it's hard to get by on 34 grand a day.

Today would be the 21st Hurricanes game, a home game against the dreaded Bruins. The fifth of a six game home stand.

Just for funsies, the folks over at EA Sports are using their game to simulate a season. All for the benefit of the Canadian Press. The best I can find about this is some daily scores. I've searched high and low, and I can't find any "standings". Now..... Here's the problem I have with this. After I discovered that the schedule we have on the video game bears no resemblance to what would be our actual schedule, I did a little head scratching. Presumably, the actual NHL schedule hadn't been released when they were putting the finishing touches on the game. They had to use something as a model for the schedule. After much head scratching and some memory jogging and some study of past schedules, it turns out that they just used the schedule from the 2002-2003 season. Two years ago. Although the days of the week are off, the dates match up perfectly. With one odd exception. For some bizarre reason, they replaced our Oct. 15 road game against the Blues with a road game against the Sharks. Anyway..... the virtual 2004-2005 'Canes have won two in a row, but I have no idea how we're doing in the standings.

Okay, from silly digital hockey, to real life.... The NHL Player's Association has decided to kick in some "unemployment pay" to it's members. I'm not sure how many NHL'ers are members of the union, but according to their charter, they must represent no less than two-thirds of the active players. Here's the thing. Each active member will receive $10,000 for November, $10,000 for December, and anywhere between $5,000 and $10,000 per month going forward. Somehow, we're supposed to feel sorry for these guys "only" making 10 grand per month. To do absolutely nothing. But then I stop and think..... Many of these guys are married with children. Like Latrell Sprewell, these guys have got families to feed. Given that Mr. Sprewell is having a rough go of it buying groceries for his family on a $34,000 a day budget, I don't see how in the world these hockey players are going to make it. They have no choice but to resolve this labor dispute. Incidentally, there is a rumored Thursday dinner meeting between the owners and the union. We'll see.