Suggestion on what fans should do...

...but most likely wont.

Living here in Tampa, the building of the Lightning to win the Stanley Cup
was nothing short of the biggest Miracle On Ice in 25 years. This was an
organization in tatters...directionless....ownerless...no AHL team to call
its own. They'd ship their up and comers here and there, learning different
styles of play from coaches with totally different styles.

I have the deepest respect for team owner Bill Davidson, right down to the
janitor that cleans the locker room. They were the architects of this
miracle.
(Memo to the rest of the US: You may not have seen this given the anti-Tampa
bias from Espn/ABC and Disney in general. To Canada: You saw the
Bolts on CBC more than the US did on ABC and ESPN)

While I am a Lightning fan, I must come forward and say that I will spend
not one more dime....nor one minute of my time watching the NHL until the
following
event occurs:

Comissioner Gary Bettman and Player Rep Bob Goodenow resign their positions,
effective immediately.

If this were a Government, it would be a colossal failure resulting in their
resignations or even impeachment.
If they were GM's or Head Coaches of a team, they would be sacked.
If they were players, their performance would result in their outright
release.

For the first time in recorded history in North America, a major league
sport is lost for the season because of a lack of responsible managment from
both players
and owners. Bettman and Goodenow are the point men, who are ultimately
responsible for the cancellation of the season.

I ll put it simply: If two players can't face off without screwing up...the
ref sends them away, and get two more players to try.

Its time this happened to Bettman and Goodenow. I trust neither with the
future of the NHL or pro hockey in general.

Do you?

FDR wrote:
> "me" <me@me.com> wrote in message news:udmdnYYupLWOWIrfRVn-ug@rogers.com...
>
>>Exiled wrote:
>>
>>>..but most likely wont.
>>>
>>>Living here in Tampa, the building of the Lightning to win the Stanley
>>>Cup
>>>was nothing short of the biggest Miracle On Ice in 25 years. This was an
>>>organization in tatters...directionless....ownerless...no AHL team to
>>>call
>>>its own. They'd ship their up and comers here and there, learning
>>>different
>>>styles of play from coaches with totally different styles.
>>>
>>>I have the deepest respect for team owner Bill Davidson, right down to
>>>the
>>>janitor that cleans the locker room. They were the architects of this
>>>miracle.
>>>(Memo to the rest of the US: You may not have seen this given the
>>>anti-Tampa
>>>bias from Espn/ABC and Disney in general. To Canada: You saw the
>>>Bolts on CBC more than the US did on ABC and ESPN)
>>>
>>>While I am a Lightning fan, I must come forward and say that I will spend
>>>not one more dime....nor one minute of my time watching the NHL until the
>>>following
>>>event occurs:
>>>
>>>Comissioner Gary Bettman and Player Rep Bob Goodenow resign their
>>>positions,
>>>effective immediately.
>>>
>>>If this were a Government, it would be a colossal failure resulting in
>>>their
>>>resignations or even impeachment.
>>>If they were GM's or Head Coaches of a team, they would be sacked.
>>>If they were players, their performance would result in their outright
>>>release.
>>>
>>>For the first time in recorded history in North America, a major league
>>>sport is lost for the season because of a lack of responsible managment
>>>from
>>>both players
>>>and owners. Bettman and Goodenow are the point men, who are ultimately
>>>responsible for the cancellation of the season.
>>>
>>>I ll put it simply: If two players can't face off without screwing
>>>up...the
>>>ref sends them away, and get two more players to try.
>>>
>>>Its time this happened to Bettman and Goodenow. I trust neither with the
>>>future of the NHL or pro hockey in general.
>>>
>>>Do you?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>I half agree with you. Past history has shown that the NHL Commish can
>>only do what the owners want him to do. If the owners want a deal at a
>>figure above 42.5 then he will negotiate that. So don't blame Bettman,
>>blame the owners. On the other hand, history has shown that atheletes are
>>for the most part not the smartest bunch and they generally get pulled by
>>their noses in the direction that their committee wants them to go. In the
>>past they have done quite well but this time around Goodenow made the
>>"most disastrous miscalculation in sports history" - as the NBA Commish
>>said.
>>
>>So blame Goodenow for his miscalculation and the players for not being
>>content with their millions and not being smart enough to say "42.5 is as
>>good as it gets lets take it and live to fight another day". Lets face it
>>folks, when you are a person with a grade 12 education and you're getting
>>paid at or above the million dollar mark, you really should be happy with
>>that.
>
>
>
> And who's fault is it that players get those salaries?

The Owners, the NHLPA and players, the agents, and the fans.

The NHLPA tells the players what they have to ask for. The agents get
that money for them. The majority of the owners have to pay the players
what is deemed to be fair market value, a value that was set by a select
few teams, because if they don't pay the fans go away.

Buff wrote:

> FDR wrote:
>
>> And who's fault is it that players get those salaries?
>
>
> The Owners, the NHLPA and players, the agents, and the fans.


I will give the careless owners two pieces of slack ...

a) until last season, the owners believed "sky's the limit". Business
believed it until the third year of a slow economy and the reality
of low US TV ratings started to become apparent. (I know, you'd
think that they would have seen ... famous last words of many a
venture capitalist in technology.)

b) owners, especially those of southern expansion franchises, had
generous corporate welfare support from state and local government.
Now, every government in the US is running red ink (have been for
2-3 years, maybe more). That gravy train has derailed.

The owners need to admit to that, the players need to recognize that.

gld

This Flyers fan will get by ... by watching the local ECHL team, the
Reading Royals.
Meantime, I will try to be an optimist about the NHL's future. I'm
hoping that the lockout will ultimately lead to a permanent arrangement
a la the NFL, with generous revenue sharing and more teams having a
chance to win.

Dan

in article 58aSd.445692$Xk.13385@pd7tw3no, Buff at will@not.say wrote on
2/20/05 7:42 PM:

> but a healthy and competetive league will generate more
> interest and potentially more money. Once they get this CBA fixed, they
> can focus on bringing back excitement to the game, the kind we saw up
> until the early 90's.

If they really wanted to do that, they'd contract at least 6 teams, lower
the size of goalie pads and call obstruction and interference.

This is about money.

Alex wrote:
>
>>but a healthy and competetive league will generate more
>>interest and potentially more money. Once they get this CBA fixed, they
>>can focus on bringing back excitement to the game, the kind we saw up
>>until the early 90's.
>
>
> If they really wanted to do that, they'd contract at least 6 teams, lower
> the size of goalie pads and call obstruction and interference.
>


Please explain why contraction will bring excitement back to the game.
And for your sake, I truly hope you don't intend to bring up dilution again.

In article <p_QRd.21293$vK5.17156@twister.nyroc.rr.com>,
_remove_spam_block_rzitka@hotmail.com says...
> > So blame Goodenow for his miscalculation and the players for not being
> > content with their millions and not being smart enough to say "42.5 is as
> > good as it gets lets take it and live to fight another day". Lets face it
> > folks, when you are a person with a grade 12 education and you're getting
> > paid at or above the million dollar mark, you really should be happy with
> > that.
>
> And who's fault is it that players get those salaries?

Do you always blame an entire group for the actions of the few?