What pisses me off the most

I am sure this has probably been posted in another thread, but what the hell. I am so angry and Bettman and Goodenow for letting this entire mess get this far. What pisses me off the most is that the entire negotations seemed like it was, "Salary Cap versus No Salary Cap" since training camp was cancelled in August. I am myself a season ticket holder of the Vancouver Canucks and as much as I hated not seeing hockey in the fall I chalked it up as, "busines is business" and sometimes business isn't pretty. Being a businessman myself I accepted this. I have always been an optimist and throughout the process thought they would settle this dispute either in January/05 or at the last minute. If they would have settled last night or this morning I would have been pissed off at he process but at least I would have understood that sometimes thing just gotta be done. Now that Mr. Bettman has officially cancelled the season I am so angry I can not even put it into words. The NHLPA actually offered a salary cap to the owners. It is beyond my comprehension that a deal could not be reached. Why would they go as far as they did and not reach an agreement? It makes absolutely no sense for both parties involved to sacrifice an entire season. Mr. Bettman and Mr. Goodenow are highly paid lawyers who I assume are intelligent people and know what they are doing. The situation has gotten out of control and it is more about pride than getting a deal done. If I were Mr. Bettman or Mr. Goodenow I would have picked up the phone this monring and said, "Hey buddy, nobody wants to loose a seaon so how about 45 or 46 milliion?". There had to be some wiggle room!! This pisses me off so much I can't put it into words What if they said tomorrow there wasn't any oxygen or chocolate left in this world how would you feel? Probably the same as I feel today when I realize they have cancelled the 2004/2005 Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

couldnt agree more...it's a sad sad day.
NO matter whos side you are on, anyone that says otherwise, is a fool...sorry waffledave

 

Didn´t know where to place this, but it doesn´t matter anyway

To everyone out there. May I introduce me? I am 23 years old an from Germany. Since I am 5 years old, I fell in love with the game of hockey. I never knew why, because hockey isn´t that popular here in Germany. There isn´t a serious hockey club within 100 miles of my hometown and even my father who, (just like every father) is interested in about every sport, isn´t interested in hockey.
Nevertheless I started to follow hockey very, very early in my life. When I was about ten, I found out that there was a league named NHL. From that day on, I was fascinated by that league and I fell in love with the San Jose Sharks since day one of their existence.
Since I am 13 and have internet-access at home, I made it a habit to get up at night to listen to nearly every online-radio-feed of Sharks-Games and in the playoffs I even got up to listen to other games as well. There are not a lot of feelings that are more thrilling and exciting than hearing Dan Rusanowsky (Sharks-Radio-Play-By-Play) or Randy Hahn call a Sharks goal, i can tell you. Since I am old enough to afford it, I pay to see the NHL on TV and in March of 2004 a lifelong dream of me came true, when I made a trip to the United States to watch some Sharks-Games. I was treated in a fantastic way by the San Jose Sharks organization and that was a trip I will probably never ever forget in my live. It is – until now – the best thing that ever happened to me.
Why am I writing that? I am writing that, to show you, that I live and breathe hockey. I miss it every day and every night and I just can´t believe the Stanley-Cup will not be awarded for the first time since 1919. During the first few month of the lockout, I didn´t feel that bad, as it gave me a chance to get more knowledge about our prospects: I had time to listen to and watch live streams of the QMJHL, college-hockey and the AHL. I was sure, that both negotiating parties would not be stupid enough to blow it all up and that hockey would return at some point during the 2004-05 season. And although it took some time, it looked to me, like the ice was broken and the chances of a deal to be struck were very realistic just about 48 hours ago. It all turned out to be wrong. And now, now what? Where do we go from here?
To quote Rod Brind´Amour: “The game's just suffered an absolute blow it'll never recover from, they're totally underestimating the damage that's being done.'' The NHL as we now it may need a decade, probably a lot longer to get back to where it was in the mid 90s, when the game really seemed to pick up some steam. I remember a sports-magazine cover at that time titled: “Why is hockey so hot and basketball not”. Funny thing, isn´t it? Right now, the NHL is the coolest game on earth. Unfortunately in more ways than one.
The question that keeps popping up in my mind is, how the NHLPA can be so stupid to not get a deal done before the drop-dead-date. They know, that the game will take a big hit because of the lost season. The owners know it too. In my view, the PA has seen the best offer possible from the NHL. Bettman has stated that linkage is back on the table and with good reason. The last 5 years or so of the old CBA the players took everything they could get and it wasn´t healthy for the sport. It was their right to do so and I won´t blame them for doing that. But they have to realize that this is a business and that every owner who is and has been loosing money for some years, is not ready to commit to a CBA that may cause him to loose a lot of money again sooner or later. It´s totally understandable that linkage is back on the table because the owners have no idea how damaging the effect of the lost season may be and are not ready to shoulder the risk of that.
The PA knew it would come that way. If they didn´t see linkage back on the table after a lost season, they are even dumber than they looked when playing the blame-game at yesterdays press-conference.
If this all ends in an impasse, the game may take longer than a decade, to even accumulate the best players from all of the world again, let alone recover. A lot of the current European stars, that have earned enough for a living, will go back to Europe and will not break the Union in case of an impasse. I am sure there are some current NHLers, who will play in the new, “union-free” NHL, but not nearly all players are ready for that. We may look at totally different teams once hockey starts again, the balance of power may shift one way or another and I as a real die-hard NHL-fan do not know, if I am ready to accept that new product, if I will ever be that thrilled and fascinated by a hockey game again and if I will be ready to set my alarm-clock at night to get up and watch or listen to hockey.
To top all of that, Bob Goodenow in his last press-conference goes out there and tries to paint an absolute ridiculous picture of the whole process. He describes how far the NHLPA has come and how generous it was from them to not even try to keep the old CBA going. Should I laugh or should I cry? He has nothing more to do than putting blame on the NHL. Why I do not appreciate some of the negotiating tactics by Gary Bettman and the league, I still won´t put any blame on them. They had to and have to go to this process to make sure hockey will have 30 working franchises for now and in the future, for hockey to have 30 competitive teams. Fixing the on-ice product starts right here, off the ice. I can´t see it happening, but I just hope impasse is not in the cards in the near future and I sincerely hope from the bottom of my heart, that both parties will-strike a deal before the 05-06 season starts. As I do not see that happening, here are my words for Bob Goodenow, one of sports most hated people right now: “Thanks Bob for killing the game that we all love. R.I.P. NHL”.

Mod edit:

 

This forum really needs a thread where people can rant and vent their frustrations...who's with me?

 

This hits the nail on the head. MY problem with everything that transpired today was the fact that neither side bothered to call the other. If I am Gary Bettman I would have called Goodenow and said "Hey Bob, its five minutes to 11:00AM, this is your last chance, what do you say?" But he didn't did he. Instead he says Bob didn't call. Same goes for Goodenow. He could have picked the phone up this morning and said "Hey Gary, we are so close can't we come to a middle ground. How about you come up some and I go down some." But he didn't, he just let Gary cancel the season.

And that is the biggest problem with this whole situation. The two guys who are suppose to be leading this league, let the league just flush itself down the drain without even a thought about it.