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You are here: Home / Sports / This is brainwash, this is a clue

This is brainwash, this is a clue

by DougJ|  October 16, 20121:14 pm| 82 Comments

This post is in: Sports

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I think “shared sacrifice” might be Strapping Young Bucks 2.0 (via):

You’re going to hear a lot about “shared sacrifice” from the NHL in the days and weeks to come. That’s the word from inside a secret emergency PR focus group, in which a top Republican Party strategist tested pro-ownership messages on a captive audience of hockey fans. One of those fans shared the documents with us, for a sneak preview of the propaganda campaign the NHL will be unloading on the public as the lockout drags on. Here’s a look at the bullshit on the menu before the league serves it to you.

* * *

“When I say ‘the NHL,’ what’s the first thing that comes to mind?”

That’s how 30 people were greeted as they filed into a comfortable, well-lit room in a nondescript office building in a DC suburb Friday evening. They were there not because they were genuinely eager to give their opinions on the lockout, but because they were being paid—$100 for three hours of their time, three hours’ worth of feedback to help the NHL shape its message to get the public back on its side.

I know these players make a lot of money and probably mostly vote conservative, but the real battle is always those who own the means of production versus the workers. Never forget that.

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Reader Interactions

82Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade Dread

    October 16, 2012 at 1:22 pm

    You know who else believed in shared sacrifice?

    The Aztecs.

    Didn’t work out so well for the folks being asked to put their heart into their work.

  2. 2.

    jacy

    October 16, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    As a die-hard hockey fan (and I do mean die-hard. Hockey is one of the few things I love with no reservations,) I say fuck the motherfucking owners. If I could grind them into sausage and feed them to wild dogs, I would do it.

    They want shared sacrifice? I’ll sacrife my desire to beat them with a hockey stick until they’re bags of wet meat.

    Fuck.

    Hockey makes me emotional. Lack of hockey makes me unreasonable.

  3. 3.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    It’s not “Strapping Young Bucks, 2.0”. “Strapping Young Bucks” was a way of getting different factions of poor people to turn on each other so they wouldn’t notice that the rich were the source of their problems. “Shared Sacrifice” is a crass attempt to sell disaster capitalism, telling the whole of the 99% to meekly turn around and bend over while the 1% has its way with us. Not at all the same thing.

  4. 4.

    Political Observer

    October 16, 2012 at 1:24 pm

    Romney continues to VAULT INTO THE LEAD as he crosses 50% in Gallup among Likely Voters, Obama campaign in freefall?

  5. 5.

    Linnaeus

    October 16, 2012 at 1:25 pm

    One thing – among several – that’s infuriating about this is that the owners are complaining about the very arrangement that they wanted (and got) after the last lockout.

  6. 6.

    Cris (without an H)

    October 16, 2012 at 1:25 pm

    “When I say ‘the NHL,’ what’s the first thing that comes to mind?”

    Hockey?

  7. 7.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 16, 2012 at 1:27 pm

    @Political Observer:

    This thread is about hockey, fuckstick.

    The NHL owners need to be gathered in one place, and zambonied to death.

  8. 8.

    Political Observer

    October 16, 2012 at 1:29 pm

    The owners have one job and one job only–to make as much money as they possibly can. Period. They’re not running charity outfits, they’re running big businesses, and the players are big liabilities that need to be held down as much as possible. They shouldn’t have to share their money with them just because.

  9. 9.

    Yutsano

    October 16, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    I know these players make a lot of money and probably mostly vote conservative

    Most of them aren’t American citizens. They might still be conservatives, but in their own countries. Just sayin’.

  10. 10.

    Joel

    October 16, 2012 at 1:31 pm

    @Political Observer: Coincidentally, the players have the obligation to make as much money for their labor as they can, too.

    Negotiations, how do they work?

  11. 11.

    Political Observer

    October 16, 2012 at 1:31 pm

    @Joel:

    They already make more than enough for pushing a ball around with a stick.

  12. 12.

    Redshift

    October 16, 2012 at 1:33 pm

    Hiring Luntz is appalling, but I’m not surprised the owners are in a tough place. Fans know and love their players, whereas the owner is mostly just a name. And the players didn’t go on strike, the owners locked them out when they wouldn’t accept pay cuts at a time when the league boasts about rising profits.

    Luntz is a first-class grifter, though. Getting paid for testing out a message of “your beloved players don’t really agree with the union” when that’s on the first page of any union-busting playbook, that takes real skill.

  13. 13.

    Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God

    October 16, 2012 at 1:34 pm

    the real battle is always those who own the means of production versus the workers.

    If only those two groups were the same people.

    I seem to recall someone suggesting the idea once, but it just seemed to piss everyone off.

  14. 14.

    Zifnab25

    October 16, 2012 at 1:34 pm

    They were there not because they were genuinely eager to give their opinions on the lockout, but because they were being paid—$100 for three hours of their time, three hours’ worth of feedback to help the NHL shape its message to get the public back on its side.

    So, I see what the problem is here. They promised the survey participants $100, and then they paid them $100. If they promised the surveyed folks $100 and then said “Due to business obligations and a decline in revenue, coupled with the general negative projections and high price of gas in China, we feel it is only fair to give you $20 and this coupon for 20% at your local McSlupries.”, I think they might have saved enough money to pay the hockey players their due.

    Admittedly, then the survey recipients union would have stepped in, and it would have gotten really ugly.

  15. 15.

    dmsilev

    October 16, 2012 at 1:34 pm

    @Political Observer: You don’t know anything about hockey, do you?

    Ball?

  16. 16.

    Cacti

    October 16, 2012 at 1:35 pm

    @Political Observer:

    and the players are big liabilities that need to be held down as much as possible

    The players are what people pay to see, you nitwit.

  17. 17.

    Metrosexual Manichean Monster DougJ

    October 16, 2012 at 1:35 pm

    @Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God:

    Heh indeedy.

  18. 18.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 16, 2012 at 1:35 pm

    @Political Observer:

    The owners have a responsibility to make money over the long haul. Not to loot their organizations and then fly to the Caymans.

  19. 19.

    max

    October 16, 2012 at 1:36 pm

    @Political Observer: But the truth is that the only way to contain the debate hype will be if the event is rather boring and neither candidate excels or fails.

    You got your job by inking a sign that said ‘Will give rimjobs for food’ didn’t you?

    max
    [‘Yes, people, I am being unkind to the homeless.’]

  20. 20.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 16, 2012 at 1:37 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Fuckstain knows nothing about politics, either.

    So he’s pretty consistent.

  21. 21.

    Zifnab25

    October 16, 2012 at 1:37 pm

    @Political Observer: Christ, with that logic I can only imagine what kind of pay cut you’re ready to deliver to the owners.

  22. 22.

    Violet

    October 16, 2012 at 1:38 pm

    They were there not because they were genuinely eager to give their opinions on the lockout, but because they were being paid—$100 for three hours of their time, three hours’ worth of feedback to help the NHL shape its message to get the public back on its side.

    I have friends who do this kind of thing. It’s partly how they pay the mortgage. Whatever they’re chosen for to be in a focus group, they’re there if they’ll be paid.

  23. 23.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2012 at 1:38 pm

    @Political Observer:

    They already make more than enough for pushing a ball around with a stick.

    And the owners already make far to much for sitting on big bags of cash. The fans pay to see players play, not owners own. I know who deserves most of the money.

  24. 24.

    Yutsano

    October 16, 2012 at 1:39 pm

    @Political Observer:

    the players are big liabilities that need to be held down as much as possible

    Then the owners can just put their feet on the ice every night. Oh wait…no one would watch that. Big big flaw in your logic here. The players are as much the teams as the owners. We’ve been through this dance over and over.

  25. 25.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 16, 2012 at 1:39 pm

    @Political Observer:

    And the slimemold demonstrates, conclusively, that he knows not one blessed thing about hockey, in this post.

  26. 26.

    BGinCHI

    October 16, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    Owners = Makers

    Players = Takers

    If that message could get out it would knock some sense into the heads of people who are inclined to believe that rich people are altruists and the engine of the economy.

    I wish the players would start their own league.

  27. 27.

    Zifnab25

    October 16, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    @Yutsano: Perhaps the owners could save money by breaking up the refs union. That seemed to work really well in football.

  28. 28.

    Haydnseek

    October 16, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    “We can share the women we can share the wine. We can share what we got of yours ’cause we’ve done shared all of mine.”
    -Grateful Dead
    Shared sacrifice, indeed.

  29. 29.

    jacy

    October 16, 2012 at 1:41 pm

    @Political Observer:

    Funny that – I’ve never bought a ticket to a game hoping to see some lazy motherfucker in a suit sit in a luxury box and throw back drinks. And none of the jerseys I own have their motherfucking names on them.

    Fucking sports, how do they work?

  30. 30.

    Cacti

    October 16, 2012 at 1:41 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    The fans pay to see players play, not owners own. I know who deserves most of the money.

    And people will pay a premium to see the very best players in their sport. No one’s going to pony up top dollar to watch scabs, retreads, and also-rans.

    There was a reason why the XFL failed to take hold.

  31. 31.

    Comrade Dread

    October 16, 2012 at 1:41 pm

    @Political Observer: So presumably, if your boss told you to take a 50% pay cut and have your health care supplied by Christian Scientists or he’d ship your job to Bangladesh, you’d fall to your knees and thank Mr. Galt for his sound economic ways?

  32. 32.

    Cacti

    October 16, 2012 at 1:43 pm

    @Comrade Dread:

    So presumably, if your boss told you to take a 50% pay cut and have your health care supplied by Christian Scientists or he’d ship your job to Bangladesh, you’d fall to your knees and thank Mr. Galt for his sound economic ways?

    Luckily for Political Derp, twirling a sign that says “We Buy Gold” can’t be offshored.

  33. 33.

    Violet

    October 16, 2012 at 1:45 pm

    @jacy:

    I’ve never bought a ticket to a game hoping to see some lazy motherfucker in a suit sit in a luxury box and throw back drinks.

    That’s what reality shows like the Housewives series are for. People do pay to watch that.

  34. 34.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2012 at 1:46 pm

    @Cacti:

    Luckily for Political Derp, twirling a sign that says “We Buy Gold” can’t be offshored.

    And apparently trolling political blogs hasn’t been offshored successfully yet, either. I guess the cheap trolls in Bangladesh don’t have the idioms down.

  35. 35.

    Yutsano

    October 16, 2012 at 1:46 pm

    @Zifnab25: Where is JenJen when we need her? She’d tear our wittle troll a nice new one.

  36. 36.

    blindtrust9

    October 16, 2012 at 1:47 pm

    Mitt Romney explains why his tax plan will make everyone happier by giving trillions to millionaires and billionaires:

    Mitt Romney: 7 Points for Freedom

  37. 37.

    Cassidy

    October 16, 2012 at 1:48 pm

    They already make more than enough for pushing a ball around with a stick.

    Puck, dude. Puck.

  38. 38.

    Ash Can

    October 16, 2012 at 1:48 pm

    They already make more than enough for pushing a ball around with a stick.

    And this is why, out of all the trolls running around this joint, I leave Political Observer un-pied — the dude is just plain fucking hilarious!

  39. 39.

    Zifnab

    October 16, 2012 at 1:50 pm

    @Cacti:

    There was a reason why the XFL failed to take hold.

    The XFL was comedy gold.

  40. 40.

    Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God

    October 16, 2012 at 1:50 pm

    @Political Observer:

    The owners have one job and one job only—to make as much money as they possibly can.

    Why?

  41. 41.

    Cassidy

    October 16, 2012 at 1:51 pm

    They already make more than enough for pushing a ball around with a stick.

    Are they outsourcing trolling now?

  42. 42.

    jwb

    October 16, 2012 at 1:52 pm

    It’s going to be fun when PO receives his pink slip from his conservative paymasters because he’s no longer needed to push this tripe.

  43. 43.

    The Red Pen

    October 16, 2012 at 1:53 pm

    I know these players make a lot of money and probably mostly vote conservative

    On both: challenge your assumptions.

    The median pay is not millions of dollars.

    Hockey is a really international sport, and players are not constantly surrounded by people who all think that any country national with health care is indistinguishable from Nazi Germany.

  44. 44.

    J. Michael Neal

    October 16, 2012 at 1:54 pm

    If you guys aren’t getting enough hockey you just aren’t looking in the right places.

    #1 in both men’s and women’s hockey, baby, with the two teams outscoring their opponents an aggregate 52-3 over eight games.

  45. 45.

    Ash Can

    October 16, 2012 at 1:55 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Oh wait…no one would watch that.

    I would. Especially if they weren’t allowed to wear any padding or helmets. And if the Zamboni was chasing them around the ice on top of it.

    ETA: Of course, it would make for an awfully short season.

  46. 46.

    The Red Pen

    October 16, 2012 at 1:56 pm

    @Political Observer:

    The owners have one job and one job only—to make as much money as they possibly can.

    Then they should run meth labs like in Breaking Bad.

    If they want to own hockey teams instead, they have obligations to their employees.

  47. 47.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 16, 2012 at 1:57 pm

    Taco ALWAYS sides with the parasites.

    Every last time.

    He’s a natural serf. Hold him in the contempt he deserves to be held in.

    Offal like him are to be spat upon.

  48. 48.

    kc

    October 16, 2012 at 1:58 pm

    Huck fockey anyway.

  49. 49.

    Yutsano

    October 16, 2012 at 1:59 pm

    @Cassidy: GOOSE!!

    Oh wait…

  50. 50.

    Cassidy

    October 16, 2012 at 2:01 pm

    @Yutsano: Took me a minute, lol. My mind instantly went to Top Gun and I kept thinking “I don’t remember that part?”.

  51. 51.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2012 at 2:02 pm

    @Ash Can:

    And this is why, out of all the trolls running around this joint, I leave Political Observer un-pied—the dude is just plain fucking hilarious!

    And you notice that PO doesn’t engage in false advertising by qualifying the name further with some term like “astute” or “intelligent” or “competent”. And thank FSM it’s not “Political Participant”; I’m glad when people that stupid are content to observe rather than trying to take part in something that’s beyond their intellectual capabilities.

  52. 52.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2012 at 2:05 pm

    @Ash Can:

    I would. Especially if they weren’t allowed to wear any padding or helmets. And if the Zamboni was chasing them around the ice on top of it.

    You could make sure that their sticks were pointy on the ends, so they’d do more damage when they hit each other with them. And instead of Zambonis, you could use polar bears. That would be worth watching.

  53. 53.

    gex

    October 16, 2012 at 2:05 pm

    There is nothing so telling as to talk about the HOCKEY PLAYERS as a liability for the HOCKEY league. Really, why won’t we just all pay to sit in arenas or watch empty ice while the owners maximize their profits?

    The owners can stop spending so much by not signing such lucrative contracts. What they are paying the players is a result of competition for the players’ services. They want to make the players settle for salary limits that they are more than willing to exceed when the market is fully competitive for the talent. I.E. they want a distorted market place that puts price controls in place. Obviously, our resident troll fiscal conservative would celebrate that.

  54. 54.

    Kristine

    October 16, 2012 at 2:05 pm

    “When I say ‘the NHL,’ what’s the first thing that comes to mind?”

    Concussion.

    I don’t think want me in their focus group.

    And I enjoy hockey. But some of those hits are terrifying.

  55. 55.

    S-Curve

    October 16, 2012 at 2:07 pm

    Strikes in pro sports tend to remind me of what Chris Rock said: “There’s a difference between rich and wealthy. Shaq is rich. The guy who signs Shaq’s paycheck is wealthy.” But people tend not to side with athletes because 1) regular folks don’t see athletics as important (see Political Unobservant above), and/or 2) sports seem like fun.

  56. 56.

    Cacti

    October 16, 2012 at 2:10 pm

    @S-Curve:

    But people tend not to side with athletes because 1) regular folks don’t see athletics as important (see Political Unobservant above), and/or 2) sports seem like fun.

    A lot of people also have memories of jocks from high school who could and did get away with anything on a small scale. Give a jock money, and he can get away with murdering his wife.

  57. 57.

    pathman

    October 16, 2012 at 2:12 pm

    Billionaires fighting will millionaires on how to divide the piles of cash. How marvelous!

  58. 58.

    gex

    October 16, 2012 at 2:15 pm

    @S-Curve: It’s also like the debt too. They see a big number, and it is BIG. Context, percentages, etc. don’t really factor in with an innumerate public.

  59. 59.

    gopher2b

    October 16, 2012 at 2:17 pm

    I’m pretty sure all these NHL players vote for Putin.

  60. 60.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2012 at 2:18 pm

    @S-Curve:

    But people tend not to side with athletes because 1) regular folks don’t see athletics as important (see Political Unobservant above), and/or 2) sports seem like fun.

    I think fans also don’t understand just how much money the owners are making, or how much they’re subsidized by our tax dollars. There’s a reason owners want to talk so much about player salaries but do their best to keep team finances secret. Their cries of poverty would be a lot more credible if we knew as much about team finances as we do about the players.

  61. 61.

    Cassidy

    October 16, 2012 at 2:18 pm

    @S-Curve: Ooohhh…big fallacy, there. Athletics is not the equal of professional sports. People don’t side with professional athletes because the average bench sitter makes 10x as much as most I do in a year and they complain they aren’t getting paid enough! Now don’t get me wrong, I’ll side wiht the union over owners any day of the week ending in “y”, but I’m not gonna feel sorry if Mr. “I only play 6 minutes a game” has to go with the Acura instead of the Ferrari.

  62. 62.

    S-Curve

    October 16, 2012 at 2:19 pm

    @pathman: Well, but the fact is that there are piles of cash there, even if Gary Bettman is doing his level best to make sure nobody ever watches hockey again. Using whole “billionaires and millionaires” formulation works to delegitimize the players’ position, as though what we really want is to have “billionaires vs. the middle class.”

    Also, I said “strike” before, but of course it’s a lockout, because the billionaires want to try to be billionaires-plus. (Now with more millions!)

  63. 63.

    S-Curve

    October 16, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    @Cassidy: OK, I’ll cop to the athletics vs. pro sports fallacy, if you like. But I think that there’s only a difference in degree between these kinds of labor disputes and the kind of rhetoric I heard all the time (I live in a right-to-work-employees-to-death state) whenever autoworkers, teachers, etc., go on strike. “They have it so good, why are they complaining?” has been the most effective ploy the right has been able to use to turn public opinion against unions.

    Not saying you shouldn’t feel that way, or that you should “feel sorry” for the players (I don’t), but there is a continuum here, it seems to me.

  64. 64.

    Citizen_X

    October 16, 2012 at 2:29 pm

    @Cassidy:

    the average bench sitter makes 10x as much as most I do in a year and they complain they aren’t getting paid enough!

    He also has a career that, on average, will end by the time he hits thirty.

  65. 65.

    patrick

    October 16, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    Pro Hockey was gaining significant popularity before the last lockout, and that destroyed all their momentum, to the point of a few years ago they were talking about league contraction…do they really want to go there again?

  66. 66.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    @Citizen_X:

    He also has a career that, on average, will end by the time he hits thirty.

    And he may be a bench sitter, but he’s still had to fight hard to earn that spot on the bench. Even the bench players are among the thousand or so best players in their respective sports, as demonstrated by a vigorous competition. And he may be on the bench today, but he’ll instantly become much more important- for no increase in pay- if the guy ahead of him on the depth chart goes down with an injury.

  67. 67.

    J. Michael Neal

    October 16, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    It’s important to keep in mind that, just like the NFL lockout earlier this year, the real conflict here is between the large market owners and the small market ones. Unlike the NFL, I do believe that there are teams that are losing money at an unsustainable rate. However, there are also teams making huge profits.

    The owners can’t agree on a revenue sharing plan. So they are trying to push the salary cap down to a point where the small market teams can function. Of course, this simply means that the large market owners would reap ridiculous profits. That’s why the players included a revenue sharing plan in their last proposal.

  68. 68.

    Cassidy

    October 16, 2012 at 2:45 pm

    @S-Curve: I get what you’re saying, but there is a hgue difference between union minimum 300K+ a year vs. union minimum starting 40K a year. Like I said, I’ll always support the unions, but I have a hard time sympathizing with someone who’s starting pay is 10x mine and more than I’ll ever make in a year in my lifetime. And I get it, he has a house to buy, needs cars, kids to support, just like all of us so I don’t support cutting their salaries just because. But, in the event they have to take a pay cut, they can absorb it. Most other union professions can’t.

    @Citizen_X: The second string guys? Naw dude. You’re talking about the stars who make millions but are beat the hell up by thirty. The non-starters have long and quiet careers getting paid a few hundred thousand a year. Unless they get cut and have to start a new life. That does happen.

  69. 69.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2012 at 2:45 pm

    @patrick:
    There’s a golden goose just begging to be killed for all the gold it has inside it.

  70. 70.

    Joel

    October 16, 2012 at 2:49 pm

    @dmsilev: Trolling has been outsourced to the Philippines.

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne

    October 16, 2012 at 2:55 pm

    @Political Observer:

    They shouldn’t have to share their money with them just because.

    I agree — the owners should be out there playing the game. What do they need players for, since the owners are the John Galts who make it all happen without any need for players, or referees, or parking attendants, or concessions workers?

  72. 72.

    daverave

    October 16, 2012 at 3:21 pm

    Screw the owners and Bettman. I’ll be on their side when they are at risk of permanent, debilitating injury every day that they are doing their “job.”

  73. 73.

    different-church-lady

    October 16, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    I know these players make a lot of money and probably mostly vote conservative…

    This is the NHL: most of the players are Canadian, so the rules of thumb for American athletics aren’t the same.

  74. 74.

    different-church-lady

    October 16, 2012 at 3:30 pm

    @dmsilev: Pro troll is pro.

  75. 75.

    JenJen

    October 16, 2012 at 3:40 pm

    @jacy: I’m with you on every word you wrote. Hockey is life to me, and it’s just depressing to have the entire NHL season up in the air. We were talking about this Luntz bullshit in one of last night’s thread and it honestly ruined my whole night. It’s hearbreaking enough that my beloved Cincinnati Reds lost in the first playoff series, but no NHL? What the hell?!

    Fuck the owners, and especially fuck Bettman. This is what you get when you start expanding the league down into Atlanta, ferchrissakes. Best thing that could possibly come out of all of this, if you ask me, is a contracted league.

    @Political Observer:

    They already make more than enough for pushing a ball around with a stick.

    MASSIVE troll fail. Big hockey fan, I see!

  76. 76.

    Heliopause

    October 16, 2012 at 3:58 pm

    I think “shared sacrifice” might be Strapping Young Bucks 2.0

    “Simply put, it will take a balanced approach, shared sacrifice, and a willingness to make unpopular choices on all our parts.”

  77. 77.

    Jonny Scrum-half

    October 16, 2012 at 4:17 pm

    I’m not crying for the players here — they’re doing just fine. But I don’t understand people who take the owners’ side. There’s a Sirius sports radio host, Dino Costa, who insists that ticket and concession prices are so high because the players keep demanding more money. Of course, he ignores:

    1. That the players’ salaries are the result of individual negotiations with the owners, who make the decisions to pay those salaries, and

    2. Even if the players all took a 90% pay cut, there’s no way that the owners would reduce the prices paid by fans. In fact, that’s the “free market” at work — the owners would charge the highest prices that would maximize revenue to them, and fans have shown that they’re willing to pay the current prices.

  78. 78.

    Another Halocene Human

    October 16, 2012 at 5:01 pm

    Shared sacrifice: the players and the fans share the sacrifice.

    Hmmmm, seeing a flaw with this plan.

  79. 79.

    1badbaba3

    October 16, 2012 at 7:00 pm

    “Tennis star, who fooled you? ” Nice one, mate.

    Bettman must go. Now.

    If I say any more, I risk prosecution.

  80. 80.

    Metrosexual Manichean Monster DougJ

    October 16, 2012 at 8:35 pm

    @1badbaba3:

    Glad someone got it!

  81. 81.

    1badbaba3

    October 16, 2012 at 8:47 pm

    Actually my first punk rock single. November 1977. Seems like only 35 motherlovin’ years ago. I blame Obama.

  82. 82.

    Wally Ballou

    October 16, 2012 at 11:58 pm

    @S-Curve:

    And- 3) pro athletes are frequently non-white, which makes them ipso facto undeserving and overpaid.

    Although this mostly isn’t the case in hockey, which probably doesn’t hurt the NHLPA on the fan support/PR front.

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