Barack Obama and Stephen Harper share a few things in common. Neither of them cuts any ice with the powers that be in the National Hockey League. Both leaders have expressed their dismay over the lockout which is threatening to kill an entire season for the second time in less than a decade, but their words have made no difference whatsoever.
With no games to report on, the media are paying more attention to the childish antics of the young stud millionaires who play for the fat cat billionaires. A case in point, 21 year old Evander Kane of the Winnipeg Jets.
He sent out a Tweet that included a picture of himself holding huge bundles of cash. This past summer, before the lockout began, Evander signed a multi-year deal worth $30 million. He’s done very little in his brief career in the real world to suggest that he knows the value of anything meaningful.
Image from Twitter
The millionaires and billionaires are not the ones who are suffering as this ridiculous standoff continues. It’s thousands of folks who work for minimum wage selling popcorn and beer at the rinks like Winnipeg’s MTS Centre and the Saddledome in Calgary.
Beyond those confines there are countless others who work in restaurants and bars nearby, plus the stores that sell overpriced jerseys and hats with team logos. When the NHL returned to Winnipeg a year ago there was endless chirping about how it was the biggest single factor in the community feeling a renewed sense of well being and confidence. How quickly that can be wiped out in less than a year.
The antics of deep thinkers like Evander Kane certainly don’t help. At the risk of sounding like an old crank, he couldn’t carry the skates of guys like Gordie Howe or Doug Harvey. But there is one very positive note. The Leafs are still undefeated.
I’m Roger Currie
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