Hockey

He lives in the USA and our rights allow him to say what he wants and express his beliefs as he sees necessary. Although others may not agree with what he said (I don't agree), he still has his rights and has accepted the scrutiny and criticism that comes with it.

Long story short, sometimes it's better to just keep your opinions to yourself.

I agree with you, but why is it that no one said this when that Rick Santorum guy was saying the same crap? I think there is a lot more folk in the NHL who support same sex marriage rather than oppose it and I hope this has an effect on the rest of Tim Thomas' career, I hope the Bruins take a page out of the Mayor of Boston's book on this one and not allow him to come back because hey, if he feels like it's justified voting against the right to marry whoever the hell you want, maybe someone should take away his right to play in the NHL and call it even. I would love to see a league where there is no tolerance for that stuff.

Anyone else worrying over the possibility of an NHL lockout? That's all I've been thinking about for a few days...

If I have to listen to everyone talk about football for the Fall/Winter seasons I will literally rip someone's spine from their body and watch them bleed out. -.-

It's a sad concept that it's all about money when it comes to sports anymore. But now, I'm hearing about how all of these teams dishing out ridiculous contracts and driving up the price of new deals for players (Philadelphia was mentioned more than once, and I see why), and it's one leading cause for the entire situation the NHLPA and the league is in. Regardless, I don't know what I'll do if there's no hockey this year. :[

Yeah, I'm a bit fed up with all the football talk.

Teams need to just tone down the ridiculous contracts they're handing out. It's one thing to sign a plaer to an contract extension that's longer than five or six years if he's been with you for a while and plays well consistently. But what Philly did is... well... it kind of speaks for itself. I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping that they reach an agreement by the 15th.

^
I could hug you right now because you're the only person to agree with me so far that the football talk is just too much. (I'm a foozeball hater; and yes, I stole that from "The Waterboy.") x3

Sometimes I just wonder if Philly signs these players to contracts that are way out of their talent level to continue to make everyone hate them. Simmonds for 6 years? I mean, give it a rest and god forbid save your cap for some actual talent that may come along in the future. :K

And don't get me started on the Parise and Weber signings...

Pretty sure I would start watching the New England Revolution Soccer JUST so I didn't have to watch football. . . It's just not my thing. As for CBA talks, this is all ridiculous. Especially with Detroit cancelling their Dev. camp last week and then today the Panthers cancelled their rookie scrimmage that was scheduled for Mid-September with Boston. . . Not looking god...at all. Which sucks because a lot of players are considering going overseas now. At least we would still have AHL teams though. . . so it's at least something. . .

There are talks of Malkin heading overseas to play for Metallurg Magnitogorsk if the lockout happens. It seems like a pain to get out of the KHL and come back to the NHL if the lockout ends halfway.

Ugh, headaches. How about we just not have a lockout and not be greedy? :p

Agreed, it was also reported that Crosby would play in the KHL as well. Although with the recent NHL counter proposal (That didn't differ at all from the original) I'm not so optimistic anymore. :/

Hopefully be seeing you guys towards January. Fingers crossed.

I'm crossing my fingers for a Christmas present of hockey. I've been reading whatever I can on the lockout and there's the smallest of small chances a deal could be made before the end of the month and no regular season games could be lost. But honestly, who thinks that's going to happen?

It's just disappointing to see that the owners have to be so greedy to gain more that they don't quite get that when they do lockout, they lose the casual fan that is willing to watch a game. Those people aren't going to follow negotiations vigorously like the rest of us will. To top that loss of revenue, there are no big stars in anyone's pipeline. There's no Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin to spark a new generation of hockey fan's interests.

The NHL is all about their Public Relations and making themselves look good, and from taking heavy communications classes in this subject, it's the complete truth. It's all about money and PR, whether you win games or lose games. (The Pensblog had an amazing write-up about this entitled "Lockout Rant.") And it's not a matter of being angry or never watching hockey again (those people need to give it a rest, and obviously haven't been through the 04 lockout), it's a matter of being annoyed more than anything with how this all played out.

All I have left right now is the rest of the MLB season and the postseason. After that, who knows, maybe the NHL will finally agree to agree.

Lord help the NHL. :/

Did anyone else hear the rumor (at least that's what I'm considering it; I haven't seen proof of it otherwise) that Ovechkin had supposedly said if the NHL got locked out this year he probably wouldn't be coming back?

Assuming it's true, what're your thoughts on it?

^
I don't think the NHL would be the same. He's a major personality and to lose that, well, then we only have Sidney Crosby and he's not much of a joker, let alone would never say half of the things Ovie does.

And why would he not come back? Malkin went to play in the KHL and he guaranteed he was coming back as soon as the lockout was over. :/

Edit:
Found this on the Pensblog about the 2014 Winter Olympics. Is this what you heard?
"Alex Ovechkin had come out around that time saying something to the effect of, "If there's anyone who won't let me play in those Olympics, see ya." Don't look now, but those Sochi Olympics are less than two years away."

@ Caputi Or Bust;
I'm not exactly sure. I figured he would've said it because the players seem to be getting tired of the way the NHL is run, with it being more about business than hockey nowadays. I don't know the specifics of his contract so I doubt he'd be able to just back out on it just because he's mad this is the second lockout in ten years, but who knows. Ovechkin isn't exactly known for thinking before he speaks.

Well well.

The NHL has given an ultimatum: Make this work or the lockout's on the players from here on out.

Well played. Dick move, but well played.

Let's hope there's some kind of agreement so we can have a season.

The NHL and NHLPA are meeting today to discuss the CBA negotiations further. Lets hope with the current 50/50 offer on the table and full 82-game season that some major headway will be made. FINGERS CROSSED!! At the very least we have only 16 more days to wait...assuming season starts on Nov 2... I would expect it to be a little more delayed though... but if you are VERY optimistic, then by all means BELIEVE. XD

Optimism? Is that for people who think the NHL and the NHLPA can actually agree on something in time to have a CBA put in place in a semi-timely manner?

Honestly, I think it's going to take until November 2 to have an agreement...

optimism that it will be november 2... I have no doubt they will reach an agreement, I just don't think it will be so soon. But that's just my opinion.

It kind of really sucks for the fans and especially for the people who work at arenas that are out of a job because no one can get their acts together.