Unlike alot of people on these boards I guess, I have a knack of getting past the posturing both sides are doing. It's a funny world when billionaires can't get along with millionaires and my care level is actually very low.
I do miss NHL hockey a little bit. I miss the way these boards heat up during the trade deadline. I even miss being bashed for being a Leafs fan. One thing I won't forget after this gets finished is how little either side really cared about us, the fans.
You remember us, the people who have made the NHL a 2.1 billion dollar industry. The people in spite of numorous crappy TV deals, who still support the NHL with a passion. The people who are the only ones really being hurt here.
So the owners of Edmonton say "suspend our team if we don't get exactly what we want", maybe thats one bluff i'd like to see called. I'm so sick and tired of all the press releases, TV interviews and newspaper columns that are just blurbing out the same spin doctor crap.
I wonder if those same Edmonton Oiler's owners know how bad the lockout is hurting the Toronto Maple Leafs (who turned a 18 million dollar profit last year) or the Detroit Red Wings (much the same). I wonder if they really care. Even though they are supposed to be "partners"
There is alot of money up in Edmonton and some businessmen with very deep pockets. Maybe the problem with the NHL is not locations, but the owners that own the teams. Maybe the problem is lack of corporate support, or teams of investors with different agendas.
Who knows?
But one thing i'm sick of is seeing this crap being written in the papers when both sides have been too lazy to sit and talk in person.
I am not missing the NHL as much as I would think. There are other products out there. And some of them are not souly interested in the allmightydollar