Who's to blame for NHL labour problems? Dumb Canadian fans

We Canadians can be a pretty dense lot at times.  Oh we love to complain, to bitch and moan, but then we just roll over, and we never even expect breakfast or a call the next day.

Take the latest NHL lockout, the third in less than ten years.  How can the NHL treat their fans so badly?  Why are the two sides in this dispute so willing to dig in their heels?

Simple, both sides know that Canadians will be back in droves like they have after each previous work stoppage.

Drop the puck and they will come, spending hundreds of dollars on tickets, back in front of their TV sets watching the game and buying all kinds of crap with their team's logo on it.

The money will be rolling in as soon as the owners and players can decide on some way to divide up the billions, disportionately coming out of Canadian pockets, that fans pony up each year.

Forget the American teams.  With rich TV deals from the CBC and other Canadian networks the NHL doesn't need to worry about stuffing teams in places like Florida and Phoenix, Columbus and Nashville.  The owners of those teams get to share in revenues that wouldn't exist if it weren't for the Canucks, Flames, Oilers, Jets, Leafs , Senators and Canadiens.

When a Canadian team like the Nordique wants to leave, hey...no problem, Gary will help you pack up the trucks.  But when a team like the Coyotes has trouble drawing a quorum to a regular season game, the league steps in and is prepared to lose millions every year rather than give Quebec City back a team, to say nothing of Hamilton.

Why are Canadians treated so shabbily?  

Simple, we are idiots.  If we were smart, when this latest dispute ends we'd stay away from the arenas, stop watching on TV and stop buying those flags for our cars and a host of other merchandise with NHL logos on it.

We'd still get our hockey fix by watching junior and/or minor games.  Instead of paying hundreds we'd only be paying $40 or $50 for a couple of seats.

That's what Canadians would do if we were smart.  But of course we're not smart, we'll cheer like morons and empty our wallets when the players and owners finally decide how to divide up our money.