In Seattle, Chris Daniels cited sources yesterday as saying that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly "made a personal visit to Seattle last week and met with its top two elected officials." Bettman and Daly "flew to Seattle last week and met privately" with King County Exec Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Ed Murray. King County Dir of Communications Frank Abe described the meeting between Bettman and Constantine as a "meet and greet" and said "nothing was really brewing right now." But Daniels noted it is "unclear why Bettman and Daly made the personal appearance in Seattle, as opposed to discussing matters over the phone" (KING5.com, 5/13).
PLEASE DON'T STOP THE MUSIC: In Chicago, Paul Sullivan noted before '14, there was "no limit to the length of walk-up music" in MLB. The league did not want to "eliminate walk-up music entirely and upset the players," but asked the MLBPA last offseason to "limit them to 15 seconds." The request "was granted." It "doesn't make a huge difference, but MLB reasoned it was better than having no time limit at all" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 5/11).
LET ME ASK YOU THIS...: In Boston, Mark Murphy noted while the NBA is "still miles behind the NFL in terms of standardized procedures" surrounding its Draft, the league is still "more informal in the interview process." Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge said, "We haven’t gone to the Wonderlic test. We only get a half-hour with each guy, so you try to find out how they talk about themselves." But Murphy noted the "benefit is limited." A good agent has "coached his client on this process" (BOSTON HERALD, 5/11).
