archromat

"Quasi GM"

Moncton, NB • Canada • 37 Years Old • Male

Egos taking over... again

I like to share stories in my life that are relevant to the situations I see in the media. The metaphor is such a beautiful thing to be able to reveal to many what has been hidden in the foundations of the world.

Today, yesterday, the day before, the NHL and NHLPA have been meeting, and this came after a week-end of Daly meeting with S. Fehr giving us promise that things are moving forward. Hearing Eklund's whispers about the NHL's concessions made proposals sound promising. And then come back the boys trying to keep their jobs, and the horns are locked once again. Why? Because the egos are back.

When I was a kid, unfortunately I didn't have a lot of respect for my father. He was brutish, bullyish, abrasive, and selectively ignorant to anything that posed as an inconvenience, because he would never admit defeat. Mind you, my father was an intelligent and talented man: he did know a lot, but not everything.

I used to pick up a guitar and play with it, or I played with my sister's keyboard. And then he'd come along and he'd want to teach me HIS music, HIS style, etc. He made it about him. And I couldn't stand it. He'd try to get me to play notes, but I never asked for it, and I'd immediately put the guitar down and walk away. The reason is because I didn't respect him and as a result, I wanted to be nothing like him.

I started writing songs at 17 but was doing it in my head since I was 12; had I respected him and asked him to teach me, I would have started this as a hobby when I was 12. His ego, and my lack of respect for him because of that, hindered my progress in it.

Right now, neither do the NHLPA respect Bettman (he doesn't exactly command it), nor do the NHL respect Fehr, and this greatly hinders the negotiation progress. Fehr's suggestions to increase revenue sharing are downright arrogant, as if they don't know how to run their business (and the NHL laughs at such a thing because they could easily return with the argument: okay, why don't you make your top ten percent of players pay the money we take from them getting it down to 50/50). Even if they started making proposals to one another, they would never want the other to win because their own jobs are on the line and it shows.

I think both would benefit from a coup d'etat right now and have Daly and S. Fehr handle the rest of it, because both sides need a voice that the other sides respect. Between Bettman's annoying voice and 8 million dollar paycheck, and Donald's clucking like a rooster and rejecting every deal for the sake of wanting only to accept deals he proposes: yes, a season will be played... eventually... but it could be done now and both sides could actually win without these conflicting agendas taking place. Two men are probably fighting to keep their very financially healthy jobs here... should that be the basis of a new CBA?

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