Brace for the Lockout

Okay, so honestly, how many people want to miss out on an entire hockey season?  Yes, I am lucky to be stationed near the Tri-City Americans, and so I would have some WHL to fall back on, but let's be honest, it's not the same.  Even when the NFL was on the verge of their own lockout, I refused to believe that college football was the answer.  Same sort of problem here.

If I were to do a poll for what the fans of hockey think about this lockout, I have the strong suspicion that the bulk of the responsibility would fall to the penny pinching owners.  Even for football, even with enormous salaries, the players seem to walk away unscathed.  I attribute part of this to the personality of the sport.  Businessmen are just not meant to warm our hearts with their money heroics.  (No political message intended)  Players go to children's hospitals, help out military vets, and they smile at every available camera.  It is the players who work their way into our hearts, and so when it comes right down to it, it is the players who we will side with.  If not for their talent and personality, there would be no fans to fill the rinks.  And then, in the case of the NHLPA, they follow this up with the master stroke of good will.  They put, the very first time on the table, the idea of cutting salaries for a greater sharing.  They took the words out of the owners' mouths, and so where are we left?  With the suits determining there is too great a distance to be bridged.

When hockey comes back, and it will, there will be no burgeoning superstars (Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby) fresh out of juniors to follow.  We will have our veterans (Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, the Sedins, Stamkos, Malkin, Kopitar, etc) and a sour taste in our mouths.  I know the owners are hardly going to change their point of view by a few words that are written in the professional sports Sahara of Eastern Washington, but here's hoping smarter heads prevail.  Not cooler, businessmen aren't lacking there, but someone with common sense,  right about now, would be absolutely, positively, priceless.

BlytheLea L.E.