Ethan J. Skolnick
Sun-Sentinel Columnist

This isn't just one of the most lopsided sports labor outcomes in North American
history.

It's among the most lopsided labor outcomes. It's among the most lopsided sports
outcomes.

This is Reagan vs. Mondale.

Tyson vs. Spinks.

Jaguars vs. Dolphins.

Check that. Mondale won a state. Spinks lasted 91 seconds. The Dolphins managed
a touchdown.

The NHL players were shut out, unless you count "earlier free agency" as a
significant score.

The owners got nearly everything they sought and some things they didn't seek
until the players kindly suggested them, like that 24 percent salary rollback.
Owners got cost certainty, with a cap tied to league revenues.

The players? They got antsy. They got hosed.

This is a lesson to the next player membership that trusts its union leader too
much until it's too late.

This is a warning to the next union leader who overestimates the will and nerve
of members who are losing paychecks.

"Bill [Daly] and I are here to congratulate the players on ratifying the new
agreement," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Thursday in Toronto, after nearly
90 percent of the beaten players agreed to this regressive, repressive deal.

Why not congratulate? He had already checked off "humiliate" and "emasculate."

"We thought enough damage was done," the union president, Canucks forward Trevor
Linden, told ESPN.

They got out before Bettman got their firstborns, too.

So yes, the commish won this conflict. He won big. Zdeno Chara big.

He can claim victory, if grave dancing is his thing. Nor will he be alone. Some
sports fans, having grown weary and jealous of players growing rich without
restraint, will too. And maybe, just maybe, this will ultimately prove a victory
for the league, if it can keep costs under control, foster competitive balance,
improve the on-ice product, promote its players and get major networks and
newspapers to take any notice again.

But today isn't about the victory.

It's about the loss.

It's spectacular.

It's breathtaking.

You must give such a defeat its due. You must stand back and salute.

And you must resist booing players this fall. You must hug. They will thank you.

"This was about givebacks from the beginning," Dallas forward Bill Guerin told
ESPN. "It was just a matter of how much."

You won't find rebates like these in your local electronics store.

"History will be able to speak as to whether it's a good deal for both sides,"
said Bob Goodenow, NHL union chief for now.

History will have to stop laughing first.

Right now, it's busting a gut.

"I think it's going to work fine, I really do," Goodenow said.

Please, stop. History can't take any more. History can't handle the hilarity.
Someone, bring history a hankie.

So there they were Thursday, Bettman and Goodenow, suddenly bosom buddies after
their personal rancor helped bring a once semi-major sport to a seasonlong stop.
There was Bettman, saying "there's been too much made about a fragmented
relationship." There was Goodenow, agreeing "totally."

Feel the love.

The players must find that priceless, after accepting everything they vowed they
wouldn't and much too late for it to be seen as chivalrous. It's fine to take a
strong negotiating stand, but a wise leader would have recognized these unique
circumstances and the likely outcome and advised his members to bend a bit
before losing more money, leverage and fan support by the day.

Now that it's done, the players must find it in themselves to move forward,
while holding the hands that poked them in the eyes and wouldn't stop
scratching. Their salaries are tied to league revenues. It's a partnership. It's
an opportunity.

"I believe you will see this agreement will have been a very effective and
important catalyst in bringing us forward in ways we couldn't have without the
right structure," Bettman said.

He has no excuses now. He must grow the game as promised under these preferred
parameters. He must grow it in places like Phoenix, Anaheim, Florida and
Carolina most of all, or else shrink the league.

He must grow it or go.

Goodenow? Need to hear more?

"We've got lots of ideas that I think we'll be able to entertain in depth and to
implement and to reap the fruits of the result," he said.

He got a lemon. Anyone trust him to make lemonade?

Published July 22, 2005


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