[sureLoss]

Burke is co-chair of the annual Prime Time Sports Management conference, which brings front-office executives, academics, media and students together to discuss challenges facing the business of sport.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/2013/1..._olympics.html

The biggest challenge currently facing Burke is helping to field a roster of players who can improve on the U.S. hockey team’s 2010 Olympic silver medal.



“If the United States just takes the 20 best players and shows up in Sochi we’re going to have a real hard time beating Canada and a real hard time beating Russia. Russia is going to be very difficult on home soil,” said Burke, director of player personnel for the U.S. team.

At conference sessions before his keynote address, Burke lived up to his fiery reputation with an opinion on just about everything:



Twitter: “I don’t get social media. I understand why it works for other people but I think it’s stupid, mainly because of my age. I tweet but I have a woman do it for me so I can never get mad at someone in the media and tweet that this guy is a jerk or I’m going to smack him. They’re my tweets, it’s my stuff but it’s filtered. That’s what I’d like to do with some of our players sometimes.”

Fan access: “The fans want to get in the dressing room. It’s the last place we want them. This is an endless battle between the suits and the talent guys.”

Staying low-key: “If I take a stroll in the Bell Centre in Montreal, I’m likely to get punched by somebody or have food thrown at me.”

Maple Leafs brand: “(It’s) one of the strongest brands on the planet and I used to tell our players if we went and sat on a stone wall in a village in South America, the first thing that would come into view in terms of team insignia would be a t-shirt or hat that said New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, Boston Celtics, Manchester United or the Toronto Maple Leafs. It’s a global brand.”

Didn't quote it but discusses his lawsuit against the internet posters.

Also discusses his no hazing policy:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/b...hazing-policy/

“We already have a no-hazing policy,” said Burke, who was hired by the Flames in September. “I mean when I was a rookie in the American (Hockey) League, I got shaved, I got initiated and all that stuff. I’ve seen that happen to a lot of guys and I thought it was really stupid at the time. So we’ve never allowed hazing on any of my teams, even when I was an assistant GM back in ’87 with Pat Quinn (in Vancouver).


“No rookie initiations, no shaving, no physical abuse whatsoever. One of the forms of abuse (elsewhere) is to make the rookies (pay) a huge tab for a rookie dinner, where it costs them 15 to 20 grand. We have a cap of $5,000 on the rookie dinner. No rookie can pay more than $5,000. There’s no physical abuse, no racial abuse, no homophobic abuse. So I’m not worried about having that situation on our team.”

“I have gotten right in their face and cursed at them and said, ’You better stop worrying about what this (opponent) is going to do to you and you better start worrying about what I might do to you if you don’t get going here,“’ he said.
“Now is that bullying in the middle of the game when you think a guy is losing courage and you’re trying to buck him up? Is that bullying? To me it’s not.”