The NHL is Back!

The NHL is back but are the fans going to join them back in the stadiums? I think the people of the great white north will be back 100%, but some of the lower 48 will be hurting to get their fans back to the buildings. I am a huge hockey fan. It took me many years to really start following the NHL after the first strike and once I got back to it they went and pulled this stunt all over again. Yes I am a tad bit frustrated with them but the NHL somehow won me over, again, by coming back. I refuse to spend money to go to any NHL games this year. I'll be supportive from my couch and watch them on TV but I will not go to a game unless someone gives me tickets.

The thing that irks me the most about the whole lockout is that the players took a deal that was offered MONTHS ago. On October 16, 2012 a 50:50 revenue split was offered to the players and two days later the Players' Association came back with three counter proposals that were just too far for the owners' to accept. This whole fiasco could have been solved before they had to cancel many regular season games if they had just said yes in October to practically the same offer they agreed on a few days ago.  With all that being said, I am very excited to be able to watch some hockey!

BCS National Championship

What a boring game that was Monday night. I don't care if you are the biggest BAMA fan out there. It was a boring, blowout game. I am not saying that the Crimson Tide didn't play good football because they did. Notre Dame couldn't get anything going offensively. They also couldn't stop the BAMA offence. I was extremely disappointed in the officiating, though. In my opinion, there were some horrible calls. If I didn't know better I would say that they were paid to make the outcome as it played out. Now, were there really enough terrible calls to change the outcome of the game? Maybe not. However, the highly questionable calls in the beginning of the game forced a snowball affect on Notre Dame, no doubt! I also believe that the game would have been much different if there wasn't such a long break between the end of the season and the National Championship game itself.  44 days between the last regular season game for Notre Dame and the BCS Championship and 37 for Alabama is simply too many! There isn't a person out there that can say that the teams are the same after that long of a break. It's not just this gap between the regular season and the Championship, there is also a huge period of time between the regular season and all the other silly bowl games. I hope in the future this playoff system is closer to the end of the season.

NFL Playoffs

The wildcard weekend was fun to watch.  However, some games were more fun than others. I was surprised how well the Texans played contrary to how bad the Colts played. I thought the Texans were in a tail spin and were going to crash and burn but they pulled it out over the Bangles. The Colts, in my mind, were going to be a tough team in the playoffs but instead they were easily pecked off by the Ravens. My predictions for the next set of games are as follows: SEA over ALT, SF over GB, NE over HOU, and, last but sure not least, DEN over BAL. I know it's jumping slightly ahead but my Superbowl prediction is DEN 35 to SEA 21.