At least the lockout has given us two pretty awesome gimmicks.

I saw Don Cherry tonight from across the rink. I tweeted a pic. I might post about it later. I am tired and in a bad mood.

In a bad mood goose? This should cheer you up.



That's the mayor of Toronto. Pretty representative of the Leafs for the past 40 years, and this thread for the past month.

That would imply never to find enough stuff TO do it again.

I can make no promises.

Got my tickets for Dec 6th Hershey Bears vs Norfolk Admirals at the Verizon Center. There will be hockey in DC ladies (whitegoose), and gentlemen!

I've officially bought into the hype that today's nhlpa presentation will be the beginning of the end of the lockout. I also randomly predicted nov 22 would be the day this ended a long time ago, so everything is lining up!

Way to randomly predict a national holiday.

The real holiday is Friday when the American masses cull the herd via stampede. Must watch news day.

True story: I once went to the Vegas outlet malls on Black Friday not knowing it was Black Friday until I got there.

It's also hilarious how US companies are trying to market Black Friday in Canada this year.

Apparently, the PA sent the following letter to Canadian Parliament...this is beyond pathetic:

Like, seriously?

It could be genius. Get some vote hungry politician to table a bill that increases tax or something on NHL teams. What politician could argue that bill in Canada? It would be career suicide.

The Canadian government stepped in in the WHA/NHL merger in 1979 (and along with a fan boycott of Molson), got Winnipeg into the NHL.

It's a freeroll, why not take it.

i'd like to think that the letter was in response to a specific communication from the mp and that the timing of the release was coincidence. i'd like to believe that, but i don't.

Timing? What are you talking about?

release to the press right before the meeting

PA says they and the league are $182 million spread over five years apart.

Full proposal is supposed to get released today. Plus maybe NHL has to look at this one for more than 10 minutes before rejecting it.

Meh. It's not a big deal. Involving the public and the government is standard when you don't negotiate in good faith. If the league had that option, they would have leaked it too.

yeah, i don't think it's a big deal either. both sides have been making tactical leaks. it's just a needless gesture right before a negotiation session. can't help and might (but probably won't) hurt.

I just found it really trivial. a) MP's don't (or at least shouldn't) care, and b) they don't live under a rock either. Like, did they send this by telegram? Is it 1948? Did Ted Lindsay sign off on this release?

it's a PR stunt (unless maybe they think the government will try to pressure the league here), but meh

to suggest that they don't or shouldn't care seems pretty silly

one thing i found interesting is that the sponsors seem to be getting their jimmies rustled. there was that story with Molson the other day, and yesterday i randomly happened to see reps from Kraft bitching about the lockout on 2 different sports shows (i think one of them was a guy who represented a consortium of sponsors). and obv they have much more of a relationship with the owners/league and that's where the pressure is directed, for them to organize this kind of public campaign they must be pretty pissed.

Parliament has far more serious issues to deal with right now (Competition Bureau randomly killing or approving corporate buyouts, potential housing bubble, reaction to the American fiscal cliff) than worry about the lockout. This is a weakass publicity stunt but I do find it insulting to a degree.

Sponsors who've paid to associate with a league that's not playing is an entirely different story - that's a direct vested interest.

MP's who have constituents laid off, directly or indirectly, shouldn't care?
MP's in jurisdictions that have kicked in federal money to teams shouldn't care?

i mean the fact that hockey is important to a majority of Canadians means they should probably care on some level (public happiness = votes), i wouldn't be surprised if they're getting calls about this. like if you're a MP in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, or Montreal why wouldn't you be interested in this?

i was actually thinking the other day i wonder to what extent Harper is involved, if Bettman is keeping him in the loop or not.

what with a majority government, i think they can spend 5 minutes or so thinking about the NHL lockout if they feel it's important enough to them or their constituents.

and whether you like it or not, government is directly invested in this, and also indirectly.

new page

In reality I think the average CDN doesn't care anymore. So Goverments do not either They are fed up with the owners and players. Kraft took a small amount of money that was to go to Hockeyville and pumped all into minor hockey.

I miss HNIC and I am sick of a sport that at best ranks 4th or 5th in North America locked out the longest and most times.

Awwwww isn't that cute. Geddy thinks politicians are actually in the business of politics, and not the business of getting re-elected. Oh to be young again.

btw i'm prob ghana have to self-ban if i opened the can of worms that is Geddy politard essay itt