I'm the token hockey fan at the office, so several people asked me today what I think of the NHL lockout. What is there to think? It sucks...particularly for the ushers and the vendors and the waiters at the restaurants near the arenas and everybody else who made a living working the games, but doesn't have a war chest like the owners and the union.
Personally, I'm oddly dispassionate. Maybe because we've been expecting it, maybe because I have finally gained a "just a game" perspective (time to redesign my blog, maybe.) In 1994 I was upset. This year I'm realizing how much money I'll save on Metro fare and not eating downtown two, three nights a week.
I wish we still had a minor league team nearby, like the old Skipjacks of the AHL or the Icebreakers of the ECHL. It's not the same caliber (well, after some of the games I saw last year...never mind.) I hope these guys get a nice boost from the lockout, actually, and maybe I'll watch Slapshot once a week and pretend I have a team.
I did say that if Ted does the minor-league Whoopass Jamboree I want the Pensacola Ice Pilots. Now, there are a few holes in the Civic Center roof right now, but hopefully they can get that fixed by season's start...
In seriousness, they were using the Civic Center as a shelter from the hurricane when ventilation equipment was torn off in the high winds, leaving some holes. Nobody in the shelter was injured. I was following the reports and pictures today on the Pensacola News Journal website. It isn't like I didn't care about the destruction from Charley or Frances, but I used to live on the Gulf coast, so seeing a bridge out and knowing exactly where it is is just that much more sobering.
In the job I had down there I mostly interviewed people living in towns from Pensacola to Mobile...Atmore, Flomaton, Foley, Daphne. A lot of those houses didn't seem too substantial...a lot were trailers, come to think of it. My heart really goes out to them right now, to everybody in that area.
Not surprisingly, given the toll already taken by the earlier storms, the Red Cross is asking for help...might as well send some of that NHL lockout savings their way, eh?
Posted by Nic at September 16, 2004 05:07 PM