Sports executive(s) of the year. Easy call

Without looking them up, do you have the faintest idea who Bill Foley and George McPhee are?

I didn't either, and only came across those names when I Googled the Las Vegas Golden Knights "front office".

Turns out, Foley is the Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, and Governor of the team.

I didn't know hockey teams HAD a Governor these days. But hey, if the real government can have a few associates to the second assistant deputy to the third under-secretary of some department or other -- and they probably do -- and make a ridiculous salary at the taxpayers expense, while not even knowing what their job is -- what's one more Guv here and there?

George McPhee is the President of Hockey Operations, General Manager, and Alternate Governor, of course. Every Guv needs a lieutenant, and his/her cast of thousands -- or at least a couple dozen. That's in the long-standing book of bureaucracy by-laws somewhere. I think. Somebody has to answer phones, take memos, and make the coffee -- right?

Nonetheless, these guys, and the other management hierarchy of the Las Vegas Golden Knights, deserve mucho kudos indeed. They have done what has heretofore been dang near impossible in the world of major professional sports.

To wit -- put together an "expansion" team that is not only competitive, but has a better than average chance of walking away with Lord Stanley's beloved Cup in the NHL in this, their first year of existence.

Name the sport -- basketball, football, baseball, or hockey. And though all have "expanded" in recent times -- see cha-ching -- all of the "rookies" have had a mighty rough go of it. Pretty much cannon fodder for the established teams in their respective leagues. Until now.

The Vegas Golden Knights were put together the same way. Players that weren't "protected" by other teams in the expansion draft, hence deemed expendable, and a few free agent signings of players looking for a home.

At that, if you were a free agent, and had a choice between playing in, say, the frigid outposts of Edmonton or Calgary, getting bombed with snow in Buffalo, ripped by the press in New York, or plopping down roots in a crime-ridden city like Detroit.......

And then discovered the folks in Vegas wanted you at a more than reasonable salary.....

Throw that in with the 24/7 bright lights, celebrities and show-girls galore, non-stop action, and a bazillion things to do....

Well, which one would YOU choose? You'd have to be nuts NOT to want to go there. Winning would be good, but tell me the many allures of Vegas don't pull at otherwise testosterone laden young alpha- males -- and I'll tell you I don't believe it.

Thing is, though it wasn't supposed to happen -- they ARE winning. Convincingly. These guys have turned out to be the real deal. The best of both worlds, as it were.

The Golden Knights easily dispatched the LA Kings 4-0 in the first round of the playoffs. OK, so the Kings were only a wild-card and not so good.

But they just closed out the San Jose Sharks in the second round. A much better team.

Now they await the winner of the Winnipeg/Nashville series for a shot at the Stanley Cup Finals.

And they just might win that one too, especially if the Jets, currently ahead 3-2 in the series, manage to eliminate the Predators. That would give the Vegas boys home-ice advantage.

Regardless, even if they don't go any further in the playoffs, the sports Executive of the Year award is a no-brainer.

See Foley and/or McPhee above.

They have done what has never before been accomplished in all the years, all the leagues, and all the expansions over all those many decades.

Put together a team that just might -- MIGHT -- be capable of winning a championship in its rookie year.

And I hope they do.

I mean, c'mon. Where would it be more fun to attend or see a parade? Winnipeg? Please. Most people don't even know where it is -- and don't care. Between Pittsburgh (Penguins) and Washington DC (Capitals -- they'll choke, because they always do), who would show up? Laid off steel workers or that tweetomaniac taking credit for it all? Tampa? Not a bad choice -- but it ain't Vegas.

Can you imagine the show that would be put on along the strip -- and downtown -- if the Golden Knights managed to win the Stanley Cup? In their first year of existence?

Oh my. Bring it on. The very thought of the possibility has yours truly thinking about going back to Sin City for the umpteenth time.

Always something new and exciting to do there.

And a Stanley Cup victory parade most definitely would qualify.