While we’re delighted to have on-ice issues to talk about again, and don’t want to get into financial messes and conundrums, you can bet that Stan Bowman is already sweating over one aspect while he reads through the new CBA.
And that’s the Hossa Problem.
Do I really need a reason to post a picture of Cliff Burton? I didn’t think so. He’s who I pray to, so I think he got this done for us all yesterday.
Let’s talk hockey. Fuck and yes. By now you all know the details of the CBA — cliff notes version: same cap this year, $64 million next year, two buyouts, eight-year limit on your free agents, seven on others, 50% variance. Ok then, what does all this mean for your beloved Men Of The Red And Black?
How do the Hawks stack up cap-wise?
Over the next few days, you’re going to read a lot of stuff from everywhere about what happens now. Do the fans come back? Should they come back? Should they forgive? What should the league do to try and start to make it up to us? It will go on and on, and you’ll hear every possible opinion.
From our perspective, I’ll just say that there is no wrong answer. If you feel burned and don’t ever want to come back, that’s fine. If you love hockey and the Hawks so much and that you’ll stroll right back into the UC when the season kicks off and not think twice, that’s fine too. There isn’t one path to what makes all of us happy, and whichever you want to do is how you have to go about it.
But for a lot of us, there is a conflict within us that we have to resolve. But that’s easily done.
Well, we’ll kick off this blog for real tomorrow. For now, I don’t want to say I’m excited or even relieved that these morons finally got around to giving us their game that they should have months ago. But screw it, I’m out of anger.
But what I will say is that Our Winter Of Discontent Sale is now a The Stupidity’s Over Sale. Season subscriptions of The Committed Indian gameday program will remain at $40. So get yours right here and help a business that was greatly affected by this lunacy.
I’d like to think this will be the second to last one of these I have to do. But I’d like to think a lot of things. If it isn’t, I probably will be hooking up a hose to my car’s exhaust anyway and there won’t be one next week, so I guess there’s a chance this could be my last one. Anyway, you wanted the best and they didn’t fucking make it, so here’s what you get…
Friday
Bulls v. Heat – Of all the stupid things a large swath of Bulls fans think, the idea that you’re somehow a traitor or an idiot for thinking Lebron James is close to must-see TV might just take the cake. While I try and not wade into the argument of whether he’s the best player ever (and I think you could make a pretty convincing argument that he is), I think there’s little argument that he’s the most unique. A man that size, that quick, that flexible, able to guard and play all five positions, it’s astounding. The only other guy who could claim to guard and play all five spots that I can think of is maybe Magic Johnson, and he wasn’t nearly as quick or as explosive at James and certainly not nearly as interested in defending. Even to a basketball-agnostic like me, I find it staggering to watch. Anyway, you should get a decent two quarters here before the Heat are up 40. If they’re interested.
It’s late at night when the demons come, so you’ll excuse me for just writing something (even though it will pop up in the morning on your feeds and browsers). But hey, I feel like venting, and you’ve allowed that before. Some of what follows are my own personal views, I don’t expect all or even most of you to agree. That’s fine. It’s healthy, even.
Just tonight, I’ve seen so many adjectives thrown around to describe this mess. Over these incomprehensible 110 days, the number of words used is probably immeasurable. None of them are pleasant or complimentary or easy to read.
Stupid, arrogant, deaf, immoral, impure, silly, absurd, we could go on. And it’s not that they’re incorrect. But all these adjectives are grown out of something else. They are the result, not the cause. There’s only one word at the bottom of it all, festering in tainted soil and poisoning all that comes out of it.
Greed.
As you probably guessed if you saw any of that mess that I puked up last night on Twitter, I’m pretty out of it today. Certainly too out of it to discuss all the silliness that really is just for show in CBA negotiations (they still are slightly more likely to come to a conclusion a week from tomorrow). So let’s get a thread going.
It’s an easy jump from music to food. Or at least I say it is. So, what are you eating tonight? What’s something you made recently that you really liked? Or something that was a total disaster. Everyone could always use an addition to their palate.
Me? With a dwindling bank account, the ever affordable pierogies from across the street was the obvious choice.
Have at it.
So I know the posts have kind of slowed to a swollen prostate trickle, but with the Holidays and all of us kind of holding our breath to see if we return to normal service in the next couple days (and I think we are but I’m not getting out over my skiis), that was to be expected. So anyway, I’ve got some random thoughts to share about the juniors and other things, and I’m just going to spit them out in whatever order I can remember them.
-After watching the Canada-Russia game, I think I should tell you to start keeping a real close eye on the Panthers, especially next season. Jonathan Huberdeau ran the show for the hosers, as he kind of has been all tournament. And that’s even with skating on a line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Next season, he’ll be skating on Nick Bjugstad’s wing in South Florida, and that’s really going to be a problem for everyone.
Yeah, it’s a hockey blog. I get it. But there isn’t any hockey to talk about really other than a bunch of teenagers playing half a world away. And there’s probably no bigger sports story in Chicago than when the Bears hire or fire a coach. It’s almost as big of a story as when we get a new mayor. So allow me to chime in. After all, Desipio got to.
Have two games I’d like to wrap up with our famed bullets, last night’s Hogs win over Chicago and this morning’s US-Russia game which I found surprisingly entertaining. First to our Piggies:
-One of the many things that I’ve been disappointed in being robbed of this lockout, and there may be hundreds, is getting to watch the growth of Brandon Saad firsthand. In reality, even just half a season in the A is probably better for Saad than being immediately chucked into the deepest part of the pool. But even from just a month ago you see a difference, as now Saad makes something happen on almost every shift. He did last night at least. As Chris Block has pointed out, the kid is unafraid to take the puck into high-traffic areas and work along the boards. That’s power forward stuff that you really can’t teach. He may get knocked around for a bit among the men of the NHL, but I doubt for long. Best player on the ice last night by some stretch, I thought. If there is a season, I don’t think there’s any doubt now he’s starting the season here and somewhere on the Top 6. I guess it’s been since Versteeg that we’ve had a rookie to get excited about, and Steeger kind of came out of nowhere. We’ve been waiting for Saad since he was drafted, and that’s one of the cooler things about being a fan of any sport, the youngster coming through the system.
