Everything Else

Like It’s Nothing At All

By Sam Fels 1059 0

Last night was about as close as I’ve come to putting a hole in the wall in my apartment. Of course, like most of you I’ve been angry during this entire “negotiation” that’s really been a dick-measuring contest from the word go. And as well all know, a dick-measuring contest between old, white men not named “Milton” is just about the dumbest thing on Earth.

But the refusal to even meet, when this supposed deadline is…y’know, tomorrow cause some serious physical reaction. The NHL rejected the PA’s request to get together because the PA wouldn’t negotiate off of an offer they’ve already rejected. That’s just rich. If you’re negotiating off of an offer, that probably means it’s not entirely to your liking and you’d like things changed. It’s silly from the players’ side — though not nearly as much as the owners’ — who could have just said that they were going to go from that point, walked in the room and tried to talk to the things they want. Of course, the owners would probably walk out and call everyone liars to get you to feel sorry for them, and I would have set myself on fire.

Everything Else

Standing At The Doorstep To The Precipice

By Sam Fels 1226 0

Or something. As we are about to close out the first day of what everyone’s making out to be the biggest week of the lockout, I thought it might be a good idea to separate what’s real and what’s fluff for public consumption. Which is to say, all of it.

First off, if you haven’t read our godfather James Mirtle’s piece from Friday, you probably should. It’s an excellent breakdown of real numbers that I couldn’t possibly calculate and wouldn’t want to. The big takeout of it is that they are arguing over 3% of their total revenue. That’s it. You can’t be that far from an agreement over 3%.

Now, 3% is still a lot of money on the ground. It’s about $100 million. That’s a lot of money to you and me and a lot of people. But is it a lot of money in this? Hard to say, but probably not. To the owners that only $3 million per team (not that it works that way, but let’s go with it). That amount isn’t going to be the difference between the teams losing money to being profitable. Because even the players admit some teams are in more trouble than that.

Everything Else

Morning Links 10/22

By Joe DeTolve 1235 0

~The night is darkest before the dawn~

The League thinks the framework is on the table:(SN)

Should we reflect on the game? (GnM)

Fehr explains the players side:(SUN)

Blackhawk Up’s # 1 (BU)

No optimism from SCH (SCH)

Five Mikita dates to remember:(BH)

Rogers is currently intransit to cover this story: (PD)

A look at the Wolves trip to Vancouver (VP)

 

Everything Else

Nobody's Right If Everybody's Wrong

By 978 0

I’m sure after I post this some detail will come out that completely flips it on it’s head. Such is the way. I’m also going to try and keep emotion out of this, as hard as it may be, to try and clearly see what the problems are.

Both McClure and myself have not called on the players to somewhat acquiesce to what the owners want because we think they are wrong. Anyone would be pissed off if your boss came to you and told you they wanted to take back part of your salary simply because they wanted to. It’s certainly not fair or what you’d expect any decent person to do.

We call on them to do that because of what reality says will happen. A lockout is not enacted by people who have any intention of breaking. It’s not a suggestion. You don’t put someone on the rack and then stop when they tell you it hurts and apologize. You have a result in mind, and you squeeze and inflict pain until you get it. And they’re going to get most of what they want. That’s how this works. The players seem to think they can win this. They can’t. And they’re still chasing a win, not a deal. Until they do the latter, we’re going to be in this Winter of Our Discontent.

Everything Else

Nobody’s Right If Everybody’s Wrong

By Sam Fels 1188 0

I’m sure after I post this some detail will come out that completely flips it on it’s head. Such is the way. I’m also going to try and keep emotion out of this, as hard as it may be, to try and clearly see what the problems are.

Both McClure and myself have not called on the players to somewhat acquiesce to what the owners want because we think they are wrong. Anyone would be pissed off if your boss came to you and told you they wanted to take back part of your salary simply because they wanted to. It’s certainly not fair or what you’d expect any decent person to do.

We call on them to do that because of what reality says will happen. A lockout is not enacted by people who have any intention of breaking. It’s not a suggestion. You don’t put someone on the rack and then stop when they tell you it hurts and apologize. You have a result in mind, and you squeeze and inflict pain until you get it. And they’re going to get most of what they want. That’s how this works. The players seem to think they can win this. They can’t. And they’re still chasing a win, not a deal. Until they do the latter, we’re going to be in this Winter of Our Discontent.

Everything Else

Can't Talk, Coming Down

By 951 0

Obviously, there was going to be a bit of a come down from yesterday’s optimism, if you were one of those that chose to have it. The players union was never going to respond with, “Sounds great! Where’s my pen? Let’s go get a beer!” What we saw yesterday, after all the commentary, was at least a basis for what can be intense negotiations over the next week. And an agreement is only going to come after some marathon and pressured negotiating. Between the networks starting to exert their force and players starting to bark on various media outlets, combined with what really isn’t that huge of a difference between the sides now, I still think we’ll see those negotiations get started tomorrow and we’ll end with a deal. Maybe that’s just me wanting my job back, but it’s what I think.

Anyway, let’s look at some of the disputes that the players union apparently has over the latest proposal.

Everything Else

Can’t Talk, Coming Down

By Sam Fels 1166 0

Obviously, there was going to be a bit of a come down from yesterday’s optimism, if you were one of those that chose to have it. The players union was never going to respond with, “Sounds great! Where’s my pen? Let’s go get a beer!” What we saw yesterday, after all the commentary, was at least a basis for what can be intense negotiations over the next week. And an agreement is only going to come after some marathon and pressured negotiating. Between the networks starting to exert their force and players starting to bark on various media outlets, combined with what really isn’t that huge of a difference between the sides now, I still think we’ll see those negotiations get started tomorrow and we’ll end with a deal. Maybe that’s just me wanting my job back, but it’s what I think.

Anyway, let’s look at some of the disputes that the players union apparently has over the latest proposal.

Everything Else

Yeah, I Had A Movement This Morning Too

By Sam Fels 1156 0

Whether you’re at work or staring at your pants angrily at home this afternoon like I am, your Twitter feed blew up with the news that the NHL came up with a new proposal for the NHLPA this morning. Before we get into it and what it could mean and what it might not mean and a bunch of other things, we have to say there are a lot of things we don’t know about it and there could be all sort of snakes and scorpions in the inner-workings of it. So take it easy there, Champ.

Ok, let’s delve into what we do know about it.