When Ted Saskin of the NHLPA compared NHL players taking a salary cut to a working-class person getting their salary cut from $60,000 to $40,000, I knew I had heard it all. What would I have to cut-back on other than mortgage, bills and retirement savings to get by? Other than the obvious debt I would go into because I am already living paycheck to paycheck, I certainly wouldn’t be able to splurge on what I already consider a luxury these days - tickets to see my NHL hockey team on home ice.

I have to wonder if most NHL players would be that concerned if they took a 33% pay cut …somehow I think they would survive. Worrying about that second home or H2 really doesn’t qualify as making ends meet in my mind. How many years will I have to work to even earn a million bucks? The owners want to bring salaries in line across the board, which I can understand and support . Doesn’t the more successful NBA and NFL already subscribe to this business model?

Regardless of which side started this whole mess by offering or demanding millions of dollars to work 4 hours a day, this problem has gone too far and needs to be contained. The fans are the ones who are going to suffer, as well as the workers who will lose jobs because of this lockout. I have already picked up my OHL tickets for the season, so am ready to sit this one out. Hockey players insist they are your guy next door and are just trying to make a living. What about the love of the game, what ever happened to that? Do these guys understand the value of a dollar these days? Try getting a real job for 35 years and living paycheck to paycheck, then get back to me.

Sandra in Ottawa