Hockey and Unions

Hockey is the only sport I pay any attention to. It's the only sport worth watching. It's a sport that has everything. It has grace and style. It has non stop action, both violent and non violent. Hitting is part of the game but does not define the game. It is completely possible to have a game where no one gets hit at all. It is kind of annoying when a fight breaks out (maybe 1 out of 15 games), except when it's a close game and the fight is part of the drama and tension. You can't beat the drama and excitement of a close hockey game where the stakes are high. And of course there is no equal to the Stanley Cup. No other sport has a trophy worth fighting for like the Stanley Cup. I also like the game because it is both extremely simple and strategically complex. To play or watch the game you only need to know one thing - get the puck in your opponents net. The rules are there to make gameplay better, not define the game. Unlike baseball or football, if there were no rules, you can still have a game.

• American Football - the point of the game is to run until someone knocks you down, seems kind of stupid and barbaric to me - I actually find this sport offensive


• Baseball- 2 hours of boredom with Maybe 2 minutes of excitement, golf is more interesting than baseball, this is a sport that has no place in today fast paced society


• Basketball- The sport is kind of cool, but the professional level players are distracting. Mostly just never got into it, especially since it's on at the same time as hockey


• Soccer (Football for everyone but us Americans) - Never really caught on in America, but I would probably like it - it's hockey without the smooth flowing nature of playing on ice

If I were President, I would try to change the national pastime from baseball to hockey. Instead of throwing the first pitch, I would drop the first puck (Although I think that particular thought may be motivated by an extremely strong desire that no one witness me throwing a ball - it's not a pretty site.)

The hockey lockout this season is the ultimate example of why I think unions have outlived their purpose. Manny Legace, a Red Wing, put it best when he said we lost a season for no reason. I've never heard of a union in modern society that fights to protect its members from employer abuses. Usually its the union committing the abuses, as union leaders fight to get everything they possibly can, even if it's more than the employer can afford and more than the employees really need.

I believe both unions and political parties should have a statute of limitations. Get a group of people together to rally around a common cause. Once the cause has been accomplished, the group is disbanded. If you don't then the group no longer becomes about the cause, it becomes about keeping the group alive and fighting the opposition just for the sake of fighting. Look at the UAW or the Teamsters. Those are corporations in themselves whose sole reason for existence is to be antagonistic to employers.