Off-Topic Forum

The solution would be if all the federations agreed to use players under a certain age, whether they play in the NHL or not. This would keep the talent level even. It would stop the majority of KHL teams' players from going to the Olympics.

Money thing esentially. IOC wouldnt pay for the player insurance and neither would the NHL so NHLPA was leary. Break in the season not good in Bettman's mind, loss of All-Star game and TV revenue, etc in the owner's minds. Overlap with other sports, like said above. Bettman is a weasel, like said above. Time delay and not enough interest in Korea. I can came up with more. All in all bad move for everyone involved as its stupid that KHL pros can be there but not NHL pros. STUPID.

The NHL All-Star game is already a joke, the skill competition is fun but the actual game is pointless, much rather see competative high class Olympic hockey

Lookin like a USA Day this evening, lots of red white and blue winning the medals today. 1-0 after the first in womans hockey for the ladies down south. Stressful. =)

I'm glad you posted that, I thought it was tomorrow, I might have missed it otherwise. Great game so far! I really wish the NWHL had a TV deal.

Edit to add: That's about what I figured with the NHL players, or lack thereof. It seems like most of the sports have people running them who are either clueless or don't have the best interests of the league as their main goal. Or, in some cases, both of those "qualities" combined.

What a great women's hockey game that was b/t the US and Canada! I didn't get to see the whole thing, but watching overtime and the shootout was good enough for me. Both teams were fantastic! Sorry Ranfan, but our rookie goalie beat out the 4x Olympian. But hey, Canada won the last 4 golds, it's about time the US got one back. I know I haven't really chimed in on this thread, but I rarely watch pretty much anything for the Olympics. This year is different though. Not only is it a big topic on this site, but with the games halfway around the planet, they actually air things I'd watch when I am sitting in front of the TV. Since it is daytime there when I would be watching TV after work, it just lines up. It's a good thing that most American networks aren't competing with the Olympics in primetime b/c that means I don't have to catch up with DVR'd shows when I get home. I can gaurantee that I've watch more of the Olympics live this year than I have in all previous ones in my life combined. I've certainly watched more hockey, curling and speed skating than ever before, but I missed a lot of the snowboarding and skiing events b/c those were mostly in primetime. I've got to say that the women's hockey matches were the most impressive to me! Some of those matches were just brutal. Even the ref's were getting slammed into the wall b/c they just couldn't move fast enough to miss the collision!

As busy as I have been with working on MLB trades lately, I can't help but take a break when certain Olympic matches are happening.

I have a question though. When did the Curling brushes start looking more like a Swiffer than a narrow push-broom?

 Bettman a weasel you say.  he is the one who has to threaten a city with a loss of the them.  That the League Commisheners job now  Except in NFL, he has more to do.

   I hated the break  for Olympics. I favored  let them go and keep season going.  But I would worry about injury as they starting to give out some hits now.  The NHL never reallty got the rating bump they hoped for,  so let Bettman do what he does best and gets paid to do.  Show up at an areana and say this place needs to be replaced, or team will have to relocate to Seattle or Quebec City.    Get the fans in a worried state that they might loose the team and then have taxes passed to build a new place.  How is Calgary making out?  That city wont give in, how is Detriot making out,  Any chance the rest of the development going to be built?  Condo and a place to go on non game nights.   Not many do and when they do people stay away.  

 I read daily a site about cities being held hostage from baseball teams to soccer.  MSL business model is to expand, not until they run out of cities, but when they run out of people willing to pay over $150 million for a team.  go to   www.fieldofschemes.com/

Sometimes, people forget sports is a business, so they stop buying tickets. The team then has to alert the fans that they could lose the team if they don’t show up. The Panthers either haven’t let their fans know or the fans just don’t care, haha. It’s already been decided that Seattle is getting an expansion team.

Great day for USA yesterday/last night. Shifrin took Silver, US Woman won their first ever medal in cross country (Gold), USA woman's hockey finally beat Canada for the Gold and this morning USA men's curling beat Canada to advance to the Gold medal match for the first time ever! Very proud today!!!

Bettman and the owners are weasels. As a matter of fact, all sports ownwrs are weasels. And, the politicians ( and fans) are the fools. They expect your tax money to build the stadiums and arenas, and then charge high amounts for tickets, food, parking, merchandising, ect. The only cost they have is basically payroll. Imagine if your town would pay for the building your buissness was on, and payed your property taxes to boot. If there were no cities willing to bend over backwards for them, and the stands were empty no matter where they went, you wouldn't have this problem. I stopped going to major pro events years ago, unless the tickets were given to me at what I consider a fair price, or given to me by some company I workrd for. I think they get enough of my money through this hobby, or the commercials I have to watch when seeing the event on TV. Think about it. All major sports here can probably survive on a TV contract alone. The people's voice is heard in attendance and their willingness to vote for a bond that supports construction. If you are willing to spend $200 for an upper tier ticket (not season ticket holder) to see the NY Giants, then pay $30 for parking, and $16 for one beer, then God bless you. Your making out pretty good in life. For me, that's too much.