Lawless Far From Flawless

I spent a large part of my weekend twittering back and forth with Winnipeg Free Press Sports Columnist Gary Lawless. I was actually thankful when he blocked me as opposed to answering my direct questions, because it allowed me to proclaim that I had won my first Twitter War before it had even started. It also allowed me to proclaim this man is 100% wrong and he knows it full well. Proof that he has indirectly acknowledged his culpability was the theme of his Column in today's paper where he attempts to sift through what's fact, fiction and what's fantasy. Let me pay compliment here to Mr. Lawless by using a similar theme for my blog.

Mr. Lawless has attempted to cover the NHL's sale of the Phoenix Coyotes on as regular basis as possible. And when it was impossible, because there was no news, he seems to have invented sources to substantiate a column in The Free Press. What follows are just a few glaring examples.

On Thursday April 14th Gary Lawless wrote on the official website for The Winnipeg Free Press that True North Sports and Entertainment may begin a season ticket campaign to demonstrate it's viability as a desirable market for relocation to the NHL Board of Directors. To his credit he did try to speak in hypothetical terms for the most part, with the exception of one glaring statement when he suggested: "Such a cash call could come as early as next week."

Oh really Gary? In the next 7 days, True North will begin selling season tickets for a hypothetical relocation to demonstrate the markets viability? You have no source to back this suggestion, but you believe you can guess the next move of Mark Chipman and David Thomson I guess. Because you've been so good at it so far, haven't you...

Let me remind you, that Jim Balsillie royally ticked off the NHL's establishment in 2009 when he began a similar season ticket drive to a hypothetical relocation to Hamilton's Copps Coliseum, for the same beleaguered NHL franchise. If you're suggestion was half factual, it would only demonstrate an uncharacteristically aggressive overture by True North in their quiet and patient effort to secure an NHL team for relocation. But you felt the need to suggest to Winnipeg Free Press readers that this move was virtually imminent.

And then to take your butt out of the fire, you shift the blame to Tim Campbell citing a Spring 2010 piece he wrote for the same Newspaper you write for. Let me stipulate that I fully believe in Tim Campbell's credibility, and when he posed the hypothetical question to Mark Chipman in Spring of 2010, he probably didn't irresponsibly report that the answer indicated that Chipman would put season tickets on sale within the next week. That's called a guess, it's not educated speculation, it's not sourced information, it's a shot in the dark, that sadly created an embarrassment for the City of Winnipeg and True North's efforts at securing a NHL franchise. Now local media in Phoenix can point to such a column and say "The Canadian Media hasn't exactly been a bastion of accuracy when it comes to the sale of this franchise." As Craig Morgan did in his blog for Fox Sports Arizona. Yes Craig, truer words have never been said in regards to Mr. Lawless.

Sadly that's not all that Gary Lawless screwed up royally last week. There was another gem, that serves to not embarrass Lawless, but also The Winnipeg Free Press and the radio station that allows him to be heard Monday thru Friday, Sports Radio 1290.

On April 14th, at 1am, Lawless wrote in a column available on The Winnipeg Free Press website, "the Free Press has a Glendale source stating Hulsizer has pulled any concessions he's made off the table and reverted to his original proposal to the NHL and Glendale." This supposed source that only The Winnipeg Free Press had was a juicy piece, as Media throughout Canada, and the US quoted the article as evidence that the deal in Phoenix was dead (it may well be dead, but Gary Lawless has proven that he will be the last to know with any factual information). Sadly for Mr. Lawless, a far more credible member of the media, Darren Dreger dispelled such a rumour later in the day, in his daily blog "The Dreger Report" available on TSN's official website.

So now Gary Lawless, if you are to save any face, you need to reveal your source who suggested Hulsizer did in fact pull any of his concessions off the table. You won't because you'd have to admit there was not a reliable source instigating this report.

And if only that was it. Maybe we could say that Gary was just having a bad week. He was getting caught up in all the excitement of it all. It was just a couple of not so minor mistakes. However, since the beginning of March, when this fiasco was just warming up, Gary has made statements that turned out to be less than honest. Yes that's right, I'm suggesting Gary Lawless is a liar. I know it's a harsh word but in this case the big shoe, of the foot currently planted in his big mouth, fits perfectly.

I give you exhibit C: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpTA14bQOUI Gary Lawless' sources told him it would be "a matter of days not weeks" in the first days of March, for this matter to get resolved. And it's been 7 full weeks since. Who was your source on that one Mr. Lawless? Doesn't matter any longer, it's not the sources to be blamed, but the irresponsible journalist who spews this garbage.

On Sunday when Mr. Lawless elected to block me on Twitter, he said it was because I had made it personal in my questions to him. I did ask him why he lied in his column. And I did call him a buffoon. I apologize to Mr. Lawless, not for saying such mean things, but for asking questions that he couldn't answer and for proving him 100% wrong.

If the Winnipeg Free Press had any credibility whatsoever, they would ensure that Mr. Lawless was Mr. Job-less well before the puck drops (whether that's an NHL or AHL puck) for next season. This man has at best been irresponsible in his columns, and at worst been dishonest. Either way he's demonstrated complete incompetence.

What's FACT is that Mr. Lawless is wrong. What's FICTION is what Mr. Lawless has written in The Winnipeg Free Press. What's FANTASY is what Mr. Lawless calls "sources".