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Posted on 02/09/2005 6:37:29 PM PST by SamAdams76
Last week, espn.com, the Internet site for all-sports TV station ESPN, asked its American subscribers to weigh in on the NHL lockout. "Do you care that the NHL is expected to cancel the 2004-05 season?" they asked.
Of the 146,514 responses, 73% said "No."
Given what we north of the border have been surmising over the past few months, that percentage is not terribly surprising. Hockey coverage in the States is as hard to find as cricket coverage in Canada. It's a boutique sport at best.
What is surprising is that many actually responded. Were they giving away free cars?
We in Canada love and care about hockey in a way unmatched around the globe, but I'm starting to doubt if Canadians care as deeply as we think about the current labour dispute. Given his or her druthers, every hockey fan in this country obviously would choose to have the NHL back on ice and back on our TV sets. But in light of the equally obvious fact that it's not going to happen anytime soon, I am sensing little in the way of passionate outrage that you might expect of a people deprived of their game.
Lockout conversations tend to peter out after a minute or two, simply because there's not a lot to say. Once you get past "Are they coming back?" and the obligatory negative response, talk turns to more urgent matters, like the price of kids' sticks.
So, what in the name of Gordie Howe is going on here? It certainly isn't that we don't care, because down deep we do.
My own belief is that in an age of unfathomable player riches, not to mention ticket prices, the public has disconnected itself from the people who play and run the game.
Trevor Linden may expect us working stiffs to appreciate the principle behind his association's stalwart refusal to accept a cap on their salaries that would reduce the average salary from $1.8 million US to $1.3 million, but the truth is nobody I know can relate to such thinking.
If you can believe the industry numbers, there is a $2 billion pie (shrinking with each passing day) to be divided. How can such an economic reality get lost in the semantics of "salary cap" and "linkage" and "cost certainty."
For heaven's sake, at $1 million a year a middle-of-the road NHLer will gross more in two seasons than about 90% of the population earns in 40 years of working.
In the realm of professional athletics, hockey players have managed in general to maintain their image as "real" people; good guys, humble and as well-grounded as the small towns where so many are from. But in recent years, it has gotten so that the only people who can afford to go to watch them play are rich and well-connected themselves.
Because it's hockey and because it's Canada, folks will cheer for the sweater (whenever that sweater reappears). They will pine quietly for the game they love but care little for the "plight" of the millionaires who play it and the billionaires who own the teams.
As this charade of a negotiation drags on yet another week, each side rooted to the same patch of ground it occupied two years ago, the players and owners will continue to wage their little war through the media for the hearts and minds of the people in the street.
As far as we can tell, though, those hearts and minds already have moved on.
I would normally side with the owners in disputes like this, but the NHL owners deserve no consideration whatsoever here. Every decision the league has made in the last ten years has been a disaster -- from over-expansion to relocation to the Sun Belt to that stupid red flaming puck on television.
I knew the NHL was doomed the day Gary Bettman was hired.
Frozen hockey pucks… I miss the NHL. It's too late to melt the freeze out this year. Both sides are losing money and goodwill that will take a long time to recoup, if ever.
Rugby !!! Already fired up !
OTOH, the octopi population of Detroit is ecstatic..
I agree that the current model is not working for them, but that doesn't mean that every system except a salary cap will not work. The salary cap is the most socialistic model ever discussed in sports.
As I said, the players have proposed some innovative ideas that would place some serious limits on spending (unlike MLB limits that don't deter George Steinbrenner). Moreover, the players were willing to take a 25% pay cut across the board, and then were going to agree to spending limits on top of that.
There is still a lot of money to be made in hockey. It does not approach anywhere near the level football does, but that does not mean it cannot function w/o a salary cap. The television contract is not as big, but they do take in more money in ticket revenue. (although stadium capacity is 1/3, they have 41 v. 8 home games per year + comparable ticket prices)
In any case, Detroit hockey fans' interest has been waning in equal measure to the pussification of the so-called sport. The NHL -- the only monopoly that ever self-destructed. Very sad.
The motto of the story is that unions ruin everything.
But that all changed with that last baseball strike. I have no doubt that there are a lot of (former) NHL fans that feel the same way.
Mark
Grew up in Canada ... old enough to remember Maurice Richard, later, Gordie Howe, etc., the Stanley Cup was wrapped up by early April ... usually before Easter. Now it extends well into May ... and for the first time in NHL history not one game will be played this season. Player greed, for the most part, has decimated the game of hockey. Next will be football and baseball ... just a matter of time.
I agree.......they better do something cause they have it good right now......a good friend of mine is actually the personal asst to the wife of one of the owners....been to his house in Saratoga.......what digs.......sorry to hear about your nephew and prayers to those still there. I was in JR ROTC in high school and on the Rifle Team....those were good days....Wanted to go into the Navy as an officer but they were getting rid of people in 1975 when I graduated so fast they were not taking many in.....I lost a semi close friend in Iraq, and some uncles in WWII, which I heard all about, a cousin in Vietnam.....at least on my block in Antioch, there is always one American Flag flying at all times........God Bless
Hockey? YES! The NHL? Perhaps later, but not now. Those of us who love the game have disconnected from the NHL, because the NHL has disconnected from us. Instead, we go to our kids' games, play ourselves, or watch college and minor league hockey. We'll get through this season without the NHL just fine, thank you, and oh, by the way, you're right--pitchers and catchers report to training camp in just 10 days, and that is a beautiful thing.
The memory of the Atlanta Thrashers 1968 Stanley Cup victory is seared, seared into my brain! ;o)
Well, Clinton's labor department worked so well that the World Series was cancelled for the first time in 100 years.
I love the game and miss it. However, I am doing quite well with other pursuits and do look forward to MLB.
During the late 70's I worked for the Bruins radio home at the old 1510 WITS. I did my talk show late nights and would often be preempted by the games. I would help the late Bob Wilson with postgame Bruins lockerroom interviews. I absolutely loved talking to "Grapes" aka. Don Cherry. Those were fun days for me. When the crowd left the Garden the RATS (not the pols, the real deal) were everywhere. Wierd hearing them scurrying around after the place was empty.
IMHO, broadcasting NHL play by play could be the most difficult task in broadcasting. I always looked forward to the St.Louis Blues coming to Boston. I got to sit next to the GREAT Blues play by play guy Dan Kelly. The best ever. Period. I sat there in awe.
Those were fun days. As to the lockout and lack of concern. Part of that is because many of us believe the league has got to be blown up. There needs to be fundamental change. Contraction and rule changes. Therefore, a sort of resignation. I am sure Canadian fans feel the same way. That accounts, in part, for the lack of handwringing.
The NHL needs to contract to the Canadian cities and (mostly) northern cities where fans actually give a darn about this. That may or may not include Dallas, but I've had it with the thugary in hockey, so at this point, I really don't care.
That's the problem in a nutshell.
The days when me and my brother would shoot down to the Spectrum on a whim and watch Dave Schultz and the Bullies are long gone. That place used to be so loud ALL the time that you couldn't help but have chills down your spine throughout the whole game. Those were amazing days of hockey.
But now, I haven't been to a Flyers game in years. Way, way too expensive - - it's become the realm of the snotty elite. You half expect the people to break out in polite applause when the Flyers score. I've actually lost interest. It's a real shame, too, because I played hockey for years and I absolutely love the game.
>>The players have made some serious consessions, and the owners have hardly blinked. They are not negotiating in good faith. <<
This is silly. Good faith means you are there at the table. It doesn't mean you conceed.
If you put your house on the market, and I offer you 5 bucks and you don't come down off your price, are you refusing to negotiate in good faith?
Freep mail or ping me if you want on or off the Hockey Ping List.
I like to sit for an hour in front of the tube once in a while, and watch hockey, or anything else that's on. But if nothin's on, I get up and clip the shrubbery & trees before Spring. In other words, if hockey is there, and I may watch it, and if it isn't, I move on. Players beware..
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