Jedi

Ouch. OUCH OUCH OUCH... Chris Johnston with the Canadian Press tweeted the following (emphasis mine)... So now the sides feel that they're so far apart that they can't even ACTUALLY meet with each other in these meetings? If that's the mindset the NHL and NHLPA have, it's "game over, man" (rated R for language).

Dreger's tweeting that today's CBA meeting with mediators and discussion are currently only planned as a one-day event. So if we see another meeting scheduled for tomorrow, it can only be considered a good sign... No news yet, however, how well today's meetings have gone...

As of about an hour ago, the CBA meeting broke for lunch. Per Dreger, federal mediators have been in and out of the meetings so far.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John

Still on Assassin's Creed 3. I'm probably 1/3 through the game, and it's really starting to hit it's stride. I can't quite say where I would rank it in the series, but early impressions are that it's better than 1, and at the least equal to 2 (if not better). My ranking of the series thus far would be (highest to lowest) - AC 2: Brotherhood > AC 2 & AC 3 > AC 1 > AC 2: Revelations

Santa's supposed to be above all this petty bickering. But hey, maybe he's bitter about being booed by the city of Philadelphia... However, we know that he is more likely to be a Wings fan than a Leafs fan, as he dresses in all red & white...

While not exactly the end-all-be-all of hockey authorities, USA Today has a good story up sprinkling a bit of optimism that there will indeed be a season. The long and short of it all is that players & owners (as we all already know) really aren't that far apart on a deal, and that losing a full season would do more harm to both sides than each side conceding a little bit. The Babcock/Limo thing is a non starter, and therefore this negotiation is terminated. Had you not reached for the moon, and settled for, say, a cab ride with Paul Boyer, then you might have a deal. *edit* I just realized that I should have sent this to you using the accepted method, as demonstrated by the NHL. So when your phone rings in a minute, don't answer it, and I'll leave you the response by voicemail...

Cruel to be Kind - Nick Lowe

Brave New World - Iron Maiden

No doubt there's a fair amount of spin to this given the source, but if there's even a kernel of truth to it, it's pretty outrageous... John Hoven, professional freelance hockey reporter, with a few bits of information from Mathieu Schneider as heard on NHL Radio...

Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House - Garth Brooks

The NHL Podium is a freaking genius...

I'm withholding any excitement, for 2 reasons. 1 - Waiting to see more than just Kyp/Mac to pick up on this emerging trend. And 2 - We've been even closer to a deal with the '04/05 lockout, just to see the whole thing come crashing down. It's encouraging to hear more positive reports than negative, though, for sure.

I'm seeing tweets mentioning that Nick Kypreos is hearing rumors of coaches contacting players, advising them to be ready for a December 14th training camp date. Since they're rumors only, they're not worth linking to the actual tweets. But it will be interesting to see if some of the more reputable pundits & bloggers start to pick up on this, or get new information of their own regarding this. In any case, don't hold your breath, but there might be reason to be cautiously optimistic... I think some kind of limit on contract length is perfectly reasonable, and the PA should agree to that. The league really overreached with their initial contracting restriction demands, but if they back off some on those, they could probably get the PA to agree to length and year-to-year salary variation limits.

Aaron Ward tweeting what can only be good news, if true...

That press conference will likely only be discussing the results of the annual Board of Governors meeting, taking place at this very moment. The Player/Owner meeting isn't set to begin until sometime later today.

Funny story. The Disneyland/Disney World stores have little collectible statues of Mickey as a Jedi (Disney partnered with Lucas for the Star Tours ride in their parks). Originally, the first series they did was Mickey as Darth Vader (since Vader is by far the most popular Star Wars character). However, they quickly realized that Vader is a bad guy, and people didn't like the idea of Mickey as a bad guy. So they quickly dropped the Vader/Mickey merchandise, and hastily created the Mickey Jedi collectibles.

MTV Makes Me Wanna Smoke Crack - Beck

For what it's worth, a few people have come out with sources denying Burton's report... Sarah Kwak with Sports Illustrated... Joe Haggarty with Comcast Sports New England... And LeBrun is reporting that today's Players/Owners meeting is set to begin around 2-2:30 today.

Greg Wyskynski (Puck Daddy) hits the nail on the head regarding fan frustrations with this.

Dreger reposted a few novel ideas for the players & owners meeting...

Not that he's the end-all-be-all authority on anything, but Danny Cleary at least is is keen on the idea... And while it may prove to be a terrible idea for the players, it does at least address one question that we've seen raised several times here. The question of "What would happen if Bettman and Fehr (and their substantial egos) were not involved in the process?" In the end, I don't think anything would come of that kind of a meeting, especially if hawks like Jacobs and Leonsis are involved. But it would at least be interesting to see what might happen with a direct meeting like that...

Happiness is a Warm Gun - The Beatles

We'll Be Here (When You're Gone) - The Goo Goo Dolls

I don't think they'll decertify just yet. They might give Bettman's "players & owners only" idea a spin. Or they might decertify. At this rate, who the hell really knows...