Associated Press, via Washington Post:
Hockey is back, and it took nearly four months and one long night to get the game back on the ice.
With the season on the line, the NHL and the players’ association agreed on a tentative pact to end a 113-day lockout and save what was left of a fractured schedule.
On one hand, I’m really happy to see hockey coming back on TV, especially with the football season about to end. Basketball bores me. On the other hand, I think the labor dispute has been enormously disrespectful to the NHL audience, and without us, there is no professional hockey.
So what’s a hockey fan to do? Watching the games rewards the industry for its shitty behavior, not watching it means I’ll actually have to do something productive with my time. Neither option seems very appealing.
Can’t wait to get some Sabres in real soon. 😉
I’m all in on the USHL this year. The NHL doesn’t deserve our viewership for this half season.
I hear the Islanders are already eliminated from the playoffs.
Darn it! I was going to make a similar joke.
I heard minor league hockey can be blast in the way minor baseball is. Also there’s always soccer. I’m not kidding; year-round there’s always a league that’s playing.
And soccer is just hockey on grass, after all.
Here in The Twin Cities I follow the University of Minnesota’s hockey team. The lockout had no effect in this household.
It’ll never happen, but I would love it if the rinks were only half full in the big markets for the rest of the season.
“I heard minor league hockey can be blast in the way minor baseball is.”
Absolutely and maybe even more so. The other great things about minor hockey is it’s a lot cheaper and more accessible and it’s fun trying to guess which kids will make it to The Show.
Plus – there’s more fighting. 🙂
I agree. I call it Ice Soccer. They are both equally dull.
Yawn. Give me NBA any day. Glad it’s back for the fans though, & the others that make a living from it. Corporate negotiations screwing the little guys is always bullshit.
Easiest solution is to become a Leafs fan and support amateur hockey.