Filed Under » NHL

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman fired the president of the league's network today, citing a huge drop in ratings to-date compared to last season.

"I was looking at some ratings numbers at my desk this morning and was shocked and horrified by what I saw," said Bettman. "So I called Mark [Custance] in and asked him to explain the dramatic drop. All he had was excuses, so I let him go. Excuses don't work at this level. This is a professional sports league. For some reason, I have to keep reminding everybody of that."

Due to the NHL lockout that now looks likely to cancel the entire 2012-2013 season, the NHL Network has been forced to fill its schedule with rebroadcasts of old NHL games or live junior and minor league hockey action. Custance said he reminded Bettman of that when they spoke this morning.

"I'm not sure he understands that there are no NHL games right now," said Custance. "I think he thinks they're trying to negotiate a contract but that the games are still being played. Actually, I'm fairly positive that's what he believes. He is easily the dumbest man I have ever met or worked with."

Bill Thompson is a professional ice resurfacing machine driver. He has been employed as the driver of the machine, or Zamboni, for the Nashville Predators since the team entered the NHL in 1998. Before that he operated the Zamboni for the city's minor league hockey franchise. Yet now, with the 2012-2013 NHL season all but officially lost, Thompson is finding it hard to make ends meet.

"I am great at resurfacing ice, but this is a very specialized field," he said. "There are only so many employers that offer work for Zamboni drivers, especially here in Nashville."

Thompson's inability to get supplemental Zamboni jobs is not without a lack of trying. He has plastered telephone polls and bulletin boards throughout his community with fliers advertising his Zamboni driving surfaces. He sits outside Home Depot every morning with a sign that says: "NEED ZAMBONI WORK?" He has posted his resume all over online job sites. He has even started going door-to-door asking people if they need any ice resurfacing odd jobs done around the house.