The Bobcat Nation

Why oh why does everyone have to be so stubborn? I miss my hockey!

Speaking of hockey, my team should be brought up in any discussion about teams with curses. Making the playoffs for 25 straight years with ZERO cups to show for it. "The curse with no name" as they call it. Who is my team? St. Louis Blues.

CelticCat wrote:Why oh why does everyone have to be so stubborn? I miss my hockey!

Speaking of hockey, my team should be brought up in any discussion about teams with curses. Making the playoffs for 25 straight years with ZERO cups to show for it. "The curse with no name" as they call it. Who is my team? St. Louis Blues.

This may go down as the stupidest sports labor action EVER. Both sides are not shooting
themselves in the foot, they have a gun to their own heads and are about to pull the
trigger. I barely notice or care it is gone!

Exactly msla. I just don't understand how the two sides could be so stubborn to not realize what they are doing. Hockey was finally starting to gain a bit of momentum the last 5 years or so in popularity, with better tv deals and more publicly recognizable figures. Kiss that goodbye, the NHL will be lucky to live through this one in my opinion. At the very least, the will be starting over with a "minor league" following of just the die hards. Must say though I miss watching the Avs play, and am going to miss the All-Star weekend. That is one thing all other leagues should take note of, as the NHL has the best All-Star weekend of any major sport.

Interesting thread. I think the stubbornness of both sides is predicated on the belief that neither side has much to lose by not playing. Most of the very good players are in the European league this winter. So, what do they care? Plus, it is their contracts that are driving the owners to ask for a hard cap.

More than any other pro sport (except mayber soccer), hockey doesn't translate well on t.v. ESPECIALLY NHL hockey. Thus, tv deals are mediocre by pro sport standards.

In the back of my mind, what I'm almost hoping for is a complete collapse of the NHL, and the rebirth of an International league using International rules. The biggest roadblock to that is that it would be way too costly to either revamp the current NHL arenas, or build new arenas.

I don't miss hockey, because we have it every night in Missoula. It isn't the NHL, but there is beer and it is still fun to watch in person.

I will miss the NHL playoffs...second only to the NFL in excitement in my opinion.

I don't know why you hockey fans are upset. You still have soccer, which is just about as interesting.

gtapp wrote:I don't know why you hockey fans are upset. You still have soccer, which is just about as interesting.

Obsurd. I don't remember any soccer game where there is constant body checking, fights, and plain old violence, you must watch some very interesting soccer.

I don't know why you hockey fans are upset. You still have soccer, which is just about as interesting.

I'm a fan of both. If you haven't played either one, I don't think you have a persepctive to slam on either one.

I miss my hockey--"the coolest game on earth".

I don't miss hockey at all, but the situation is interesting. Baseball will be in the same mess some day, if player salaries keep escalating. Hockey contracts got so high that the sport is not viable. The ridiculous salaries are what drove so many teams out of Canada to the sun belt. The financial situation in the NHL may be analogous to the stock market bubble. In the long run, they'll be better off if this all ends up in a radical change in player compensation that reflects the actual market.

CelticCat wrote:

gtapp wrote:I don't know why you hockey fans are upset. You still have soccer, which is just about as interesting.

Obsurd. I don't remember any soccer game where there is constant body checking, fights, and plain old violence, you must watch some very interesting soccer.

Look in the stands, not on the field (pitch)!!!