NHL Fans: Don't Go Away Mad, Just Go Away
Graphic Comments
September 04 2012 05:41PM
You're an NHL fan. You spend your hard-earned money every year going to games. You buy merchandise. You subscribe to Centre Ice. You've been through one, maybe two lockouts, and even a strike if you're really old. And now they're threatening to make you go through yet another lockout.
This makes you mad.
So mad, in fact, that you're willing to take action and show the world just how angry you are. And maybe, just maybe, your action combined with the actions of thousands of other outraged fans might even have an impact and a lockout will be avoided or at least shortened.
Well, you have every right to be outraged. But make no mistake, the angrier you get and the more you show it, the more you ensure the lockout goes on.
Don't get your hopes up
Graphic Comments
August 28 2012 06:28PM
Today's CBA meetings in New York produced some short-lived optimism after it was reported that the NHL owners had presented a counter proposal to the NHL Players' Association.
Turns out it was just a misunderstanding. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman brought the wrong file to the meetings and accidentally presented Donald Fehr with the quotes for his kitchen reno. Or maybe it wasn't an accident, and Bettman just wanted to rub it in that he pulled in $8 million last year and is spending it on gold plated cabinet pulls...
Either way, it didn't make for very productive meetings.
Don't kid yourself, the owners aren't losing the PR battle
Graphic Comments
August 21 2012 08:33PM
Sure, if you took a poll I'm sure most fans and certainly the media would be on players' side this time around. After all, didn't the owners impose this CBA? And aren't the players offering to make changes that would help the small market teams?
And BOOM! that's where they got you.
As long as the conversation remains framed on finding solutions to help the small market teams survive and even prosper, the owners are winning the PR battle. Controlling the terms of debate is much more important than the actual substance of the debate.
Winners and losers in the NHL CBA negotiations
Graphic Comments
August 14 2012 03:43PM
We don't yet know who will come out on top in the ongoing battle between the billionaires and the millionaires, and undoubtedly there will be winners and losers on both sides. But I'm pretty sure I know who the biggest losers will be.
Today marks the next milestone in the "negotiations" as Donald Fehr and the NHLPA outline their "alternative view" on the NHL's internal economic system. I'm sure that will go over well.
So to prepare you for the inevitable onslaught of analysis and reaction to today's developments, here's a double dose of Graphic Comments on the topic...
What Mike Gillis did on summer vacation
Graphic Comments
August 07 2012 06:30PM
So, after a couple of weeks away, I see I haven't missed much in Canuckistan. It appears that Mike Gillis' offseason activities have basically amounted to Sweet F.A. And by that, I don't mean signing Jason Garrison.
That being said, I've been preaching patience for weeks now, and the way CBA talks are going, I'm not sure Gillis has any reason to make any rash moves, other than to give me something new to doodle about. C'mon, Mike, it wouldn't hurt to throow me a Doan, every once in awhile. Er, I meant bone.
But since we're on the topic of Shane Doan...
