from Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch,

The owners are intractable. Last time around, they won a hard cap and a 24 percent rollback in salaries in an effort to achieve “cost certainty.” Now, they are bent on another huge victory, and they are again willing to blithely dismiss 1,230 games and the playoffs.

The players are nearly as stubborn. Last time around, their historically disorganized union collapsed and they were routed. They now stand firm behind their new chief, legendary sports-labor leader Donald Fehr, who proposes little or no change and is standing firm.

The two sides met again Tuesday, got nowhere and made no plans to meet again. They are idiots.

Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NBA negotiated new agreements last year. These were not easy deals to make but, in each case, there was some give, there was some take and there was some attention paid to strengthening each league from the bottom up.

The precedents are there in front of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and his counterpart, Fehr. All the tools they need are out of the box. The only one they are using is the hammer.

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