[smc]

Originally Posted by ila

I'm boycotting the season (maybe). I'm pissed off at Buttman, Fehr, and the players. Neither Buttman nor Fehr have any understanding of the game. The two of them have ruined the NHL. The players are a bunch of spoiled whining brats. They should realize that they are employees and as such they have no right to tell the owners how to spend the money that is brought in to the teams.

I?m pissed off, too, but I have a different, more nuanced perspective. I agree with you about ?Buttman? and Fehr: they have no understanding of the game, and they have (nearly) ruined the NHL (I write ?nearly? because if it were completely ruined I wouldn?t have been able to watch the Bruins defeat the Rangers last night in what was a very good hockey game).

I do not agree completely about the players. While it is easy to write them off as ?spoiled whining brats,? I try to remember two things. One is that like all workers, they sell their labor power to someone who does not do the actual work involved in delivering the final product (in this case, an actual hockey game on the ice). Yes, they are paid enormous amounts of money to do so (although nothing close to professional baseball, football, or basketball players), but that does not mean they ?have no right? to negotiate with their employers. That is true irrespective of whether one agrees with the negotiating stances they take. The other is that while I bemoan the fact that in a world where so many people go to bed hungry there are those who are paid millions to play a game, I try to remember that in this imperfect world a hockey player is really like the actor in a movie. Does Tom Cruise actually deserve to be paid $25 million for walking his way through some insipid action feature? Well, from an economic point of view, he?s the one who puts the audience in the theater seats and makes it possible for the investors (the bosses) to recoup their investments. Similarly, the hockey players are entertainers who put the fans in the seats. What you refer to as ?the money that is brought into the teams? is brought in because of the players, and so they have a reasonable right to negotiate (again, irrespective of whether one agrees with this or that negotiating stance.

Originally Posted by ila

Secondly what is wrong with those that make the schedule? Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts go back many decades (from long before Buttman was a gleam in his father's eyes). So why are hockey games in Canada scheduled for a Saturday afternoon?

I completely agree that Hockey Night in Canada is an institution that should be enshrined forever, never to be messed with. Canadians deserve nothing less!

Originally Posted by ila

Lastly it's time to move the NHL headquarters to Canada. It's our game and we don't need people that don't understand it and don't have the passion for it fucking it up.

I completely agree. The idea of the NHL being headquartered in midtown Manhattan is ridiculous. Just as I have long advocated on this site for moving north every team that is in a place where kids can?t play pond hockey naturally because of the weather (and have even advocated for specific Canadian cities that others never mention), I am for moving the NHL headquarters somewhere in Canada. Oh, and by the way, on moving day the Canadian border patrol should keep Fehr and Buttman from entering the country.