Post Classifieds
NHL lockout breeds discontent for fans
By Angelica Rodriguez
On September 26, 2012
We are now one week into the NHL lockout, hockey fans. I know this is a challenge for some of us. By
now, we're usually watching preseason games and gearing up for fantasy leagues. This year, however,
there's a question of whether any of that will even be relevant.
Face it: right now, we're in a stalemate. The league and the NHL Players' Association are on such
different paths that they aren't even traceable on the hockey map. It's frustrating from a fan's standpoint,
and frustration has turned into grassroots movements to boycott the league and its connected social
media accounts.
First came "Unfollow the NHL" in mid-August, a group that tried to get fans to un-follow the league
and players' Twitter and Facebook accounts. Then came "You Have Two Weeks," a slightly broader
movement to boycott NHL products and companies associated with the teams' owners. There are spin-
offs and imitations, but for brevity's sake we'll focus on these two.
I can understand the premise behind them. The diehards are mad as hell, and they're not going to take it
anymore. And they have a right to voice their anger - after all, they've invested time, money and effort
into being fans. But at the same time, do the fans really have as much a say in what goes on between
league and players as they think they do?
The simple answer is no. While the fans do create the revenue that everyone's arguing over, they also
have little to no part in actual negotiations. They do have the choice to spend their resources on the
NHL or to put them elsewhere, and while getting indignant over the circumstances of this lockout
might help them relieve some stress, it's unlikely that the league actually cares about what the fans
think. Otherwise, there would be preseason hockey going on right now.
Not only that, but there's a strong chance that most of the people who have vowed to un-follow and
boycott will either fail to follow through or flock right back to the sport once the first games are
announced. If people really want to be heard, the best thing they could do is stay away even after the
season begins anew and merchandise goes on sale (which happened during the last lockout - and it was
a hit).
As of this writing, the NHL still has about 1.3 million followers on Twitter and 2.5 million "likes" on
Facebook. The number of un-follows probably couldn't fill up an arena.
There's also the issue of perspective. People have said in the weeks leading up to this work
stoppage, "The ones losing out on this are the fans." Fans miss watching their teams, but other than
that, what do they lose? They end up saving money on games, merchandise and added expenses such
as food and beer. The ones really losing are the team employees facing shortened workweeks in the
league's efforts to cut costs. There are also the minimum-wage arena concessions workers, ushers and
team store employees who now face the prospect of having to find alternate employment.
"Sure," you might argue, "But there's still no hockey." Correction: there's no NHL hockey. There's
plenty of other hockey going on, and it's all around you. You could go see the Sabres' AHL affiliate,
the Rochester Americans. You can drive a couple of hours south and watch an Ontario Hockey League
team, the Erie Otters, or drive up to St. Catharines, Ontario to see the Niagara IceDogs play - not to
be confused with the Niagara University Purple Eagles, a college hockey team. There's also Canisius
College, UB club hockey (to root against, of course), and our own Bengals' men's and women's hockey
teams. Take your pick.
So if you're experiencing withdrawals, just take a step back from the abyss. It's definitely a bummer
to think of a long, cold winter without any Sabres' hockey (or whatever team you root for), but rest
assured there are alternatives. And the NHL will be back. Eventually.
Angela Rodriguez can be reached by email at rodriguez.record@live.com.
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