While the Detroit Red Wings failed in their quest to tame the hype machine that is Sydney Crosby, and to take home a second straight Stanley Cup, the Wings can take solace in the fact that it is the best-run and most successful franchise in North American professional sports.

We're not about to fold European soccer or subcontinent cricket into the mix. Let them have their own argument. And this isn't an all-time argument - that honor belongs to the Yankees and their 26 World Series titles. The Montreal Canadiens come close  with 24 Cups.

But among the groups currently taking the field, court or ice, no team has been more successful or less problematic than the Wings since they returned to the Stanley Cup Finals after their 30-year drought ended 14 years ago.

Since 1995, the Wings have reached the finals six times while winning four. Their finals victory total is one more than the New England Patriots' Super Bowl wins and is tied with the Yankees (titles in 1996, '98, '99 and 2000) and the Los Angles Lakers (NBA Finals wins in 2000, '01, '02 and '09). The Lakers tied the Wings in finals appearances and have done more in less time than their best-of competitor, needing only nine years compared with the Wings' 13. The lockout cost the NHL one year.

A second stat favoring the Wings is that the team boasts the highest winning percentage among its fellow league leaders over the stated time frame. Granted, styles of play, league rules, free agency, injuries, uptight athletes and a hundred other points of interest factor into the success and failure of an organization. But when it's all said and done, Detroit tops the list by winning at a .668 clip. New England is second at .651, with the Lakers third at .650. The Yankees have won 59.6 percent of their games. Even if ties are factored in, which are unique to the NHL and were for that reason left out of the equation, the Wings still managed to win 60.9 percent of all the games played. An interesting side note to this comparison is that only the Wings and Yankees have failed to log a losing season during the period.

One of the best testaments to the franchises organizational skills is that the team has been able to remain successful after the league adopted a salary cap following the work stoppage. Prior to 2005, the NHL was the only league not to have a cap, luxury tax or some type of profit sharing program to help bolster the league's weaker teams. The Wings took full advantage of their financial might. Just as the Yankees had done for decades, the Wings bought talent by the pound, culminating in 2002 when they traded for and signed three soon-to-be Hall of Famers in Dominik Hasek, Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille. The new collective bargaining agreement caused a fire sale around the league as teams were forced to dump talent to save money. Detroit didn't miss a beat winning one title and coming within a single game of winning a second.

Their reputation for wooing talent was further enhanced when Marian Hossa, a four-time all-star with Pittsburgh, spurned the Pens long-term offer to take the Wings' one year deal. Think back when Johnny Damon left Boston to sign with New York and you get an idea of how big that was.

The biggest factor in the Wings' success is that they boast professional sports' best front office executive. Ken Holland has been masterful in mining the deeper rounds of the draft for talent. Two-time Selke Trophy winner Pavel Datsyuk was a sixth-round pick, Henrik Zetterberg came in the seventh and goalie annoyer Tomas Holmstrom didn't get picked until the 10th round. Two out of this three may end up in the Hall of Fame. This type of late-round success has enabled Detroit to bring along young talent at a reasonable pace and not rush them simply because of their draft status.

Holland's leadership has also made the Wings one of sports few drama-free organizations. He's greatly benefited by the efforts of former captain and current vice president Steve Yzerman, who set a professional level of decorum that each player is expected to follow.

Unlike the Yankees or Lakers, who get as much air time on Entertainment Tonight as they do on SportsCenter, the athletes in the red sweaters get attention for victories and not much else. This has much to do with the fact that the NHL just doesn't draw the fan or media interest of other sports, and because the NHL boasts far fewer players head cases than their competitors.
Sean Avery notwithstanding.

smurray1984@gmail.com

On May 29, LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens donned her most impressive polyester power pantsuit to join other sports honchos in handing out crystal tornadoes at the second annual SportsBusiness Journal awards ceremony in Manhattan.

While such participation is not in itself surprising, one must question whether said commissioner warranted taking part in any event honoring successful business achievement.

Bivens was not responsible for the guest list, nor was she involved in the brave, obvious and uninspired choice of naming a big-named franchise in a huge media market - the Boston Celtics - as the Professional Sports Team of the Year. The good folks at SBJ also went out on a limb naming Coke as best sponsor, ESPN best sports media and IMG best at client enrichment.

But I digress. I come not to praise the selections, but to bury the presenter.

If the good folks at the business journal - which in fact is a valuable yet expensive source of information - wanted to tap into the experience of a leader fearless enough to upset longtime sponsors thereby forcing their corporate contributions to the cash-strapped PGA, no better choice could have been made then selecting a woman willing to accept the resignations of the tour's most senior officers less than a year after she took office - some of whom she herself had hired.

Bivens' latest brainstorm, or blood-clot-induced stroke, is to encourage players to Twitter while on the course. According to Bloomberg News Service, Bivens said, "I'd love it if players Twittered during the middle of a round. The new media is very important to the growth of golf and we view it as a positive, and a tool to be used."

The woman who announced her presence with authority at the 2006 Fields Open by trying to gain possession of all media photos taken and stories written at the event - which, naturally, blew up in her face when members of the press boycotted the event, thereby greatly reducing the publicity the LPGA had counted on - would also encourage her athletes to update their Facebook page while going all in at
Texas Hold 'Em or sending out gifts to would-be family members in Mafia wars.

Bivens went on to say, "For Morgan Pressel and Christina Kim's following - her fans are 12-, 13-, 14-year-old girls and boys - they're not waiting for the golf broadcast on Saturday and Sunday. They want to know what's going on in the middle of the round. If we're going to get out of the collared shirts and khaki pants and make golf chic, hip, happening, Christina Kim is exactly the kind of player to reach out and make golf a lot more relevant."

Listen carefully and you can make out the laughter emanating from just about any place where Bivens' White Rabbit-inspired delusions of rainbow bright marketing fail to find acceptance in the normally staid and successful golf community.

The USGA has maintained a full cavity-search policy when it comes to cell phones on the course, and outlaws the use of any device that may assist the golfer "in making a stroke or in his play; or for the purpose of gauging or measuring distance or conditions that might affect his play."

Minute details like these are of little bother to the presenter in the Digital Sports Media category.
Such bizarre announcements have become commonplace for the commissioner of the world's largest female sports league. This is just the latest since she tried to institute an English-only requirement for a business that has lost three tourneys and some $7 million in prize money in the last year. And just as she handled the language controversy, Bivens backtracked on Twittergate by suggesting she never suggested it.

Bivens posted her rebuttal on the LPGA's barely usable website, saying, "Comments that I made in a conversation with a writer last week regarding the importance of social media and tweeting have been taken out of context. We have not discussed tweeting or the use of hand-held devices during tournament rounds with the USGA, or even within the LPGA, nor do we intend to. Our players will not be tweeting during the rounds of LPGA events."

Well, that explains it.

One day - sooner rather than later - the organization's membership will figure out that the best way to make the game more "hip, chic, happening" would be to get rid of the woman who has not yet figured out how to market a sport with greater athletes and more eye candy than any time in its history.

Then again, maybe not.

smurray1984@gmail.com

Dwight Howard wants the world to know how much he loves Orlando. Disney World, Sea World, Universal Studios, Tiger Woods, Del Frisco's Prime Steak & Lobster, and of course the paying patrons of the Amway Arena. He wants to let the fans know how important they are to him and that given their permission, he'll remain in the city of congested traffic for as long as they'll have him.

Now before everyone in shouting distance of the 407 area code starts renaming their sons after the 6' 11" center with Sly Stallone shoulders and a Cheshire cat smile, it would be wise to acknowledge that the man has promised nothing. He, in fact, put the responsibility of his future decision in the hands of others.

According to Howard, he'll remain a fixture in the community so long as the fans pack the arena and are not too critical, that ownership surrounds him with a bevy of talent to ensure continued success and, most important, so long as he doesn't slip into a lower tax bracket.

Saying to the Orlando Sentinel, "You want to feel loved. That's the biggest thing. I show my love to the community. I show my love to this city by stepping on the floor every night and playing as hard as I can. That's all we want back." Howard wants to be loved and athletic admiration is shown one way - with cash!
Ron Artest was not thinking about putting food on the table when he turned down the Pacers' contract offer three years ago. Nor was Howard when he said "My responsibility is to my family first, then the organization and then my city." What both men meant was that they deserve a certain level of recognition and respect in professional sports is measured in dollars and cents.

The 23-year-old has four years left on his $85 million mutual admiration deal with the Magic so he's not likely to go anywhere soon. Unless the bottom falls out of the central Florida basketball market, Howard will not be traded nor is he likely to ask for time off to become an A&R man for an unknown vocal ensemble. But he hasn't been shy about what he expects from his employers. Howard wants victories and rings. Lots of them and he's not shy about making his opinion's heard.

"As a franchise, we all have to take on a championship mentality," said Howard in the Sentinel article. "That's the thing I've been telling [General Manager] Otis [Smith] and [team president] Bob [Vander Weide] that we have to have a championship mentality every day."

Dwight Howard is far too mentally maintained to start burning through teams and he's proven his love of community way too many times to discount his fan crush comments as simple PR ramblings. But the draw of bigger paychecks and brighter lights is always a seductive temptress. No longer is it enough for an athlete to compete and head home. Athletes want to act; dance and design clothing all while releasing some of the worst hip hop albums of all time.

The Sentinel article said Howard understands how the team and city was devastated when Shaq took the traveling road show to L.A. But is it beyond comprehension to consider that the guy who borrowed the Big Aristotle's superhero moniker couldn't find even more inspiration from the man who, like Howard now, once cut a rather trim figure in a Magics' uniform? Or perhaps the king of the Cuyahoga?

"Everybody can say that LeBron should stay in Cleveland. That's where he's from. But you have to think about what's best for you and your family."
Don't be surprised. You've been warned.

smurray1984@gmail.com

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been a polarizing figure ever since he first strode to his court-side seats and began abusing players, officials and coaches. But when he walked past Kenyon Martin's mother and yelled at her that her son was a "thug," he went from amusing annoyance to an ego-obsessed coward.
Cuban, who likes to think his team benefits from his fanatical response to any perceived slight to his traditionally underperforming squad, showed even more courage when he apologized to Martin and his mother in a very personal way - on his blog. Martin said he would confront Cuban about the incident, but it was quickly announced the owner would miss the game so he could receive his CLIO Award.
Stranger than Cuban's cowardliness was the response by the NBA. There was no response. Over the years, Cuban has been one of the league's best contributors to the NBA wayward mouth fund. It seems strange the league has decided to stay quiet now that the target was a player's mother and not a game official.

No one is suggesting that Celtic forward Glen Davis went after Nicholas Provetti as if the 12-year-old had just stolen his Double Stuf Oreos, but the fact is that Davis shoved the young Magic fan as he raced along the sideline to join teammates for a post-game celebration. Provetti's father, who demanded an apology and tried to compare Davis' path of destruction to that of Genghis Khan's march through central Asia, got carried away with his accusations. Anyone purchasing a court-side seat has to recognize a certain amount of risk comes with such access. And even though no one was hurt, Davis is a strong 289-pound athlete who pushed a child, and common decency requires an appropriate apology - and perhaps an autographed basketball. His "If I had hurt anyone please forgive me" line was agent-written BS. He may have been sincere, but no matter how honest the sentiment, a prepared statement always rings hollow.