Completely pucked

The National Hockey League decided to commit suicide Wednesday by canceling the entire 2004-05 season, most of which had already been lost due to a lockout. It marks the first time in history that a North American professional sports league -- and really, isn't that the only continent whose sports we care about? -- has wiped out an entire season because owners and players couldn't get along.

Hockey, as many observers have pointed out, wasn't exactly rolling in the dough or climbing the fan popularity charts before the lockout. (Indeed, as an Associated Press writer noted, some owners are actually doing better financially by not putting teams on ice.) Still, owners and players both deserve the blame for refusing to work out their salary-cap differences and give fans some hockey this year, no matter how short the season.

The losers in this situation, not surprisingly, are hockey fans, whose ranks were already dwindling and whose numbers are sure to fall even lower. It's another sad example of how the little guy all too often pays the price when greed runs wild.

But on the plus side, at least SportsCenter now has even more time for football and basketball highlights for those of us who couldn't care less about what grown men do on skates.