As the NHL lockout hits day number 45, and with no resolution on the horizon, we are joined by Tom to get his thoughts on the lockout to date.
Like many, he's frustrated with the whole process and is trying to find other ways to fill the void left by the NHL. Tom says he'll be back when the puck eventually drops but based on what I've been reading from fans, that isn't the case for everyone. Take it away, Tom!
Tom Says…
The anticipation of the 2012-2012 started for me the second the Sens were eliminated in 7 games at the hands of the New York Rangers.
The city had just finished watching a team that had defied the odds all season long. Six months of incredibly compelling hockey chock full of story lines and surprises that no one saw coming a mile away. For the first time since 2007 when they made the Stanley Cup Finals there was a genuine buzz in this city about the Sens. People were excited and they had good reason to be.
I don’t think it every really hit me that there was a serious chance of a lockout until the regular season was supposed to begin. For some unknown reason I was fully convinced that there was no possible way that the league and players would go down that road again. Why would they want to? What was there to gain? The league was coming off a string of seasons in which revenues were higher than they had been in years, and player’s salaries were increasing steadily. Who had anything to complain about?
Apparently everyone involved.
Here we are 40 some days into a lockout. For fans it’s the same exact situation that we found ourselves in during the doomed 2004-2005 season. Nothing to do but wait until a bunch of millionaires sort out their millions. It blows. It’s terrible. I want nothing more than to be sitting down to watch the Sens play 3 or 4 times a week, but instead I’ve found myself addicted to Fantasy Football and caring a little too much about how many point Larry Fitzgerald scored (or didn’t score) in a Monday Night Football game.
Between the thinly veiled press releases from the League or the Players Association, or the idiot players on Twitter complaining about a fair deal in one breath, and then posting picture of their Ferraris the next I’m just getting sick of this ridiculous process.
I don’t care about “scheduled talks” or “unscheduled talks”. At this point I’m apathetic to the lockout. The lack of talks between the NHL and NHLPA and the constant posturing in the media has left me bored. I genuinely don’t care about hockey right now and that sucks.
As soon as a deal is made I’ll be right back in my season seats excited out of my mind that hockey is starting again for another (shortened?) season.
Anyone that tells you they won’t ever watch a hockey game again is a straight up liar. Lots of people have jumped up on their high horse saying the NHL has lost them as a fan forever, but if you came back after the last lockout you’ll be back after this one too. Two weeks after the games start up again everyone will be back into the swing of things as if nothing had ever happened, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Until that happens, I’ve given up on getting my hopes up for hockey. Just let me know what time the first game starts and I’ll be there as usual.
Let me know what you think in the comments or send me a note on Twitter @TomSENS.
