The game of hockey can learn from the inspirational words of President Obama.
At the risk of being overly dramatic I think it's fair to say that for a few hours on January 20, 2009 the world stood still.
It paused to listen to a new leader for America, a man, Barack Obama, who from both humble and mixed beginnings rose to become President of what was once among the most admired nations on earth and who said that, under his presidency, America was "once again ready to lead."
It was a message of importance to many and it got me to thinking that a man who, as Obama said in the very opening lines of his remarks was, "grateful, humble and mindful" might, even in hard times, have a role in reshaping the world as we know it.
Hockey, as we know it, has a small place in that world. But for those of us who love the game, it's worth wondering what changes might come to our world if the leaders of hockey turned their collective focus to a "new era of responsibility."
If that were to happen I could see a hockey world that didn't argue about fighting, but came together under real leadership to find a way to protect the people who play the game with the same righteous fervor as they protect the longstanding "traditions" of the game.
I could see a game where the owners, the custodians of the game would gather on a semi-annual basis not to discuss ways of limiting the flow of cash to "greedy" players and increasing the value of their individual franchises, but to set a course for sensible management and sound financial decisions. A system where teams are placed and how the league can empower them to help them succeed in markets where hockey is not native to the population but through the virtues of sound financing, hard work and good marketing, be empowered with the tools to sustain real growth.
Having owners meet in the great but challenged hockey town of Detroit instead of Palm Beach or having their general managers gather in Columbus or Carolina rather than Las Vegas might be more of a token gesture than any real foundation for change, but it surely would be viewed as a start.
Out of that would be hockey's version of what Obama said was, "the collective failure to make hard choices." I can see a better game when real leadership, leadership connected not just to the owners, but to the true custodians of the game, the fans who support it, come together to demand that the financial growth of the game not be borne solely by them via the never-ending increases in ticket prices, but in a partnership that is mindful of the fact that hockey is entertainment and that it can only survive if that entertainment is priced within reach of the people who both love and support it.
With real leadership and a spirit of co-operation it might not be too much to ask that ownership and players come together in a way that both sides can find a way not just to divide the riches that come from an overpriced ticket, but find away to lower the cost of said tickets so that the third party in the partnership, the fan, doesn't have to always read about "billionaires arguing with millionaires" through work stoppages. Instead, existing fans would read about how a fair financial structure enables the game to welcome in families which in turn creates new fans which in turn creates a stronger, more embracing fan base. Only from that can our game experience real growth, have real strength and be there for future generations.
If there truly were to be a "new era" for hockey, its leadership would not just give lip service to a competition committee it would empower that committee with making real changes for the betterment of the game. Not just for the people who play it or finance it, but also for those of us who love to watch it.
Such a change would amount to a time for hockey where the "ground will have shifted" and where we would all find "meaning in something greater than ourselves."
In that regard we would be presented with a league where media would not make an issue of race, national origin, or even supposed differences between the provinces or the provinces and the states and nations that supply so many great players to the game.
In that regard we would see a league that doesn't just punish people who offend us with their words or deeds, but also strives to educate and enlighten them so that they might embrace the diversity that makes our game great.
We could see a league that celebrates that diversity in ways that puts Jarome Iginla on the same marketing plateau that the league has reserved for Sidney Crosby and a league that embraces the legacy of Peter Stastny, Borje Salming, and Vladislav Tretiak in the same way it embraces the enduring memory of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Pat LaFontaine.
It is only in embracing all things hockey that the contributions of Alexander Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk and even Mats Sundin can be appreciated on a par with a "good kid from Kingston", a "warrior from out on the prairies" or maybe, someday, an "up and comer from the streets of South Central Los Angeles."
Obama said that the challenges for America are many, but that "those values upon which our success depends - honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths."
It takes both leadership and co-operation, but the hockey world could also live by those words.
If it did both we and the game would be better for it.
