I work, as I'm sure most you do, a job which rarely gives me much pleasure. The various array of responsibilities I respectfully embrace outside of my 9 to 5 are also of little delight. Here, on the precipice of a cold New York winter, where my workdays begin and end in the dark, the few hours of personal enjoyment I steal become even more inflated in value. For whatever reason, watching a group of athletes slap rubber around on ice and precariously collide human skeletons together brings me some solace. So when millionaires and billionaires jockey for public opinion at the expense of my micro-brew saturated Ranger time on the couch, I get angry.

Whomever you as a fan side with, one thing is clear--the fact that this lockout perpetuates is absurd. As fans (and I mean who else would take the time to read this), we need to remind both the NHL and NHLPA that we too are part of this equation. We buy the jerseys, tickets, TV packages and beer that ultimately make their league a reality. Our money and devotion keep this product on the ice. So I propose that we attempt to remind them; let's lock them out the first game of the season.

What would be a better reminder to the NHL and the NHLPA than empty televised arenas on opening day?

I am not asking you to turn away from your beloved team indefinitely—just one game. Whenever they finally schedule that first Rangers game at MSG, I pledge not to shell out the few hundred bucks to attend. Nor will I crack open a beer and sit on the edge of my couch cushion tensely reacting to Sam Rosen's play by play. I will relinquish the remote control to my wife and suffer through just one more night of Teen Mom—I will grit my teeth and tune them out with a futile hope this is the last lockout, and I respectfully request that you join me.