The advantage of perspective.

• Author: Rundles, Jeff
• Position: RUNDLES wrap up

I HEARD A WEATHER REPORT ONE THURSDAY last month that said Friday would be in the 60s. Saturday in the 40s, and Sunday in the 20s.

It got me thinking that it would be cool--strange, yes, but still cool--if instead of the weather that same thing just happened to me as a person. On Friday I would have been 60, just like I am, Saturday about 15, and on Sunday I'd spend the day as, say, 25.

On Monday when I got to work someone would ask me, "So, how was your weekend?" To which I would reply, "You have no idea. Pretty normal Friday, bought a sports car on Saturday, then Sunday I mastered a smart phone, got 837 new Facebook friends, became gluten-intolerant, and my wife suggested I stay home a couple of days.

"How was your weekend?"

Ah, if only you could turn back the clock. Now that I'm myself again, and after regaining just about the only advantage of age--perspective--I got thinking about some of the labor/management machinations that have recently been going on.

A few years ago, in these pages, I wrote of a nurses' strike in Northern Michigan that had been going on for something like six years and I suggested that the nurses in question had ceased to be on strike, but rather had retired. It appears as though the same thing just happened at Hostess Brands. There are indications that the management there played fast and loose with pension "obligations," not to mention with bonus payouts, and these points can and will be argued in bankruptcy court. But the central issue at hand, or so it seems, was management's contention that it could no longer operate as a going concern in the face oflabor demands and, calling labor's bluff, shut down the company. I don't believe anyone wanted to see the elimination of' 18,500 jobs, but you either make money or you don't.

Seems like the same thing is going on in the National Hockey League. Sure, as sports professionals, hockey players want to be like their NFL. NBA and MLB counterparts, but the cold facts are that you either make money or you don't. Hockey, apparently, falls in the "don't" category. Hey, I've been a print journalist pretty much all of my life so I have plenty of empathy for hockey players. That and $7 will get you...