An Affair, and Why You Should Support the NHL Players

Before she says it, you can tell that Janice is sleeping with Charlie Stavros and not Rabbit. Why? What drives people to do what they do? I don’t know, maybe a better question borrowed from Ayn Rand is: “Who is John Galt?” Janice sleeps around not only because she likes the feeling and the excitement but too it is a rejection of Harry. Her husband after the tragic drowning of his daughter Rebecca, has decreed that he will father no more children. Further their marriage is hollow with the loss of sex. Rabbit works all day and spends his evenings alone with Nelson while Janice holds up the pretenses of a job at her father’s car lot while she bangs Stavros on the side.

This loss, and the news on the tv in the background, makes me think of the current losses on both sides of the new NHL lockout. Both sides are wrong and right at the same time. Janice wants children and excitement but can’t see that she is not a good mother or a good wife. She is flighty and unprepared for the world. Rabbit, while wrong to hold out from his wife the opportunity to bear more children, is too grounded. He makes no attempt to piece together his life after the loss of his child, nor does he appreciate the joys of the son he has left. So, hockey. Owners feel the squeeze because of rising player salaries and more costs in running a team. Players, whose talent diminishes in value every day they grow older and every time they step on the ice, feel the squeeze because of bad ownership and declining opportunity. I side with the players because unlike regular wage laborers who have decades to make their money, have but the short time between the draft and injury/retirement/unsigned free agency to make their money. Think about it. If I promised you a salary of $50,000 for thirty years guaranteed, or the chance to make $10,000,000 in the space of a few years in your 20s, which is the more secure choice? Hockey players have little job security. One bad season, one injury or one bad owner can force you out. And then where are you? In your 20s with little or no real world training and you have to survive until your death knowing that your greatest times are behind you, that’s where. The players are a product of an entertainment economy and rely on the largesse of the American economy for a paycheck and a brief few moments of glory. Rabbit Angstrom felt this in high school with basketball.

Maybe that’s why Janice wants excitement; she never had her basketball moment. She went from high school to marriage to losing a child to middle aged boredom in the blink of an eye. Never did she feel the eyes on her, the people hanging their emotions on her performance in an arbitrary event, nor did she feel the post-game glory and warmth of the loving fans who appreciated her efforts. I would advocate that everyone go enjoy themselves and feel proud of themselves and that hockey fans support the players against the owners in this new lockout.

Go Red Wings.