You know how Seinfeld was called a show about nothing?
We've just entered a lockout about nothing, and it's not funny.
In 2004, I understood the need for drastic changes. I sure didn't like missing a year without the NHL, and the two sides wasted a ridiculous amount of time, but there were underlying issues that had to be fixed.
This time, what? A few teams are struggling? And in the twisted minds of Gary Bettman and the owners, the players should be the ones docked for it?
Maybe this problem wouldn't exist if the league hadn't been so money-hungry and gobbled up expansion and relocation fees wherever they could get them in the late 1990s. But that's for another day.
The owners got their pound of flesh in the last lockout. They absolutely took the players out behind the shed and beat them. All we've heard for the last seven years from Gary Bettman is "record revenues" and "the league is thriving" and now it's not enough.
They want more.
I think Leafs defenceman John-Michael Liles said it best last week: "I think it's unfortunate (with) how much the game has grown and how far we've come. The fact that the system has been working for everybody for the last seven years, but now as soon as the CBA is up, all of a sudden it doesn't work."
It's a lockout that is absolutely unnecessary.
Indeed, it seems that almost from the beginning of negotiations, the league wanted this. They spoke about a lockout right from the get-go; brushed aside an appointed mediator after three days and no meetings.
Hey, who cares about a few missed games when you can lose less money by not paying your players? Who cares if we have to cancel a season if we can line our pockets in the process?
Who cares about the fans, anyway? They'll come back. They always do. They're a bunch of suckers, right? They're addicted. They'll come crawling back the second the lockout is over.
They're right on that last point. It's sad, and more than a little infuriating that they take fans for granted, but they do it because they can.
In no way am I saying the players are innocent here. They're just as much to blame for the dispute over how league revenues are split up. Just get to a 50-50 agreement and go from there.
Yet there can be no question that the owners are the ones pushing the agenda here. They are the ones who want a lockout to settle relatively minor issues.
The players have suggested the season go on while the two sides continue negotiating.
Nope. Lockout. We want a lockout. That's our solution to everything.
We're the only professional league to wipe out an entire season, and we'll gladly do it again. Because we do not care about hockey. Show us the money.
Josh Lewis can be reached by phone at 634-2654, by e-mail at [email protected], on Twitter at twitter.com/joshlewis306 or on his Bruins blog at estevanmercury.ca/bruinsbanter. Check out the pilot episode of his new web series, Bruins Banter TV, on the blog.
