False hope

The respective sergeants-at-arms for the NHL and the union met over the weekend and more talks are planned for Tuesday.

Yeah. Thanks for the update and false hope. Does it matter? It’s another lost season as far as I can tell.

The first two months have been cancelled – right about the time where Roberto Luongo starts playing like he’s the second coming of George Hainsworth. Same for the Winter Classic – the league’s signature event, apart from the playoffs.

Even if, for example, a 50- or 60-game season is able to played, does it matter? Think back to last year when the NBA went to a condensed schedule because of a work stoppage. Teams were forced to play three games in three nights, and damned if it didn’t seem like there were more injuries.

If the labor issues don’t take down the players, torn ACLs and concussions can handle that, no questions asked.

I do hope it comes back. I miss watching and going. But unlike 2004-05, I won’t be crushed at all if the season is washed away. I’m used to this by now.

Relocation blues

… so I have been living in Northeast Louisiana for 37 days. You can just call me the Big Jew in the Bayou.

I had little trepidation about coming here. I was offered a pretty good job, and after being out of full-time work for 11 months, I needed something to go to, something to make me feel productive.

About 10 years ago, I was offered a chance to work for The Associated Press primarily as a sportswriter in Jackson, Miss. Looking back, I should have jumped on it, but didn’t – a family-fueled decision. My father, a New York City native, underwent basic training in the Army during World War II at Fort Campbell on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. While he didn’t come right out and say that he subject to racism, he did everything but utter that.

Since I have been in the Deep South, nothing has happened or been said to me that remotely smacks of racism. If anything, just the opposite has occurred. People from the cashiers at Wal-Mart and Target to school administrators have bent over backwards to be friendly.

There have been two things, though, that have me doing the facepalm and that would probably have people from outside the region shaking their heads.  I want to make it clear that neither of these incidents happened where I live.

Several weeks ago, I drove to Baton Rouge to hit the Apple store. Could have easily had anything I needed shipped to me, but I cannot resist the need to get in the car and just go now and then.

Since there is no real direct route to get to I-10 from where I am, state roads and US routes were the way to go to the Gulf Coast. Driving east on one of these roads, I looked at houses that had the Confederate flag – good ol’ Stars and Bars – hanging from poles.

Ooooooooooookay. While hardly an expert on the Civil War, here is what I know – it’s been over for nearly 150 years. There is no cease-fire. REALLY highly doubtful that it’s going to start up again.

Just seeing those flags made me a little uncomfortable. Since I am not black, I cannot imagine what it’s like for a person of color to face that, but I imagine anger is an emotion that’s right up there.

Meanwhile, in Alabama, a news website thought this was – what were we going for here? Clever? Funny? A light-hearted tweak? That’s right, blackface and the dumb-ass ignorant thinking lives in 2012.

Needless to say, there has been the proper outrage and disgust over this and the site issued this statement: “This photo has been removed because of its inappropriate nature. The AL.com staff apologizes for any offense it may have caused, and we thank our readers who took the time to voice their concerns.”

May have? Lukewarm at best.

Keep this in mind – a decision was reached by at least one person to post this, that somehow it was OK in this day and age. Of course this is the same day and age that’s given us this and this.

Talking about diversity is one thing. Accepting it is another. Seems there are a number of people in my industry that don’t.  

Blue Jackets lower boom on Arniel, rebuilding continues

That boom you heard this morning? Another NHL coach was fired in a move that was seen coming for some time.

The league-worst Columbus Blue Jackets ended the Scott Arniel era by parting ways with him Monday morning. Todd Richards, former coach of the Minnesota Wild, takes over for the remainder of the season.

Arniel’s dismissal comes at the midpoint of the season, one that’s going to end without a playoff appearance for a third straight season for Columbus, currently sporting an 11-25-5 record.

"We have two wins in our last 11 games,'' general manager Scott Howson told ESPN.com. "I just wanted to move the team in a new direction with a different head coach. Scott tried everything and he was running out of answers. I didn't see much hope in moving forward with him. I just felt this needed to be done."

Arniel becomes the seventh coach to be let go by the Blue Jackets. Two of them – Ken Hitchcock and Claude Noel - have resurfaced this season with great success.

A Stanley Cup winner with the Dallas Stars, Hitchcock took over in St. Louis for the fired Davis Payne and has the Blues contending for the Central Division crown. Noel was given the honor of being the Jets’ first coach since their relocation from Atlanta, and he has Winnipeg contending for one of the final Eastern Conference playoff spots.

For now, Arniel joins the likes of Dave King, Gerard Gallant and Gary Agnew as those who tried – and ultimately failed – in a hockey market that’s questionable at best. Roddy Marciano, a poster on the Columbus Dispatch's website, summed up fans' frustrations succinctly:

"Like that's going to change a thing, columbus will always be the black hole of the NHL, give me a break. We couldn't be any more irrelevant when it comes to sports."

And from Ohiosucks:

"The whole team needs fired. This is a garbage product and always has been."

The powers that be in Ohio's capital city didn't expect this to happen. The Blue Jackets were active in the offseason, acquiring three-time 30-goal scorer Jeff Carter from Philadelphia and adding James Wisniewski - at $33 million for six years (???) - to bolster the blueline.

Instead, Carter missed 10 games with a broken foot and is out indefinitely with a separated left shoulder. Wisniewski was suspended for the first eight games of the season for an intentional elbow to the head and is not expected back before mid-February due to a broken ankle.

Add captain Rick Nash headed for one of the worst statistical seasons of his career and Steve Mason looking more like the second coming of Jim Carey, and it's another lost season in central Ohio.

Don’t be shocked if Howson is next to be shown the door.