NHL Lockout Nonsense

Its Time the Penguins Get the Sweaters Back On
And Get Back to Work!

My wife has asked me before which Pittsburgh team do I enjoy watching the most?  Obviously the Pirates don't make the top of my list because I end up wanting to shoot someone in the head watching them play baseball sometimes.  Then it comes down to the Penguins and Steelers.  The only 3 teams that I truly care about (don't really follow college sports at all) and I have a tough decision on my hands.  I enjoy the week leading up to a Steelers Sunday (or Monday or Thursday), but its the 2-3 x's a week of Penguins hockey that sometimes gets me to the next Sunday.  This is why I don't have an answer for my wife's question. 

This NHL Lockout has been alot harder than I could have imagined.  For one, my wife actually talked about getting the "Center Ice" DirecTV package this season so that we can watch all of the Penguins games.  My jaw almost dropped to the ground when she suggested that! (I knew there was a reason I took her to a Wheeling Nailers game when we were dating...her first live professional hockey game.  She was hooked!)  The thought of me possibly getting to watch my favorite hockey team play almost all of their games makes me happy because I love the physicality and finesse of the NHL product.  Secondly, as I said earlier, the Pens often get me to the next Steelers game.  The mid-week Penguins vs Flyers game carries the same intensity as a Steelers vs Ravens game, and for the Pittsburgh Sports Junky its incredible to watch.  The great thing about hockey is that if the Pens play the Flyers on Tuesday, they could be playing the Capitals on Friday...two INCREDIBLE matchups!  The last reason why this lockout is tough to watch is the same thing I've said about all professional sport lockouts.  Its tough to watch millionaire players and billionaire owners complaining about money...especially in today's economic climate.

This brings me to the part of the NHL Lockout that really gets me steamed.  The politics that have gone on are almost as bad as the local and national election that just passed.  At least as Americans we can vote on our government, but with the NHL we are stuck with pin-head Bettman and his group of numb skull followers.  The players aren't innocent here either.  They have Mr. Fehr, the man who almost ruined baseball, representing them.  There are talks of "make whole", "Hockey Related Revenue", and "upholding contracts" that keep fans like me hanging on with every last word for the day when I read online that the Lockout is lifted.  That day has yet to come, but with the meetings that have been taking place the last few days there is talk of hope on the horizon.  I can only hope that in the coming months my site won't just be a Steelers site, but a Steelers and Penguins site (until baseball gears up again).  The NFL and NBA came to a realization that the NHL is hopefully coming to in their negotiations yesterday and today.  If they don't play, they won't make ANY money.  That alone should get them back on the ice, but the way the NHL runs their league...who knows.  Just a bunch of NHL Lockout Nonsense...