The NHL was founded on November 26, 1917, making today it's 95th birthday. So far 422 regular season games, the winter classic and the all-star game are cancelled, which leads me to wonder if the NHL will make it the five years it needs to have its name read as a Smucker's birthday or will it even make it through the 95th year?
Like most professional sports lockouts, this one is no different. The collective bargaining agreement expired and now the players association is in a bitter dispute with commissioner Gary Bettman. The root of the debate lies in the root of most disputes ... money.
However, some are now placing the blame solely on Bettman. This is the league's third lockout since Bettman took the reins 19 years ago.
But, regardless of the Twitter threats and name calling, is Bettman really to blame? Or is the problem bigger than one man? The sad truth is, unless a commissioner puts a quick and painless end to a lockout, it will always be his fault no matter what. The fans love to make a scapegoat of a commissioner. The commissioner is nothing more than a greedy, money hungry suit in the eyes of the fans. They have no personal connection to him. And, when it comes down to it, who are you going to side with, your favorite player or a man associated with a faceless corporation?
That's both the beauty and the beast of sports. We have allegiances. Each week we open our homes and our hearts to our favorite players. Whether it be on our television screens or the jerseys in our closets or the posters on our wall. We really don't associate with the man in charge. I can guarantee you there is not a large number of kids who have Gary Bettman posters hanging on their walls right now. We aspire to be like our heroes, not the man who pays them.
So, in the case of a lockout that has resulted in half a season being cancelled, of course we're going to point fingers at the guy in charge. We'll stand behind our favorite players until the end. But, maybe we should put ourselves in the other guy's shoes. He's got a lot more to answer to. He's got stock holders and journalists and media companies and advertisers to please.
In a war between the suits and the jerseys there can be no real winner, just a lot of compromise. And, on this 95th birthday of the NHL let's all hope they get a big box of compromise.
Sources:
CBS Sports: Eye on Hockey http://goo.gl/zVwE8
Wikipedia: 2012 NHL lockout http://goo.gl/Uh42m
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