Nothing to Fear but Fehr himself
Ted Saskin, former NHLPA executive director, was the clear loser of the heavyweight boxing match the NHL and NHLPA held a few years back. As you all know, he was eventually relieved of his duties. I was indifferent to this decision. I no longer am.
The Hockey News has a story today that the NHLPA asked MLBPA executive director, and Bob Nuttin's personal anti-christ, Donald Fehr to speak with them on how he runs his union. the MLBPA is the strongest union in all of sports. Its the only union that does not have a salary cap. Its the only union where the players don't care about the greater good of each other, let alone the good of the game.
The NHL has the greatest character individuals in all of sports. Donald Fehr should not be allowed to snake his way into their organization and corrupt these players. The article goes on to explain just how good of a deal for the NHLPA the current CBA is and how much money is rolling back in.
The NHL may not have the popularity in the US as it should. That problem falls to the NHL for negotiating a poor TV deal that gets them very little exposure. If that is ever corrected the NHL should flourish by putting their plain spoken, honest players in the spotlight. If Donald Fehr left any of his legacy behind after speaking to the NHLPA there will be no innocent players left to be in the spotlight.
The MLBPA controls its players through fear. Players do not speak out against the union or any decision the union may have. Why? Augusta National aside, MLB is the last "old boys club" left in sports. The team concept is not encouraged as much as the idea of "just do your job" is. Why? $25M a year to A-rod, that's why. He's a loser who has never won a championship, but that does not matter in how much money he makes. As long as A-rod takes care of A-rods numbers during the season, he will get more than $25M when he opts out of his upcoming contract.
That's motivation every baseball players sees and embraces. Rookies are quickly reminded of this when they make the show. Why are teams like Florida and Milwaukee able to build a team concept then? There were little to no veterans left when they brought a huge crop of youngsters up.
The Penguins lockerroom is stuffed with players 25 years old and younger. This is the "next generation" of hockey player, the one that is working under a salary cap and looking for a new union director. Let's just hope they stay innocent like the players that have come before them and are not corrupted by the Fehr that drives the baseball union.
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5 comments:
Danny Heatley, Todd Bertuzzi, Claude Lemiuex.... fights at every game... yep, these are the highest character guys in sports.
These guys are all the same. Whether they are NHL, MLB, NFL, NBA or tiddly winks players, they are all about the same. I don't think you can put one sport on a pedistal since they all have their share of rotten eggs...
The fact that you can name three hockey players that do not play in Pittsburgh is almost as astonishing to me as the act of labeling an entire grouping of people by their "bad eggs" as you just did.
Should all executives be considered dirty because of the Enron execs?
Should all African Americans be labled dangerous because of Mike Tyson and Maurice Clarret?
Should all southerners be considered rednecks because of the people who agree to be interviewed after the tornado hit?
Should all Catholics be considered saints because of Mother Theresa?
Of course each group has its extremes (as noted above and by you), but it is fair to make a gernalization based on the representation of the majority. There is a greater majority of hockey players that are "good guys" than there is a majority in any other sport.
I wasn't labeling an entire group of people based on their bad eggs. I was trying to convey that every sport has good guys and every sport has complete idiots and to raise one sport over any other is ridiculous because it can't be supported by anything close to a fact.
I'll say this. There are four events I have witnessed in sports that stand out to me as being the most heinously out of control moments I've seen. (This is all my opinion) The Detroit - Indiana brawl in 2004 was the worst thing I've ever seen. The Bertuzzi sucker punch on that poor guy was 2nd worst. Tyson biting Holyfield was third worst. The Claude Lemieux hit (and I don't know on who) from a playoff series was the fourth worst. I am not arguing that since the NHL has 2 of the worst plays I've seen that I think they are all a bunch of bad guys. Its that all leagues are filled with idiots. To raise one above another is nothing more than an opinion.. right?
PP- I noticed you didn't have any baseball incidents in your "Top worst moments in sports." I feel this is because the other sports mentioned are played with more intensity and allow for the greater possibility of bad things happening. Sometimes these players get caught up in the heat of the game.
Off the field and overall character, that is a different story. Personally, I would much rather support and have my children view as role models players from the NHL than any other league. The NHL has some good young men representing their league while the NBA stars include, just to name a few of the best players, Kobe(rape charges and selfish attitude), Iverson(numerous incidents with the law, practice?), Carmelo(stop snitching video, other questionable acts).
A good move for the NBA would be to get away from the Hip-Hop lifestyle it embraces.
Allen Iverson is the greatest basketball player I have seen with my own eyes except Jordan. Dude is 5'11, 170 and was the top player in the league for years. I'll say he's had his share of incidents and thats wrong on his part, but that dude has mad heart out there, going toe to toe with 7 footers.
Kobe is a fool. Dont' even get me started on that cat.
Look, I don't know much about the NHL, so maybe you guys are right. I just think its naive to think one league has better role models than others....
Delmon Young bat throw might be a good example of a horrible baseball play.
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