NHL lockout crushes fan hopes; vowing not to spend money on hockey (The Vent)

The lack of hockey has forced me to find alternative sources of entertainment, as I'm sure all fans have. Here's one to pass on to the masses:

If you fill a glass bottle, with an aluminum top (used to use Sobe bottles) about a third full of gasoline and place upright, with a level base, in a fire. The container will build pressure as it heats up, until the aluminum top fails, shooting a fairly large fireball into the air, creating a huge smoke ring.

The trick is to make sure there is enough gasoline in the bottle. If there's not enough, the pressure will build too quickly and shatter the glass all over the place.

Hello everyone, I am a 25 year old student from Victoria BC who grew up playing and watching hockey all his life. Right now I am actually sitting in a class called "Hockey in Literature" as I type this. Yeah, those types of classes exist in Canadian universities. I am going to make this brief in an effort to finish before lecture ends.

A few years ago I began taking an annual trip to Vancouver to watch a Canucks game. A live NHL game is the greatest date of all time, especially if the girl has never experienced it before. Sure it was expensive, but that is exactly what student loans are for.

This year I made my annual trip a CFL game instead. The bus and ferry and hotel were all the same price, but the tickets and beer and food and souvenir shirts were much cheaper. I actually saved enough money to go to a pub after the game. And we had a fantastic time.

So here is where I am now. My annual NHL game is now permanently an annual CFL game. My NHL apparel can sit in the neglected drawer in the bottom drawer of my dresser while I wear my various BC Lions shirts and jerseys around town.

Sure, I will watch the NHL when it comes back, for free, on my PVR, skipping over all the commercials and ignoring the sponsors. That $3.3 billion they can't split? I wont be contributing towards it. Not because I don't love hockey, but because I have racked up enough student loan debt.

And I have now found more efficient ways to spend my money on entertainment. I wouldn't have discovered how much more cost effective a CFL game was without the lockout, so thanks for your incompetence NHL.

It is funny how the little things add up. I used to pay the extra twenty cents to get a lighter with an NHL logo on it. Now that seems really stupid to me. I just grab a plain lighter.

I laugh at both sides talking about "projected revenue growth". That growth will not be coming from me.

The only way I see NHL revenues actually growing is with a massive TV contract. And I know for a fact that many Canadians have already written the CBC telling them to offer the NHL the same amount of money or less, with no payments during work stoppages. In fact, I should probably just end this now and begin a more polished email to the CBC. Otherwise they might make the mistake of giving the NHL money that it does not deserve.

I am certain you have your ear to the ground on everything Hockey, but are you hearing the same rumbling as I am? I am hearing and considering supporting an all-out ban on Hockey. I am a die hard fan, bleed Blackhawks thru and thru. But enough is enough. There is a way.

Hit Hockey where it hurts, in the pocketbook.

This will kill the NHL. (The AHL can, of course, prosper and grow. Hopefully with better sense than the NHL has.) Boycott all televised games, all sponsors of the NHL, and all official merchandise. You can go and watch the game live if you can, as the revenue from the actual arenas is small (comparatively), YET would allow continued support of the local vendors, restaurants in area, etc. Enough people tell NBC they will boycott programing and their sponsors and see how fast "Friends" reruns replace NHL on NBC. Get a petition with a few hundred thousand signatures and that would be that. I hear the rumble (and hope to spread it).

Perhaps it is an empty threat, perhaps not. Get enough people talking and we, the fans, can end the lockout. AHL: Your future may be bright, very bright.

Hockey craz'd girls and hockey-craz'd guys

Will always stand up and cheer; we'll always recognize

The greatest game on earth,
That's played with a stick,
So we just can't stand it

When the League treats us all like sh-t.

The NHL took our money for $3 Billion cold,
Now they want even more, so we've been told.
They want our mothers, our brothers, our sisters, and us
To just sit and be content with no games till Christmas.

Yeah this game that we love is fallin' under attack.
A mighty greedy bunch keeps talking 'bout how we'll all come flocking back.
But soon as we get a chance to show how we feel,
Man, we'll shower you with beer cups 'n half-eaten hot dog meals.

Hey, the Green Men put your name at the top of their list,
And the C of Red started shaking their fists.
And the horns will blow and it's gonna be time,
When you see Octopus Guy start swinging his slime.
And it'll feel like the whole landfill is raining down on you.
Ah, brought to you courtesy of "the world's greatest fans."

Oh, money will be lost and the bickering will rage.
Your fans will get madder the longer you keep the game caged.
An' you'll be sorry that you canceled each and every day.
'Cos we'll shove a puck up your ass, it's the hockey fans' way.

Hey, Darth Vader put your name at the top of his list,
And all the dancing aisle kids started shaking their fists.
And the Caniacs will scream and it's gonna be loud,
When you see litter start flying down from the crowds.
And it'll feel like the whole landfill is raining down on you.
Ah, brought to you courtesy of "the world's greatest fans."

Oh, oh, brought to you courtesy

Of "the world's greatest fans."