It gets freakier . . .

Not only does this Ulf Rönnmark thing stink, it is getting stinkier. The man who made the decision to remove Ulf Rönnmark happens to work for a competing company, called Svenska Spel. Svenska Spel is the Swedish gambling monopoly. He also is the president of the Swedish Ice Hockey Association! Of which Svenska Spel is the chief sponsor. So did the government, trying to protect its monopoly, force the Ice Hockey Association to fire Uld Rönnmark? What exactly are the rules for referees anyway? Is it in fact illegal to have a job or just a job with a competitor of Svenska Spel? Can the players gamble on matches in which they play? How about the referees?

No wonder more Swedes follow the NHL, in the US the players are paid by the teams, not by gambling companies like in Sweden.