NationStates Jolt Archive

For the first time, a major US/Canadian sporting league has cancelled an entire season. It this a harbinger of things to come? Are players too greedy?

What do you think?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6892613/

so will win the Stanley Cup? According to an NPR story I heard last night, it is supposed to go to the best team playing that year. So does that mean a minor league or college team should get it? How would a playoff be handled?

Screw Hockey. Nothing is more annoying than watching a good fight and then a hockey game breaks out. :(

Woe is us!

....

Huh?

That's it. Tiem to find a rifle and a bell tower, because I'm officially flyin' off the handle.

Me - NHL = :(

They're killing the sport. It's already less popular than football, baseball, and basketball. Canceling a season will only drive fans away and prevent new fans from discovering the greatest sport of all time. Screw the owners and the players union. They're all a bunch of assholes.

Damnit!! Damn that ignorant ass Bettman! It's all his fault!

The players even volunteered to take a 24% pay cut as well as a luxury tax! That's pretty reasonable.

They're killing the sport. It's already less popular than football, baseball, and basketball..
Only in the states
Canceling a season will only drive fans away and prevent new fans from discovering the greatest sport of all time. .
Sadly, yes :(
Screw the owners and the players union. They're all a bunch of assholes.
I agree, they're all being a bunch of babies, we should lynch Bettman for his idiocy. :p

I think everyone's being rather unreasonable, but the players are being particularly so. I mean, c'mon, you can't expect to earn gazillions of dollars a year while the teams that are paying you are constantly in debt.

Can you?

P.S. One good thing came out of this whole season for me, though. For the first time I went to see AHL teams play, and it was awesome! Somehow the players seem a lot more enthusiastic about the game when they're working their butts off to get into the NHL.

Now I may switch from being a Flyers fan to a Phantoms fan. ;)

This might not only be the end of the season, but the end of the NHL. It is very possible they will have no agreement next year either.

I got to touch the Stanley Cup this year, but now, no hockey...

I am completely bummed.

Now I may switch from being a Flyers fan to a Phantoms fan. ;)

Yeah, with no Sabres I follow the Amerks.

The season is cancelled...who cares? :sniper: It's the same 20,000 fans who travel from rink to rink anyway. Let them watch curling...much more exciting. Although they will need to add fighting. I would love to see them whacking each other with those brooms!!

This might not only be the end of the season, but the end of the NHL. It is very possible they will have no agreement next year either.

I got to touch the Stanley Cup this year, but now, no hockey...

I am completely bummed.

Curses to you lightening fan, one win away here on the red mile....

Personally, I think bettman and goodnow should be shot, these two dorks are getting personal + letting feelings into business.

I am more on the owners side though, i mean 1.4 million a year average to play hockey?? This is the NHL not NFL, hockey is not even carried by a major yankee network, where do the players expect the cash to come from?

The NFL is the best league in the world because of team parity and that parity comes from a hard cap. Thats what hockey needs...

no shit.

my bf knew this was coming in september.

poor guy will have no sports to watch after the superbowl since his favourite sport has been cancelled for the year.

The season is cancelled...who cares? :sniper: It's the same 20,000 fans who travel from rink to rink anyway. Let them watch curling...much more exciting. Although they will need to add fighting. I would love to see them whacking each other with those brooms!!
Go back to your video games.

Damnit!! Damn that ignorant ass Bettman! It's all his fault!

The players even volunteered to take a 24% pay cut as well as a luxury tax! That's pretty reasonable.
hell, some of them have formed their own league for the original 6 cities and don't get paid a damn thing and even pay out of their own pockets to rent the arenas and travel and everything.

there are hockey players who love the game more than the cash.

Go back to your video games.

I don't play video games...don't watch TV either. I just read books. You should try it.

Screw Hockey. Nothing is more annoying than watching a good fight and then a hockey game breaks out. :(

Haha..that was good. But yeah, even though I'm not the biggest hockey fan, there are a lot of people that are, and I just dont understand why they are cancelling honestly.

yup, a real dissapointment to long time fans. Maybe they weren't making as much money as some baseball players but thats what made it sort of a good thing.

Now I may switch from being a Flyers fan to a Phantoms fan
There's some of our Flyers on the Phantoms, even if not the high profile ones - I think Kapanen and Pitkanen.

I think both sides are being unreasonable. The management dug themselves into this hole in the first place, and the blame for starting this should probably lie with them. The players are to blame for the cancellation as well. Even though it wasn't their fault that huge contracts were offered to them, the situation became was it is, and cancelling the season by not accepting a salary cap only weakens hockey's weak US market.

Life without hockey= No life :(

I wish ESPN would bring us European hockey.

Maybe one of those rich Russians (ala Chelsea's Roman Abramovich) will start up a North Atlantic hockey league of European, Canadian, and U.S. hockey teams.

Travel expenses would be high, but we would get a true world champion.

http://www.attrition.org/movies/image/replacements.jpg

so will win the Stanley Cup? According to an NPR story I heard last night, it is supposed to go to the best team playing that year. So does that mean a minor league or college team should get it? How would a playoff be handled?This is the most interesting question anyone has asked yet on this topic.

I don't play video games...don't watch TV either. I just read books. You should try it.
Evidently you find time to harass people who happen to understand the greatest sport ever invented though.

I am seriously bummed about this and what it seems to hold for hockey in general. Although the game has been going down since the North Stars left Minnesota for Texas (TEXAS of all places) and the rest of the teams started changing their uniforms for TV. Come on Penguins, you know what I mean. Still, a year without cheering for the Maple Leafs is a year less fun.

Their biggest mistake was allowing The Count from Sesame Street be commissioner.
I also don't understand why the players are willing to play in Europe for 200,000 Euros, but it's unacceptable to play in the NHL for $1 mil American.

I agree with earlier posts: support minor league hockey. We have an ECHL and a junior B team in my city. If you ask me, these guys play ten times harder than the NHL'ers.

Who owns the Stanley Cup?

"In 1947 there was a formal agreement between the trustees whereby the league was delegated the full authority ... making the Stanley Cup a competition for NHL teams," points out Gary Meagher, the NHL vice-president of public relations. He's right. You can check it in Total Hockey, 2nd Edition. Page 355. But wait...! The text goes on: "the agreement shall remain in force so long as the league continues to be the world's leading professional hockey league as determined by it's playing calibre, and in the event of dissolution or other termination of the National Hockey League, the Stanley Cup shall revert to the custody of the trustees."

http://www.canoe.ca/Slam040621/col_lankhof-sun.html

They're only doing this because my brother, who is a big hockey fan, is in Paraguay and away from the TV. Too bad.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the only sport that i follow with passion is cancelled, no season woe is me........

The problem is, more and more people who thought they would "die" without hockey are finding LIH (life after hockey) not as bad as once thought. The thing is, there's so much choice for entertainment these days that the loss of hockey is not as painfully felt as it once was. Except for some rural communities in Canada, hockey's loss is met by a gain in basketball, baseball, soccer, and the sport of kings, curling (:D) . And I'm Canadian and saying this. The league needed the kind of amazing management the NFL had/has to take it from the Tier II sport it is in many american communities (that is, if it was even a sport at all) to the top fo the ratings chart. Unfortunately, it failed.

And that garbage about bettman being the sole contributor....bullshit. That pay cut the player's were offering was temporary and just a massiove PR move, and they know it. The league needs help. A LOT of help. Until then, we can hold on to those World Cup and World Junior memories, Canada....

I agree with earlier posts: support minor league hockey. We have an ECHL and a junior B team in my city. If you ask me, these guys play ten times harder than the NHL'ers.

Boo the Rivermen! Yeah, you may have cheated your way into a few victories of late, but you'll never be able to call yourselves five time Taylor Cup Champions!

http://echo.bluehornet.com/cimages/e707003d08e397daa5b73b695cf8ec/Newest%20Gulls%20Logo-160x176.jpg (sandiegogulls.com)

That said, I can't really miss NHL hockey. I mean, I never watched it in the first place - why would you when there are so many better alternatives in hockey entertainment?

Besides, I have to support the one and only San Diego team that's ever won anything. :D

Professional sports stink

I am sooooo pissed about this. And this was the first year that I actually bought a season ticket. They need to get their acts together...and fast. :mad:

these guys are playing games for a living! hello! what would they do if there werent sports. hey lets go flip burgers. bull shit. no one needs that much money, on top of that, money for a game. granted, they get paid for going to win for their owner, so money should be a little more for the hard work and training they go through. but millions of dollars? :headbang: why couldnt this happen to a great sport like basketball (please note there is sarcasm there).
besides, its a business. the owner made it, the owner runs it, the owner makes the decisions. since when do we get to tell our bosses what to do? unions suck.

Ok, I absolutely am disgusted by the players. They are too god damn proud to admitt they make too much money and they are destroying the small market teams. If the NHL returns with no cap, at least 2 or 3 teams will go under (likely Edmonton, Calgary and Pittsburgh) and given Edmonton is my fabourite team, I won't say "Fuck the NHL!". It's not that I favour the owners/sympathize with them, it's that they have a plan that will actually keep the team I love playing and that is why I wish them victory.

Curses to you lightening fan, one win away here on the red mile....

Personally, I think bettman and goodnow should be shot, these two dorks are getting personal + letting feelings into business.

I am more on the owners side though, i mean 1.4 million a year average to play hockey?? This is the NHL not NFL, hockey is not even carried by a major yankee network, where do the players expect the cash to come from?

The NFL is the best league in the world because of team parity and that parity comes from a hard cap. Thats what hockey needs...

This is probably the first post of yours that I agree with.

The worst part about the NHL with no salary cap is that the teams that are most likely to be destroyed are the Canadian teams like Edmonton and Calgary. I doubt Dallas or Los Angeles or either New York team will be forced to fold for a while, but teams like Edmonton, Calgary, or Pittsburgh are dangerously close to no longer being financially viable, and that's sad. It was enough of a travesty when we lost the Jets and the Nordiques because they couldn't afford to stay in Canada.

The NHL lost much of its soul when its teams moved out of Winnipeg, Québec, and Hartford. And even from Minnesota, though they were lucky to get a new team later (but I'll take the North Stars over the Wild any day).

Gary Bettman's first day on the job: "Hey, what do you know, it really is ice!"

Idiot owners and greedy players are to blame. It only took one side to say no to what put the league in this predicament, but they waited until the brink.

For the first time, a major US/Canadian sporting league has cancelled an entire season. It this a harbinger of things to come? Are players too greedy?

What do you think?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6892613/
Ive actually been waiting for this i knew there was no hope of a season.
I believe the players are greedy but when you look at what the TV companies get youve got to weigh it up but id say Greed :mp5:

I actually hope it will happen to Grid Iron and/or Baseball then maybe America could really play Rugby or Cricket ;)

Screw the NHL. Let's have a new league. Too many teams anyway.

The NHL lost much of its soul when its teams moved out of Winnipeg, Québec, and Hartford. And even from Minnesota, though they were lucky to get a new team later (but I'll take the North Stars over the Wild any day).

Gary Bettman's first day on the job: "Hey, what do you know, it really is ice!"

Idiot owners and greedy players are to blame. It only took one side to say no to what put the league in this predicament, but they waited until the brink.
True that i still like Dallas
I picked a team and stuck with them
What i really dont like is the buying/trading of Players and teams instead of having a team from a state which when you think about it would be hard for California or Florida :p

Screw the NHL. Let's have a new league. Too many teams anyway.

Ought to be:

Montreal
Toronto
Ottawa
Calgary
Edmonton
Vancouver
St. Louis
Minnesota (North Stars, not Wild)
Chicago
Detroit
Philadelphia
Washington
Pittsburgh
New Jersey
New York (both)
Buffalo
Boston
Hartford

18 teams.

I want someone else (http://www.icejerseys.com/af_images/1333.main.jpg) back then too... *prepares for a lashing*

Well, I mean we can't just forget about them.

How about adding:

Halifax
Hamilton
Quebec City
Winnipeg

and make it 22. Of all these, I'm the least sure about Winnipeg. I know people in all the other cities would jump at the chance, but I just don't know Winnipeg. If not Winnipeg, perhaps Hartford might want back in.

Ought to be:

Montreal
Toronto
Ottawa
Calgary
Edmonton
Vancouver
Minnesota (North Stars, not Wild)
Chicago
Detroit
Philadelphia
Washington
Pittsburgh
New Jersey
New York (both)
Buffalo
Boston

16 teams.

ah wait - you changed your post, ah-ha! that's why my math was wrong. Oh, you thought of Hartford, too.

Yeah. I know. What the hell was the NHL doing in San Jose?

I want someone else (http://www.icejerseys.com/af_images/1333.main.jpg) back then too... *prepares for a lashing*

Well, I mean we can't just forget about them.

Fine. Add Quebec and Winnipeg to my list of 18 and you've got 20.

All I really care about are getting rid of the following teams:

Florida Panthers
Tampa Bay Lightning
Atlanta Thrashers
Carolina Hurricanes
Nashville Predators
Dallas Stars
Phoenix Coyotes
Los Angeles Kings
Anaheim Mighty Ducks (get rid of them two or three times, somehow)
San Jose Sharks

Anywhere where ice is not naturally forming at least 6 months a year.

ah wait - you changed your post, ah-ha! that's why my math was wrong. Oh, you thought of Hartford, too.

Yeah. I know. What the hell was the NHL doing in San Jose?

I went back and added Hartford and St. Louis. Mostly because I like both teams' uniforms.

Well..at least I wont have to see the Rangers disappoint me again this year. I will miss the cursing at Islanders fans though. Goodtimes. Bastard fucking Islanders can kiss my Ranger ass. :(

So can the owners and so can the players. Salary caps dont exactly work. The NFL is filled with mediocore teams, but the salary cap keeps them going. But doesnt allow them any real expansion, meanwhile teams who have fought to get what they are find themselves slammed into a salary cap by greedy players anyway and go often to the highest bidder, a competitor with just enough room to squeeze a player in.

The players themselves should agree to a self imposed salary cap though. They should limit themselves as to how much they ask for and how much they are worth. Or better yet, the NHL should come up with an impartial commission to determine how much a player is worth and this changes after each season depending on stats. Or it changes instead of after each season when a players contract with a specific team is up. A non-binding arbitration of sorts that players and team owners can discuss over. Because honestly now..people dont need 14 mil to play hockey I'll easily put on the skates and go play for 150,000 a year and enjoy myself.

For the first time, a major US/Canadian sporting league has cancelled an entire season. It this a harbinger of things to come? Are players too greedy?

What do you think?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6892613/

Second time, baseball players went on strike in the mid-90s. Washed out the entire season and yes there are Canadian baseball teams..well team now.

Fine. Add Quebec and Winnipeg to my list of 18 and you've got 20.

All I really care about are getting rid of the following teams:

Florida Panthers
Tampa Bay Lightning
Atlanta Thrashers
Carolina Hurricanes
Nashville Predators
Dallas Stars
Phoenix Coyotes
Los Angeles Kings
Anaheim Mighty Ducks (get rid of them two or three times, somehow)
San Jose Sharks

Anywhere where ice is not naturally forming at least 6 months a year.

After watching what happened to Anchor Ian Hanomansing after last years Victory in *shudders* Tampa Bay, I couldn't agree more. The fans cared less about the hockey than they did about an 'American' team beating a 'Canadian' team. It was poor sportsmanship at its worst - and I was ashamed to say the least.

But Hartford was a damn cool team back in the day, and no one can deny the Nord's - so I'm happy to see them on as well.

Let's do it!! :p

Fine. Add Quebec and Winnipeg to my list of 18 and you've got 20.

All I really care about are getting rid of the following teams:

Florida Panthers
Tampa Bay Lightning
Atlanta Thrashers
Carolina Hurricanes
Nashville Predators
Dallas Stars
Phoenix Coyotes
Los Angeles Kings
Anaheim Mighty Ducks (get rid of them two or three times, somehow)
San Jose Sharks

Anywhere where ice is not naturally forming at least 6 months a year.

Well, that means you'd also have to ditch Chicago, Detroit, anything on the East Coast, St. Louis, Columbus (The Blue Jackets probably should go anyway). While aforementioned cities do experience a legitimate winter, except maybe this year, and last year, and the year before that, it sure as hell ain't six months. Global Warming claims responsibility for the terrorist attacks upon the nation's winters (especially Midwest winters). :D

I say keep the Lightning if only because they won the Cup (st00pid Florida blasphemers grumble mumble grr :mad: ) and the Kings if only cause they had teh Great One once upon a time, though maybe that was too long ago to make them a legit team...

The Coyotes can stay if and only if they return to Winnipeg and rename themselves the Jets. JMHO.

But you know, it doesn't have to be the 'NHL', it can be a totally new league - just with all the good teams from the old NHL, and teams where they ought to be - as you said, places where ice forms.

I'm surprised they didn't expand into New Mexico. Or Mexico, for that matter. I can just see it - 'The Tijuana Brass' or some shit.

Second time, baseball players went on strike in the mid-90s. Washed out the entire season and yes there are Canadian baseball teams..well team now.
Yeah, right after the Blue Jays won the back to backs they went on strike, it sort of ruined baseball for me. Of course, it didn't help that my younger brother and I had to watch the shallow disrespectful treatment of our idol (Kelly Gruber), who was the best damned third baseman EVER. Baseball hasn't been the same since. I hope hockey makes a decent recovery. :(

Well, that means you'd also have to ditch Chicago, Detroit, anything on the East Coast, St. Louis, Columbus (The Blue Jackets probably should go anyway). While aforementioned cities do experience a legitimate winter, except maybe this year, and last year, and the year before that, it sure as hell ain't six months. Global Warming claims responsibility for the terrorist attacks upon the nation's winters (especially Midwest winters). :D

Pipe down Bill Nye. I live in New England, and it's not the slightest bit odd to have snow anywhere from October to May, so it counts. How about 4 months a year?

Well, that means you'd also have to ditch Chicago, Detroit, anything on the East Coast, St. Louis, Columbus (The Blue Jackets probably should go anyway). While aforementioned cities do experience a legitimate winter, except maybe this year, and last year, and the year before that, it sure as hell ain't six months. Global Warming claims responsibility for the terrorist attacks upon the nation's winters (especially Midwest winters). :D

I say keep the Lightning if only because they won the Cup (st00pid Florida blasphemers grumble mumble grr :mad: ) and the Kings if only cause they had teh Great One once upon a time, though maybe that was too long ago to make them a legit team...

The Coyotes can stay if and only if they return to Winnipeg and rename themselves the Jets. JMHO.

Since when does ice not form in Chicago?

Pipe down Bill Nye. I live in New England, and it's not the slightest bit odd to have snow anywhere from October to May, so it counts. How about 4 months a year?

I was referring to the coastal areas, like New York and Boston :D

I was referring to the coastal areas, like New York and Boston :D

Ha. You've never been here if you don't think we can have a six month winter.

Well, that means you'd also have to ditch Chicago, Detroit, anything on the East Coast, St. Louis, Columbus (The Blue Jackets probably should go anyway). While aforementioned cities do experience a legitimate winter, except maybe this year, and last year, and the year before that, it sure as hell ain't six months. Global Warming claims responsibility for the terrorist attacks upon the nation's winters (especially Midwest winters). :D

I say keep the Lightning if only because they won the Cup (st00pid Florida blasphemers grumble mumble grr :mad: ) and the Kings if only cause they had teh Great One once upon a time, though maybe that was too long ago to make them a legit team...

The Coyotes can stay if and only if they return to Winnipeg and rename themselves the Jets. JMHO.

OK, Columbus has to go, I agree - and I stick to my guns that Tampa is gone too... the Kings can go because the greed that got them Gretzky in the first place is the same greed thats busy screwing up the NHL right now (watching him go down there broke my little heart just like it broke his and every true hockey fan - he didnt want to be there!!!), I'm almost tempted to say the Rangers too, but they didn't get him out of greed - so I guess they're ok. And yes, Winnipeg should be the Jets again, so that all is right in the world.

Since when does ice not form in Chicago?

It forms in Chicago, but really only for 3-4 months of the year, while you said that a city should have natural ice 6 months out of the year to be worthy of a hockey team.

Yes, I am being uberpicky because this whole crapola has put me in a VERY bad mood :mad: and it's supposed to be fuckin' fifty degrees for the next week along the MO-IA border--for someone who loves snow, losing both hockey and winter itself is highly tramatizing. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Ha. You've never been here if you don't think we can have a six month winter.

Nah, you just get random blizzards followed the next week by 45 degree weather, then repeat process.

It forms in Chicago, but really only for 3-4 months of the year, while you said that a city should have natural ice 6 months out of the year to be worthy of a hockey team.

Yes, I am being uberpicky because this whole crapola has put me in a VERY bad mood :mad: and it's supposed to be fuckin' fifty degrees for the next week along the MO-IA border--for someone who loves snow, losing both hockey and winter itself is highly tramatizing. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Haha. It was mid-30s today and I was commenting on how nice out it was.

*FAHRENHEIT ALERT*

- whooooooooooosh -

That's the sound of temperature descriptors going right over my head. Thirty degrees Celsius you'd need shorts and t-shirts. Fahrenheit? Beats the hell outta me...

OK, Columbus has to go, I agree - and I stick to my guns that Tampa is gone too... the Kings can go because the greed that got them Gretzky in the first place is the same greed thats busy screwing up the NHL right now (watching him go down there broke my little heart just like it broke his and every true hockey fan - he didnt want to be there!!!), I'm almost tempted to say the Rangers too, but they didn't get him out of greed - so I guess they're ok. And yes, Winnipeg should be the Jets again, so that all is right in the world.

Meh, if you really want to get rid of teh greed, get rid of Anaheim instead of LA. The ubercommercialization of teh Mighty Ducks makes the Kings' greed look charitable by comparison. Maybe we should just forbid Disney from owning any sports teams *pukes*

As far as Tampa goes, I just wanted to see if they could do it again or if it was a complete fluke. That's why I wanted them to stay, at least for a little while.

*FAHRENHEIT ALERT*

- whooooooooooosh -

That's the sound of temperature descriptors going right over my head. Thirty degrees Celsius you'd need shorts and t-shirts. Fahrenheit? Beats the hell outta me...

About -1C to 4C = 30s F

Meh, if you really want to get rid of teh greed, get rid of Anaheim instead of LA. The ubercommercialization of teh Mighty Ducks makes the Kings' greed look charitable by comparison. Maybe we should just forbid Disney from owning any sports teams *pukes*

As far as Tampa goes, I just wanted to see if they could do it again or if it was a complete fluke. That's why I wanted them to stay, at least for a little while.
Oh no, all of the teams on that original list of 'teams leaving' are still gone, I was just refering to the ones you said could stay. I to make sure that its understood I want the Kings and Tampa OUT!!

*FAHRENHEIT ALERT*

- whooooooooooosh -

That's the sound of temperature descriptors going right over my head. Thirty degrees Celsius you'd need shorts and t-shirts. Fahrenheit? Beats the hell outta me...

*does evil calculations*

50 Fahrenheit=10 Celsius=283 Kelvin. I should have known that there were Canadians floating around here. :D

I think we all know the sort of teams we'd like to become footnotes in hockey history, right? Yeah...the Ducks, the Lightning...and yeah the Kings, too. Come to think of it, yeah definitely the Kings.

I think we all know the sort of teams we'd like to become footnotes in hockey history, right? Yeah...the Ducks, the Lightning...and yeah the Kings, too. Come to think of it, yeah definitely the Kings.

The Panthers, the Coyotes, and the Hurricanes are the ones I want gone next.

As I live in CT, thanks for the vote on the Whalers, but it can't work.

CT is wedged between Boston and NYC, so you have 3 teams built in... never mind those weirdo Sabres and Devil fans. :D

CT is too small to have anything but AHL...

*FAHRENHEIT ALERT*

- whooooooooooosh -

That's the sound of temperature descriptors going right over my head. Thirty degrees Celsius you'd need shorts and t-shirts. Fahrenheit? Beats the hell outta me...
Word Up i played cricket in 35 degrees boy was that hot.

Id say keep LA because once apon a time they had Luke Robitille(sp)
Who would keep both New York teams and the Sabres?