It stings deep. I've had a lot of life experience in a relatively short life. I know just how unimportant sports are. There's a lot more going on in our lives and the world around us that merits our attention.

Still, this might be the straw that broke the cammel's back for me.

We do love sports.We love our teams and the numerous, awesome things they do for our community. We get pumped after a win. We get bummed after a loss. We get emotionally invested, maybe more than we should, but I'm a creature of passion. I can't help it. That's why this lockout stings so much.

Now add that Columbus has to wait another few years to host something that should have happened long ago just blows my mind. I was going to take two days off work (when I only get 14 vacation/sick days a year), get a room at the Hilton, go to both All-Star events and enjoy a party in a city that's never experienced a party or a spotlight quite like it. I make only 24k a year. I didn't take those few precious off days I've accumulated at my fairly new job to go to Thanksgiving with my parents and extended family on the off chance a miracle would prevail and the game would be saved.

I missed five Thanksgivings in a row because of my military service, two in Afghanistan. Maybe that was extreme of me, but All-Star games come around your home city once every 30 years or so, if you're lucky. You know what should come around only once every thirty years, at most? Lockouts. Two in eight years? A season and a half killed off, so far? I dropped my home warranty protection company because their contractor didn't keep/make one appointment.

Why should I support a league, a product, that doesn't show up 16% of the time? Why get emotionally invested in a company that so consistently spurns its clients and customers? Maybe I'll come back like a fool in a relationship who keeps returning to the same, slutty girlfriend who keeps cheating on him. I doubt it though. I think I learned my lesson. I loved my Blue Jackets, but their league doesn't love us back. I'm out. Side note: I recognize I'm far from the only one who budgeted and sacrificed for this event.