Our one-sided love affair with hockey
Money to burn? This is shaping up to be the best holiday season ever.
There is a dazzling array of expensive gifts you can buy your loved one or yourself. Not the gifts that keep on giving, no. I mean the money-wasting gifts that prove to the world how wealthy you are, and how nonchalant about it, because you get almost nothing from them.
My three favourites include one for the super-rich, one for the most discerning hipster, and one that thousands of Calgarians are certain to buy. But not me. Not anymore.
First, as the Herald reported last week, a company in the U.S. is offering return airfare to the moon for just $1.5 billion. Imagine grooving to Sinatra while you scuff up the footprints Neil Armstrong left up there 43 years ago. You could plant your own flag.
For the more budget conscious, New York singer-songwriter Mike Doughty has just offered a unique objet d’art. He’s got a new song that he’ll record, only for you, on a little digital voice recorder. He’ll say your name in the spoken introduction and send you the recorder. Prices range from $543.09 to just over $35,000 for the deluxe edition. I think Mike is pranking the art world, but that doesn’t mean the offer isn’t genuine.
But those two flagrant money wasters are nothing compared to the dough that Calgarians will plunk down in support of the Flames this holiday season. And talk about getting nothing back.
In every NHL city, people will do the same thing. Team logos on flags, mini-sticks, action figures, coffee mugs and beach balls, and that’s just in the drugstore. Go to the official logo outlet or NHL. com and you can blast
In most of the
coverage of the NHL talks
I’m seeing, there are only two sides — the league and
the players
through your entire holiday budget in 20 minutes. You get some pretty ugly clothes and the teams get more mystique and excitement — which will help when they decide to raise ticket prices again to meet players’ salaries and stay in the black.
This will seem sacrilegious, especially in a hockey town like Calgary, but in most of the coverage of the NHL talks I’m seeing, there are only two sides — the league and the players. Everybody is leaving you out and you’re the most important of all. All the money they’re fighting over comes from one source: you. The NHL exists because you love hockey. The business model may be fragile, but it’s only as big as it is because of you and all the others who are willing to pay top dollar for merchandise and tickets, and who will watch the games and patronize the TV advertisers. But the love affair seems pretty one-sided these days. In fact, it seems downright unrequited. We love hockey, but hockey doesn’t seem to love us back.
Someday, the league and the NHL Players’ Association will reach an agreement. A schedule will come out, tickets will go on sale and we’ll be expected to buy them. The stores will have new $125 jerseys and we’ll be expected to buy them too. It’s like that lover is back at your door and expects to be let back in.
I won’t pretend to be a super fan — I’m no season ticket holder — but I feel like I’ve spent a lot of time and money to support the home team. A couple of years back, my daughter won a contest and got to ride the Zamboni at the Flames’ home opener. That was a pretty proud moment.
This winter, though, there won’t be any flaming Cs under our tree. Not next year either. Do you still think they deserve your money?