from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

Can Fehr, with his history of labour disharmony in baseball, actually close a deal? Can Bettman, with three lockouts and the only cancelled season in professional sports history, actually close a deal?

And more importantly, do they need to wait until the second week of February - more than four months from now, when two-thirds of the season has gone up in smoke - before they start offering up meaningful concessions?

Sometimes, the lessons of the past can be helpful in cobbling together a new future.

Sadly, more often, it goes the other way, and always leads me back to the words of philosopher George Santayana:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

read on as Duhatschek reviews his notes from the last lockout...