Don’t have much today, so I’ll try and quickly sum up whatever went on today with the CBA and then get on to opening a thread for you guys.
I don’t think it’s all that odd that the players and owners didn’t do any face-time today. This isn’t two sided on opposite sides of the table and the mediator sitting at the head. They go back and forth between rooms. The fact that it sounds so bleak definitely drops your heart, but this process hasn’t played out really. The mediators will either wave the white flag or come up with some ideas for both sides, and we’ll just have to see where that goes.
It feels like the owners are going to try and run out the clock (which only has a couple weeks left) with this offer and push the players to the wall. Hopefully some moderate voices on either side gets heard, because at this point I don’t know what either side thinks they’re going to “win” now. Contract length would seem to be a non-issue if the variance in salary is controlled. I think it’s just a false term, really.
Anyway, on to more fun stuff to discuss. This week I’ve been pumping Wild Flag’s self-titled debut. If you don’t know, Wild Flag is essentially the remains of Sleater Kinney without Corin Tucker. Which is good, because every time I see Carrie Brownstein on Portlandia or as a guest star on the Simpsons last week, I think it’s funny but I’d rather just be listening to Sleater Kinney or Wild Flag anyway.
But to the point, the Wild Flag album is the balls. The last two tracks, Racehorse and Black Tiles, actually have some pretty intense instrumental interludes, which you wouldn’t see coming out of this punky background.
What are you spinning this week?
Gary at 20: (TSN)
Actually he isn’t doing a bad job: (The Province)
Call the NBA for help: (CBC)
But talks will resume: (Winnipeg Free Press)
Young Man’s Game: (Edmonton Journal)
It’s a big week for Phillip Danault and Mark McNeill, as they are both currently in Calgary for Canada’s World Junior Training Camp. They will find out Thursday if they’ve made the team, and they could be fighting for the same spot.
Both went into it on a roll as well. Danault especially went bonkers in two games this weekend, with one goal and seven assists! That gives Phillip 44 points in 29 games, though that hasn’t kept Victoriaville from being pretty ho-hum this year.
McNeill had a goal and two assists in three games before heading to Calgary.
The Hogs embarked on their first three-in-three stretch this past weekend. And it didn’t go so well. One win, two losses, and out of first place to Grand Rapids. You would have wanted more.
It started out ok. Friday night saw the return of Yippy Carter Hutton, who three second period goals on six shots from Milwaukee in the second period. That canceled out a pretty Rob Flick opener, where he came down the right wing – his off-wing – cut to the middle and blistered one past Jeremy Smith.
And then it went nuts in the 3rd period. The Hogs exploded for four goals, two of them Ben Smith deflections on the power play. Brandon Pirri added another one, and Marty St. Pierre finished it off with an empty-netter before raising his long stick in the air and knocking out a couple light bulbs.
Then it went pear-shaped.
I want to take a break from labor stuff and minor league and college hockey, and talk about an issue that’s never gotten as much attention as it deserves. And it’s going to put me solidly in line with Sean Avery, which strangely puts me in a position I’m more than comfortable to be.
As you may have seen, Sean Avery did an interview with the New York Daily News that was picked up by Huffington Post about how the NHL should have language in the CBA about how punishments will be meted out to those who deal in homophobia and gay slurs on the ice. Avery thinks the way the NHL deals with these things is wildly inconsistent, and he’s right. James Wisniewski can get suspended two games in October ’11 for miming blow jobs at Avery but then Wayne Simmonds goes unpunished for calling Avery “a faggot.” Or Cam Janssen faces no punishment for making horrific remarks on an internet radio show. And these are just two of the most obvious cases.
This week we’ve got the reappearance of The Fifth Feather, Ragnar through history, and lots of jokes about that fucking horn. Get yours right here!
I should have been clearer with this in previous versions, but these weekend guides are for you to discuss whatever you want in them. Anyway…
Friday Night
Bulls v. Pistons – I’ll admit I totally forgot the Detroit Pistons still existed. Do they really, though?
Michigan State v. Notre Dame (Hockey) – This one’s on NBCSN, and you can use the time to take a look at Stephen Johns if you’re so inclined.
Minnesota v. Colorado College – If you have a Dish you can get this one, and these are two top ten teams at the moment.
Boy, am I getting sick of writing posts out of some haze of depression. I’m sure you’re sick of reading them. Wish there was another way right now.
I’ve been trying to figure out what’s so infuriating about the obtuseness and tone-deafness of both sides in this. And maybe it’s just the feeling deep down that no matter how much screaming you do or promises you make, you know that the people in charge won’t hear you (I could speak at one constant volume, at one constant pitch, at one constant rhythm, and you still won’t hear….). Maybe it’s just having to witness the aching stupidity of it all. But what is that born out of?
I think it’s the perception from them, and the feeling for us, of being replaceable.
