![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGukKvXB4naYss7g35BWTJ7kIVKj-rWgXHyUiLa82KtdHcMnoo_MMIZg8-tMPP6Ox2QEEVwoBjeiReR9akgz63SYv1VgHA92u6zKn-XAC3gW2T33nfhwzdLZC5BWIx-3DSf8csJ-R3oj4/s400/sad-pumpkin.jpg)
not to get lippy with Ben Eager.
Scene: An opulent mansion. The home is decked out with Halloween decorations, and various guests are milling around in costume. The doorbell rings, and is answered by a man dressed as a giant padlock.
Gary Bettman: Come on in!
Bill Daly enters, dressed as a giant crow with an "S" painted on his chest.
Daly: How's the annual Halloween party going, Gary?
Bettman: I'll be honest. I'm picking up on kind of a negative vibe this year.
He looks over to the other side of the room, where Donald Fehr and several players wearing cattle costumes are glaring back at them.
Daly: Understandable. Nice decorations, though.
He motions at a row of tombstones featuring a Thrashers logo, tickets to an Islanders game, the 2004-05 season, and the phrase "actual credibility".
Bettman: Thanks. I just wish Katz would stop trying to sneak an Edmonton Oilers one in there. But the costumes are cool. Ryan Suter went as a spinning weather vane, and the Sedins were great in that two-piece horse costume right up until David Booth showed up and started shooting at them.
Daly: And what about the guy in the straightjacket outside howling at the moon?
Bettman: Oh, that's just a hockey blogger trying to figure out how to put a fresh spin on his 27th consecutive lockout post.
Daly: Poor guy.
Bettman: Yeah. Sad, really.