the Cavs on Thursday night.
That’s right guys – Cavs in 7.
Basketball is better than Hockey. Don’t @ me.
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