Imagine your neighbor knocking down his house, then rebuilding it from scratch as his family lived in a hotel. You had to listen to the construction guys hammering, sawing and banging for a solid year. Finally the house goes up, the family moves back in … and seven years later, suddenly they're knocking the house down again. You ask the neighbor what happened and he says, "Yeah, sorry about that — we screwed up when we rebuilt the house, had too many flaws, we needed to do it over again."

Naturally, you say, "Why didn't you figure out all that stuff before you rebuilt the house the first time?"

He says, "Because I'm an idiot, that's why."

And then, there's an awkward silence before he walks away, as you don't know whether he's kidding or not.

That's Gary Bettman.

That's from Grantland. Read the whole thing.

He needs to just leave. And I don't care if the lockout ends today or tomorrow or next October. No matter what, Bettman needs to go. His very presence is so offensive that it's hard to even discuss anymore. His employment, his continuing employment as a commissioner...I've never seen anything like it. I've never seen an organization fail so badly, so consistently and publicly...and the leader is allowed to stay. Oh I know. "Failure" by who's definition? By the owners? Certainly not. They're making money. Every one of them. Yes they are.

Simmons is right on. He nails it so well, but nobody will be swayed. No owner is going to read it and call another, forward it or nod in agreement. If I was Mike Ilitch? I wouldn't give a fuch either. Honestly? I'm almost done, and I mean done in the most final sense of the word, and so my attention is on a league that allows me to compete. Screw the NHL. Fuching screw it. That's how I'd feel if I was Ilitch. Why waste precious time waiting for the midget to go when you know the other owners won't let him leave?

Me? I want hockey back while Pavel Datsyuk still has magic left. I've been deployed two straight seasons. I'm being greedy, I know. But for two straight years I've gone without hockey and, honestly, didn't bitch too much about it. But now I have a full year to see it and this little motherfucher rips it away from me, from us, again.

How are we back here seven years later battling the exact same problem?

For that and that alone, Gary Bettman needs to step down. No, we can't impeach him. Yes, we can continue to excoriate him. He's the worst commissioner in sports history, and really, it's going to remain that way unless Roger Goodell extends the NFL's season to 20 games, adds Wednesday- and Friday-night football to the schedule, pays a hitman to murder Jonathan Vilma, and gets outed for having a heated affair with his biographer, Peter King … and even then, I'd probably still give the edge to Bettman.

If you want to talk about moratoriums, Gary, here's a better idea — step down and give us a lifetime moratorium. From you.

Hell. Yes. I wish I had the strength to sit here and tell you all, all 19 of you, that I'm done. Done with watching, blogging, giving shits...until Bettman's gone. I'd love to say that, and maybe I will. Soon.

Good stuff from Bill Simmons. A fan's view. Fire Bettman. Impeach him. He's got to go or we all go, right? Him or us, right?

Ha. Nope. We'll still be here. We're not leaving. All we're saying, though, is that it would be a much nicer world if Gary Bettman would just leave our sport for good. Just get out, Gary. Seriously.