NHL deal will not be appealing to either side

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With the world thinking this morning of Barack Obama and the local, national and global ramifications of the election, its nice to know that some things remain unchanged.Like Gary Bettman and Don Fehr in a room arguing about make-whole provisions.True, conflating the events of Tuesday and the non-events of the past several months is probably stretching the points well past its elasticity level, but the NHL lockout has already sped into comedy gridlock. A change of atmosphere seems impossible in the same room with the same players, so maybe changing the air outside will help.And if that doesnt do it, and the owners decide that no games at all are still the optimal solution, then thats how it has to be. If the hockey world cannot bend when the rest of the nation is showing its collective flexibility, then maybe a lost season is all that will save these guys from themselves.RELATED:End in sight? NHL, players bargain deep into nightPut another way, the owners already put two shotgun holes in the Winter Classic, and they dont have any more scheduling threats to run. Only an acknowledgement that this strategy isnt working, a full concession, or a moment of mad atmospheric inspiration saves this season.And of all the things on Obamas to-do list, putting up new sheet rock at the Romneys guest house master bathroom ranks higher than involving himself with the idiocies of the National Hockey League.Hence, the atmospheric inspiration theory. In the few days window after an election, when adrenaline is highest and the job of dashing ones hopes has not yet begun in earnest, one can sense a feeling that even the most intractable problems can be solved, even if they really cant.RELATED:Sharks hopeful talks lead to CBA progress; Boyle mumAnd in a world of stark reality, any illusion can serve as an icebreaker. No pun intended.You see, the NHL and its various minions have passed the point where victory can reasonably be declared by either side. The owners clearly didnt get their main goal, which was Fehr face down in a puddle. The players didnt win their core issue, which was the preservation of their four-sevenths of the revenue pie. And the philosophical argumentwho has to pay when franchises are run badly, their fellow owners or the players through salary concessionsremains unanswered.And so it will be if this deal is ever to be made. It will be a cobbled-together settlement that makes both sides throw up in their mouths, and to date, that has been insufficiently appealing to either side, sure as they are in ultimate victory.Not unlike the country, to be frank. Obamas mandate is smaller, the House of Representatives remains proudly Republican and as such unrepentantly obstructionist. Without getting deeper into the morass of political analogy, the next four years will be four more years of hoisting a pipe organ up the side of a building by hand. Change is coming, but at an annoyingly incremental rate.Thus it will be with whatever the NHL decides to do with its business. It can do a deal just to do a deal and give Gary Bettman and the hardline owners a break from universal revulsion, and the union can agree while holding its nose, proclaiming that getting a point in the other guys building works just as well in the conference room as in the arena.But the longer this weeks negotiations grind on, the more likely that neither side will find such an agreement palatable, and weve pretty well reached the point where there is no more turning radius room before the abyss.So youre left to root for atmospherics, a sense that springs forth in the room of what the hell, if the country can figure out a way not to blow itself up, why dont we give it a go?Or maybe the NHL and NHLPA just needs to introduce a woman with a flag stuck in her hair into the room, just to stand behind whoever happens to be talking at any given moment. That seemed to work last night, and its not like these yobbos have any better ideas.Ray Ratto is a columnist for CSNBayArea.com

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