I woke up Sunday morning to the news of the NHL lockout being over.  Let me rephrase that – the NHL owners and the NHL Player’s Association came to a tentative contract agreement and it still needs to be ratified by the players.

Oh joy, we hockey fans now get to be treated to a schedule of about 48 games.  When the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June, it won’t mean a thing.  There won’t be a full season grind to determine playoff seeding and there won’t be an all-star game or Winter “Classic”.  All we’ll really have is the entertainment of seeing how Gary Bettman will spin the lockout to fans in his attempt to heal fan’s wounds.  The last time this happened, the NHL put a “Thank You Fans” logo on each arena’s ice surface.  It warmed my heart and mystically made all of my hard feelings dissolve and drift away like a white, puffy cloud passing through the sky overhead.

No, it didn’t.  I’m no elephant but I can remember the last decade easily.

Last time, Bettman said the lockout was necessary for the betterment of the game.  I think now is the time, for the real betterment of the game, to lock Gary Bettman out once and for all with no negotiation, no mediator, nothing.  Kick the guy out the door and let him collect his pension in a far away place where he can’t hurt the game any more than he already has. (more…)