Here’s a subject near and dear to my heart. This is an OPINION piece dammit.
The NHL Lockout. First, let’s start with the fact that the owners are low-life scum, the players’ union is low-life scum. The commissioner is scum, and the NHLPA boss is scum. So, what we have is a pond (frozen) full of scum. Second, we have the fact the one side is SLIGHTLY less scummy than the other. Sadly, it’s the owners. I hate to side with them because I have a natural distaste for owners of sports teams in all leagues (Huizenga, Waronker, Davis, Cohen, etc).
We are experiencing CLASH OF THE EGOS here. Bettman v Goodenow. It’s a simple thing to solve. Lock ’em in a room with any fan from any city — no food, water, restroom. Some common sense from the fans, and a few kicks to their collective testicles and it’ll all be over.
A soft-cap PLUS a luxury tax PLUS a “Larry Bird” rule all tied to gate receipts adjusted by inflation index. All figured to be computed in one currency US$ or C$ is irrelevant based on the Int’l Bank exchange rate average over the 90 days prior to the start of the season. To compensate the players, move UFA back from 31 to 27. Hard Rookie cap removing signing bonuses (but allow performance bonuses).
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