We just passed the midway point of the 2004-05 NHL season. There have been few surprises.
Due to a somewhat unfortunate labor misunderstanding, no games have been played. The owner-generated lockout began Sept. 15 and could go on indefinitely, like Engelbert Humperdinck's act.
| _____ Monday Morning_____
A look back at the weekend and a look ahead at the coming week's action with a fresh new edge.
• Norman Chad's Couch Slouch
• Starting Lineup
• The Chat: Actor and ex-athlete Rob Brown from "Coach Carter"
• 7 Days
• The Review: What's better: ESPN College Hoops 2K5 vs. Electronic Arts' March Madness 2005?
_____ The Quote _____
"They're like a bag of prawns on a hot Sunday. They don't travel well."
-- Australia's Stuart Appleby, on why American golfers don't play well overseas. _____ The Monday Morning Poll _____
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| _____ From The Post _____
• Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky take part in six-hour meeting between NHL and players' union but no deal is reached.
• Commissioner Gary Bettman officially cancels the NHL season.
• There is speculation about where the league goes from here and whether it can survive.
• Michael Wilbon: There's no question the league and its owners won this particular battle.
• The cancellation may work to the Capitals' advantage in time.
• Q&A: What's next?
_____ On Our Site _____
• Audio: The Post's Thomas Heath discusses the end of the season.
• Video: Bettman announces the cancellation of the season.
• What's Your Opinion?
_____ Lockout At a Glance _____
• NO SEASON: The NHL season was canceled Feb. 16 over a lockout that started before training camps opened last September. It's the first major North American sport to lose an entire season to a labor dispute.
• THE REASON: The NHL and the players' association couldn't resolve how to split revenues from the $2 billion industry. The league demanded a salary cap, but by the time the players agreed to that, it was too late to work out how much the cap would be.
• WHAT'S NEXT?: The NHL could seek the declaration of an impasse, which allowing it to implement its last offer, open training camps in September and invite players back. The players' association would likely respond with a strike.
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Progress to settle the dispute has been slow.
In September, nothing happened.
In October, the NHL fined Steve Belkin, one of the Atlanta Thrashers' owners, $250,000 for saying that replacement players would be used next season. The league wasn't really upset with what he said -- it just wanted the revenue.
In November, nothing happened.
In December, the league rejected an NHL Players Association proposal and the players immediately rejected the league's counteroffer. Negotiations between the two sides took on the trappings of the Hatfield-McCoy feud, only without the posses.
In January, nothing has happened, other than Wayne Gretzky saying that the NHL could be shut down for two seasons if a labor deal is not reached soon.
My goodness, how do you just wipe out two full seasons of play in an almost-major professional sport?
(Can you imagine if they wiped out two seasons of, say, "The Sopranos"? Maybe Pussy doesn't get whacked and maybe Carmela doesn't find out Tony slept with his former mistress's one-legged cousin.)
The issue at the moment -- with no new talks scheduled -- is whether this season can still be saved. Some observers feel there is a "drop-dead date" of Feb. 1 to resume playing or the season would be lost.
(A "drop-dead date" severely diminished one of my earlier marriages. She said, "Either you leave by Monday, or I will drop dead." In deference to her health and well-being, I left by Monday.)
Naturally, the key sticking point remains money; both sides want more of it. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has been steadfast in his desire to achieve "cost certainty."
("Cost certainty" doomed the Liza Minnelli-David Gest marriage to just 16 months, including honeymoon.)
