01.04.2013 09:44 AM

NHL: who cares?

I mean, seriously: does anyone care? The players, the owners: they’re a bunch of greedy men playing a kid’s game.  They’re a joke.

I get more than enough hockey during the week, with my kids.  I won’t miss the NHL/NHLPA for one moment.

21 Comments

  1. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    I know less than zilch about hockey (or any other sport) but I do know one thing — it fries my ass to see our continental cousins “running” the show. Correct me if I’m wrong but the last time I checked, it happened to be our national pastime. I’m looking for in-depth accountability if the season goes south.

  2. Bruce A says:

    I love hockey but not the NHL. I’m hoping that Bettman flushes the season. The problem is the owners because they make the decisions about how this league operates. If I had a magic wand I’d reduce the league to 20 teams, with a 72 game season and award Stanley in mid-May. As it is there’s too many useless teams and pointless games, not to mention the mindless commentary from the talking heads. It’s become a gimmicks league but that’s what corporations do, they suck the life out of everything. I don’t care anymore though the CBC does. Fewer teams, fewer games will get my interest back.

    In regards to Ronald O’Dowd:

    The NHL has chased the American TV rainbow for 45 years and they have never been close to being accepted into the American sporting family. It’s sad to say but too many Canadians measure their self-worth by what the Americans think and say about us. We fish for compliments,. They really don’t care about Canada, as so many of our brethern wish they did. It’s a business relationship, not any extended family. Hockey to my mind epitomizes the Canadian mindset on that issue.

    Play the game where people want it and follow it, not where owners hope it will prosper. I’d heard a hockey writer from Dallas about 5 years ago say that Dallas had 20,000 hard core fans but if that number drops then the ownership has got a major problem, that’s a fair weather hockey market.

    Enough said, maybe the Blue Jays can take a serious run at a pennant this year.

    • The Doctor says:

      I agree partly with you, except that the people chasing the American TV rainbow aren’t Canadians wanting to be accepted by the Americans; they are the greedy owners of NHL teams. And most of the owners are American. Most Canadians I know, myself included, couldn’t give a flying f*ck whether there’s a big American TV contract or not. Most Canadians couldn’t care less if there’s an NHL team in Phoenix or Atlanta. The people who do want this are scum like Bettman and the other American owners, because they see having teams all across the continental US as the key to that national TV contract. But I agree it’s never going to happen. It’s like a sleazy stock promotion, where you dangle some big piece of blue sky to keep the greedheads salivating.

  3. WDM says:

    Been watching hockey for almost 25 years and find myself increasingly indifferent to its absence.

  4. Kevin says:

    Couldn’t care less. Haven’t paid attention to the NHL since Bertuzzi. Too much other great hockey around. Last winter olympics had the best hockey ever.

  5. Joey Rapaport says:

    I hope the season is cancelled, it will put the players back in their place, not sure where their sense of entitlement comes from. NFL pays well but contracts are not guaranteed, forces players to work hard throughout their contract, NHL should follow suit!

    • Michael says:

      I’m with you Joey, I know when I go watch a game I could carel ess about who is on the ice. I am much more interested in who is sitting in the owners box.

  6. James Hanna says:

    100% with you on that, I got one in Midget B, and I’m coaching the other’s Atom C team. I’m not missing the NHL in the least.

  7. John Kingma says:

    What? Is there no hockey? Hmmm.

  8. Jon Adams says:

    Pretty much how I’ve been feeling, but the situation we’re in is not all on the owners and players.

    If I have to hear one more sanctimonious news site commentator decrying the loss of dignity to the game that sees fit to unofficially name a monotone, reactionary stereotype in a technicolour screamjacket as a spokesman, I truly am going to puke. The fans really didn’t learn their lesson back in 2005. If you go to restaurant and they put ground glass in the burger and sulphuric acid in the colas AND you go back, it doesn’t make you a loyal customer. You’re a dumb consumer.

  9. frmr disgruntled Con now Happy Lib says:

    When cardiac or brain surgeons earn as much as these guys, is when I will think I will return to watching hockey……..I know professional hockey players are “entertainers”, and have limited time as big wage earners…..but the system is skewed when ill-educated jocks(most) earn more than men or women who have spent many, many years to learn the skills that save human life.
    Yes, I also know that these kids have struggled and worked extremely hard to make the NHL, and that the odds of making it to the NHL are akin to winning a lottery….but as far as their contributions to society…..I’ll side with those who toil saving lives.

  10. !o! says:

    I think hockey is a less resonant symbol than it once was. I kinda think also that in trying to reformat Canadian nationalism, the con strategy is actually reducing the potency of hockey as a symbol, or rather, the new version of reality doesn’t allow hockey resonance as much as the old one did.

    I continue to care exactly zero about it though.

    • Kelly says:

      I agree. Hockey really isn’t that important to most Canadians. There are 4 times more registered soccer players in Canada as hockey players. MLS stadiums full. Growing viewership of English Premier League.

  11. Al in Cranbrook says:

    I completely agree, WK! I really could not care less when, or even if, this nonsense finally ends.

  12. Steve T says:

    It may be un-Canadian to say this, but hockey is just a game – nothing more. It is not a “national symbol”. It is not somehow interwoven with the Canadian flag. It is a form of entertainment, no different than going to see the movies (or, perhaps more aptly for these NHL/NHLPA clowns, the circus). As “Fmr Disgruntled Con” wrote above, it is disgusting how much money hockey players make, when compared to people who actually contribute something meaningful to society. Say what you want about the American healthcare system (and there is plenty negative to say), but at least the gap between doctors’ salaries and pro athlete salaries is a lot narrower down there.

    Don’t get me wrong – I think circus clowns (and hockey players) should be paid, and a fair “market” salary as well. The problem with pro sports, and especially hockey, is that everything is detached from reality. Hence, ridiculous ticket prices, and less than half of NHL teams being financially viable without league handouts and/or hometown tax concessions and other giveaways that essentially become “hockey taxes” on everyone living in that city (or province/state).

    As many others have said, the best thing for the NHL right now would be a strong “f*ck you” from the general public. Stop buying tickets to the games. Stop paying for extra NHL channels on TV. Vote to remove all tax concessions and handouts to local NHL teams. And, most importantly, when the games resume (which, sadly, they will at some point), make sure everyone in the arena boos the players for a good long time when they hit the ice again. They surely deserve it.

  13. Bill Temleman says:

    the sad reality is that the hockey I grew up with in Montreal is no more. Then it was a game of the people, and every kid (alright, almost every male kid) aspired to play in the NHL. All we had were skates and sticks. Now the gear costs over $1000 per kid. We played outside on natural ice. Now kids have to book arena time. The hard ass pro game of today has lost the magic of passing, play-making, stick-handling. Let the NHL die. And don’t support its sponsors when it returns

  14. Roy says:

    less than three month until the baseball season starts, just sayin!

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