Hockey strike

[gouldy]

Although the continuing strikes in Canada and America over the distribution of money in the NHL are bad news for everyone, they have thrown up a small amount of good news for fans of the sport here in England, not that there is many of us.

roughly 300 of the players from the American league have flown to Europe and England to play the sport in the respective leagues. Although they're not the very best players from the NHL, they're all considered superstars by fans of the sport outside of America. Just one player is Belak, formerly of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who has begun playing in the English league with "Coventry Blaze", this has seen the highest ever attendance at a league hockey match in England when Blaze played against "The Bees", the attendance was just over 9000. That is not very much considering the Blaze are our biggest hockey club and considering the highest ever attendace to a football league game in England was well over 110,000 ... nine thousand pales into insignificance. But still 9000 is triple the average attendance for the Blaze so you can see what a big impact it has had on the game here in England.

I still hope, as I'm sure most of you do, that the situation with the NHL is resolved as soon as possible, because while its doing wonders for the English game, the English game could still never be as fast, exciting or adrenaline pumping as the American game.

Anyway, this is open to dicussion, I'd like to know what the rest of you Hockey fans think about this and how you think the situation in America can be solved, if indeed it can be solved.

i think it f'in sucks @$$. That simple. Once football is over in january i have no sports to watch till april when baseball starts up.

[gouldy]

when you'll still have no sports to watch

I think it downright sucks ass. The last time they did this (1992 I think?) they didn't start playing until January again.
I highly doubt they will get this resolved before the end of January, and if they do start the season they wouldn't be having playoffs this year which sucks.
I think the owners are being greedy ba******. They are complaining because the players are earning too much money, which is pure crap. They should look at the MBL or the NBA and take a look at how much those players make.

I just hope they settle everything ASAP so that they can start playing again.
And Gouldy, though it may be good for your area to get some recognized players, they may get stuck over there because of the NHL rules regarding players playing in the Juniors and then wanting to come back.

But if they don't get this resolved, I always have Lacrosse and Junior hockey to watch up here in Toronto.

yeah FN put's a good point. The Flyers (my team) have a fairly high team salary but it's not to far off from the other teams in our city. And with money in sports, hey i pay 50-80$ a seat to go watch the players play, they deserve that money if they sell out every game of the season like it is at flyers games.

[gouldy]

Wow, Pacoasterrider, never knew you were a Flyers fan, or maybe I did and I just forgot , but yeah, anyway, I'm a flyers fan too, only because of the colours though, cus the colours are the same as my football team .......ish.

Anyway, I reckon that the players earn a perfectly good amount of money, BUT when you compare the amount of money they make, with the amount of money a top Football (Soccer) player makes over here in Europe, then you can see that they are underpayed in comparison, but I believe sports stars on a whole are payed far too much. Anyway, back to the comparison between Footy stars and Hockey stars, I was watching a news program earlier and it said that top NHL players can expect to earn about $1,000,000 in a year. Lets compare that to David Beckham, Arguable Englands best football player for a long time, he earns at least $1,000,000 in a week . He is payed ?????????90,000 a week, by his football club (Real Madrid, Spain) and on top of this has various sponsorship deals with companies such as Adidas, which earns him about ?????????50,000,000 a year. Now that is ridiculous, he is being payed that much to do something which he enjoys, and he isn't even the worst, Christian Vieri (Inter Milan, Italy) is payed ?????????110,000 (about $190,000) a week then on top of that are his sponsorship deals, footballers salaries and earnings have gotten out of hand here in Europe and I can see where the owners of the NHL are coming from when they don't want the same thing happening with the NHL, but at the same time I can understand why the players want more when they look at what other players of other sports are earning, for probably less work........ so, still no closer to seeing who is right IMO.

This strike is absolutely stupid, just like the baseball strike of 94'. It's not like pro athletes don't make enough money already. It really stinks also because I just started to get into hockey after watching the TB Lightning play last year, and now I am really craving watching a nice shot to the boards.

Its TERRIBLE, these poor hockey players are playing a sport they enjoy and only making 5 million a year, how can they mangage? Seriously, the owners are not at fault, they try as best they can to pay the players there fair share, but the players are greedy and want more.

Originally posted by cjd

This strike is absolutely stupid, just like the baseball strike of 94'. It's not like pro athletes don't make enough money already. It really stinks also because I just started to get into hockey after watching the TB Lightning play last year, and now I am really craving watching a nice shot to the boards.

haha yeah im lucky with AHL hockey only 45 minuets away in Hershey, but they(Hershey Bears) suck so far so...yeah. Don't judge a sport on the players itself, cause alot of them are jerks. I know everyone thinks Terrell Owens is a jerk (football), well of course i dont, and when Shaun Springs got nailed by well i forget, anyway he was knocked unconcious and almost paralyzed during last night's game (eagles vs skins), TO was more concerned then all the redskins players and achually over there, and people call him a jerk.... Sorry i had to get that out. Anyway, I've been kept occupied with NHL 2K5 and my stockpiling of Flyers clips from last year for the computer, that im not really missing it yet, but i will soon.

BTW Springs wasn't paralyzed in any part and only has a concussion last i heard

[Master of Puppets]

Originally posted by pacoasterrider

they deserve that money

No they don't, they are overpaid whiny bitches. People who actually DO STUFF should get money. Anyone getting millions for playing sports is a spoiled dick. The world could do without them, so what the hell are they rolling in money for?

The guy who fixes your car is much more important and actually does something worthwhile, why doesn't he make millions of dollars?

Its about time somebody say it, and of course it would be from you MoP. As I said above, they get paid a ton, Just about every hockey player makes more in a year than any single president, your local shop owner, and all the peeps you see working in the strwaberry etc fields combined! And these people are doing things for our countries as well, its pretty ridiculous.

[gouldy]

Hahaha, you think that the hockey players are paid too much? aaaaaahahahah, maybe you didn't read my post above, you'd be absolutely disgusted at the amount professional Footballers (Soccer players) are paid here in Europe, it is really really out of hand now, and people are powerless to stop this constant rise in wages for players over here. Not only do they have ridiculously high wages, but ridiculously stupid transfer fees aswell. E.G, if a club wants to buy a top class striker, they would have to pay about ?????????40,000,000 ($65,000,000) to get him in the first place, then probably another ?????????20,000,000 ($30,000,000)if that player played really well for them, THEN come the wages of the players themselves, a top class striker earns about ?????????100,000 ($180,000) a week here. They are payed that much money to do something they enjoy, they really shoudln't be payed anywhere near as much as they are especially when you consider they have sponsorship deals too (Ruud Van Nistelrooy has a ?????????100,000,000 deal with Nike), but footballlers (Soccer players) wages really are in an upward spiral over here, they are getting just silly now.

So yeah, I reckon the players are actually probably wrong with this one, its firemen and police officers etc etc..... that deserve this money in my view

[Oscar]

they should be paid minimum wage and forced to clean the stadiums after the people leave in my opinion.

[gouldy]

I really quite like WWS's idea, seems to work for me

well, i have no problem with the amout there payed. Don't we all pay 50-80$ to go watch them??? There are definatly people that deserve the money more then players, but again, we pay to watch them play. I wouldn't risk myself to be payed low wages, even below 100,000 with all the stuff you have to change in your life. Being a sports player is a big sacrifise, and they go though alot of crud and they are payed a ridicilous amount, but i pay 60 dollars to have a Terrell Owens jersey, and not a firefighter suit. It's just how messed up the world is anymore. And everyone start's worshiping sports heroes, no sports athlete is a hero in my mind, and the people that do believe that they are have a problem

Here's my two cents ... the whole thing pissed me off. My family had season tix to the Penguins this year and I was going to four games in the Igloo .... yes, I am STILL pissed.

Originally posted by pacoasterrider

well, i have no problem with the amout there payed. Don't we all pay 50-80$ to go watch them???

Here in Toronto 80 bucks won't even get you an upper bowl seat behind a pillar. If you want to go see the Toronto Maple Leafs play you better have more than $180, lol.

There are definatly people that deserve the money more then players, but again, we pay to watch them play. I wouldn't risk myself to be payed low wages, even below 100,000 with all the stuff you have to change in your life.

The CFL (Canadian Football League) Don't get payed over 100 grand, but the CFL is more like a junior league to the NFL.

Being a sports player is a big sacrifise, and they go though alot of crud and they are payed a ridicilous amount

It is true, they do have to put up with alot of crap. Being away from home the majority of the year is hard, especially when you have a family. You also have to think about how long they play for. Their careers may only last 10 years and they are just too old to play. Which means they have to take the earnings they earned while playing and contribute that toward retiring at 40-45, alot earlier than most people.

It's just how messed up the world is anymore. And everyone start's worshiping sports heroes, no sports athlete is a hero in my mind, and the people that do believe that they are have a problem

Whats wrong with having a sports hero?

[gouldy]

Originally posted by TConwell

Here's my two cents ... the whole thing pissed me off. My family had season tix to the Penguins this year and I was going to four games in the Igloo .... yes, I am STILL pissed.

AAHAHAHA, thats quite funny, because your a penguins fan, pffft, penguins suck major manboobs nah, that sucks man, I bet that cost a bomb.

And, I do believe you can have a sports hero, why not? I mean, theres a few Footy players that I look up to because of the stories there are behind them getting into the sport, for example, like years and years of trying and failing to get trials for a team, and going through family problems and staying strong to reach their goal of being a football star. Stories like that example can be an example to all of us, in all walks of life so why can't a sports star be a hero?

Still think they're ridiculously overpaid

[Master of Puppets]

I sure as hell don't pay to watch them play.

You all pay to eat though, this gives me an idea. If you are willing to part with $80 or more to go watch a bunch of idiots then you should be willing to pay $100 or more for food. How's $125 for a loaf of bread sound? Sounds good to me, it would certainly make me rich.

I think all farmers should go on strike and not make any food anymore until the price of wheat is $100 a bushel and the price of corn is around $300. Right now it's like $2.00 for wheat and $3.50 tops for corn.

You people would be whining a hell of a lot more if you deprived of something important instead of your stupid sports.

I consider sports people more idol's then heroes. Hero's (to me) are more soliders, firemen, police exc... Now i idolise alot of sports people like Jim Thome(phillies), Jermey Roenick(flyers), and Chase Utley(Phillies).

"The CFL (Canadian Football League) Don't get payed over 100 grand, but the CFL is more like a junior league to the NFL."

^that is true, but yeah it's a junior league. Alot of players there (im assuming from what i've seen) are young and basically the CFL is one of there last resorts. Now CFL players (and NFL Euro) can become big. Kurt Warner played in the NFLE and look what he did a few years ago. Same with the AHL(American Hockey League), EHL(EAstern Hockey League), Atlantic League Baseball, ABA (American Basketball Association), all of those leagues are more so for the younger players that went undrafted and unsigned by a NFL team to a practice squad or anything.