NHL Fans Are Sick, Tired

Winnipeg Sun ^ | February 7, 2005 | Ken Fidlin

[Doohickey]

It's not Bush's fault, but if this were football or baseball you would've had federal mediators involved months ago.

[George from New England]

Oh - is there a strike or something?

Now that you mention it I can't remember clicking on one by accident this yeat.

[SamAdams76]

It's a small world!

I own that LP also and it is one of my most prized possessions. This record was pressed just three blocks from where I grew up. At the Fleetwood Recording Studio in Revere. I used to walk behind there all the time and pull "defective" pressings out of the dumpster.

My father worked at Logan Airport and some of the Bruins were semi-regulars at a bar in East Boston that he used to go to. John McKenzie, Don Awrey, Carol Vadnais, they'd often show up there after games. Sometimes even BEFORE games. Those were definitely different times.

[cripplecreek]

That game looks more exciting in a still photo than in real life.

[Damifino]

As season ticket holders in Tampa, we're really hurtin' here. I really love the game and the regular guy players. What really hacks me off now is the owners refuse to declare the season canceled so they don't have to refund our $$. If there is no hockey, I'd like that money back now!

[furball4paws]

Hockey is the only pro sport I watch. I really miss it this time of year, but something needs to be done about the incredible amounts of money in sports going to athletes and owners. When I was a kid I used to watch Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay and the Richards and that great little guy Jacques Plante. I still love the game for its beauty and speed, but I will do without if I have to.

[Kommodor]

Two words: Replacement players.

If the regular players want to play in the NHL again, they can sign new contracts and accept the salary cap. If not, they can enjoy living off their copious savings accounts.

Just like those of us in the real world, if they don't like the salary, they can get a job somewhere else.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

I grew up outside Buffalo NY and played hockey my entire young life.

No one cares about (aboot) hockey anymore. Nor for Canadians either.

[republicanequestrian]

I still get to watch hockey :) The Colorado Eagles still play, salary or no. I believe they play for the love of the game... amazing huh?

[texan75010]

Karl Rove plot!

[gathersnomoss]

I don't watch it and I'm not black.

[smonk]

NHL Fans Are Sick, Tired

BOTH of them.

[republicanequestrian]

I still get to watch hockey :) The Colorado Eagles still play, salary or no. I believe they play for the love of the game... amazing huh?

[buccaneer81]

Wow! I lived in Saugus for a couple of years after college. I went to a lot of movies at the Showcase Revere with girls from Malden and Everett (easy Everett!).

No question, those were different times. More like "Slap Shot" than today's world.

Out here in Ohio we've embraced the Jackets in a huge way, but this foolishness is killing the league.

[SamAdams76]

I think it's going to come to that. If the season is cancelled (as it almost certainly will), the owners are going to restock their teams with replacement players. By the time training camp opens in September, I think a lot of the pro players will just suck it up and come back under the new rules.

For all the talk about "unions" and "scabs", the NHL players apparently had no problem taking minor league jobs away from other players this year.

[mikrofon]

The NHL has come a long way since the days 30 years ago when I used to stand on the vendor's empty beer cases in the standing-room bleachers at the old Aud in Buffalo to catch a game -- the wrong way...

With the lockout and the recent collapse of the Empire Sports Network that used to carry most of the Sabres' home games (fallout from the Adelphia/Rigas scandal), no one around here seems to care much about pro hockey any more.

[SamAdams76]

I don't know if you remember, but the Showcase in Revere used to be a drive-in. I used to go there a lot and saw films like "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad World" and "The Sting" there. They had (and still have today) a huge flea market on Sunday mornings. I used to take my newspaper route money there and buy up lots of cheap records. Typical scenario would be that a kid grew up and moved out of the house and the mother would be there on Sunday morning selling off all his records for like a quarter each!

I used to date girls from Winthrop and Lynn. Those Malden and Everett girls were too high class for me!

[TheForceOfOne]

the squid are happy! lol

[Richard Kimball]

It requires skill that most of us don't have, and there are some real risks involved. That being said, 1.3 million ain't bad:

[ConservativeLawStudent]

I initially sided with the owners, thinking the players were being greedy. It is clear to me now that is not the case.

The players have made some serious consessions, and the owners have hardly blinked. They are not negotiating in good faith.

I don't want the NHL to turn into what the NFL has become with their salary cap. If it takes an entire year or two of no hockey to ensure that, then so be it. There are lots of alternative ideas to curb spending and keep ticket prices down than to institute a salary cap.