WJC Drinking Game (ESPN Veiwers Only)

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Puckhead

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Jun 13, 2004
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Behind you!!!
Reilly311 said:
what a worthless article.
Im not so sure it's worthless. Try not to confuse fact with your opinion. Granted the writer is using sweeping generalizations, but, is he that far off the mark? This was the time the US could have showcased the game, at the grassroots level to a degree. They were playing in the US and were the defending champs. What more could the NHL or USA hockey have wished for. And yet, they found a way to mess it all up. The truth is Hockey is an afterthought in most of the US, and that is when the NHL is playing. Now that this lockout is on, people don't know, and those few that do, are like the rest of us very fed up.

You take the stuggling teams in the south. They haven't really had a chance to build enough of a fan base of people who care, and now there is no hockey. If they don't care enough, they won't miss it either.

Gary Bettman, who has put the NHL on a one way ticket to hell, ever since he became the commissioner, stands on his soap box, and spouts all sorts of rhetoric about how his vision is for all 30 teams to be viable. Well, the fact is, he has to say that, because otherwise he would be admitting that his expansion into the southern states was an absolute failure! Also, he took the $80 Million expansion fee from the owners, and therefore can't very well send them packing within 5 years can he?

The truth is the NHL would be a better league with less teams. The talent pool would be deeper, and all of these 4th liners would have to stay in the AHL or go to Europe. I understand the frustration by the die hard fans even in the cities that can barely draw flies, but it is a harsh reality that we as hockey fans must face.

Carolina, who in case everyone forgot, went to the Stanley Cup finals 3 years ago. You would think that, that kind of success would be good for a team. Well, Carolina leads the league in poor attendance. Due to disinterest by the American people, coupled with the fact that Bettman sank any decent TV deal potential in the US, because the on-ice product has looked so bad, the future for the NHL looks very bleak. The two sides in this lockout are both wrong and the way they are not negotiating means that eventually...no one will win!

The Players will lose countless millions, and the owners will lose countless fans who put their butts in the seats and their money in coffers.

The Players cannot accept a cap, because it would mean that any money they forfeited this season would have been in vain. Yes they put the "we have to do it for those players who come behind us" spin on it, but lets face it, ultimately they should be worried about their own bank accounts at this time. If they can somehow stave off a cap, then they will have a chance to recoup the money that was lost this season.

The Owners however cannot police themselves. They are their own worst enemies, and that is why we are all being held hostage this season.

You have the Ottawa Senators, who were faced with a very huge problem, a few years ago. Their franchise player was not happy, and he wanted to renegotiate his contract while his current one should still have been honoured. The Senators at that time, did not have a Billionaire owner, and so the desicion was easy.they let him sit out the whole year, and he lost, that years salary. That should have been a victory for the NHL, however, the Senators traded him to the NY Islanders, and their Billionaire owners and their Boneheaded GM signed Yashin for 10 years and $100 Million. What makes the matter even worse, is that Isles sent draft pick Jason Spezza and D Zdeno Chara to Ottawa, we all know how that has worked out. Chara is a Norris trophy finalist and Spezza leads the AHL in points, just waiting for his shot to tear up the NHL.

However,this diaster does not end there...then Yashin scores something like 20 goals for the Isles that year, and so guess what?...Any player who scored 20 or more goals, and who was up for arbitration, used Yashin as an example, and said if he's worth $10 Million, then I want $7 or $5 or whatever. That is why salaries are so out of whack!

The point is the Owners are morons, and the system is flawed. That is just one of countless examples that have ruined this game that we all love so much. In a nut shell, when asked whose side am I on? I answer this way...

I am on the owners side. Hopefully this hard ass stance will give control back to those who abused it in the first place. I don't blame the players for signing contracts that were offered to them. But for the good of the game and the NHL, it has to stop and now. Am I happy about not having any hockey to watch? Absolutely not. But if they fix the problems, then it will in some form be worth it. On the flip side, if they waste the whole year and can't fix it for the future, then I will feel most aggrieved.

The point is I love this game, and if and when it ever returns, I will be there waiting. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the fans in the US, and specifically the Southern states, who may not have a team to wait for.
 
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