Bad options are bad options, and what the city of Glendale is facing right now, with regards to the Phoenix Coyotes, are bad options.

Keep them by spending money they don't have or let them leave and forego a chance to make money down the road.

Awesome.

Truth is, one of the choices is better than the other, and it's the former. Keep the Coyotes in town and hope for the best down the road.

The damage from the team leaving would be significant.

Westgate, for all intents and purposes, could shut down. Civic pride would undoubtedly take a hit, as no one should feel good about watching a team bolt town. And to top it all off we'd be losing a hockey team -- a very good hockey team, mind you -- right as they're looking like a franchise worth following.

Want to know how painful it is to watch a team turn into one of the league's best shortly after leaving town? Just look at Seattle, who are watching the Thunder head to the NBA Finals.

In short, it stinks.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with the budget issues that have befallen Glendale. The city has very little money to spend, and any reasonable person would say what is there should be used for first responders, civic services and the like long before professional sports. But letting the Coyotes leave will not fix their budget; they'd have the same problems, just with one fewer hockey team.

The Goldwater Institute, which is best known for stopping the NHL's deal with Matthew Hulsizer last summer, is threatening to do all it can to stop this sale, too. Whether it's a failed attempt to block last Friday's vote or the idea that they'll sue over its result, the organization who says its mission is to "advance freedom and protect the Constitution" is really just trying to prove a point, regardless of whether or not it actually benefits Glendale's residents.

Are their motives pure? No. Do they have a point? Yes. Should we want them to prevail once again? Nope.

Anyone who says the deal the city is trying to make with Greg Jamison and his group is a good one is lying, and the fact that the vote was pushed through in a backdoor-deal- kind-of-way only adds to the perception that something is amiss here.

There probably is.

But how they get to the right decision does not matter so much as they do, indeed, get there. While it is difficult to justify giving money to a rich man so he can, umm, make more money in these economic times, that's exactly what needs to happen here.

Paper or plastic? Crunchy or creamy? With bacon or without? OK, once again there's an obvious answer to the third option (and, in case you were wondering, it's with bacon), while none of the six choices would lead down a disastrous road (except for not choosing bacon, of course).

The city of Glendale is not so lucky, as they are forced to decide between bad and awful.

And, as it pertains to the Phoenix Coyotes, the only option that has a chance of working out for Glendale is keeping them in town.