This week was supposed to be the start of the NHL season – normally – I sit down in front of my television set to watch whatever teams are going to be playing in the double header that kicks off the NHL Hockey season.
Opening week came and went with hardly a whimper and there was not a NHL hockey game to be found anywhere on your television dial. Not that TV’s have dials anymore, but you know what I mean.
If you’re keeping track, the NHL is into its 28th day of the lockout and there is not an end in sight – the two sides aren’t even talking any more – not on any issue of substance anyways.
Yesterday, a banner was supposed to be raised in Los Angeles as the Kings were supposed to celebrate their magical season – instead the Staples Center sat empty.
Normally, I would be well into my first payment for NHL Center Ice – this year I am probably saving the $170.00 dollars and I might not renew my subscription once the NHL hockey season begins.
As I was sitting in the press box of Ralph Englestad Arena before last night’s game between the USNDT and UND, there were two televisions and on each television there was a separate college hockey game – it was at the time that I realized – do we really the NHL to get our hockey fix?
Not really!
There is a plethora of college hockey and minor league pro games to fill the void left by the NHL – tonight, I will probably tune into see the championship game of the College Hockey Ice Breaker Tournament on NBC Sport Network at 6:07 pm Central Standard Time.
That being said, there is some bad news is – Pierre Maguire handling the color commentary for the game tonight – so you might want to consider turning down your television volume and just watch the game in silence. I don’t know if I can handle listening to Maguire pretend that he is an expert on Division I college hockey.
But I digress.
This is probably all of the hockey; in any form that some fans are going to get tonight – at least in most American television markets, since hockey is a niche sport.
If you think about this way, we’re powerless as NHL hockey fans anyways – neither side cares that much about us anyways – we’re just a means to an end anyway. Both sides are taking us for granted as well – if they weren’t they would have had a new CBA deal signed by now.
I wish the NHLPA and the NHL owners would just agree to a 50/50 split and get on with it – that is where the owners are going anyways – there’re going to get to that number eventually.
Also, if I was Donald Fehr – one of the terms that I would demand is that the NHL owners to fire Gary Bettman as a gesture of good will to the players and the fans, for the good of the NHL – I think that this would go a long way in the healing process. Lets be honest, the only people that like him are the NHL owners.
It’s all about money and a piece of the pie – being a capitalist I don’t fault them one bit, however, think about it this way – the two sides are squabbling over 3 billion dollars in revenue – while some people haven’t had a job in years due to the economic down turn.
Taking it further, the average salary in the NHL today is roughly about 2.4 million dollars while most of us will probably never make more than 100,000.00 a year.
Yeah! Both sides need to sit down and stop acting like a bunch of spoiled children so we can salvage what’s left of the NHL season. In the meantime, tune into NBC Sports Net tonight to watch hockey where the athletes aren’t paid a salary but go just as hard to the net.
