What did you dream about when you were kid? Like many Canadian boys, I dreamt about winning hokey’s holy grail, the Stanley Cup. Like most people, my childhood dreams evolved as I began to realize certain realities and my true strengths, but the central idea of bringing The Cup home never really subsided.  Knowing it would not happen as a player, however, the next dream was perhaps the even wilder idea to purchase a team and win as an owner.

For this reason, when I first heard of Jim Balsillie’s attempts to own an NHL franchise, I was ecstatic if only because here was a man who was proving that the dream could be a reality. The fact that he was Co-CEO of a Canadian-owned multinational (RIM, maker of the ubiquitous Blackberry) and deeply committed to philanthropy elevated his stature in my eyes to heroic-like proportions. By proving that Canadian companies did not need to be owned by foreign entities, Ballsillie was not living just any dream, he was living mine and given the level of support he’s gotten, potentially yours.

Like many, I had consequently remained loyal to the Ballsillie camp and felt that his inability to acquire a team could largely be attributed to the NHL and its Commissioner Gary Bettman desire to further cultivate the seemingly disinterested US hockey market. For this very reason, I rooted for Ballsillie and the big middle finger he was giving to the NHL and the US hockey market. He was so gung-ho to re-locate the team back in the Canadian market, it was hard not to feel like this man was one of the greatest patriots of our time.

Or, at least, this is what his handlers have led us to think by creating makeitseven.ca and painting Ballsillie as ‘the David who took on the NHL’. The irony is, however, Jim Ballsillie has showed the same level of arrogance and aggressiveness that Canadians identify as being so “un-Canadian”, that it must be American.  He was walked away from deals that he has committed to as he did in Pittsburgh, he has sold tickets to teams which did not exist as he did with Nashville and now with Phoenix he is literally pushing his way in by the excessive use of money.

This of course inspires the question: is Ballsillie a Canadian hero or has our blind patriotism blinded us to the realities?  There’s little doubt that he has made it harder now for a new team to emerge in Canada and the NHL more aggressive than ever to prove themselves correct in the American market. It is unanimously accepted that he has not played by the rules and his has absolutely no allies among the community of NHL owners who have grown to distrust Ballsillie for his tactics.

I recognize that this is an unpopular stance to take in Canada but for that very reason, it is perhaps a side of the story that we refuse to accept. I used to be one of these people. I allowed myself to support actions I would never have supported otherwise, blinded by, lets be frank, Balsillie’s balls.  His motives, however, are not what me, you or what Canada wants. His motives are what Jim Ballsillie wants and he seems prepared to do what it takesn, including hurting the game, until that happens.