Happy New Year!!

As today's blog happily implies- HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope everyone celebrated and made it home safe and sound. I also hope some of you were able to take in some of the vast amount of sporting events on TV yesterday. Despite the snow, sleet and freezing rain outside my window, much to my surprise, I was really looking forward to the 2008 NHL Winter Classic in Buffalo from the day I read about it on ESPN.com. Let's just say, as a rare hockey fan in these parts, I was happily pleased with how the game turned out. Although part of me wished I was there braving the elements with the other 71,000 fanatics, I was quite happy sitting in the comfort of my living room in my sweats eating clam chowder. Even though there were quite a few stoppages due to Mother Nature having her way, nothing could've ended this game better than a Sidney Crosby shootout goal to win for the Penguins. I give lots of credit to the NHL for making this happen and hope that they're able to stage one of these events yearly.
As a matter of fact, EJ Hradek from ESPN.com makes an interesting suggestion in his blog today (http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3177176&name=hradek_ej): "Let's scrap the All-Star Game, which is a silly event for any sport that includes physical contact. In its place, let's schedule an annual Winter Classic. If they don't want to play it on New Year's Day, why not schedule it for the weekend between the NFL conference championship games and the Super Bowl? It could be a Winter Classic weekend. You can plan on playing Saturday afternoon with Sunday available as a bad weather makeup date.
Each season, you could have different teams in different venues. For example, I've always wanted to see a hockey game in Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park or Wrigley Field. There are a lot of great cities and memorable venues to choose from." I must say that I agree with this 100%. While I enjoy watching the skills challenge (which could still happen in this proposed concept), I'd rather watch a game being played in the elements, just like the players used to do before the sport became their profession, than watch players try to escape injury, play soft, and run the score up in a meaningless all-star game. This is definitely a brilliant idea that someone should get the ball rolling on.
As I get ready to wrap up this latest blog, I'm catching the tail end of what's been another BCS blowout (currently 48-28 West Virginia in the 4th quarter). I have to give it to the BCS for choosing "worthy" competitors so far- in three BCS games, including tonight, the closest margin is the game that's on right now- and that's 20 points and counting!! I sincerely hope that the last two BCS games have a closer result than the first three, otherwise this year's most important bowls will have done nothing but solidify the blatantly obvious fact that there needs to be a playoff system implemented. There's no telling what would happen if you put USC up against Georgia or West Virginia, or other teams that deserved a BCS bid and got hosed. Anyway, we've got a booth review, which is my cue to call it a night. I'll share my thoughts about another disheartening trend I've noticed in my next blog. Until next time...