No respect

I always gave ESPN a little bit of leeway with NHL highlights on their show 'Sportscenter'.  I know that they offered to have a contract with the NHL to show their games on the ESPN family of networks and the NHL thumbed their nose at the offer and started their own network, Versus.  So, for the past couple of years, hockey highlights have been at the tail end of the show or just real quick blips and a few highlights of a goal or two.  And that's it.  However, as I was watching the show this morning, I was saddened at the fact that they glossed over the highlights for the NHL all star game that took place yesterday.  Hockey is sadly the fourth major sport in this country despite the fact that it is far more entertaining than basketball.  Therefore, you don't much focus on it except for during the Winter Classic and the Stanley Cup finals.  Not the rest of the playoffs, but just the finals. 

NBC is taking it in the right direction by showing the game of the week on Sunday afternoons and the games they show are with decent teams and always entertaining.  The game last weekend was a close game, there was a great couple of fights, and in one instance, blood ended up on the glass.  How awesome is that?  Now, I don't expect there to be a ton of hockey games televised but it would be nice to see more than four a month without having to go to a sports bar. 

I went out Saturday evening with some friends to watch the Kansas/Kansas State basketball game.  I was more interested in hanging out with friends and drinking beer than I was in watching the game.  Before halftime of the game, it wasn't a game anymore.  KU is a far superior team and it was boring to watch.  Luckily, we were at an establishment with more than one television, and the NHL skills competition was on one of the t.v.s we were facing.  So I started watching that as opposed to the snoozefest I initially went there for.  It was amazing!  The breakaway competition (the hockey equivalent to the slam dunk [BORING] competition) was mind blowing.  From bouncing the puck on the stick to skating around in circles and backwards to shooting the puck with the shaft of the stick.  The talent these guys have and the hand-eye coordination they have is fun to watch.  Another competition that was on was the hardest shot.  The winner hit the puck at 105.9 miles and hour.  Oh yeah, you read that correctly. 

It's just disappointing that a sport that requires some of the most talent is overshadowed because it is a regional kind of sport.  You don't see kids in Kansas skating with hockey gear on at the age of three and four.  And it's because it isn't part of the culture down here.  Back home, completely different story.  My five year old nephew has been playing hockey for a couple of years now (granted it's like kids playing soccer, they all just swarm to the puck) but they are all very coordinated.  The coaches teach them the skills needed to play the game first and then they can focus on playing the game proficiently.  Same thing goes for the pros.  These guys have been playing this game for so long, that they make it look so easy, but it is insanely difficult.  I'm not saying that it is easy to throw a football fifty yards down the field and hit a person in the hands or that it is easy to throw a baseball in such a way that it appears to fall of the face of the earth, it's just that with hockey there is more to just one facet of the game.  It's both offense and defense and it's non-stop.  On the ice for a couple of minutes and then on the bench to catch your breath just in time to hop over the boards.

If you have never had much of an interest in the sport of hockey, give it a chance.  It can easily win you over with one single fight.   

One extreme to the next

This past Friday and Saturday, the weather hit seventy degrees.  Check your calendars people, it's January.  A few days before that it was in the sixties.  And today?  I went to work and it was nineteen degrees.  It's windy and cold and still below thirty.  Weird right?  But wait, it gets better (or worse).  Tomorrow and Tuesday it is suppose to snow.  And stay below thirty.  Granted, there have been numerous times this past winter when it was suppose to snow and it never came to fruition.  It snowed just two days this month and it wasn't much.  Other than that, this winter has been a let down for us.  I have a friend that lives in Manhattan, KS that has texted me a couple of times this past winter yelling at me to come get the snow that they have had because he hates it. 

These next couple of days, all I can hope for is just some snow to make me smile. 

Historic baseball

While watching 'The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg' I feel as though I have missed the greatest time for the sport of baseball.  I love my modern day Tigers (even my 2003, 119 lose Tigers), but I feel that I really missed out on the ground level of fandom.  Can I do anything about it?  Of course not.  But how great would it be to say, 'I watched Hank Greenberg play' or 'I remember when Al Kaline broke in.'  Saying something like 'I watched Denny McLain win thirty one games in '68.'?  It would make me feel really important.  Hell, I can't even say I watched Alan Trammell's first game, but at least I got to watch the majority of his career.  Come on, tell me a greater combo than Sweet Lou and Tram.  You can't. I suppose the one thing I have is watching Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello play their entire careers.  Those guys have talent, book it. 

But it's more than just wanting to see Tiger greats play.  As an overall feeling, I missed out on the greatest time in the sport.  The raw talent that some of these players had can top some of the modern day players.  There were still farm teams and systems that allowed players to develop, but there were players like Bob Feller who pitched his first game before the age of eighteen.  EIGHTEEN!  What were you doing when you were eighteen?  Not striking out professional baseball players that's what. 

I will forever love baseball over any other sport, just because I grew up watching it more than football or hockey.  Even with the steroids marring the image of the sport, I will stand tall for the sport.    I think that the one thing I want the game to get back to is playing for love of the game that the old timers had and still have.  It never will, but I can always hope.  I know that professional sports today is all about making the big bucks.  I don't care what any pro says.  You want to see an athlete play for the love of sport, go watch a minor league or an independent league game.  Most of those players know they will never play at Fenway or Wrigley or at the JLA or Madison Square Garden.  Then why continue to play?  Because they want to.  They play their sport they have played since childhood because they can and will. 

Worst invention ever

The worst thing ever to be invented is the snooze button.  Shake your head or yell about it all you want, you know it is true.  How many times have you had to rush around because the snooze button was hit one or two too many times?  I'll raise my hand and admit that I have been late a few times to work because I have overslept, but I have also been a little late or almost last because I hit that damned snooze button for just a few more minutes of sleep.  But to what benefit is the snooze button?  I know that when I hit it too many times and have to rush out the door, and more often than not not get my coffee which is just an awful situation, while I am getting through the day I think back to the morning and think to myself, 'did the alarm go off?' 

The simple solution to the situation is just go to bed earlier and get the sleep then as opposed to try and catch up on sleep in the morning when you should be up and getting ready for work, but let's be honest who wants to go to bed earlier than than usual?  I worked twice this week at four in the morning and I felt like an old man going to be around nine o'clock at night, but it was smarter than going to bed later and hitting the snooze button repeatedly.  Generally speaking, I set my morning alarm about an hour before I have to be at work.  It gives me time to drink a cup of coffee and officially wake up before having to be at work.  It also allows me to hit that damned snooze button.  Just in case I need more sleep.  Ten minutes at a time. 


I made the analogy to a coworker that the snooze button is like heroin for an addict.  You don't want to hit it, but when you do, it feels so great. 

Another cold snap

Out of nowhere, the weather took a huge dip yesterday and today.  I've been up for about fifteen minutes this morning and it has been hovering around fifteen degrees outside.  The high for today is around thirty.  If I can't have snow, I might as well enjoy the cold cold weather. 

Anyone who complains about it, move to Florida.