Alright, Devils. I'm In. Let's Do This Thing.

Let's be serious here. About four people read this. Maybe more, but I doubt it. So most of you probably don't know, nor will you know what my thought has been regarding the once-moribund and now flourishing New Jersey Devils, though I've mentioned it a few times. And that thought was this. The Devils haven't had a decent first-round draft position in nearly two decades because, well, they've always been pretty good. New Jersey hadn't missed the playoffs since 1996 and it seemed unlikely that that would be changing any time soon. Some pegged the Devils as Stanley Cup contenders this season and they looked every bit of it the first ten minutes of the year before letting an early two-goal lead slip away against Dallas in a game they'd eventually lose in overtime 4-3.

Then Zach Parise tore up his knee. Then the team was terrible. Then coach John MacLean was fired. Then the team was still terrible.

Ostensibly, New Jersey was awful, having, for most of this season, the worst record in the League, and by a fair margin at that, but then things started to change. The Devils shipped off captain Jamie Langenbrunner and players began buying into Jacques Lemaire's philosophy. Now New Jersey is the hottest team int he League, which left me with a decision to make. Do I lament the loss of what could have been a top-five pick for a team that despite its hot streak is so far out the playoffs are a near impossibility? Or do I throw my emotion behind it and invest myself for what is still an unlikely occurrence?

I opted to wait and see the progress and I decided that if New Jersey could trim a deficit between it and the No. 8 seed, which once was as high as 27 points, down to 10 points by the end of their 60th game, I would start to believe. In New Jersey's last 18 games, the Devils are an astonishing 15-1-2. On Saturday night they played their 59th game, and their third in the last 12 games against eighth-seeded Carolina, and walked away with an impressive 4-1 win.

And just like that, with 59 games gone in the season, the deficit is down to 10.

I'm in.

There are 23 games left for the Devils to make a 10-point deficit disappear, and it's still a tall task despite how well the team is playing. According to Cool Standings.com, the Devils still have just a 1.7% chance of making the playoffs as things stand, but that is still a major improvement over just 11 days ago, when the Devils, despite already playing great hockey and moving up the standings, were given less than a 0.1% chance of reaching the top eight. New Jersey has 54 points, but 32 of them have come in the last 18 games. To continue playing at this pace is highly unlikely, and it may be necessary to pull off the impossible dream, but now that they're this close, I'm jumping along for the ride. And since the Devils' performance clearly hinges on my dedication, this is crucial.

The journey continues tonight in Dallas, where the Devils will be playing those same Stars they faced on opening night, only now they'll be facing them with former-captain Jamie Langenbrunner across the ice, though, it should be noted, Langs is pulling for his old mates. I'm sure most of you are caught up to speed on tonight's game after reading that great preview some guy wrote about it on the interwebs, and you just can't wait to see the Devils drop the puck. I know I can't. This team is real now, they're really in the race and I'm not the only one who thinks it.

If you aren't as excited then you're probably too distracted by the huge trade that broke yesterday. You know, the one in which the Stars shipped James Neal and Matt Niskanen to Pittsburgh for Alex Goligoski. I'm sure you were highly concerned about the potential ramifications of the trade both in the real world and for your fantasy hockey team.

Of course, there's the chance that you were actually thinking about that trade where Carmelo Anthony, finally, at long last, after what seemed like centuries of build up, was sent to the Knicks last night for Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, several draft picks, cash, Patrick Ewing's retired number banner and the vast French North American territory known as "Louisiana".

Don't get me wrong. I wanted Melo. I'm glad he's here. The Knicks are better today than they were yesterday. But simply put, the 'Bockers got fleeced in this deal, and it isn't difficult to see how or why. Everyone and their mother knew Melo was eventually going to be a Knick. He wanted it, the Knicks wanted it and it didn't matter how many players the Nets were going to offer Denver. Anthony was never going to sign an extension and the deal was never going to land him in New Jersey. Donnie Walsh knew the Knicks had all the cards and wanted to hold out as long as possible to either force the Nuggets to take New York's previous offers or to simply sign Melo in the offseason as a free agent.

But James Dolan is a petulant needy child, and he just had to get his man. And he wanted him now. And as a result, Dolan just had to get involved this weekend and muck it all up. Sure, the Knicks got the man they wanted all along and they have ample cap space in the future to try and get a third big star to power the roster such as Deron Williams or Chris Paul, but they didn't have to give up what they gave up. And perhaps more specifically, they didn't have to give up Danilo Gallinari. Gallo was developing into a quality swingman who could have been a quality player on a championship contending squad next to Amar'e Stoudemire and Anthony. Instead, the roster, aside from these two stars, has been completely stripped bare, and while the Knicks have a blank canvass to work with, they don't have much else.

And perhaps the most frightening thing about this? Despite statements to the contrary, it's pretty clear to just about everyone that Isiah Thomas has been advising Dolan from a far. It also seems apparent that Thomas, the man who single-handedly destroyed the franchise for nearly a decade, might have more influence than Walsh, a man with a proven record of building quality teams. In the end, it seems obvious that Dolan's need for instant gratification and his inexplicable love for Thomas won out. In a bitter twist of irony, the deal brings Renaldo Balkman back to the Garden, a player Thomas inexplicably selected in the first round in 2006 when he was projected as an undrafted free agent, and waves goodbye to Eddy Curry, likely Thomas' worst of several awful moves, whose expiring contract will wind up in Minnesota as part of the deal.

This isn't the first time Dolan's childlike neediness has become readily apparent to just about everyone, and it probably won't be the last. And knowing that New York could have brow-beaten Denver into a better offer for the Knicks instead of giving them everything short of Stoudemire, Landry Fields and the urinal in Dolan's private bathroom is irritating. But in the end, if the Knicks win a championship in the next few years, I, and everyone else, will have forgotten about the pieces that could have been kept and rightly so. In the end, that's all we really want.

And if that doesn't happen, at least I have other reasons for optimism. I mean, come on. The Devils are playing awesome hockey right now.

Anyone Notice That The Devils Are Kind Of Really Good Right Now?

I am faced with a massive quandary as a Devils fan right now. In what has been a trying season -- New Jersey has spent most of the season with the League's worst record -- my team is suddenly hot as a pistol and making a wild, bizarre run at the final playoff spot in the East. That playoff spot is still a far, far ways off, but it's an awful lot closer than it used to be. Last night, New Jersey trailed in the third period in Toronto before Ilya Kovalchuk pushed himself end-to-end and fired a game-winner past James Reimer in the waning seconds of overtime.

And just like that the deficit was down to 13.

Now that may not seem like the most exciting revelation. After all, New Jersey is still third to last in the Eastern conference. But that 13-point deficit was 24 points not so long ago, and with 27 games remaining there is ample time for that deficit to start dropping bit by bit. In fact, that win over Toronto Thursday night has pushed New Jersey's mark to 11-1-2 in its last 14 games, which easily makes them the hottest team in the League at the moment. Thursday night was the Devils' second consecutive overtime victory after defeating the Hurricanes in OT Tuesday at The Rock -- a game I was actually in attendance for -- and it now may have the New Jersey building the adequate momentum to make a serious run at the final postseason seed.

The win in Toronto also put coach Jacques Lemaire in the 600-win club, a feat that was written up by some anonymous lackey at NHL.com.

Lemaire's accomplishments are a pivotal part of the story, of course. The man who led the Devils to their first Stanley Cup Championship in 1995, has showed a remarkable ability to get the most out of his teams -- as he did with the Devils a season ago in what was expected to be a one-season return to the Garden State before moving on into retirement. What he has done so far this season, however, may eclipse anything else he's done. New Jersey was 9-22-2 when Lemaire was brought in to replace company man John MacLean on Dec. 23. At that point the idea of a playoff run was well off the team's radar -- and in likelihood it still is. Instead for the Lemaire, the challenge was to remind the players that not only were they professionals, but they were expected to be Stanley Cup contenders when the season began.

Rediscovering the Devils' confidence under Lemaire has been a rough process -- New Jersey went 1-7-0 in its first eight games following the coaching change, culminating in a home-and-home sweep at the hands of the hated Flyers. Since then, there has been a change, however. And the results have been staggering.



New Jersey was 27 points behind eighth-place Montreal on Jan. 9. In 14 games, the deficit has been halved.

With 27 games remaining there is certainly time for the Devils to get closer and closer, and while they would likely have to continue playing at the same remarkable pace of the past month, fans like myself have slowly started to believe that anything is possible. So why not?

Well, probability is one reason to believe why not. Cool Standings as of today still lists the Devils' chances of making the postseason this year at less than .1%, and I generally find a reliance on numbers and statistics to be the likely outcome in the long run. But without knowing the actual math they use, I'm not sure they can account for intangibles like momentum, but I can also attest, mathematically speaking, to a belief in regression to the mean and the law of larger numbers. All season long the Devils have been playing beneath their expectations and their talent level, but the larger the sample size -- in this case, 82 games -- the more likely the Devils' final record should approach their expected performance this season.

Now the Devils were expected to compete for a division title against the likes of defending-Eastern Conference Champion Philadelphia and 2009 Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh. While the chances of winding up in that race are just about nil, sneaking into the postseason with the final seed, if this team continues to return to its expected level performance over the long haul, certainly doesn't seem all that outlandish to me.

So that aforementioned quandary is this. Do I lament the likely loss of the Devils first potential top-five draft pick in decades, which could be used to patch a number of holes? Or do I get behind the improbable comeback?

Is it likely? Probably not. In fact, earlier this week I decided that I would wait until New Jersey had closed the gap to 10 points, and that it would have to happen by the 61st game of the season, before I fully invested myself emotionally in the prospect of the Devils making a stunning and unlikely playoff run. But with five games and only three points to go before that threshold, I'm starting to believe. It's only been a month of this season that the team has actually shown any signs of life, but now they're as lively as can be. And if they knock off the hottest team in the West in Newark tonight, (though I should note tonight's Chicago-Dallas game is also pretty intriguing as this preview attests) things could really get interesting.

And then I'd really start to believe that it's possible. In the end, short of a Championship, believing, in any season, is all you can really hope for.

Why, Yes, I Will Make A Point About Picking The Jets Rather Obnoxiously

Some of you, that is to say my close friends I was watching the first round of the playoffs with, gave me a rather hard time for insisting the Seahawks would get absolutely pasted by the Saints in the first round nine days ago. My reasoning for making this bold, bold proclamation was because Seattle, based on some rather compelling empirical evidence, were terrible this year. Well, as some of you saw I ate my fair share of craw last weekend, when the Seahawks somehow toppled New Orleans, but I suppose I got a measure of vindication yesterday afternoon when Seattle revealed its true High School caliber selves after a loss to the Bears that was about 50 times worse than the score would indicate. My true vindication came about three hours later, however, when those pesky, bizarrely arrogant Jets pulled off an upset win over the dominant New England Patriots that just about no one expected.

Well, except me. Duh.

That's right, while most people had the Patriots not just advancing to this coming Sunday's AFC Championship Game, but to win the whole shabang, I stood strong, and boldly, confidently and fearlessly picked the Jets to topple their division rivals and make a second consecutive AFC Championship Game appearance. If "So yeah, let's go with the Jets, I guess. Why not?" doesn't sound like steadfast belief to you, I'm not sure what does.

Now, I have made it more than abundantly clear that I'm a Giants fan, first and foremost, but the Jets are a peculiar case for me. I wouldn't say I'm a Jets fan, obviously, but the Giants and Jets play once every four years, making a rivalry somewhat hard to maintain. Really, I have no actual distaste for the Gang Green. Frankly, I actually like to see them win and find myself rooting for them more often than not. Granted, if they lose next Sunday it won't kill me, whereas if the Giants were to make the NFC Championship Game and lose I'd be utterly devastated, but it's still nice to see the Jets succeed, which really may have accounted why I picked them as opposed to football acumen or reason. And if they should actually reach the Super Bowl for the first time in 42 years, well, it'll basically seem like one of those wild events that you just never thought you'd live to see.

I suppose my only hope at this point is that the Jets have learned from last year. In his postgame press conference, head coach Rex Ryan said the only difference between this year's AFC Championship Game and last year's is that they plan to win this time. I find that kind of statement a little odd considering they clearly planned on winning last year, too.

You have to give Rex Ryan a little bit of a breather for being unable to think clearly though. Anyone who saw his press conference could notice that his eyes were bloodshot and I wouldn't be surprised to hear that he might have teared up during his speech in the locker room. This was obviously an emotional win for the Jets, who, you get the impression, actually believe it's them against the world. To them, unlike with most teams, this isn't bullshit. They really wanted to come out and prove they were better than New England's comic foil. The Jets were no Falstaff. They're the team to beat. At least in their minds. Anyone who doubts they feel that way should take a look at Bart Scott's on-field interview after the game, which left me convinced Scott would have killed a baby at that moment if it was wearing a Patriots jersey.



Of course, while it was clearly the play of the Jets, both on defense and on offense when necessary, that carried the day, I think what we saw was another case of Bill Belichick's arrogance getting the best of him. I do want to make this much clear. I am not going to criticize Belichick as a coach as far as his greatness and legacy are concerned. Winning three Super Bowls ain't easy, let alone winning three in four years. Belichick's place in NFL history as one of the game's great, innovative coaches in clear. But he does, on occasion, have a tendency to let his own high opinion of himself get in the way.

For no better example of why, simply take a look at the early fourth quarter when New England had an opportunity to hit a 52-yard field goal to tie the game, which, while never a given in this weather, is well within the range of most NFL kickers. Instead, the Pats opted to go for it on 4th and 13, and predictably the drive stalled there. Moments like that one have, on more than one occasion, been Belichick's undoing.

The one that comes most notably to mind, at least to me, was in the waning seconds of Super Bowl XLII, when the Patriots, with some 80 yards to go and a three-point deficit, simply threw deep fade routes four straight times, all of them falling incomplete, in hopes of making a quick strike to win the game with a long, low-percentage touchdown pass. What was so bizarre to me about that particular incident was that, with 29 seconds left and a full assortment of time outs, it would have been perfectly feasible for New England to drive for a game-tying field goal and take its chances in overtime. Not that I minded.

Indeed there were many similarities between this game and that one, with one obvious example being the difficulty with which Tom Brady was unable to handle New York's pass rush. Brady was knocked around and sacked five times by a relentless Jets front four. Even on the plays when the Patriots' offensive line was able to hold the fort, New York's secondary -- and Ryan's decision to drop his linebackers into coverage rather than blitz the pocket -- kept New England's receivers covered and left few openings. This defense not only put Brady on the ground, but also led to him throwing an interception on the first drive, his first in an utterly mind-boggling 340 pass attempts.

Of course, some of this also reminded me of my Giants and their frustratingly difficult loss to the Eagles in the 2008 Divisional round. Both the Giants and Patriots were top seeds, both had defeated all four of the teams that reached the conference title games during the season, and both were felled by a division rival with whom they had split the season series. On an afternoon where things just simply didn't click for those Giants or these Patriots, they made the case of a great team that chose a bad day to have a bad day.

But there are only so many explanations you can make in an attempt to soften the blow. In the end, what's happened has happened and if you're  Jets fan little can dull the excitement and if you're a Pats fan, not even today's totally awesome Sharks-Coyotes Preview can help. But that's life. as a relatively removed observer, I just can't help but be excited about what looks like a tremendous Conference Title Weekend. While the Jets and Steelers should be a great matchup, something about the Packers and Bears facing off with everything on the line and those classic uniforms on the field makes me giddy.

This week has barely started, but I'm ready for it to be over. I wish it were Sunday.

On The Docket: An Impromptu Trip To Nassau Coliseum For Team No. 37

Ah, yes, Nassau Coliseum. The old barn. If by "old" you mean "completely decrepit and falling apart" and by "barn" you mean "only fit for livestock". Or so I've been told. I've actually had one or two people tell me the arena is a decent place to watch hockey, but I'm going to reserve judgment either way until later tonight when I make my first ever trip to see the New York Islanders and knock yet another team off that vaunted list of 122.

What's that? Shocked that I've never seen a sports team play at home when its home is in the same metropolitan area I've spent 21 years of my life in?

Well, so am I. In fact, I find it downright mindboggling that I've never actually made a trek to Uniondale to see the Isles ply their trade or check out their home building. A rational look back on it reveals the reasons are many: a) I'm a Devils fan, b) the Devils and Rangers are both closer to where I grew up and live currently, c) it is almost impossible to get to Nassau Coliseum on mass transit.

Once I decided to do this whole "see every team in the MLB, NHL, NBA and NFL" thing I knew the day of reckoning that forced a trip out to Long Island would come, but for some reason I just continued to push it further and further back -- though there have been a few near misses and close calls. If it's right there, the urgency to get moving seems to not be particularly pressing. But at long last I've decided to finally get off my rear with the help of an equally eager coworker, which will see us take the LIRR from Penn Station to Hempstead, NY, then a bus from the Hempstead Transit Station to the Coliseum -- this is after I've already taken a subway from my apartment to Penn Station. All in all, it's a tidy 90 minute trip on mass transit to get to a suburban hockey arena with little around.

But oh boy, am I excited.

The Islanders, perhaps you've noticed, are not particularly good, and haven't been for a while. Given that it seems kind of odd to me that they used to be great.

Like really great.

Seriously. There's an argument to be made that they had the greatest dynasty of any professional sports team in the last 30 years. From 1980-1983, the Islanders won the Stanley Cup four straight times, a fact that, seemingly, no Islanders fan I've come across professional will forget to mention to you. Yes, other teams have won four straight Cups or four straight championships before, but none have done it in the same age of expanded playoffs that the Islanders did. New York had four rounds of postseason jockeying to get through in order to win it all, and they did it four straight times. And very nearly a fifth.

Add it all together and the Islanders won 19 consecutive playoff series in the early 1980s, a stunningly impressive achievement that is arguably not to be seen again.

Of course, those Islanders are a far cry from the current ones, who are deeply steeped in rebuilding mode currently, and as a fan of the Devils who can't avoid reading about their current season, I'm starting to find out what that's like. But it should still be an interesting game for any number of reasons, namely that a) it's a new place, and b) they're playing the Penguins and Sidney Crosby, who just might be the hottest player in the world right now.

How hot?

Well, Crosby scored two goals and tallied an assist last night against Atlanta, which gives him a scoring streak of 25 games, a stretch during which he's scored 50 points. It's a streak so long, the last person to have one longer did so for a team that no longer exists. That, since you're wondering, would be Mats Sundin, who had a 30-game streak in 1992 for the Quebec Nordiques. To make the night even more interesting, the game is going to be captured by HBO for its current Penguins/Capitals 24/7 series, which, if you have no been watching, has been spectacular television -- and I'm not just towing the line of a hockey fan on that one. It has been gripping, informative and visually arresting to see. Oh yeah, and it's on again tonight.



Now, I will admit, the show is far better on HBO where the cursing isn't censored because, well, hockey players, and their coaches, swear a lot, regardless of who's listening. Fortunately for Washington's Bruce Boudreau, the Commish has let it slide.

So put it all together and you've got an interesting TV show, a phenomenal player, and apparently a reason for me to make the arduous trek to Nassau Coliseum for the first time ever tonight. And since nothing seems to be going right for the Giants right now in any way whatsoever, I could use the distraction. If anything the extensive mass transit to Uniondale will be long enough that I probably won't remember the Giants exist by the time I get there. Until Sunday, of course, when I foolishly hope against hope that the magic will happen.

I'm a fan. I don't know any better.

NFL Picks Week Sixteen: In Which I Forget Week Fifteen

Let me tell you all, I have had a doozy of a week so far and once you're done reading through that riveting Senators-Predators preview you're reading I'm going to tell you all about it. Ok, good. Yes, I know things could be worse, and in general life is fine, but some of you might have noticed that I didn't write for a whole week, and that is because when some awful, horrifying, unexpected, gut-wrenching things happen you are left speechless.

I am without speech. Still.

Sunday's colossal debacle against the Eagles, which saw the Giants go from likely No. 2 seed to playoff life support in a matter of seven and a half minutes is not something that I have yet been able to comprehend or grasp. In fact, I'm still not able to speak about it out loud with thoughts of anger and depression over what could have been. Granted, the Giants aren't exactly done. If they defeat the Packers this Sunday they'll have clinched a berth and will still have an outside chance of winning the No. 5 seed lottery to face whatever dung pile "wins" the NFC West, but should Big Blue not come through in Green Bay they'll need help on the final day of the season.

And ain't all that just a bit angst-inducing?

Well, yeah. It is. I do like New York's chances since Aaron Rodgers, while he is expected to be under center for the Pack, is still coming off a concussion that one would have to think leaves him a little woozy, no? I guess we'll find out on Sunday.

After the Giants game I was unable to think or comprehend anything. After all, only two other games, the blown 24-point lead against San Francisco in the 2002 playoffs, and Super Bowl XXXV come close to the gut punch this game delivered. But as I always tell myself, I can handle the depression with the greatest upset in football history in my back pocket.

Of course, that was just the start of a week that has quickly entered a downward spiral.

To make the pain worse, my fantasy football team decided to score all of one touchdown in the semifinals which robbed me of a potentially hefty payday. That one, I'm sure, matters to a lot of you.

But I had an ace up my sleeve. After two full years without seeing a Northwestern basketball game in person, the Wildcats were coming to Madison Square Garden this week, giving me the chance to see a squad that was one of eight remaining undefeateds in the country and just might be the one that finally breaks NU's hex of missing the NCAA Tournament. Of course, it was difficult to feel as though Northwestern's place in March was assured given it had played a non-conference schedule that a group of fifth-graders could probably finish at least .500 against. Still, like clockwork, the Cats took out St. Francis on Monday night with me and some 2,000 other of my closest friends watching.

All was well and good. Until Tuesday.

Before I go into the game itself, allow me to warn any of you from ever leaving a ticket at Will Call in Madison Square Garden. I had two unused tickets Tuesday, and after leaving one for my friend Kristen at Will Call, a homeless man asked if he could have any ticket to the game I could spare and feeling as if there were worse crimes in the world than letting a homeless man see a basketball game, I obliged him. This wound up biting me in the ass at halftime when Kristen showed up and called me with the revelation that MSG had lost my ticket. To make matters worse, the supervisor in charge of will call insisted that without a ticket there was nothing he could do. I'm fairly certain that really he just didn't want to help.

He's a big man after all.

After harassing the supervisor long enough, one of the will call employees, realizing that dozens of tickets which would not be used were still sitting on the table, simply handed Kristen one, prompting the supervisor to smugly chirp, "See? Everything works out."

I hope he's never known the touch of a woman without paying for it.

In any event, with Kristen in the building and Northwestern holding a halftime lead against St. John's, everything seemed nice and fine until the Wildcats suddenly forgot how to shoot and Luka Mirkovic forgot out to play defense in the paint. One unexpected loss to a team expected to be a nonfactor later and suddenly Northwestern's perfect record had a blemish that just may keep them from dancing in three months.

So all that was pretty bad. Then last night I got the flu. So everything's going great. Amazingly, the most normal thing that seems to be happening is that the Devils fired coach John MacLean this morning and brought in Jacques Lemaire for a third tour behind the bench. Then again, GM Lou Lamoriello goes through about seven coaches a season anyway.

Alright, time for some picks.

Last week: 6-10-0
Season: 110-105-10

PITTSBURGH (-15) over Carolina
Dallas (-7) over ARIZONA
NY Giants (+3) over GREEN BAY
New England (-9) over BUFFALO
NY Jets (+1) over CHICAGO
Baltimore (-4) over CLEVELAND
KANSAS CITY (-5) over Tennessee
ST. LOUIS (-2) over San Francisco
Detroit (+4) over MIAMI
JACKSONVILLE (-7) over Washington
San Diego (-8) over CINCINNATI
Houston (-3) over DENVER
Indianapolis (-3) over OAKLAND
TAMPA BAY (-6) over Seattle
Minnesota (+14) over PHILADELPHIA
ATLANTA (-3) over New Orleans

There you have it folks. Hopefully next week is better. Oh, and Merry Christmas.

Good Thing I Didn't Buy That Ticket To Minnesota

At the beginning of every NFL season I take a look at the schedule to see what trips I might be interested in taking around the country. Because the Giants only visit teams in the AFC once every eight years, those, clearly, are at a premium. Look no further than last season's trip to Kansas City, this season's trip to Indianapolis or next year's planned jaunt to New England for evidence of that. NFC trips I still like to make, but there is far less urgency, and it might be for that reason that I opted not to go to Minnesota this season for the Giants' Week 14 showdown with the Vikings.

Given that I have a good friend at the University of Minnesota and I have a soft spot for the upper midwest, it was certainly a consideration, but boy am I lucky I opted to pass on that trip this year. For those of you who haven't seen, a blizzard hammered Minneapolis this weekend, which despite the Giants' best efforts to beat the snow to the punch -- they left 3.5 hours earlier than scheduled -- the weather was so bad New York was actually diverted to Kansas City for the night. There were serious concerns Saturday night over the fairness of holding a noon CT game Sunday afternoon that would require the Giants to leave Kansas City at 7 a.m. for a game five hours later, and while the Vikings pushed for the game to stay on schedule -- with the inherent competitive advantage, who could blame them -- the logistical nightmare of mobilizing an entire football team at such short notice finally pushed the NFL to postpone the game until tonight, still to be played at the Metrodome.

At this point, with Monday and Tuesday off from work at ticket prices dropping precipitously in Minneapolis due to the scheduling change, I once again began looking up plane flights, and very nearly purchased one that, because it was cheap, was nonrefundable.

Good thing I chose to wait a few hours. While most of us were sleeping, God intervened.



Yeah, that's right. The inflatable roof of the Metrodome collapsed and tore open in the middle of the night, pouring tons of snow on the field and, clearly, making the building unusable for the forseeable future.

With the structural challenge of holding a game in Minnesota the NFL was left to scramble for an alternative venue, with places such as the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium and New Orleans' Superdome discussed, before the NFL finally decided to truck their entire operation to Detroit and hold the game at Ford Field. Ironically, it will be the first Monday Night Football game at the home of the Detroit Lions, who will not be playing.

While this is, undoubtedly a bizarre situation, it is not without some precedent, particularly for the New York Giants. Famously, a Giants-Saints game was relocated to Giants Stadium in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina had decimated the Superdome and the Saints were left entirely in limbo for the course of a season. Less well-remembered is a Chargers-Dolphins game that was shifted to Tempe, Ariz., due to wild fires in the San Diego area in 2003.

This may be one of the more bizarre and unexpected game relocations in recent memory, however, and with a crowd of nebulous rooting interests awaiting -- tickets were free to the Detroit public and disappeared in 90 minutes -- no one is quite sure what to expect. The Vikings, however, may be disappointed with a lack of anticipated fan support. The only Viking who may be happy is Brett Favre, who just may get to keep his vaunted streak alive with the delay.

And the rest of the world very much is disappointed with that possibility.

In other news, before I sign off, something bizarre happened in hockey that I'm sure none of you are aware of -- nor can you find in today's excellent Blackhawks-Avalanche preview -- that is pretty wild. In a showdown between Minnesota and Anaheim, the Wild's Mikko Koivu stole the Ducks' Bobby Ryan's stick right out of his hands after losing his own. And the result? Bobby Ryan picked up Koivu's stick and scored a goal. Of course. The craziest part? Koivu's stick curved in the wrong direction for the right-handed Ryan. Check it out for yourself.



You may have to watch it a few times to grasp the whole exchange, but boy is it bizarre. If nothing else, I'm convinced that karma, at least in hockey, exists.

As for whether or not it exists in football, well, we might find out tonight in Detroit, though really, aside from how bizarre the situation is, I'm not really sure of anything with this game -- least of all whom might be favored by that karma. All I can do is watch.

NFL Picks Week Nine: In Which I Look Toward The Future

It's probably a little too soon to be talking about this already -- the trip isn't for two more weeks -- but the bye week and a flurry of bad news related to my Devils periodically causes the mind to wander. Fortunately, the Giants return to action this weekend against Seattle so I won't have to wander much longer, but I couldn't help but get jazzed upon seeing the photo to the right.

Yeah, you're seeing that right. That's Northwestern's home gridiron painted in the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field in Chicago. For those of you who aren't aware, on November 20 the Wildcats will be leaving their regular home of Ryan Field (nee Dyche Stadium) for the mecca of National League baseball when they take on Illinois. It will be the first college football game played at Wrigley in nearly 72 years and the first football game of any type since the Bears left for Soldier Field in 1971.

The novel setting, the joy of watching my alma mater in person and the excitement of returning to Chicago for the first time in three years all add up to an awfully pleasant distraction from what has been a two weeks in sports ranging from boring to depressing -- though I guess the Knicks' 2-2 start is mild cause for excitement. Beyond the anticipation of the Wrigley game, however, the biggest cause for excitement for me has been Southampton's race back up to the promotion zone of League One, which I'm sure you've all been paying attention to.

Oh, and the Giants won the World Series, which I guess is pretty cool considering it ended one of the more underrated title droughts in baseball history. The best part about it for me, however, was getting an e-mail from a friend in Australia congratulating me when she didn't realize that the San Francisco Giants are not the New York Giants. Really, it's a pretty honest mistake, and considering she was the absolute first person to congratulate me when the Giants actually did win the Super Bowl three years ago, I'd say she's earned a lifetime of sports-centric passes.

But, as I so often do, I'm getting off topic.

I'm going to Chicago and going to Wrigley, and beer, college football, Giordano's stuffed pizza and a whole lot of Northwestern fun await -- not to mention one of the more interesting sporting events I'll have ever been to. What's even more exciting about the whole experience, however, is that after an almost incomprehensible three-year drought in which I didn't see Northwestern in person, I'll be going to my second game this season with a few more on the way in the near future. Surely, you all remember my jaunt out to Minnesota to see the Cats and Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium, but next year and the year after provide even more opportunities.

Northwestern opens its 2011 schedule on Sept. 3, 2011 at Boston College with another visit east to West Point two weeks later. A mid-season trip to Nebraska is also intriguing though obviously far less convenient. A year later, in 2012, the Cats return to Syracuse to take on the Orange in another easily do-able trip.

And so, for several reasons, I look toward the future of college football with incredible zeal -- and because I'm a little too anxious about this weekend's game against Penn State. Pro football should be a little easier to watch this week. I don't want to be arrogant, but as the Giants finally return from the bye they take on a Seahawks team that is apparently without it's starting quarterback and wasn't all that great to begin with.

So I guess I know what one of my picks will be. As if it were going to be any different. And now, once you're done sifting through all the info of that awesome Bruins-Capitals preview you saw, check out the rest of them.

Last week: 7-5-1
Season: 55-56-6

NY Giants (-7) over SEATTLE
Tampa Bay (+9) over ATLANTA
Chicago (-3) over BUFFALO
New England (-5) over CLEVELAND
NY Jets (-5) over DETROIT
MINNESOTA (-8) over Arizona
New Orleans (-7) over CAROLINA
BALTIMORE (-5) over Miami
San Diego (-3) over HOUSTON
Kansas City (+3) over OAKLAND
Indianapolis (+3) over PHILADELPHIA
GREEN BAY (-9) over Dallas
Pittsburgh (-5) over CINCINNATI

Did I really just pick only three home teams? Apparently. We'll see just how crazy I am on Sunday.

NFL Picks Week Seven: In Which I Tell You About Buffalo

Yes, some of you might have noticed that I didn't write anything at all this week. One of you, in fact, demanded to know why I hadn't said anything about the Giants' impressive 3-1 (now 3-2) series lead over the Phillies. Come to think of it, that person may be the only one who reads this with any regularity. Either way, fear not, because I have a justified reason for being so damn lazy with updating this little-trafficked writing space.

And that is because of the beautiful city of Buffalo, which you see to your right. The Queen City is a remarkable place in just about every way and if you have a chance to visit, well, the food is pretty good.

The beer, too.

Either way, I was unable to write and entertain you all because I was on a business trip up to the shores of Lake Erie in Western New York where I got to see the 2010 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Inductions. And if you didn't know that, you clearly weren't talking to me at all this week. Or at least you weren't having me foist my stories in your face the entire time. Either is possible.

I won't begrudge you for not having read them, but know that you missed out on brilliance.

In any event, I'm back now, and fear not, I have, in fact been paying attention to those wild and crazy stories of the day, namely the fact that if the San Francisco Giants can win one more game I will officially be able to watch the World Series this year, but also the very interesting debate going on over the new rules the NFL has levied regarding dangerous hits and tackles.

I have my own ideas regarding a fairly unorthodox solution, which would be to decrease the effectiveness of pads. Why? Because if you don't feel like your body is covered in armor, you won't use it as a missile. Aussie Rules Football and Rugby are fraught with tons of tackling with almost no padding whatsoever. And that's because it's tackling, not body launching. Players are taught proper form where they square up and wrap an opposing player before taking him to the ground because they have to defend themselves as well as their opponent from injury. American football has grown into a game where this is considered unnecessary by men who feel so protected by their equipment that they assume an air of invincibility.

Now, that said, do I really think the NFL should decrease the protectiveness of its equipment? No, of course not. I think the NFL should accept that its a violent game they make their bread with, that split-second defensive reactions will inevitably lead to injuries and that simply fining a player won't undo years of ingrained psychological training to value toughness and intensity above personal safety.

Punishing the players financially, is not the answer, and the fact that these dangers are an inherent risk of the game is simply evidence that an 18-game schedule is a foolish idea.

The 16-game schedule works out just fine, however. And we've got plenty of those 16 games to talk about this weekend, so let's get on with it.

Last Week: 5-8-1
Season: 41-44-5

ATLANTA (-4) over Cincinnati
Washington (+3) over CHICAGO
TENNESSEE (-3) over Philadelphia
Jacksonville (+10) over KANSAS CITY
Pittsburgh (-3) over MIAMI
NEW ORLEANS (-14) over Cleveland
St. Louis (+3) over TAMPA BAY
San Francisco (-3) over CAROLINA
BALTIMORE (-14) over Buffalo
SEATTLE (-7) over Arizona
DENVER  (-9) over Oakland
SAN DIEGO (-3) over New England
GREEN BAY (-3) over Minnesota
NY Giants (+4) over DALLAS

Those are your ironclad locks, people. Enjoy the weekend.

NFL Picks Week Six: In Which I Mostly Talk Hockey

As you've all no-doubt noticed, hockey season is underway, and that means any of you who see me socially will probably seeing a lot less of me because I'll be busy churning out exciting stories like this one. I hope you're able to handle it. One of those days in which I will not be in the office, however, is tonight, and I am celebrating the occasion in the only way I possibly know how.

I'm going to a hockey game.

Yes, it seems like an odd choice, but I do enjoy seeing them in person once in a while, particularly since my Devils actually got off the shnide and won a game on Wednesday. Hopefully that'll be the release that gets the team moving, and I suppose I'll be finding out tonight when I take my mother to see the glory that is the Prudential Center. Tonight's foe will be the Colorado Avalanche, which almost certainly will stir up angry memories in me of the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals, but what can you do? More than anything, I'm just happy to get out to my first hockey game of the year, even if it isn't a new or exciting arena.

Sometimes you go with what you're comfortable with. I'll get to those new buildings eventually.

Now, I know going to this game will cause me to miss the first half of Game One of the ALCS, but I'm prepared to except this eventuality as the cost of seeing one team I care about immeasurably as opposed to two teams I'm highly ambivalent about. Besides, I'll still catch the back end of it, and while I'll be watching both the ALCS and the NLCS, where the Giants will be taking on the Fighting Satans, most of the next 48 hours really just involve counting down the minutes until I get to watch football.

Don't worry, though. When rooting for the San Francisco Gigantes, I will have the best charm anyone could need at my side courtesy of one Stephanie Bowen.

As for football, and those other Giants -- you know, my Giants -- I'm reaching the point where one needs to both be excited and yet temper their expectations. They've looked good the past two weeks and last Sunday's solid whipping of the highly touted Texans has got people talking about that No. 1-ranked defense. I enjoy the good feelings, but maybe they're talking a little too much. Don't get me wrong. I like how Big Blue is playing and a strong defense is the backbone of nearly any championship team, but when even Adam Schefter is talking about the Super Bowl potential of New York's defense, the idea is clearly no longer held to just the minds of irrational and hyper excessive fans.

But I get antsy.

So, in the interests of my own sanity, can we wait until we're past, you know, Week Six of a 17-week season before we start bouncing around all the Super Bowl talk? Pretty please? My anxiety issues depend on us all consuming a dose of reality until at least Thanksgiving. Then maybe we'll chat, but until then, lets keeping assuming the Giants are underdogs.

And speaking of underdogs, let's do some picking.
Last Week: 8-6-0
Season: 36-36-4 (Back to .500!)

NY GIANTS (-10) over Detroit
CHICAGO (-7) over Seattle
GREEN BAY (even) over Miami
San Diego (-9) over ST. LOUIS
Baltimore (+3) over NEW ENGLAND
Atlanta (+3) over PHILADELPHIA
PITTSBURGH (-14) over Cleveland
New Orleans (-5) over TAMPA BAY
HOUSTON (-5) over Kansas City
NY Jets (-3) over DENVER
Oakland (+7) over SAN FRANCISCO
MINNESOTA (-2) over Dallas
Indianapolis (-4) over WASHINGTON
Tennessee (-3) over JACKSONVILLE

Alright, I'm spent, kids. And off to the hockey game. Have a good weekend, everybody.

Lightning Strikes In The Meadowlands

Alright kids, if you can pull yourselves away from that awesome Blackhawks-Predators preview you're reading, I've got two things I'd like to talk to you about. The first one has to deal with that oh so irritating presence of thunder and lightning at the Meadowlands. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but the Jets have been on national TV twice this year and both times they had to put off their start times because of weather.

Now, for a sport that prides itself on playing in the elements this has raised some irritation both over the decision not to build a roof at the New Meadowlands Stadium and the concern over lightning. These complaints are silly. Lets point out a few things.

A) Retractable roofs are nice, but watching football outside is nicer. As someone who has seen football under a retractable roof just one month ago in Indianapolis, I can attest to the fact that the feeling of being connected to the elements simply isn't there even with the roof open. Also, weren't those images of the Vikings and Jets playing through a rainstorm totally awesome to see in HD?

B) You may want to go to bed and the fans may have places to go so they can be at work in the morning hours, but you can't play through lightning. Why? Well, it's pretty damn dangerous. No that's not a joke. An entire soccer team was killed by lightning in a match in the Congo 12 years ago.

I think it's ok to delay the kickoff. You'll all be a little tired in the morning, but that's the price you pay for being a fan sometimes.

Elsewhere some of you might have noticed this baseball game last night. I was always aware of the fact that the Texas Rangers were one of only three teams to have never appeared in the World Series, along with Washington/Montreal and Seattle, but until last night I hadn't realized that Texas was the only franchise to never even win a postseason series.

In a 40-year history that has included Nolan Ryan, Rafael Palmiero, Juan Gonzalez and Alex Rodriguez, you've got to wonder how on Earth that happened. Particularly since the franchise has been run by such able people for large swaths of its history. Apparently all the team really needed was other-worldly ace Cliff Lee and a delightful curly-haired Jewish boy named Ian Kinsler to finally pull off the task against a Rays team that I had winning the World Series until Sports Illustrated got their messy hands involved.

Not that I'm bitter.

It should be interesting to see if Lee can repeat his magic in the next round against his maybe-future teammates in the ALCS, but considering Texas has been to the postseason three times before this year and lost each time -- to the Yankees -- the fates may be against them. The bigger question is just who am I going to be rooting for for the rest of the postseason. And since I've been looking for ways to ignore the Devils' poor start, I've been spending a lot of my free time pondering just that. Though I should note, the Giants and their No. 1-ranked defense have been helping with that.

Well, I will obviously be rooting for the Giants over the Phillies in the NLCS, with little hesitation. As for the AL, I'm pretty ambivalent about this one after discarding my Yankee hatred for a girlfriend five years ago. Let's say I'm rotting for Texas for variety's sake, though I'm sure the Yankees will find some way to win, since they always do. Everyone seems to think we're headed for a Yankees-Phillies World Series again -- and they're probably right, but I'm holding out hope.

Giants-Rangers it is. Oh and hell, let's say the Giants take it in six. At least then I'll have gotten one of my pennant winners right.

NFL Picks Week Five: In Which I Blame Sports Illustrated

See, I thought I made a relatively reasonable and plausible pick for my baseball preview earlier this week when I tabbed the abundantly talented Tampa Bay Rays to win the World Series. I want to make it abundantly clear however that I wouldn't have made that selection had I written it after receiving last week's Sports Illustrated in the mail. SI decided, for its baseball playoff preview, to go with an almost brutally hubristic picture of Rays ace David Price blowing up a piece of bubble gum for its cover. And we all know what that means.

I've discussed the fickle nature of the SI Cover Jinx before. Multiple times. While I wouldn't necessarily claim to fear it in all situations there does seem to be some pretty damning evidence this time around, most notably Price laying an enormous egg in his playoff-opening start against the Rangers Wednesday. On Thursday things, um, didn't get much better.

So yeah, I think it's perfectly reasonable to blame this entirely on the cover artists at Sports Illustrated rather than on my own ineptitude when it comes to predicting baseball games. This may still render my entire playoff preview moot, but at least I was on to something when I said the Giants had good pitching if Tim Lincecum's 14-K effort last night against the Braves is any indication. Basically I'm going to lean on that and ignore the fact that I'm clearly not the baseball prognosticator I thought I was.

I learned yesterday however, that if you thought I was a tremendous baseball brain that would be understandable -- assuming you also thought I had just gone on a months-long eating binge or never lost all that weight in high school. And that's because if you put about 60 more pounds on me and take about a half inch off of my hairline, I'm the spitting image of White Sox Assistant GM Rick Hahn, who just happens to be one of the main candidates for the Mets' vacant GM post. I'm not sure if I should be flattered or disturbed by the almost immediate comparisons brought on by a number of my friends, but if it nets me free tickets I can live with it.

Besides, he's still handsome, right?

Regardless of his appearance, Hahn wouldn't be a bad hire. He was recently named the No. 1 GM prospect in the Majors by Baseball America, and when you look at his educational pedigree of the University of Michigan, Harvard Law School and (cough) the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, you know, he seems like a bright guy. If we're lucky he'll get the job. And maybe he'll join me at Blondie's on the Upper West Side for some Wildcats games.



In other news that I'm sure not nearly enough of you noticed, the NHL season kicked off last night. Surely you've all been reading up on your Blackhawks as they start their title defense. Or at least I hope you have. If any of you bothered to stay up and watch the Oilers open up their season with the Flames in the inaugural Battle of Alberta, you saw one of the most stunning goals to start a career that anyone could hope for when Jordan Eberle netted a totally awesome shorty in the third period.

Of course, Edmonton probably isn't going anywhere this year, but you might want to pay more attention tonight when the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils (I hope) open their campaign against the Dallas Stars tonight in Newark. This will be the first test of whether or not New Jersey's 15-year experiment of signing Ilya Kovalchuk was worth all the anxiety. My guess is it was, but I'm more than a little biased. I didn't put together a full NHL preview for a few reasons, but let's just say I like the Devils' new commitment to offense and their top line of Kovalchuk, Travis Zajac and Zach Parise. I see them taking it all over the equally as potent Canucks in June.

So yeah, the title of this whole entry is about football picks. I haven't much talked about football, but I should probably get on that. Here we go.

Last week: 9-5-0
Season: 28-30-4

NY Giants (+3) over HOUSTON
Jacksonville (-2) over BUFFALO
CINCINNATI (-7) over Tampa Bay
Atlanta (-3) over CLEVELAND
DETROIT (-3) over St. Louis
INDIANAPOLIS (-8) over Kansas City
Green Bay (-3) over WASHINGTON
CAROLINA (+3) over Chicago
BALTIMORE (-7) over Denver
New Orleans (-7) over ARIZONA
Tennessee (+7) over DALLAS
San Diego (-7) over OAKLAND
SAN FRANCISCO (-4) over Philadelphia
NY JETS (-4) over Minnesota

I want to make it clear, not that you'll believe me, that it was entirely unintentional that the Giants were the only NFC East team I picked to win this week. You play the matchups not the rivalries. Or maybe the rivalries. I never claimed to be objective.

Have a good weekend everybody.

1995 NFL Mail Bag: The Detroit Lions

Looking back on it, it's hard for us to remember that there once was a time that the Detroit Lions weren't completely god awful. That time was the 1990s, when Wayne Fontes led something of a renaissance for football in Motown despite everyone thinking he looked like that creepy Italian Restauranteur who was actually selling spaghetti bolognese as a front for the mob.

In fact, however, Fontes was just a football coach, and from the looks of it not too shabby of one either. The Lions would win two NFC Central titles and make the playoffs four times under Fontes, as well as securing two more postseason berths before the decade was out. That's six if you're counting, which means in the 1990s, if you look up postseason participants in a given year the Lions are more likely to be among them than not.

Yeah, this is the same team that went 0-16 two years ago.

I bring this up because it was during this peculiar Barry Sanders-driven renaissance that I sent a letter to the Lions and received a response, according to the postmark, on March 21, 1995. Fontes was still in charge, Barry Sanders was a six-time Pro Bowler and GM was still solvent and financially independent. It was a good time for the Motor City.

It was so good that you'd think the Honolulu Blue and Silver could have sent me more than three pieces of paper and a poster, but all in all, considering what other teams sent me this was actually a pretty decent take. It's one of my favorites actually and I'll give you the two reasons why.

For starters, like every team the Lions sent me the requisite "thanks for writing letter" and I'm always intrigued by what the letterhead will look like. Not only is the letterhead for the Lions in color, but you'll notice the awesome graphic in the upper left corner. Yeah, that's the Lions logo from 1961-69. I totally dig it, and I love that they still use it. Either that or they have an absurdly large amount of leftover stationary from the 1960s.

Among other goodies included was a single sheet of paper detailing the history of the Detroit Lions, which apparently could be summed up in about 600 words. I've noticed that quite a few teams, and I think all of the ones in the NFC North have included something like this, a clear sign that they hadn't updated most of their distributed press materials for modern technology yet -- though my memory on 1995 is spacey; photocopiers may have been the height of modernization for all I know.

The paper ends with Detroit's loss in the 1991 NFC Championship Game against the eventual Super Bowl Champion Redskins, and yes, it is still hard to imagine the Lions in a Conference Championship Game, but looking back on it and knowing that three seasons passed between that "history" of the Lions being written and me receiving the mail, I find it hard to believe they felt they could ignore the two playoff berths and the divisional title they won in that period.

Something tells me they cling to those a little more strongly now.

Like every team, mail is a golden opportunity to make money and the Lions certainly weren't too good to beg for your change. To wit, they included a list of players I could purchase 8x10 black and white glossy photos of if I so chose. Some names are memorable and make sense: Sanders, Chris Spielman, Herman Moore, hell even Brett Perriman seems a reasonable purchase choice. But I found it odd that other selections you could buy (for just $5!) included Dave Krieg, a journeyman quarterback whose actually fairly impressive career accomplishments are overshadowed by the fact that he fumbled more than anyone else in NFL history at the time he retired. Given that other names among the top five in NFL fumbles are Warren Moon, Brett Favre and John Elway, maybe its not such bad company to keep.

Most peculiar on this list of potential player purchases to me, however, was Lomas Brown, whom I most vividly remember for saying the words, "I'm so proud to be a New York Giant" following Big Blue's win in the 2000 NFC Championship Game when he was on New York's offensive line. This prompted two questions from me, namely A) Lomas Brown was on the Lions? and B) Who on Earth would want a glossy photo print of Lomas Brown?

I could also purchase a glossy photo of starting quarterback Scott Mitchell, but why would I want to do that when the Lions already gave me this totally fucking sweet poster of him? This is the second reason I love the package the Lions sent me and it might be my favorite item that I've received from any team. Period.

Why?

It is a hilariously awful and kitschy product that represents the essence of 1990s football marketing. Much along the lines of the ad Bill Parcells did for Apex in my Patriots mail, this poster of Mitchell, who was both a perfectly good and yet eminently forgettable player echoes to a bygone era when Starter actually produced paraphernalia for NFL teams. And it was available at J.C. Penny. Not only is the sideline merchandise he's modeling in the lower left corner a heartwarming reminder of watching football as a child but perhaps most importantly, look at that hair.

Seriously, look at how awesome that is.

Lastly, and this is one of the most amazing parts of the poster, while playing an NFL Game, it really looks like he's wearing, yup, you guessed it, Reebok Pumps. Come on, you remember Pumps, right?

What this package contained was not only a decent amount of swag but about three dozen cheerful reminders of watching football in my childhood. Aside from a few laughs, a walk down football memory lane is really about the best I can hope for while sifting through these.

In the case of the Lions, even if they can no longer do it on the field, at least in my heart this was an unmitigated success. Reading through all of it was just the right thing to cheer me up after I realized that I slept through all of Geelong's season opening win over Essendon this morning. Don't worry, ESPN360.com lets you watch replays of it. I speculate that I slept through it because I was just too exhausted by last night's phenomenal Kansas State-Xavier Sweet Sixteen game.

And so, because of this, I thank the Lions for getting my day started properly. If this didn't excite you, dear reader, perhaps learning about tonight's Sabres-Senators match will, though I'm skeptical.

If neither of those do the trick, well, I'm sure you'll all find some way to survive. It is Friday after all. Have a good weekend, everyone.

Oh, Sid. You're Adorable.

In times when the NCAA Tournament has gone so haywire that three of your Final Four teams are knocked out by the end of the second round, it's important to remember that other items on the sports landscape can still attract your attention before Major League Baseball's Opening Day.

I speak, of course, of hockey.

Yeah, I know, you all probably get tired of me talking about how awesome hockey is, even though it is, in fact, awesome. The 82-game regular season can, at times, seem like it drags on for me too, even when I'm pumping out these for a living. But I'll still argue to the death with any of you that it's more entertaining than that dog and pony show we call the NBA regular season. The speed, skill, tension and penchant for close games put it a cut above for me.

Take for example last night's game between the Kings and Avalanche, both exciting, young teams, both featuring future superstars on their rosters, both in the heat of an almost ridiculously logjammed playoff hunt in the Western Conference. Every night, we are treated to a game that is at least close for most of regulation, but on a pretty regular basis we get a game like this one, where two zany goals are scored and one of them forces overtime with less than ten seconds left.


And then sometimes we get games like last night's showdown between Detroit and Pittsburgh. Now the dislike between these two is well documented at this point. After consecutive pairings in the Stanley Cup Finals the last two seasons, with each team taking a title of their own, it's clear there is no love lost. As a piece by SI's resident hockey guru Mike Farber detailed last week, fortunes are slightly different for the Red Wings this time around after being battered by injuries all season, but as their 3-1 win highlighted by Valtteri Filppula's through-the-wickets goal showed, they're still feisty. And, uh, they made Sidney Crosby feel it last night.



Yeah, that's Sidney. The NHL, NBC and Sportscenter have been pumping him up to you for the past five years as the next great player in the League, and they have good reason. He's already the youngest captain in NHL history to hoist the Stanley Cup, the youngest MVP in League history, the only teenager in the history of the four major North American sports leagues to win a scoring title and you may recall he also scored the overtime-winner in the Gold Medal Game for Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics last month.

So, uh, yeah, he's pretty good.

But that said, a not so well-guarded secret is that on the ice he's, you know, kind of a jerk. This would hardly separate him from most of the great players in the League. After all, being a constant physical target will get you fed up and sometimes you have no choice but to retaliate. But last night's postgame scrap was particularly fun for me. For one, it's not often that you see two dynamic skill players like Crosby and Henrik Zetterberg mixing it up. The last time I can think of is when Jarome Iginla and Vincent Lecavalier dropped the gloves in the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals, and those were special circumstances.

This was just a regular season game, but what fascinated me was the Wings' all out jump on Crosby as soon as the jostling began. While "goalie fight" may be the two greatest words in hockey, it isn't often you see a star player get a faceful of catching glove.

Now, Sid is no stranger to mixing it up. Since his first fight more than two years ago he's scrapped several times, with some results more dignified than others.

And while mixups like this make Crosby an irritating player to go against, to say nothing of his skill -- and with the Penguins currently locked in a fierce division race with my Devils as the season winds down I have reason to dislike him -- I can't help but appreciate such a talented superstar who isn't afraid to display the grit once in a while. Crosby seems destined to become one of the greats, and while I can't possibly fathom that anyone will ever transcend the sport again like Wayne Gretzky did, there will always be one aspect of the game at with Crosby has already topped the Great One, and by a fair margin at that.



So if, like me, your bracket is completely shot, remember that nearly every night you can sit down in front of your TV and maybe catch one of the greatest athletes in the world display his skill and, well, try to beat the crap out of someone. After all, when's the last time you saw Kobe Bryant or Lebron James take a swing. If you're lucky, you might even catch a buzzer beater. No, not one of those buzzer beaters. Hockey buzzer beaters. They happen more often than you think.