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GO IRISH!!!

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I hate Bettman, I mean absolutely hate Bettman, but this isn't on him. The players need to wake up. They think they have more leverage then they really do.

Very true. But for Bettman to come out publicly and say that the three offers the NHLPA submitted represented a "step backward" is pretty strong language. I know it was a response to Fehr using language like "draconian" and things like that, but it just doesn't look promising to hear things like that from both sids.

The players need to wake up, but the owners also need to realize that Bettman doesn't care if this thing gets done or not. For that matter neither does Fehr. I have a feeling the chances of seeing a full season are slim to none. Now it is just a matter of how much time will be lost.
 

GO IRISH!!!

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This sucks! I can't believe both sides can't pull their heads out of their backsides and get to the bargaining table.
 

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Tell me about it!

Both Bettman and Fehr needs to stop their posturing for their place in the spotlight and get this thing moving in the right direction. It is absurd. Imagine if Microsoft or Coca-Cola or some other huge company posted record sales numbers and then the following year, just said, "Eh, we're not going to do anything this year." Doesn't make any sense. If this goes much further, the league is going to find itself back at the same square 1 it was at after the 2004 lockout.

The keep arguing about hockey related revenue and their share of the pie while allowing hockey related revenue to slip through their fingers with this work stoppage. It defies logic.
 

NDinL.A.

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Both Bettman and Fehr needs to stop their posturing for their place in the spotlight and get this thing moving in the right direction. It is absurd. Imagine if Microsoft or Coca-Cola or some other huge company posted record sales numbers and then the following year, just said, "Eh, we're not going to do anything this year." Doesn't make any sense. If this goes much further, the league is going to find itself back at the same square 1 it was at after the 2004 lockout.

The keep arguing about hockey related revenue and their share of the pie while allowing hockey related revenue to slip through their fingers with this work stoppage. It defies logic.

Hockey lost me as a fan after the lockout in the 90's. Watching the Kings the last couple of years in person (thank you GoIrish!) brought me a lot of the way back, and now they do this crap??? Do they realize we have college football and pro football and college and pro basketball to fill the sports void (the casual fan that is). How stupid are these guys????
 

KPENN

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Hockey lost me as a fan after the lockout in the 90's. Watching the Kings the last couple of years in person (thank you GoIrish!) brought me a lot of the way back, and now they do this crap??? Do they realize we have college football and pro football and college and pro basketball to fill the sports void (the casual fan that is). How stupid are these guys????

Very.
 
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Grahambo

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Hockey lost me as a fan after the lockout in the 90's. Watching the Kings the last couple of years in person (thank you GoIrish!) brought me a lot of the way back, and now they do this crap??? Do they realize we have college football and pro football and college and pro basketball to fill the sports void (the casual fan that is). How stupid are these guys????

Ryan Miller said it best that there is a deal to be made once these guys let go of their egos and start taking everything seriously.
 

KPENN

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Hockey lost me as a fan after the lockout in the 90's. Watching the Kings the last couple of years in person (thank you GoIrish!) brought me a lot of the way back, and now they do this crap??? Do they realize we have college football and pro football and college and pro basketball to fill the sports void (the casual fan that is). How stupid are these guys????

Also with this, you make a ridiculously good point, that i've never really thought of before. After the last lockout they made a ton of rule changes that would cater to the more casual fan. Yet sh!t like this will drive them away. The league as a whole is so a$$ backwards.
 

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bettmanmismanagement1.jpg
 

NDdomer2

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makes me angry, they just started getting rolling again from the last lock out then, "let's do it over again."
 

GO IRISH!!!

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Do you think Pierre Lebrun has to take a shower every time he submits one of these articles about the lockout? Both sides are just disgusting. I can't imagine having to interview Bettman and Fehr every couple days...
 

TheSunIsRising

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Do you think Pierre Lebrun has to take a shower every time he submits one of these articles about the lockout? Both sides are just disgusting. I can't imagine having to interview Bettman and Fehr every couple days...


They both are ***-hats. If these two had lunch and had to split a $5.25 tip between them, you can bet they would argue for months over who has to pay the extra penny. When Fehr was hired by the players association (IMO the players f-ed up by firing Paul Kelly), it was obvious that a lockout or strike was unavoidable.

I actually don't really blame Bettman nor Fehr for this; they are the scapegoats and just agents of their respective parties. Both are what they are: arrogant SOB's that don't want to give up anything.

The owners could tell Bettman to make a deal; he works for them. Problem for the owners is that they are a disparate group: some are in have markets and don't care as much about the economics (in most cases these are ones causing much of the problems with unsustainable contract offers), and a majority of other owners need a better deal to survive. Bettman keeps his job because the owners can't get unified on a strategy. He sells his ability to protect the reckless drunk spenders from themselves, and protect the viability of the weak franchises from the excessive spenders.

The players could also tell Fehr to make a deal, but as much as they say "they just want to play", they don't want to sacrifice too many nickels. Paul Kelly would most certainly have negotiated a decent deal for the players, but it would have been one which more zealous union heads (like Buzz Hargrove) would have said was drastically undervaluing the players. The players don't want to leave much on the table, so they make statements about wanting to play, while they replace a moderate (but good) Ex Director like Kelly with one of the most hard-line player association leaders ever.

I would expect if either side did tell Bettman/Fehr to make a deal, the individual who is being asked to capitulate would just end up resigning (rather than being seen to give in).

Sorry for the rambling; I miss hockey
 

GO IRISH!!!

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They both are ***-hats. If these two had lunch and had to split a $5.25 tip between them, you can bet they would argue for months over who has to pay the extra penny. When Fehr was hired by the players association (IMO the players f-ed up by firing Paul Kelly), it was obvious that a lockout or strike was unavoidable.

I actually don't really blame Bettman nor Fehr for this; they are the scapegoats and just agents of their respective parties. Both are what they are: arrogant SOB's that don't want to give up anything.

The owners could tell Bettman to make a deal; he works for them. Problem for the owners is that they are a disparate group: some are in have markets and don't care as much about the economics (in most cases these are ones causing much of the problems with unsustainable contract offers), and a majority of other owners need a better deal to survive. Bettman keeps his job because the owners can't get unified on a strategy. He sells his ability to protect the reckless drunk spenders from themselves, and protect the viability of the weak franchises from the excessive spenders.

The players could also tell Fehr to make a deal, but as much as they say "they just want to play", they don't want to sacrifice too many nickels. Paul Kelly would most certainly have negotiated a decent deal for the players, but it would have been one which more zealous union heads (like Buzz Hargrove) would have said was drastically undervaluing the players. The players don't want to leave much on the table, so they make statements about wanting to play, while they replace a moderate (but good) Ex Director like Kelly with one of the most hard-line player association leaders ever.

I would expect if either side did tell Bettman/Fehr to make a deal, the individual who is being asked to capitulate would just end up resigning (rather than being seen to give in).

Sorry for the rambling; I miss hockey

Your first point is absolutely wrong. They wouldn't argue over how to split the tip because neither of those *******s would ever consider even leaving a tip! LOL!
 

GO IRISH!!!

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**Ring! Ring!**
"Hello."
"Hey Donald, It's Gary."
"Hey Commish, how's it hanging?"
"You know Donald, we really should start trying to end this dispute and get a new CBA signed."
"Yeah, you're probably right Gary."
"But Donald, I don't want to have to go back to my regular job of doing the whole operating the whole league and making public appearances at arenas."
"I don't blame you Gary."
"Yeah, the fans really don't like me do they?"
"No, it seems they really don't."
"Why don't they like me Donald?"
"Well Gary, you're kind of a douche. Also, this is like the third work stoppage in your tenure. Do you blame them?"
"**** you Donald! The League doesn't want to talk to the NHLPA anymore. I gotta go cancel the Winter Classic!!!"

**CLICK...**
 
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HereComeTheIrish

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Send them all back to their home countries....dissolve the teams and be done with it.

Let another federation deal with these ****s.

For once, I side with management... Go find another job jag-bags.
 
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KPENN

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Yay! Lets see how little progress gets made this time.

Pierre LeBrun ‏@Real_ESPNLeBrun
Bill Daly and Steve Fehr are meeting Saturday in undisclosed location to resume bargaining talks
 

ChiRish

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The NHL is a walking, talking (albeit, very little), breathing example of self destruction. What headway they had made into the titanic sports market has been destroyed. Remember when they came back from the last lockout, and had to have games on OLN? That's outdoor life network.

Whenever there are major labor disputes like this, both sides are dirty. It's amazing how petty, trivial, and little things can prevent the whole thing from progressing. As Sonny Corleone said so succinctly, it's never personal, it's just business. Bettman (perhaps the worst leader in major professional sports history) and Fehr could learn something from this, or maybe they treat it as business and are just plain stupid. Either way... not good.

At a certain point, you'd think that these two sides, who for some reason seem so insulated from the world around them, would realize the damage they're causing to the very same brand they're fighting over and strike a deal. Unlike the NBA, and definitely the NFL, I just don't know how well the NHL can sustain a cancelled season.

Get your sh!t together, strike a damn deal because both sides will be richer than hell anyways, and lets play some damn hockey. Good lord.
 
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