Time for action from this ‘Boss’

Years and years ago, an acquaintance disparagingly referenced Bobby Brett – managing partner of the Spokane Chiefs and not quite everything else there is to be owned sportingly in town – as “our own George Steinbrenner.”

Ha-ha, I laughed politely.

Yes, I said, Brett has always had that stir-it-up quality about him, wrestling with one facilities board or another. Yes, the bluster could be annoying. And, yes, there has been the occasional half-cocked moment, as when he politicized the vote to build the Spokane Arena by warning that he might move the hockey team if he didn’t get a lease to his liking.

But I also pointed out that – like Steinbrenner and his New York Yankees – Brett’s organization seemed committed to doing its best for the customers and doing its bit for the public good.

He got lucky – the Padres sent four championship baseball teams his way in the late 1980s, and he bought in just in time for the Chiefs’ Memorial Cup ride in 1991. But BrettCo worked at making game-going fun and different, and that included some beyond-the-call stuff like bringing the Memorial Cup and Western Hockey League All-Star Game to town.

If we didn’t kid ourselves that his priority was profit, there was a good time to be had.

Now?

Well, at least we’re not kidding ourselves.

So it’s time for Bobby Brett to be our George Steinbrenner again. Time for him to care about his hockey team.

At the least, it’s time for some gesture to suggest that he cares.

Fire somebody. Hire somebody. Throw some money at the problem.

Jump in front of a TV camera and holler that it needs to be fixed or whoever is responsible will be demoted to Zamboni duty in Smuts, Saskatchewan.

Because it’s broken, Bob. And you’re in charge.

Games tonight and Friday close the Chiefs’ 2005 home season – games they’ve made especially meaningless by excusing themselves from playoff contention a week ago.

March Madness, Chiefs style.

Spokane has now managed this two years running – not an easy thing in the WHL, in which 16 of 20 teams make the playoffs. You have to be really lousy, and the Chiefs didn’t take any chances. Spokane’s point total is the WHL’s worst – tied with Red Deer, yes, but the Rebels are a win to the good. Never has a Chiefs team held such a distinction, emphasis on the second syllable.

The Never-a-Wasted-Ticket program is becoming Forever-a-Wasted-Ticket.

All the assurances about his passion for the cause that Brett issued last spring as the Chiefs were going through yet another coach shuffle seem hollow now. But then, there is little incentive for ownership to aspire to greatness on the ice as long as the turnstiles continue to click – as they did for last Saturday’s sellout – and the balance sheet remains healthy.

Unless they average 6,849 in attendance their last two games, the Chiefs are on pace for their worst showing at the gate since the Arena opened. But it’s hardly been a free-fall. The season-ticket crowd seems to have been numbed into renewing out of habit if not happiness – though the no-shows multiply. Those announced audiences of 3,000-plus on Wednesday nights look more like 300.

And why not? Only Tri-City has won fewer games the past five seasons than Spokane.

The talent drain during this spell – from NHL draftables down through the depth – has been well-documented. General manager Tim Speltz did bring in a new scouting director last spring, but building through the protected list of young teens is a slow go, and after the midseason churn of about 30 percent of the roster, fans can expect another chorus of “we’re young” for 2007.

Not that it can’t be turned. Medicine Hat was last in the Central Division from 1998 to 2002; by 2004 the Tigers were WHL champs and have won the Central three years in a row.

But there’s been a lot of questionable judgment. The Chiefs let themselves get undersized, and some of the “character” guys they prized didn’t show enough of it. New coach Bill Peters has worked mightily to reverse that, but it seemed strange that Speltz noted the league trend in hiring more experienced coaches – even on the rebound from NHL jobs – then landed on someone with a relatively modest resume.

Of course, the fallback qualifier is always that, “It’s a developmental league.”

But right now, all the Chiefs are developing is indifference.

It’s a situation that screams for change – and not a trade for another third-line winger.

Something Steinbrennerish. Maybe bring in someone – call him a consultant – with an impeccable hockey pedigree for a critical look at the organization. Maybe an aide with a substantive voice. Maybe a boost to the scouting budget. Maybe even a season-ticket rollback to patrons who’ve remained through this dreadful stretch, to fully acknowledge the organizational failure.

Or something more drastic.

Something, anything, that demonstrates that the owner cares about more than the bottom line.

Because, competitively, that’s exactly where the Chiefs have settled.