Family Feud Moves Out of the Arena

There are sporting rivalries, but seldom do they extend so vehemently from corporate board rooms like the one pitting Jeanie Buss of the Blades against the owners of the Bullfrogs.

Buss and the Silver family have become the Hatfields and McCoys of Roller Hockey International. They have sparred and, at times, cursed each other. They even drafted the playing rights to each other’s coaches.

The bickering has trickled down to staff members on both sides, some of whom quietly complain that the feud affects the way they do their jobs. It probably cost former Blade Coach Bobby Hull Jr. his job after he failed to defeat the Bullfrogs in last year’s playoffs.

“Both owners are very fine people, both are competitive and they want to win,” said RHI founder Dennis Murphy, an owner of the San Diego Barracudas. “When people want to win like they do, they’re going to say anything and everything to beat the other person. Sometimes people should think twice about what they say to each other.”

Buss has accused the Silvers of hiring goons to hurt her players. The Silvers claim Buss is angry the Bullfrogs have won 10 of 13 games. Their next meeting is at 6 tonight at the Pond. Anaheim defeated the Blades, 5-4, Tuesday.

Maury Silver claims Buss embarrassed him at the Forum during a rare Blades victory over the Bullfrogs in 1993 when unknowingly his face was put on the giant television screen above the rink and fans booed him. Buss was asked to leave the Pond in a loud confrontation after a game in 1994, when, she admitted, she attempted to enter the Blades’ locker room at the Pond without proper credentials.

“I’ve been frustrated,” Buss said. “Obviously, they’ve dominated the relationship. All they have to do is point to their record against us.”

The latest flare-up is a classic case of one-upmanship. Maury Silver was infuriated when Buss made Bullfrog player/coach Brad McCaughey the Blades’ first-round choice in February’s annual free-agent draft.

“It was done out of spite,” Silver said. “She knows he’s not going to play for her, so why did she do it? It was just spite.”

Not so, says Buss. It was merely a business decision that led her to take advantage of the Silvers’ gamble that no one would touch McCaughey, who was left unprotected because of a chronically bad back.

“Brad McCaughey is one of the all-time best Roller Hockey International players there is,” Buss said. “He won a championship with the Bullfrogs. Certainly, we wanted him to play for us.”

The Silvers retaliated by taking the rights to new Blade Coach Mark Hardy, a former Kings’ defenseman, 12 rounds later. The Bullfrogs were angry when Hardy was chosen to replace Hull because they had been in discussions with Hardy about playing for Anaheim. Drafting Hardy assured that he would never suit up as a player/coach for the Blades.

McCaughey announced his retirement, but it’s widely believed he would play again if it would help the Bullfrogs. As recently as last month, Buss points out, McCaughey’s bad back didn’t stop him from playing in several roller hockey exhibition games in Europe.

Buss says she’s ready to deal, if the Bullfrogs make the first overture.

“If they want to trade, have them call me,” Buss said.

Put up or shut up, say the Silvers.

“It’s not as simple as a phone call to her,” said Nelson Silver, one of Maury’s two sons who operate the team. “To trade means trading players and we don’t have any players we want to trade her.”

The rivalry dates back to the earliest days of the league, when Laker owner Jerry Buss handed the reigns of the Blades to his only daughter.

Buss was particularly galled in 1993 when the Blades were knocked out of the playoffs by the Bullfrogs, who went on to win the league’s first title with a record of 17-0-1. In 1994 the Blades captured the divisional title, but the Bullfrogs knocked them out of the playoffs again.

To compensate, Buss has stocked her roster with many former Bullfrogs. In 1994 the Blades signed popular Bullfrog defender Mike Butters shortly after he was released. Forward Bob McKillop, at one time rumored to be the player that could be involved in a McCaughey-Hardy trade, is another former Bullfrog now with the Blades, as is defender Steve Beadle.

“My tombstone will read, ‘She never beat the Bullfrogs,’ ” Buss said. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

That would suit the Silvers just fine.

“There was no need for her to do what she did to my father on the screen,” Nelson Silver said. “She embarrassed the heck out of my father. Instead of us going out verbally to lash at her, we strive to beat her team.”

Buss says she would be more than happy to see things calm down.

“Maybe I said some things out of frustration, certainly that happens in the heat of sports,” she said. “If anyone took them the wrong way, took them personally, I apologize.”