I dont know much about the NHL's commissioner but Selig has been as bad as it gets. Hes a hypocrite, he allowed steroids to take over the game for the sake of money, and now he is trying to act like the savior when in reality he had a chance to stop it a LONG time ago and never did a thing.
Bud Selig by a whisker over Gary Bettman. Under Selig: umps shrink the strike zone to get the fannies back in the seats (after the strike) to watch 11-9 home run-cheapened juice fests. Lead off hitters like Brady Anderson suddenly hit 50 HRS, Sammy Sosa goes from middling .275 hitter with White Sox to Wrigley with his "race-to-his-outfield position" schtick straight to the '600' club (while suddenly becoming "no hablo english" tongue-tied come testimony time), Raphael "the finger pointer" Palmero turns from a 8-12 HR hitter in no less a bandbox than Wrigley to 35-40 HRs, Barry Bonds turns into Bonds-the-balloon-head, Mark McGuire/Jose Canseco "Bash Brothers," the Texas Rangers during the ARod/Pudge-Rod era, etc., etc. Honorable mention: Adam-the-Alien Silver's looks alone are bugging me out. Creepy-looking geek.
Yeah, it has to be Bettman versus Selig. I know Bettman is overwhelmingly despised by Canadians everywhere, but I go with Selig by a nose, based on how (unlike Bettman) he wasn't coming from a position of tremendous weakness when he started, and still let the game go off in various crappy directions. The future and reputation of baseball were never in doubt (again, unlike for the NHL), yet Selig allowed them to become tarnished by his own actions and inactions.
I don't think there has ever been a commissioner that understands his sport less than Gary Bettman. Oh, he can market and promote, but he knows nothing about his game.
I really find Selig silly and decisions the MLB makes seems to be not thought out in advance too well. So with my familiarity of Selig over Bettman, I would go Selig, but either one works for me.
I agree about Selig. He's a complete hypocrite. I almost picked Goodell but he has done a couple good things, despite watering down the sport.
