Columnists
Dear CBC: Sorry About The Lock-Out But Leave Hockey Alone
By Mad Thoughts of A Quiet Woman
Aug 12, 2005, 17:05

Just at a time when hockey fans are tuning up their big screen televisions, stocking the bar fridge and airing out the cushions on their favourite lazy-boy hockey-watching chairs, the CBC has announced that as of Monday, August 15, they will be locking out 5,500 members of the Canadian Media Guild as the result of a break-down in contract bargaining in a move that's suspiciously similar to the demise of hockey last season.

Now, as we all know the CBC doesn't offer a whole lot of prime programming in the first place except for the new Dr. Who series but the question on all hockey fans minds is reverberating across this great country....WHAT ABOUT HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA??

Fear not hockey-deprived winter warriors! Well, you might want to tremble a little. The CBC is only saying at this point that Hockey Night in Canada will be broadcast, along with football. They failed to mention if both sports were to be broadcast simultaneously - with the CBC, one never knows. Cut-backs, you know.

At the time of this writing it is being reported that Don Cherry will not cross picket lines. I thought I'd just throw that in. I know how Cherry is loved.

But last winter remains firmly imprinted on every hockey fan's feverished mind and in many the very mention of the "L" word - that's 'lock-out' to the rest of us - the very mention is bound to strike terror and panic into the hearts and minds of the severely hockey-deprived among us. I know of what I speak. I'm married to one.

The hockey 2004-05 season-that-never-was also turned out to be the Winter From Hell. First to go was the NHL TV package but he didn't stop there - he cancelled the satellite feed altogether and decided to give cable a try. On the plus side, we were richer by $65.00 a month. On the minus side, cable programming leaves a great deal to be desired especially for someone who is in active NHL withdrawal.

So after a couple of dark months of constant remote clicking accompanied by much grumbling, punctuated frequently by some pretty colourful and imaginative language, the remote was laid to rest, the big screen turned off and hubby starts pacing. The fully-stocked bar fridge remained untouched. The pool table which had been racked up and ready for that first intermission during a game began forming tiny cobwebs at all six pockets.

He scoffed at all suggestions - minor hockey, women's hockey, peewee hockey...I even dragged out an old tabletop hockey game. You know which ones I mean, many of us got them for Christmas when we were kids. Granted there were a couple of metal flat players missing from the game and we had to use a loonie for a puck but he did give it a good try. For thirty minutes. He said it just wasn't the same, his heart wasn't in it, his chin dropped to his chest, he shoved his hands deep into his jeans pockets and he despondently shuffled away.

He just couldn't enjoy minor league or women's league or tabletop hockey because as he put it, "It's just not the same as watching my Leafs" which suddenly reinforced a thought that I had tucked away in the back of my mind for years - he really IS a masochist. Watching the Leafs lose is better than not watching them at all. Funny the things one learns about their significant other during times of crisis.

But in the end he did survive. As did all hockey fans from coast to coast. Some vow they will never watch again just to exercise a little pay-back for being treated so shabbily by the NHL. But they will. It's all just bravado. It's just a matter of time.

I recently asked my husband how he felt about being treated the way all fans were during the lock-out. His answer was instant, no need for him to think about it at all. With a half shrug he said simply, "I love hockey". What can I say? He's the man I married but the Winter From Hell taught me a couple of things about him - first, I still believe he's a masochist for sticking with the Leafs for all these decades. Second, the boy still remains in him. Most of the time he's hidden well. But when he comes close to the surface like he did many times last winter, I was given the unique opportunity of understanding the man inside the boy.


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