The View From Wisconsin

The blame in the NHL Lockout falls squarely on the shoulders of the man named one of the top 10 worst managers of 2004 - Gary Bettman.

He has repeated the mantra "cost certainty" so much over the last two-three years that he has everyone in the league offices and on the Board of Governors mumbling it in their sleep.

And now, when the NHLPA has come forward and offered to agree to a cap "if our system doesn't work after three years," Bettman and the league's robots in charge of negotiations say "No, now or nothing." Meanwhile, The Bettman does a happy dance in his offices in New York, because he now believes the players are going to cave.

What he doesn't realize is that the players want to negotiate - not "cave in to the league's demands." The players now see the salary cap as a bargaining chip - a very big bargaining chip, but a chip none the less.

Bettman's response to Trevor Linden's plea of, "what are you going to give us if we agree to a salary cap?" is the same as Ted Knight's comment in Caddyshack: "You'll get nothing and like it."

That's not negotiating. That's not bargaining. That's dictating.

In short: that's tyranny.

Maybe that's where President Bush should start with his battles against tyranny...