from Ken Dryden at the Globe and Mail,

The fans love their game. They love their team. They love their favourite players. Their favourite players drive them crazy at times, but they do amazing things. And when they do, fans they jump up and yell and laugh, and want others around them so they can all jump up and yell and laugh together.

To the fan, nothing else matters at that moment. Not their job, not their family, not climate change or war in the Middle East. It’s just them and a feeling. That doesn’t make them stupid or shallow. That makes them human. They think about those other things too. Just not then.

Then the owners and players tell them they can’t make a deal on how to divide the league’s $3.3-billion (U.S.) in revenues.

They make the fans think about the money. The fans don’t want to think about the money.

The guys who own these teams, they’ve got money. Owners have money. And, the fans know, they were never going to be owners. They can almost not think about the money with the players too, unless the players don’t try. Unless the players make them think about the money. When a player buys a Corvette with his signing bonus, to the fans that seems cute-rich. But when he buys a Ferrari that’s I’m-better-than-you, better-than-you’ll-ever-be rich. That makes the fans think about the money.

continued