Can I get an amen? Everybody tells me to "Stop complaining about Bettman, you can't just blame him." Sure I can, and I'm right to. He had the power to end this whenever he wanted to, but he'd rather act the big man in the little suit. This entire shitfuck was the result of pride and greed, and Bettman IS the fucking villain. I hope he dies.
No shit, Sherlock. Why do you think I moved away? I was being only partially stupid though. Obviously the system is flawed. Perhaps more so than the one you are used to, or perhaps just differently flawed. But as anywhere else, there are rules, and if you obey them, you'll be fine. You just have to look out for yourself and your family a bit more in those countries, which in itself is not a bad thing. And I'm not that sure that the waste of space who almost run over the mom and kids, would be so easily caught and punished and sentenced, even in this magical land, especially if he has some connections or some money. People suck everywhere.
I'm in complete agreement with Angel. I'm a diehard fan, I had winter classic tickets, I've played hockey my whole life. I'm one of those people the NHL is expecting to come back once they play again. Fuck them. This lockout was premised on the fact that the fans would come back afterwards, and that revenues will be the same despite their moronic behavior. If fans come back and revenues stay similar I can only think that the owners and Bettman will do this again. Why wouldn't they? I have friends who are joyous on FB that hockey is back. I think they're idiots. I think they are rewarding the league and proving them right that the fans are a bunch of loyal idiots who will tolerate anything and keep coming back no matter what. Stupid. If fans want the league to be fixed, don't show up, don't buy tickets, don't watch the games, don't buy paraphernalia. Prove to the league that they fucked up this time. Punish the league. Take away their money. Only if the league falters will there be a significant change in the way the NHL does business. They fucked themselves, and deeply insulted the fans with their arrogance and assumptions. I heard Melrose on ESPN say earlier that he doesn't expect any negative fallout and that the fans will be back and things will return to normal. The owners will make some thin gestures to the fans and pretend it never happened. Some people will accept this, I sincerely hope most wont.
Why I'm glad our local junior team, The Knights, pull up their soks whenever the NHL chooses money or what's actually important. During the 2005 failure, the Knights won the memorial cup (national championship) and this year they are far and away the best team in the country. Here's our teddy bear toss from this year:
This attitude towards professional sports confuses me. The NHL is a business, and the players are its employees. In what other business (except maybe politics and healthcare?) do people seriously suggest that money should be left on the table for our personal fun/whimsy? Do you go to the local sandwich store and get mad that they're putting money over "what's really important"? And how was it decided that our ability to watch professional hockey from the comfort of our own homes is "what's really important"? When did we decide that athletes and owners are basically monkeys to dance at our beck and call?
Professional athletes have the right to bitch about nothing. They're getting rich doing EXACTLY what they love doing most, and still that's just not good enough. The fans and the game should be what's important to them, since they game is what they are supposed to love, and the fans make them famous and spend THEIR hard-ass earned dollars to buy their exhaustively overpriced tickets, swag and everything else they should be thanking "the little people" for.
People forget that sports are essentially a consumer product. Does your iPad owe you anything because you paid too much for it? Does GM owe you anything because you got the LT Silverado instead of the base model? Unfortunately I'm reducing athletes and people to inanimate objects, but its business and trust me thats how the accountants see it.
So why should they give a shit about you? You're a customer, they're an employee. What makes you different here from every single other product that you consume? Do you think engineers at Apple or the kitchen staff at fancy restaurants should acquiesce to management because their customers should be what's important to them? Should you, as a DJ, have accepted lower fees because you should have been in it for the music? The entitlement complex of sports fans is fascinating. It's one of the few areas where we feel like we have some kind of moral ownership over the workers. We think that us buying tickets means that they "owe" us, in a way that no one feels about other consumer goods.
I DO accept lower fees, because I AM in it for the music. I swear on my family that I charge less than half as much as any other DJ company in the city because I enjoy doing it. It's fun. And that's how every athlete should feel. Being a pro athlete (or being famous in general) is not like other jobs. No Apple employee worked through their entire childhood an teen years (every single day) in hopes that an Apple Scout would send them to the Apple draft. They are getting paid to participate in the one drive-- their lifelong dream-- that they've had since they could walk. They have it made in the shade and getting paid, live in expensive houses, fuck more beautiful people than you or I ever could, a cheesecake life where everybody worships the ground you walk on. They should be down on their hands and knees thanking whoever is up there for the amazing life they are given. And let's not forget their "aAbove the law" status that is given to them. I mean, even pro football athletes by law are allowed to rape at least one blond girl or beat two strippers during their tenure. So to answer your question, they SHOULD give a shit about fans. That's part of the job.
And do you think, as a DJ, you were morally obligated to do so? If, when quoting a price, someone told you "C'mon man, stop being greedy. You shouldn't be in this for money," how would you have reacted? But you're right. Other jobs totally don't involve lifelong aspirations and outsized personnel wealth, and athletes totally spend their lives in luxury with minimal work. They are just "given" this life. Being an NFL offensive linemen, for example, is easy street.
I never said that. There's still extreme hard work involved with staying in shape and willing yourself not to date-rape a beauty pageant contestant. Being punch-drunk with brain damage for the rest of your life is anything but easy street. But much like the same arguement involving cops, they aspired and CHOSE this life.
In saying that though when was the last time you saw a profession strike for nearly half a year? Disputes like this in any other service get sorted out real fucking quick why the fuck couldn't these shitstains pull their head out of their ass and make a deal. They should be renegotiating the CBA the full season before it finishes so it doesn't come to this bullshit.
The entire Chicago Teachers' Union went on strike this summer and fall, the entire Bakers Union went on strike a few months ago and forced Hostess into bankruptcy, and 600+ New England health care workers have been on strike since July. In your homeland, 40,000 public workers were on strike in NSW last year. Part of the reason that these strikes last so long is that no one needs professional athletes, unlike teachers or public sector workers. The sector is ultimately a luxury, so there isn't the same sort of pressure to settle. Also, (1) the entire profession isn't affected. This is just the NHL. There are plenty of other leagues around the world, and various levels of junior hockey, and (2) they're not on strike, they're locked out. That's actually the opposite of a strike.
I kind of agree with MC. By all means, don't go to or watch the games, and then they'll have to revise salaries. But it's really off-putting when people have this "I paid my 50 bucks, you have to act exactly as I want you to" attitude. It seems to happen primarily with athletes, actors, and strippers. Also, the reality is that athlete unions aren't really there to protect the beautiful glory boys. Without collective bargaining, LeBron James could get 60 million dollars a year, because he's that much more valuable than an average player. It's there to provide some security for the person who busted their ass their entire life to make what an average 4th year at a hedge fund can clear in a bonus. Not saying the job isn't fun and usually a labor of love, but if my job literally took years off of my life while I made 1/10 of what my coworkers and a 1/30th of what my bosses (who don't do anything) made, I'd balk at the suggestion that I was the asshole.
Also, it's one of the few professions where the usefulness of your skills begins to evaporate by your early 30s, if not earlier.
All facial hair that has been considered awesome by anyone is now null and void. Nothing....NOTHING can ever top this:
You both make great points. It's not we want them to "act exactly", just act. Like you said, and I agree with you: Hollywood, strippers, and athletes. It DOES seem to happen primarliy with them, but those three things are different planets, different galaxies than the rest of the working world. Also, those three categories are stocked with greedy pigs who are never satisfied with what they have. This whole mess IS about money. It probably just upsets me because we live in a society that is completely manipulated by money. Anybody will do anything to ANYBODY for money nowadays. It's all that matters. I think it started with Lattrell "Sir Chokes-a-lot" Sprewell said with a straight face into the camera "I can't get paid $21 million, I have a family to feed!!!" Sure, people were outraged by that, but athletes kind of absorbed that attitude. You see, when your country becamse overwhelmingly fucked up in 2008 and burnt the house down, everything got thrown into turmoil, especially (actually, only) the lower and middle class. Life STILL sucks for a lot of people because of what rich people did to them, and these fucks-- who will never have money woes again as long as they have a brain in their head-- DARE to say they're not making enough? Is is so radical just to simply suggest budging a LITTLE to make everyone else happy? Especially to the rich and famous? Especially since: a) They are already have everything a regular person could ever dream about, and: b) I don't NEED a "b"! ...the term "The Greater Good" is defunct now. When did this society become a place where we have to walk on eggshells when talking about people that have it better than us like they're some endangered species? "Don't tell them what to do or be mean to them, or they'll get scared, then they won't mate and create OTHER assholes!" No, we have to soothe them, make everything better, provide a comfy nesting ground for them or they'll fly away and never speak to us again.
1) If every NHL season were only 50 games long, I might actually consider watching hockey. Well, I mean, that, and if the Leafs didn't suck. 2) I went and saw Django Unchained. I think it's a very timely movie. White people need something to make them feel less bad about slavery, and vicariously being a white German who single-handedly freed oppressed black people is even better than being a white German who single-handedly freed Jews. 3) So what's the deal with turning friends into maybe girlfriends. And for the love of Christ if even one of you smartass sons of bitches tell me the secret is to be honest and not pretend to "just be friends" while only growing bitter and resentful for not reciprocating your feelings, I'm going to reach out and slap you from across the Internet.
Get wasted at a bar with a dancefloor together. I've met you and know you're a good drunk, so chances are you'll end up fucking, which afterwards she'll either realize that a) she should have been dating you this whole time, or b) She'll get uncomftorably weirded out by the "mistake she made", never want to see you again and crush your soul. Those are good odds. I say go for it.