Ice hockey isn't the most popular game in a land of beaches and palm trees, especially when you're losing. With this town's reputation for bandwagon fans, it's no surprise that the Kings -- dead last in the Western Conference and playing like jokers -- have been shuffled to the bottom of the deck. They even tossed away an ace, team captain Mattias Norstrom, in a gamble to add future draft selections (they now have 21 picks in the next two years).

The Kings started to fold when they failed to make the playoffs in 2002-2003. The man who held their chips at the time was General Manager Dave Taylor. Taylor joined the team's front office in 1994 after spending 17 years for them on the ice. He became GM in 1997. Under Taylor, the Kings never finished higher than 2nd in the Pacific Division and only won one playoff series. In the past four years of his reign, they failed to make the playoffs three times. The other season was never played due to a league lockout.

Despite the King's struggles, Forbes Magazine just ranked Taylor 18th on their list of the Best General Managers in Sports. He's number 7 in the NHL (a league with 30 teams) and ahead of 80 other professional GMs. The Duck's Brian Burke is 38, the Clipper's Elgin Baylor is 46, the Angel's Bill Stoneman is 51, and the Laker's Mitch Kupchak is 78. Apologies to the Dodger's breakout sensation Ned Colletti -- three years experience is required to be ranked.

The fact that Taylor is ranked so much higher than other local GMs is surprising considering how the others have performed. Kupchak may have traded away Shaq, but he added three NBA championship trophies to his lobby. Stoneman wears a shiny new(ish) Angels World Series ring. Burke's first two full seasons with the Ducks include a trip to the NHL finals and a current grip on first place in the Pacific Divison. Baylor's Clippers have shown major improvement; last season he even was named NBA Executive of the Year.

And Taylor? He was fired last year as GM and now serves as the team's Director of Amateur Development.

You read that right. Taylor doesn't even hold the job that he was ranked so highly for. That casts a little doubt on the Forbes list.

Sports fans love statistics and rankings. Business people love numbers, too. But Forbes' breakdown of the best GMs based on just "winning improvement" and "payroll containment" isn't a reliable scorecard. Their methodology is dubious at best. This is a publication that likes to do research, but they neglected some important factors in their rankings. Most business evaluations look at things like revenue, profit, P/E ratios, and valuation. Sports fans look at championships, playoff and rivalry success, and lots of intangibles like player stories and exciting action. Forbes didn't look at any of those things. Making matters worse, they are only looking at their two measures "during the GM's tenure versus the performance of his predecessor."

What about the pressures of inheriting a winning franchise? Some GMs want to retire on a high note, after all. And how do you account for unstable owners? Both of these problems stymied former San Francisco 49er GM Terry Donahue, who took the reigns from NFL icon Bill Walsh in the middle of the DeBartolo-York ownership fiasco. Add a coach complaining to the media about his lack of franchise control and subtract a lot of power usurped by the DeBartolo-York stranglehold. It was a formula for disaster and it's doubtful any GM could have found a solution. How would Forbes have ranked Donahue if he were still at the helm?

It seems that Forbes also fails to account for runaway payrolls left behind by the old guard. The Yankees have been famous for spending big bucks since Joe DiMaggio landed the first $100,000 contract in professional sports. Current New York GM Brian Cashman, who was dinged on payroll containment, knows from history that you have to spend money to make money. And yes, his team has made a lot of money. They've also continued to increase in value. Or did Forbes read their own research?

AP photo by Ric Francis.