PA Tool Takes One Last Shot - Larry Brooks

[Resolute]

For over a year, the NHL conducted a PR war against the players, using websites to cast these athletes as greedy villains in an attempt to rally the fans against the very performers they root for, and whose jerseys the customers pay exorbitant sums to purchase.

This was the best one. The NHL didnt even have to roll out a PR campaign to paint the players as greedy villians. The players did that all by themselves. Especially guys like Bryan McCabe, Tie Domi, Vincent Damphousse, etc.

 

[Hasbro]

For over a year, the NHL conducted a PR war against the players, using websites to cast these athletes as greedy villains in an attempt to rally the fans against the very performers they root for, and whose jerseys the customers pay exorbitant sums to purchase.

You got me Larry! I admit I'm Jeremy Jacobs. And I would have got away with it too if it weren't for you meddling columnists!

 

[Drunken_sailors]

Um, nobody "deserves" a positive return on any investment. You roll the dice, you take your chances. Players fought to keep the money that was thrown at them. Any union would to the same, not just a sports "union."

That said, Larry Brooks is a nut job.

- A proud socialist

will provide windfall profits to NHL owners but will prove ruinous to the game as we have always known it ---------Once again the communist side of brooks argument is coming thru--does he not understand that any business that runs in the red year after year eventually disappears? Can he not see that teams paying an average of 1.8 mill pp on limited revenue sources especially with the tv package the nhl has is ruinous? In larry brooks and spector's ideal world the only way their league might survive is with about 8-10 teams in a very limited region and next to zero universal appeal that would eliminate 2/3rds of the position openings in the league with this 2/3rd playing for peanuts in minor leagues,, but their millionaire elite friends that drove this suicidal fight would probably have positions in this very limited nhl version which is further evidence that if goodenow-damphouse and a few others would have had their way the 3rd and 4th liners and a lot of 2nd liners would have been thrown under the nhlpa bus in order for a few to make 7-10 mill per yr instead of 4-6 mill. these hacks can cry and moan all they want but owners deserve a positive return on their investment and players deserve to make what they are worth but there is no way any of these guys are worth as much as they think they are in the current economical environment of the nhl. i will say this though, most of the players DO NOT owe anyone an apology but there are a handful and i mean guerin, damphousse and a few others that need to try to make things right with the fans and the rank and file of the players or it will be real interesting to see what happens on the ice to these guys!

 

[Master Shake*]

His seemingly never ending crusade against the owners is coming to an end. Perhaps the last article of this kind from Brooks?

http://www.nypost.com/sports/49846.htm

Here's a highlight for ya....
LET'S get this straight. The players owe no one an apology for fighting the good fight they did last season against submitting to a salary cap system that, in both the short and long runs, will provide windfall profits to NHL owners but will prove ruinous to the game as we have always known it.

Hey Larry, ****.

The players owe everybody a huge apology for killing a whole season by refusing to even look at the NHLs books when they have been offered to many many times over the past few years. They didnt want to know the numbers. Easy to fight against a cap if you dont see the losses with your own eyes.

The problem I had with all this is the players were showing they cared more about themselves then the stability of the sport and making it a level playing field for every team. A-holes like McCabe are prime examples of players greed.

Hey McCabe...hope you are a man of your word and never play in the NHL again!

 

[txomisc]

So you root for the jesey and not the players?

I for one am glad brooks writes these articles, it makes for very entertaining threads such as this one.

Yep I root for the jersey (team) as well. As much as I love watching individual players, its the team that matters most. If the Dallas Stars lose Mike Modano, they are still the Dallas Stars, they are still the team I'll watch.

 

[txomisc]

So which poster is Larry? Surely an "in touch" writer such as Brooks has heard of, and even spent time here, at HFBoards.

A few guys have the guts to give their real name (Bob McK., Gord Miller) but what about Larry? And wasn't Dowbiggen here using a nickname, got into a tiff and was exposed?


"if you check out some of the swill posted on internet message boards, you wonder if these people despise these players so much, why they'd even bother to watch the games, unless, they're simply cheering for the laundry"

Its clearly messenger ;-)

 

[AM]

its because

Does anyone else find it ironic that the borderline-illegitimate Larry Brooks is the one threatening to expose Eklund?

they are jockeying for the same space.

 

[Trottier]

Brooks: "The fans who blame and even now hate the players — if you check out some of the swill posted on internet message boards, you wonder if these people despise these players so much, why they'd even bother to watch the games...won't be swayed by apologies. They'll simply want to know why they didn't apologize sooner. They'll simply demand to know why they didn't surrender last year."

Read this thread...and then try to refute his point.

 

[snakepliskin]

Brooks: "The fans who blame and even now hate the players — if you check out some of the swill posted on internet message boards, you wonder if these people despise these players so much, why they'd even bother to watch the games...won't be swayed by apologies. They'll simply want to know why they didn't apologize sooner. They'll simply demand to know why they didn't surrender last year."

Read this thread...and then try to refute his point.

i don't think there is a poster here who hates the players but there are about a dozen or so players that it would not hurt my feelings if they never played in the nhl again. it is pretty obvious to me that MOST of the players got hoodwinked by their union leader and a few of his staunch supporters-"cough guerin-damp"cough" houssse-cough"

 

[Crazy_Ike]

Read this thread...and then try to refute his point.

It is possible to differentiate hating the players and hating how the players screwed up this labor battle, you know. Not to mention the difference between hating the players and hating their leadership.

 

[Hasbro]

Um, nobody "deserves" a positive return on any investment. You roll the dice, you take your chances. Players fought to keep the money that was thrown at them. Any union would to the same, not just a sports "union."

That said, Larry Brooks is a nut job.

- A proud socialist

With the exception of the redbaiting here, I agree Brooks posit is ludicrous. What the PA fails to realize is that collective bargining is a luxary fewer Americans lack. this is as much a cartel as a union.

 

[NYIsles1*]

It is possible to differentiate hating the players and hating how the players screwed up this labor battle, you know. Not to mention the difference between hating the players and hating their leadership.

I do not think it's a question of hate and a poor choice by Brooks to employ that word.

What makes no sense to me is the PA leadership refused to acknowldge what everyone seemed to know long before the owners locked out the players. This business has serious financial problems and major changes were required. Goodenow and his people wanted no part of it and were not willing to negotiate based on the economic reality of this business.

Brooks for some reason considers negotiation a surrender.

 

[txomisc]

Brooks: "The fans who blame and even now hate the players — if you check out some of the swill posted on internet message boards, you wonder if these people despise these players so much, why they'd even bother to watch the games...won't be swayed by apologies. They'll simply want to know why they didn't apologize sooner. They'll simply demand to know why they didn't surrender last year."

Read this thread...and then try to refute his point.

Most fans don't hate most players as individuals but rather the PA and or its leadership.

 

[Trottier]

Most fans don't hate most players as individuals but rather the PA and or its leadership.

I'd like to think you are correct, but much of the rhetoric of the last several months suggested otherwise.

Hey, war's over. Bettman dropped the big one. This fan, for one, was wrong about how this would turn out. My to those pro-owner hardliners here (I mean that in a complimentary way) who insisted that Goodenow had no way out and was driving his Union into a wall. You were correct, obviously.

Now is time for reconciliation. Those who respect the sport and the players will be gracious winners (rest assured Bettman will be), and will be satisfied that the resulting CBA could very well signify a new, better era for the NHL. The class-challenged among us will continue to rub it into the player's faces and second guess their love for the sport and motives for negotiation.

The player's tried to get their best deal, as they should. They and their leadership failed in that effort. But the league as a whole, may benefit as a result. As such, strikes me that an NHL fan should be satisfied with that result, if not the timetable for its occurence.

 

[Icey]

His seemingly never ending crusade against the owners is coming to an end. Perhaps the last article of this kind from Brooks?

http://www.nypost.com/sports/49846.htm

Here's a highlight for ya....

That's hardly a hightlight or even what the article is about. Did you also read the line where he writes that BOTH sides should and will apologize or did you skip right by that.

 

[Icey]

Most fans don't hate most players as individuals but rather the PA and or its leadership.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Just read a few threads and you will see that.

 

[Hasbro]

That's hardly a hightlight or even what the article is about. Did you also read the line where he writes that BOTH sides should and will apologize or did you skip right by that.

Considering it was buried in the middle of so much self righteous indignation, it was easy to miss.

 

[txomisc]

I'd like to think you are correct, but much of the rhetoric of the last several months suggested otherwise.

Hey, war's over. Bettman dropped the big one. This fan, for one, was wrong about how this would turn out. My to those pro-owner hardliners here (I mean that in a complimentary way) who insisted that Goodenow had no way out and was driving his Union into a wall. You were correct, obviously.

Now is time for reconciliation. Those who respect the sport and the players will be gracious winners (rest assured Bettman will be), and will be satisfied that the resulting CBA could very well signify a new, better era for the NHL. The class-challenged among us will continue to rub it into the player's faces and second guess their love for the sport and motives for negotiation.

The player's tried to get their best deal, as they should. They and their leadership failed in that effort. But the league as a whole, may benefit as a result. As such, strikes me that an NHL fan should be satisfied with that result, if not the timetable for its occurence.

Cant argue with any of that, very good post.

 

[Slangston]

That's hardly a hightlight or even what the article is about. Did you also read the line where he writes that BOTH sides should and will apologize or did you skip right by that.

A highlight never tells the full story.

submitting to a salary cap system that, in both the short and long runs, will provide windfall profits to NHL owners but will prove ruinous to the game as we have always known it.

You don't think that quote is one of the highlights of the article? Prove ruinous to the game as we know it? Why don't you further elaborate on that Larry. Seriously, what do you think is the purpose of this article? IMO, It's another sad attempt at deflecting a lot of the blame towards the league and it's board of govenors.

Yes, of course, when the owners' lockout finally ends, players should say they're sorry for the loss of last season, should say they're sorry for having been part of one of the sorriest episodes in the history of pro sports. But they should not apologize. They did nothing wrong. They did not create the cancellation.

Again, further proving my point. He says they should apologize for being involved, yet that they shouldn't apologize for the cancelation of the season. They're just as much to blame on that matter as the owners. Suuure, they did nothing wrong...More like they did NOTHING to move the negotiations along further.

 

[SENSible1*]

another gem

Understand this once and for all: The owners and the NHL's ruling body could not have cared less if the league reopened for business in 2005-06 or ever again

Wow, what an idiotic statement.

 

[nyrmessier011]

you're a tool

 

[Slangston]

you're a tool

Well I'm sorry if I offended you...Larry.

 

[nyrmessier011]

Well I'm sorry if I offended you...Larry.

if your all going to make fun of the guy and say how he's not credible, don't begin threads about him on a respectable message board.

 

[NYR94]

Larry Brooks never ceases to amaze me. When are Brooks and Fischler going to realize that their ridiculous hardline stances on either side make it impossible to take anything they say seriously? We've been reading the same garbage from them for months. I don't even bother reading their articles most of the time because I already know what they're going to write. But I guess they'll stick to their terribly skewed views because all the controversy they generate is good for the business of selling papers.