This is not a sports blog, but we cats can't help being struck by the farcical NHL lockout — which, mercifully, just ended — and its similarity to the Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The pathetic reign of the bug-eyed hockey commissioner Gary Buttman [sic], under which 2,000 games have been lost to pointless greed and churlishness, is starting to make the 112th Congress — and the GOP's entire Obama derangement syndrome — look good.
Well, no, not really. Both groups are despicable. Consider these "separated at birth" factoids:
Buttman and the NHL owners hate labor as much as Scott Walker and Rick Snyder do — even though, like Republican governors who abuse their public employees, they couldn't do business without the guys who actually play the game.
Buttman caved on the NHL's revenue-split issue because he thought the players would, and they didn't. We cats expect the same result when Republicans finally realize the White House won't negotiate on the debt ceiling.
Nobody wanted a lockout, but Buttman's merry band drove off that cliff anyway. Kind of reminds us of the House of Representatives on New Year's Eve.
Buttman and the owners thought that people would understand their position and sympathize. Um, they didn't. And now it's starting to dawn on some in the GOP that their brand is in the toilet, too.
Just as Wall Street is warning Republicans not to toy with the full faith and credit of the United States, NHL corporate sponsors are similarly disgusted. Kraft Canada canceled Canada's cherished Hockeyville competition way back in November.
Like federal employees who lose paychecks whenever the Republicans shut down the government, thousands of people with hockey-dependent jobs — waiters, bartenders, concession stand workers, parking attendants, custodians and more — have lost a half season of wages with no hope of recoupment. But like, say, the Republicans' 2012 nominee, Buttman and the owners don't really care about the little guy.
Finally, the NHL lockout leaves us with the same question the 112th Congress did: "What, pray tell, what that all about?" We cats HISS.
(PHOTO: Funnycatsite.com)
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