Pessimism is Rising

I have officially joined the land of sceptics (on this topic, for most others I have held the presidency for years– I usually try to remain optimistic in this area)  I am pretty sure there will be another hockey lockout this year.  I am a big hockey fan and the thought of no Hockey Night in Canadafills me with a horrifying dread.

Could any good come out of a hockey lockout?  Let’s see.  Last time, instead of showing sports from around the world, we got Texas No Limit Hold’em pretty much 24/7.  A little bit of this was okay.  Granted it started a whole new industry and a large number of cheap, easy to produce TV shows.  It made several gamblers quite famous.  I don’t begrudge that, but every time I turn on the TV I see the same hand of poker being played.  (You know, the one where the guy in the pink shirt gets crushed by the pros)  Obviously someone is making money from this, but I am not sure who it is. 

I do like poker, and I admit it is TV friendly.  I even have the World Series of Poker software for my PSP.  I just don’t want to see it as much as I had to during the last lockout.  If it is so cheap to produce, I shouldn’t have to face multiple reruns.

Back to the point.  Could any good come out of a lockout?  Well, last time the players caved and we got a salary cap.  Revenues are up and the cap is still taking the same percentage as before.  Sounds like a recipe for financial stability.  Apparently not.  Some teams are still not making money.  Some teams are still in jeopardy of failing.  I lost a year of hockey, and nothing has changed. Go figure.

The sticking points seem to be revenue sharing and players’ salaries.  I understand that.  If my team were in a profitable market (mine is) then why would I want to give money to a team that can’t even fill the best seats in the house at rock bottom prices?  As for players’ salaries….. They took what they were offered.  Can’t blame them for negotiating well can you.  I certainly wouldn’t like it if someone came to my work and told me they thought I was overpaid (regardless of how much money I was making).

Maybe there are too many teams in the NHL.  Fewer teams would mean that there would be fewer professional players (the players union certainly wouldn’t like that) and that would mean the overall quality of each team would rise.  There would be glut of almost good enough players, so their salaries would probably decrease.

On the down side, there would be fewer games on TV and there would be fewer minutes spent discussing hockey.  I am not sure that would be a bad thing.

This year my team is scheduled to take part in “the Winter Classic”, but that could be shelved due to scheduling conflicts.  Irony is a bitter pill to swallow.

Time will tell, but I expect a lockout.  I expect owners who travel in Limousines and eat at five star restaurants with supermodels to tell me that they are paying players too much.  I expect players who drive exotic sports cars and eat at five star restaurants with supermodels or A list actresses to tell me how much they miss playing.  I expect both sides to say they just want to do what is best for the game.  I expect the various sports channels to find something new for us to watch 24hours a day–maybe darts, or competitive skeet shooting.

Hockey season hasn’t started yet and already I miss it.  Maybe I should take up jogging.

A Dollar Store Find

Although “reality TV” is trying to convince me otherwise, I don’t think poking around stores hoping to find some hidden treasure is exactly a hobby.  That being said, I do find it interesting, and occasionally I do find something hobby related.

One such find, years ago, was a box of hockey cards.  As a kid, I never had the financial ability to buy a whole box of hockey cards.  I bought them one pack at a time, carefully sifting through them while trying desperately to make that cardboard like piece of gum soft.  Sometimes I bought three packs in a day, going back to the store for each one.  A whole box was unthinkable.

This treasure find, in a dingy discount store in an even dingier mall,  involved a box of Original Six hockey cards.  The idea was to release a series of hockey cards,  some in black and white, of my father’s hockey heroes.  They probably weren’t a hit, based on the low price for the whole box.  I think the Sporting News did something similar with baseball cards (though I think they were all in black and white)  I found the black and white pictures to be wonderful, even more fascinating than today’s full car, holographic, multi dimensional foil cards.  Maybe it was the deep hues.

I called this a treasure find because I liked it.  Unlike reality shows, I didn’t (and don’t) expect to sell the cards for a profit.  I managed to get two complete sets from that box–the other, when organized into a quality album, made a decent Father’s Day present.  I think my Dad appreciated it because he has more than enough ties, and our taste in clothes differs on a scale I wouldn’t hesitate to call epic.

Someday, I will probably set the cards up in a couple of frames and hang them on the hobby room wall.

The Joys and Perils of the Hockey Pool

When the hockey playoffs are in full swing, and your team is busy improving their golf handicap, what are you supposed to do.  You can enjoy the skill, athleticism, and tenacity that makes hockey a game without equal, but you have to watch some other person’s favourite team.  You can speculate who is going to win.  You can even root against your team’s arch rival.  However, the best way to get into the playoffs is to join a hockey pool.

For the first time, I joined a charity pool with my co-workers and I must say I have been having a blast.

It started with an innocent idea and progressed to a trash talking bacchanalia.  Just picking the teams required days of study and a ream of paper’s worth of printouts.  People who had only a minor interest in hockey became grade A statisticians.   More importantly people learned how to pronounce the names of hockey players.  (It’s harder than you think)  What did we ever do before we had the internet?

Every morning has started off with trash talking about the performance of the players the night before.  I’d love to tell you it has all been high brow, high grade humour, but that wouldn’t be true and you probably wouldn’t believe me anyway.  Before the end of work, which basically means as soon as the morning trash talking ended,  the pre-game trash talking has begun.  As people have risen and fallen in the standings their philosophies and strategies have changed.  As they have tasted success they have boasted, and as they have tasted defeat they have developed various shrugs and wait and see poses. 

Of course, much time was spent speculating what could have been.  Players that no one suspected would even touch the puck  have become heroes.  Doubtless, many players are playing on injuries that would fell a lesser man, but their pool numbers have been less than predicted.

All in all, it has been fun.  A lot of fun.

As I write this, the final round is beginning and I am looking forward to tomorrow’s trash talking.