Tuesday, November 30, 2004

When Hell Freezes Over

Maybe when that happens, we'll have hockey again. Let me start out by saying that some of my best friends are hockey players. I understand why the NHLPA doesn't want a salary cap, but dammit! I'm way over this lockout crap. It's petty and stupid and childish. The players are wrong. The owners are wrong. It's just greed feeding upon itself on both sides. It seems like only yesterday that we had the shortened '94-'95 season and that sucked, but at least they managed to salvage part of a season. There's no way in hell that happens this time. The NHL won't play. The All-Star game has already been cancelled and barring a Christmas miracle the rest of the season will follow shortly thereafter. The owners are already talking replacement players for next year. ('Cause that worked out soooo well for baseball.) That would be great for a lot of my friends that are playing in the minors, but it's bad for the sport overall. I love Kimbi, but there is a reason he's not playing in the NHL anymore. Hockey does not have the foothold on the American psyche that baseball does and look how long it took for that sport to come back from a strike. Hell, most would say that it still hasn't recovered. I don't know that the NHL as we know it will survive this; which is a fucking shame. Hockey is a great sport. It's the only sport that I really follow. My interest in baseball and soccer is fleeting at best. I watch them, but I don't love them like I do hockey. It's disheartening to see that the players and owners have fallen as far as they have. They all need to be adults and look past the dollar signs and work this shit out. Concessions are going to have to be made by both sides for this to work. Here's hoping they can all still step up in time to save the sport... since obvisouly they aren't going to get their shit together in time to save the season...

"
How would you like a job where, every time you make a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?" - Jacques Plante

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