NEW YORK—Despite hints, suggestions, and outright pleas from its friends and family members to "stop embarrassing [themselves]," National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman announced yesterday that NHL players, team management, and league officials will in fact go through with their plans to attempt the 2007-08 season. "I understand that playing hockey is what they love to do, but at some point they have to ask themselves if all the time, energy, and money they're spending is really worth it," Bettman's wife Shelli told reporters, adding that the NHL has been "going at it" for 90 years and doesn't seem any closer to entering the mainstream now than when it started. "I just don't want to see anyone have their feelings hurt any more, is all." According to Bettman, her husband has promised that if things don't turn around for professional hockey this year, he and the rest of his league would give something else a try.