Hicks

There are a few things I strongly dislike in this world. Traffic and the morons that cause traffic is one. Poor officiating is another. Rosie O'donnel. The way British people say "schedule" and "zebra." Nicholas Cage and John Travolta.

Very high on the list of things I strongly dislike, however, and ever gaining ground on Rosie and Travolta is Rangers and Stars owner Tom Hicks.

Somehow this worthless sack of crap got his hands on not one, but two DFW Metroplex sports teams. The Rangers have always had problems and have never been the model of a well run organization. But they've gotten oh so much worse since Hicks came on board. And so as not to appear as playing favorites, he is making every effort to drive the Stars, once a proud hockey franchise, into the ground right along with the Rangers.

It started out really well. Hicks has some freakishly deep pockets. Figuaratively speaking he could put a herd of those blasted longhorns he loves so much in each pocket. The dude has more money than he could ever spend. He purchased the Stars in 95 and for several years put as much money into the team as could be expected for an NHL franchise. Then in 98 he bought the Rangers. At the time sports fans in DFW were excited and thought he'd be like Jerry Jones and put crazy money into the team. The Rangers, as noted, have always been a terrible franchise. Three division titles, no playoff series wins, and no world series appearances in their history. And again, for a few short years, Hicks did in fact put money into the team.

Two problems. First of all, he never did surround himself with real active, knowledgeable baseball guys. He overbid by 50 million dollars to bring in A-Rod and gave Chan Ho Park 15 mil a year and thought that would be enough. Oddly enough, baseball is probably the one sport that one superstar cannot carry a team in. By paying ARod 25 mil a year he couldn't (or wouldn't) pay for any of the other positions. The team floundered in last place and eventually traded A-rod for 50 cents on the dollar. The second problem was, somewhere along the line, Hicks stopped spending money.

Hicks has figured out, both with the Stars and the Rangers, that because this market is so supporting of its teams, he can put next to nothing into the team, blame the lack of expenditure on the fans, and make a crap load of money off this little scam. People will still go to the Ballpark even when the Rangers suck and Hicks, as always, refuses to put any money into the team. Hockey fans in Dallas are FREAKISHLY attached to their team and will continue to fork over 50 bucks a ticket for bad seats to watch a team that hasn't been able to score for 5 years but still hasn't done anything to get scorers.

I've freaking had it with this guy. Dallas is the 5th biggest market on the national sports scene. And yet year after year the Rangers in particular are in the bottom third in payroll. Think about that: fifth biggest market and their payroll is in line with Kansas City, Florida, and Tampa Bay. That's pathetic. And yet year after year Hicks blames the lack of spending on the fans not coming to the ballpark (bull crap) and says he's not making enough profit off the team.

The same thing is going on right now with the Stars. Payroll in the NHL isn't an issue because of the salary cap but figuring out how to spend that money is more important in hockey than in baseball. Every year he raises ticket prices (for both franchises) and then turns around and makes weak, insignificant patch-job signings, like last year's Eric Lindros signing. This team CANNOT SCORE! Go get SOMEONE who can fill the net. Every year Hicks and his team (who I can't blame because they're not getting anything from the owner) lacklusterly poke around at the big fish just so they can say they tried but in the end they never pony up the money they know it will take to sign a real goal scorer. And so each year they bring out the dog and pony show and tell us how they're going to be a defensive team and there wasn't really anyone out there worth signing anyway.

Now Hicks has fired the GM. This is a move that I've expected. Doug Armstrong didn't bring in the scorers needed to take this team back to prominence. But as I've noted, how much can he really do, knowing that his owner isn't going to pay any real money even if he does get one of the big free agents to come to Dallas. The problem isn't the firing of Army. The problem is that he wanted to fire Army in the off season but didn't have the nerve to do it. Now he's done it 15 games into the year and put a complete novice at the head of the team. This season is lost now. If you're going to make a move, do it when the team has a half a chance to get used to that move.

An even bigger issue, though, was the press conference. Hicks comes out and talks about his presidents of operations and how good they've been and how much of a difference they've made. And he talks (like ALWAYS) about revenue. He scolds the Stars fans for not giving up their first born for the Stars and again reminds the lowly serfs/fans that without their money he can't (translation: won't) spend the money necessary to make the Stars or the Rangers relevant again. He speaks to the media and to the fans like he's the chairman of the board speaking to the dang shareholders.

Here's the thing Tommy Boy: WE DON'T FREAKING CARE ABOUT YOUR PROFITS!!! We are shareholders in a sense, but in THE TEAM, not you, not your revenues. If you want to make money off a company then don't get into sports. Sure, there's money to be had but not nearly at the same level that a corporation can bring you. The point of a sports franchise is not to make money but to WIN and then take the money that comes from that. There just aren't many teams in any sport that really rake in money. The Yankees and the Cowboys come to mind, but oh by the way, The Yankees payroll last year was 250 million dollars and oh by the way, Jerry Jones just spent about 500 million of his own money to make that stadium the best in the world. In sports you have to give to get. We're sick and tired of being admonished for not paying the ever increasing ticket prices for teams that are ever decreasing in talent. Put some money into these teams, stay out of the public eye and SHUT YOUR MOUTH! Every time the dude talks it's a speech about lack of revenue and cicle talk concerning the direction of the franchises. How bout this, we'll spend some money when you spend some money and stop running these teams into the ground. If the money really is so bad, then GET OUT and sell the teams to owners who know what it takes to put a winner on the field/ice. Cuban has been trying to get into MLB for years, surely he wouldn't mind taking on the Rangers. Can you imagine what Jerry would do with the Stars?

It's time to put up or shut up Hicks. Spend some money or sell the teams and move on. Don't you have an English soccer team to ruin anyway?