"The bottom line is, if the Sixers were in the playoffs and the Flyers were out of the playoffs, the percentages would be opposite," he said. "I'm not happy with the performance of the Sixers [27-55], but my policy has always been to hire basketball executives to run the basketball team and hockey executives to run the hockey team, and allow them to make the necessary decisions. I don't overrule them; I live by their decisions. Sometimes, I regret the moves that have been made; that's when I review the performances of the people making the decisions."
[]Snider dislikes being perceived as "a hockey guy," saying "nothing could be further from the truth."
"I happen to love basketball, but the perception seems to be that the Sixers are the stepchild [of the business]," he said. "To say that is ridiculous. I probably spend more time on the Sixers now, because they have had more issues to deal with than the Flyers. We haven't done a good job with the basketball team. It's embarrassing to me; it's something we're working very hard to correct. Believe me, we're trying like hell."
Added Peter Luukko, the chief operating officer of parent company Comcast-Spectacor: "No matter how much success the Sixers might have, Ed will always be viewed as a Flyers guy. That's understandable, because he's been the only face of the team; he has such a history with them. But, this year, we've both worked much harder on the Sixers."
As for the team executives, the survey showed that 60.5 percent of the Flyers respondents are satisfied or very satisfied with general manager Paul Holmgren.
