Oh Hamilton, how hard those dreams are to realize

We wonder if that chortling sound we swear we heard yesterday was Gary Bettman, snickering away to anyone within earshot as he read the business pages of the New York papers.

There in full view, both on television and in the papers was live time decline of the Blackberry Empire and with it a diminishing a wee bit of the star that was Jim Balsillie, one time technology King and would be White Knight of Hamilton and prospective NHL owner, both prospects a little less stellar these days we imagine.

Hamiltonian's, used to as they are of having their dreams of an NHL franchise dashed, can't be feeling too optimistic these days,  the hopeful dreams of a few years ago, when it seemed as though Balsillie was but a signature or two away from delivering them their long desired franchise, once again dashed, this time under the weight of a business story that has rocked the Canadian technology sector.

At the moment and considering his resignation and the downward trend of the value of Mr. Balsillie's now former day job properties, the prospect of any return by him to the battles of the NHL board rooms seems rather remote and with it one suspects goes any chance in the near term of Hamilton floating to the top of any relocation sweepstakes.

Right now when it comes to the idea of a moving van heading north, the current favourite seems to be Quebec City, with a Mayor beating the bushes as fast as he can to secure the elusive NHL nod.

Hamilton has had the rink for any number of years now, they had the prospective owner too, however both are a little faded at the moment, much like the prospect of Hamilton as an NHL home has gone from hot to cold.

Make no mistake we still think Hamilton would be a major improvement over any number of current homes of an NHL franchise, but with setbacks such as these, it's hard to keep the place on the A list for long.


National Post-- Investors still cool to RIM change
CTV-- RIM shares down again after executive changes
Vancouver Sun-- RIM: not bold enough?
Vancouver Sun-- Clock strikes zero for RIM's co-CEO's
Globe and Mail-- Mike, Jim come back, all is forgiven (RIM rout, Part II)
Toronto Star-- RIM continues its irrelevance with 'shakeup'