James Dolan, about to get kneecapped by the NHL. Photo: Getty Images
Way back in September, Madison Square Garden sued the NHL to prevent the league from gaining control over the Rangers’ official Website. At the time, the story was really only noteworthy because it proved, once again, that both the Garden and the NHL have their priorities perfectly straight. We’d assumed that they’d worked things out over the past several months — after all, the Rangers’ site changed over to the league’s template, and the earth didn’t stop spinning. It seems, though, that the lawsuit didn’t go away, and today, the NHL responded to it by threatening to kick Cablevision out of the league. This, of course, is every New York fan’s dream — to fire the Dolans. (Don’t let the Rangers’ moderate success the last few years fool you: The crowd booed loudly when Brian Leetch mentioned the name “Dolan” during his number-retirement speech last season.)
Of all Cablevision’s drama over the past few years — and there has been plenty — could this be the story that catches up to the company? If so, it would be the sports equivalent of busting Al Capone on tax evasion. Sadly, though, we can’t imagine this actually happening. And the NHL isn’t framing their threat right anyway: It wouldn’t be punishment to make them sell the Rangers; it’d be punishment to make them keep the Knicks. —Joe DeLessio
In letter, NHL threatens to kick MSG out of league [ESPN.com]
