As much as there is currently a very heated rhetoric being engaged in by players and owners alike, resulting in claims of financial hemmoraging and backward negotiating, let’s face it: it is the fans who are ultimately the losers here. The soul of the game is being (further) tarnished making it ever more difficult for many to envision themselves taking in a game without a lingering tinge of resentment. We see this playing out already in perhaps the biggest silent scream possible: mass indifference by those who would rather not care than care too much in the middle of a negotiating process involving financial terms they cannot possibly relate to.
Simply put: people are too tired over millionaires and billionaires fighting too even bother being pissed off anymore....
This is by no means a sudden shift. It's always been my belief that for those of us born in the seventies, the current situation has been a natural progression of the myriad of changes that signalled the evolution of all professional sports over the past 30 plus years. Transformations including the introduction of free agency, competing leagues, expansive cable and specialty channel growth, salary disclosure, league expansion and franchise marketing have progressively and steadily morphed this game from what was once viewed as a pure competative spectacle played by the blue collared "Everyman" to the current financially driven entertainment spectacle played primarily for profit, and secondarily for pride.
Please humour me, and do not mistake anything I've put out here as spiteful. I fully recognize that a lot of this is looking back through rise coloured glasses, for lack of a better expression, and as easy as it would be to resent the owners and players for dampening my love affair with the game, this is really the endgame in nothing more than a simple evolution. Doesn't mean I have to like it, but as a wise five time, five time, five time, five time, five time champion once said:
So NHL and NHLPA, you do what you need to do, not that you need my permission! But while you're seeing that you get what you need, my people and myself will be making our own wish lists...
Wish lists you ask? Well, let’s be realistic. I have, you have, anyone in the media has NO SWAY in this game, as much as some would like to think they do. In the end, money walks, what we want walks. We can dream though, and if that can help us to perhaps see potential bright sides to this mess we're in the thick of then so be it! Take a moment:
Look on the bright side! I think if we all really put our minds to it we could at least come up with some minor plus sides, silver linings even, to these shennanigans. For me, it's clear: I want teams to go away. Nothing personal towards the league or players by any means, right guys? It's just business, and my business is nothing short of my personal viewing pleasure! Give me a 24 team league again and I'm a happy guy. Look: 180 to 200 fewer players makes the league a better product in my eyes. Cut out the lesser talent and the remaining teams become naturally better across the board. Three four-team divisions across two conferences with the same amount of games means better quality match-ups, more intense rivalries, and tighter playoff runs. That would suck, right? Will it happen? Likely not. At best I figure I'll get a few relocations (Welcome to the party Seattle, and hey Quebec! Glad you could make it back!) and, God willing, a delay to this crazy idea of expansion to 32 teams. But a man can dream, can't he?
But enough of my dreams, what about you all? If you had to pick something that could come of this that would make a lost season for the second time in less than a decade worth it (I just reek of optimism, don't I?), what would it be? I'd love to know, so share away!
“What If...You Could Choose One Silver Lining From The Lockout?”
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Shawn Gates [email protected] Follow @ShawnHockeybuzz
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