Bruins DieHard: Feelings Of Contempt As Lockout Ends
BOSTON (CBS) - It's been a while since I've had the energy or will to write about my favorite sport.
A long while.
And now that it seems this ridiculous standoff is about to be ended, the only thing I feel is contempt. Contempt for the owners, contempt for the players and in some ways, contempt the fans who lay down their good money and simply forgive the heathens that kept us in the dark, all for the right to watch our beloved hockey.
I almost wish the season had been canceled because for me, no matter what excitement comes from dropping the puck, good goal tending, great shots, the fact that the National Hockey League and the Players Association have brought this kind of pain to its fans, makes me think that THEY need to suffer like we have. I don't know how that gets done since we hockey fans are like no other sport fans.
Hockey fans are smaller in numbers that any other sport but as has been said many times, we are the most loyal. And that's where the League and Association have us by the short ones. They've known all along that we'd be back. Just like the Pied Piper had the mice follow him out of Hamlin, we, of course will follow the league back into the rinks. And as the playoffs approach, the fact that no hockey was played since the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup June 11, of last year, will not be in the minds of the fans whatsoever.
So, can we expect the obligatory "Thank you Fans" on the ice again when it should really be Expletive Deleted You Fans because that's exactly what we got for the past five months! A good kick in the gut!
But it's the game that draws us back. We've missed it so much despite the powers that be not caring what we think. Those are the two things that make me wanna scream. I love the game so much yet I hate what this Commissioner and his Owners have done to us thrice in the last 20 years.
Bitter, yeah I guess I am a bit but I'll get over it and will be there when "Training Camp" begins and whenever the puck drops to open the "year." After all, It is NHL Hockey and nothing is quite like it!
Game On!
Ric Duarte has covered hockey and the Bruins for various media outlets since 1986. You can follow Ric at BruinsDieHard.com and at twitter @bruins_diehard.
