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Are you going to be boycotting the NHL?


7thMan

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Just watch me

Plenty of people on this board talked tough before and are now flip flopping like a fish outta water.. some are even going do far as to thank fehr and bettman for bringing hockey back? Lmfao

Whether it makes a difference or not, I won't be watching any of this season including the playoffs. Its the principle of the matter. The nhl has taken their fans entirely for granted.. it may be okay for them to treat the fans this way according to the leagues of mouth-breathers in this city who are willing to follow the nhl with open arms, but not for me. I have far less interest in a shortened season anyway.

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I'll just have to take your word for it, lol. But yes, I am basing those remarks solely on the bold part. If I have learned anything about people in my short life, it is that when most people talk tough, they're always talk. Very few back their tough talk up, especially if it requires a long term commitment. :lol:

I might do the boycott thing under one condition: if the majority of the NHL's fans also did it. But that isn't the case and I'm not going to be a sucker in a pointless effort. Plus, with this team, 82 games is a drag, especially the later portion of the season. I love hockey and would rather see it played, but at the same time I kind of welcomed this break but not the reasons behind it.

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Yes it saves you money, but not buying a ticket won't leave that ticket unsold here. Which means you're not making a protest statement at all in that regard other than in your own mind. The Canucks will still have that money whether it's yours or not. What the networks pay the NHL is based on what they can charge for advertising during the game. What the networks can charge advertisers is based on how many viewers watch the game. So what the NHL receives is directly linked to you watching. So your protest is only in your head. You're still supporting the team financially even if the money isn't coming directly out of your pocket.

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I don't understand the logic of a boycott.

'I'm mad that there wasn't hockey in October, November, December and half of January. Therefore, when you give me what I am so desperately missing, I will not partake in it and punish myself further.'

If the first indication that you, as a fan, were low down the priority list was the lockout then you need a reality check. This isn't bush league hockey where they have to beg for fans, this is the most competitive league, not just for the players but for the fans. The Canucks have a waiting list of many multiple years just for the privilege to buy season tickets at thousands a pair. If you boycott the games, you will not be missed by the team in this city.

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I don't understand the logic of a boycott.

'I'm mad that there wasn't hockey in October, November, December and half of January. Therefore, when you give me what I am so desperately missing, I will not partake in it and punish myself further.'

If the first indication that you, as a fan, were low down the priority list was the lockout then you need a reality check. This isn't bush league hockey where they have to beg for fans, this is the most competitive league, not just for the players but for the fans. The Canucks have a waiting list of many multiple years just for the privilege to buy season tickets at thousands a pair. If you boycott the games, you will not be missed by the team in this city.

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Yep.. based on your post, this much is clear.

If you are happy to stick with the league after all this then that is your decision.. to disregard the fact that many fans feel like what the league and pa have done is a slap in the face is ignorant on your part though.. people should be upset and I hope that they do boycott in some ways, whichever those ways may be.

I want to watch hockey just like you.. who says it has to be NHL?

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Yep.. based on your post, this much is clear.

If you are happy to stick with the league after all this then that is your decision.. to disregard the fact that many fans feel like what the league and pa have done is a slap in the face is ignorant on your part though.. people should be upset and I hope that they do boycott in some ways, whichever those ways may be.

I want to watch hockey just like you.. who says it has to be NHL?

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Guest Gumballthechewy

lol my thought is I can occupy myself on a Tuesday because.its cheap movie night but let's face it I'm not going to miss the first hnic of the season even if cherry is a plug

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Pretty heavy op-ed piece on Puck Daddy this morning. Can't say I feel as strongly as him, but he does make some good points and it's worth re-posting:

You can forgive NHL for lockout, but never forget what happened here

You know when a player who really loves his team and city gets traded, and he gives an emotional speech about how sometimes you forget hockey is a business, and that sometimes makes it unpleasant?

Let this lockout be a lesson that the same goes for fans.

During that 113-day ordeal, you were repeatedly condescended to, taken advantage of, and lied to, by both sides of the argument. But never forget that the contents of your wallet, like one of the podded-up humans in The Matrix, are nothing but fuel for a machine that cruelly exploits you.

As of this writing, I know of just a handful of NHL teams that actually took the time to come out and apologize to its hundreds of thousands of fans for the nearly four months of torture through which it just put them. Calgary Flames president Ken King issued a statement more or less as soon as the tentative deal was announced.

"We're sorry," King said. "We regret what we've put them through. It's just something that you would never, ever, want to put them through. It's difficult saying that it was unnecessary, but it's something you would never, ever want to do with your core constituents."

The Sharks and Blues both expressed their own regrets, while some teams, like the Capitals, Flyers,Canucks, Penguins, Coyotes, Wild, Kings, Bruins, and Stars issued statements or held pressers or conference calls about how great it is that the league is back — especially for the fans!!! — but not once mentioning how sorry they were about it (though the Oilers came close).

Sorry, but this kind of apology should come standard-issue from all 30 teams, especially those like the Flames and Bruins, who certainly led the charge for a lockout despite having massive fanbases, popularity, and most importantly, war chests.

Never forget this was a lockout. Never forget this was put upon you and the players and the sport by the owners. Never forget the two biggest engines in all this weren't poor, put-upon teams in tough markets, but rather financial giants whose sole motivation was greed and the desire to squeeze just an extra dime or two out of every dollar spent. They certainly accomplished their goal.

The fact that as far as I can tell the majority of the league's 30 teams haven't so much as considered apologizing is beyond irrational. Obviously, not every team wanted this lockout to happen, but those that stood idly by, hands in their pockets, while Gary Bettman, Jeremy Jacobs, Murray Edwards, and the rest of their villainous cohorts did this are as guilty through their inaction as any actual negative actors in this process.

They should be down on their hands and knees, groveling for the fans to return to their arenas to buy seats and concessions and jerseys after all this. Everything should be half-price. Every purchase should come with the warmest "thank you" imaginable. But of course, they don't. Because the league doesn't give a rat's ass about its fans, no matter how much free Center Ice they throw at us.

Oh yeah, fans are excited to have the NHL back in their lives and, if you like hockey, you can't really blame them. I know many fans have already started buying tickets in a blind scramble to turn over more of their money to the oligarchs who just robbed them of their favorite sport for four months, and I know that all across the league, games will be played before packed houses sometime in the next few weeks. It disgusts me, obviously, but that's the way of the world. I'm sure the "Thank You (Again) Fans!" that's painted at both blue lines will more than make up for it. That's bridge-building for the NHL in 2013.

This league, which seems content to have itself reduced to a national sports punchline every seven or eight years (clock's ticking on that opt-out work stoppage!), has never cared about you, and will do so. Not really. Not as long as you're willing to throw wads of cash at it the second it gives you what it should have been giving you all along.

Everyone's giddy now. Many have lost any sense of reality they had throughout the process. I still can't believe I'm seeing legitimate hockey reporters — and not just the dummies in the owners' pockets — saying stuff about how the NHL gave the Players' Association concessions at the 12th hour.

Did it really? Almost everything the players once had still got rolled back, just not as much as the NHL would have liked. They didn't make concessions, they backed off absurd demands only when a federal mediator told them to stop being ridiculous, and even then, it took a pair of back-to-back days of 13 to 16 hours. That's near-indomitable malevolent will, eroded on a timeline not dissimilar what desert sands do to the pyramids.

This joyous celebration of hockey's return will only cause the owners to double down on their resolve next time around. They now know, absolutely and unequivocally, that they can treat you like garbage, not even think about apologizing for it, and you'll still cut them a blank check every single year.

That is, unless you remember how October, November and December felt. How mad it made you. How the vote to lock out the players for the second time since 2004-05 came unanimously. How the owners lied to you at every opportunity about Donald Fehr's intractability. How they used so-called "moderates" to defame him with absurd press releases. How they had the gall to compare him to a suicide bomber because he would not let the union be broken by their demands. How their steadfastness that the CBA needed to provide better protection for all 30 teams came without a meaningful improvement to revenue sharing. How they tried to move the goalposts the second the NHLPA's ability to file a disclaimer of interest expired. And especially how you swore you'd never give them another cent of your hard-earned dollars.

Or enjoy the 2020-21 lockout. It's really up to you.

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