Devils' owner Jeff Vanderbeek may not be smiling long with a French bank suing the team. (CP Images)
If you live happen to be looking for an express route to the soup line, let us present Exhibit A.
Surely, someone over in France is searching the want ads for work this morning.
Filed neatly into "how to get canned in a hurry" drawer is the report that a French investment bank mistakenly dropped over $125,000 into the account of the New Jersey Devils.
Note to self: Email account information to France, pronto.
Lesson #1. You think if a major bank, wherever the hell it is, is going to screw up and deposit a hundred grand or so into the account of an NHL team, they'd pick their spots and at least have something to show for it.
Had they dropped a hundred G's into the coffers of the New York Islanders, they'd be sole owners of a National Hockey League team by now. Charles Wang may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night. That type of coin is over sticker price on the Island.
Anyway, seems the banker boys over in Europe don't really have a sense of humor, tearing Devils' owner Jeff Vanderbeek a new one for not playing nice and returning the money.
Huh? With apologies to the fine citizens of New Joi-sey, someone needs to remind Mr. Banker that the Devils play in Newark, where you just don't return money that isn't yours. It may even be a city bylaw.
Vanderbeek is the owner of the Devils, which means if you are walking the streets of Newark, you may see him in bare feet playing guitar on an isolated corner for loose change. When you lose $15 million in a year, you aren't exactly a businessman as much as a welfare recipient in waiting.
The news isn't all bad, however.
If Vanderbeek is looking for an excuse, I'm here to help. Do what most of us do when having a tit-for-tat with our French brethren.
Feign confusion and blame it on the language barrier.
Should Vanderbeek feel the need to thank me, a hundred grand or so should cover it.