The Ditch

Seems like Fehr's pulling all the strings, the players are 100% dedicated to what he wants to achieve, and this it seems was the deal from day 1. The players that go to the meetings are made up of a majority of the elite, with the exception of Jamal Mayers, these elite will decide if there will be a vote, if it doesn't meet their interest it will never go to a vote, the elite control everything, unless they ok it, the 3rd and 4th liners will never get to vote.

I get the same feeling.    "Elite" probably means their agents have a big hand in this too, which was one of my fears. 

Makes my stomach turn over reading the garbage about looking out for the "middle class" of players.

The players need to focus on player brands (Stars) and stick to it if that's the direction they're going.  They should just stop acting like they are heavily concerned with the lower rung players because heavy emphasis on both will create too many of those "moving targets" that Gary gets so upset about.     The opposite might work too, but Fehr needs to pick his points of emphasis with the league a little clearer if they want to close this thing.        If he keeps walking the middle "squish...just like grape".

I guess I'm really lowering the bar for speling and grahmmer.

That Dater guy from SI.com and the Denver Post reported a "depth player" told him the players were ready to sign the deal but Fehr told them to hold out for more.  I don't see why he would like or why the depth player would lie to him about something like that. And based on what Tannenbaum said, his report makes a lot of sense because Tannenbaum said had he not been in the room he never would have believed it went down the way it did.   He said the players appeared content and ready to roll, left the room and when they came back everything so suddenly changed.  Sounds like Fehr got in their ear....

SI is pretty reliable compared to most sources imo.   They write "big boy" pieces and almost always get their facts straight. 

Even if Dater is correct, Hamrlik, Neuvirth, and unnamed depth player is still less dissent than one owner.

I have no doubt there are more players but I don't have a clue if their are dozens or hundreds.    It seems the forces at work are really getting the players revved up.    Had Gary come out with a more realistic offer in the summer, he might have been able to get more of the players to break ranks sooner.   

Too many agents are still too quite compared to last time, I wonder if they learned from last time or if they are really on the sidelines. 

Kinik, what are your thoughts on the agents?     You can skip the insults at me, I'll just assume they're there for future reference. 

Makes my stomach turn over reading the garbage about looking out for the "middle class" of players.

It makes me sick too... actually it makes me sometimes laugh out loud when I hear and read crap like that.   But to Fehr's defense for once, what is he supposed to say?  He has no choice but to pretend he cares about the middle class.  There are a lot more middle class players and lower class who hope to one day be in the middle class category then there are elite players.   He has to make the large majority of the players believe he's working primarily for them so they stay calm and take it up the a** as he almost tries to force Bettman and the owners to cancel the season.  So I can't really blame Fehr for talking about the middle class.   What's really baffling to me is the majority of players actual believe what he's saying??  That's why I'm praying they'll put this thing to a vote.... but they won't, it's too risky for Fehr to do that.

I meant "quiet", but I can't be spell or type. 

Had Gary come out with a more realistic offer in the summer, he might have been able to get more of the players to break ranks sooner.

Very true.  Actually had either side come out with a realistic offer in the beginning we might be in a different place today.  If Gary would have been realistic the union members probably turn on Fehr.  And if Fehr would have been realistic maybe some owners look at Gary's offer and say, "what the f*** were you thinking"?   But since both sides put offers out there neither side could even negotiate from nothing positive came from any talks until the players/owners meetings last week. 

Then again as little as 2 months ago they supposedly still hadn't settled issues like massage therapy, ice conditions and hotels so there wasn't a whole lot of negotiating being done prior to November.

And why Fehr had to be prodded to get those minor issues resolved still makes me scratch my head. 

saw the titanic exhibit as it was in the ben franklin institute where my xmas work party was. that boat looked like it's been in a ditch for 100 years.

What's up with cbs? They gave me my ditch avatar this morning, now they took it away, I want my ditch back!!!!

i see the ditch, skinny. and there was freezing rain on this side of the ditch too.

That's better lol, what are these guys smoking anyways?LOL

I was sitting in my living room last night, and I heard a bang, some car in behind my place smashed into a gaurdrail and was stuck on the side of the road. I called in for help, went back to watching tv, an hour and a half later, I still see the guy standing there, nobody showed up as of yet. The operator told me there were alot of minor accidents, finally a tow truck showed up and took the car away.

Btw, the pic of the ditch is my grandfather back in the 50's, that's where it all started.

www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/artic
le/1299849--nhl-lockout-remember-wh
en-the-players-ruled-the-roost-cox

You have got it very close hockeybob (compared to that liar redwing).  If the owners increase profit sharing they bring stability to the league and allow currently unsuccessful markets to be more competitive.  If these teams are better able to compete for players everybody wins.  They increase their attendance and thus the leagues overall revenue goes up and both sides increase their HRR $$$.  Different markets flourishing enhances the possibility for more TV dollars.  It is a win/win. The thing is that the present TV money is low and this is an attendance driven league.  Profit sharing (what little there is) has to be adjusted to share more of the gate money with the little guy.  There was an excellent discussion on this the other day on Prime Time Sports and guess who in the NHL leads the opposition to increased profit sharing.  That's right--Jeremy Jacobs.

Increased profit sharing will be essential to the health of the league moving forward, and the leafs will be on the hook for this as well, its either that, or fold the teams losing money, incredible that there are teams that have to make it to the finals just to break even.

One thing I don't understand is why the NHLPA didn't push harder for more revenue sharing. The players knew they were going to end up around a50/50 split. So their HHR would be dropping 7%. The NHLPA should have demanded that 7% be placed in a separate fund and be divided by the team that can prove they need it. As it stands now teams that profit yearly (leafs, Rangers, etc) are now making an extra 7% and can't spend that money on the on ice product. In fact they can spend less since the cap is going to go down. Revenue sharing scared me at first because I see how the Pirates owner make 20-25 million per year and doesnt care about the product he tries to sell us on and won't sell the team because its a cash cow for him. He does nothing but keeps on making millions from big markets like the Dodger, Yankees, and Red Sox. But with a salary cap in place (and nowhere near the amount of money involed) I don't think it would get that bad.

hockey bob re agents.  Unfortunately agents have become a necessary part of sports.  The sporting world and business world are far more complicated than when I was growing up.  Things like standard player contracts with the leagues, deferred money, incentive clauses, investments, etc. simply did not exist in the era of player/management negotiations.  Most players today have very little ability to deal with the teams financial and/or legal departments.  The vast majority of players are simply athletes with very little education in these matters.  Even those who came from colleges were there on athletic scholarships and using college to get to the big leagues was their primary concern.  Without agents/financial managers too many of these guys would end up broke and destitute.  The sports landscape is littered with examples.  Are there sleaze bag agents--yes.  Are there sleaze bag owners--yes.  One thing that I do not like are super agents that represent large blocks of big time players but in a free enterprise system I guess we have to take the bad aspects of the system along with the good.

Im hearing reports all games through December 30th are being canceled this afternoon. So the earliest a season can start now is Dec 31st. They better get back to this CBA negotiation thing ASAP. (CBC.ca)