So far in the month of January.........

Well, the winter sports are in full swing, Basketball is getting near the all star break. Hockey is back in time for a 48 game schedule. We've seen the start of a dynasty in Alabama and the continuation of SEC dominance in college football, also want to state this was the last year for bowl game, starting next year there will be a 4 team play-off. And to top it off, in a couple months, baseball will start up with spring training. 

Today has been a good day, I get the NHL back, even if I had to wait till early January. It will be interesting to see how the teams can adapt to playing so many games in such a tight window of time. I get to see how my sabres can play against quality teams right out of the gate when they play the flyers in their first game of the year. With no training games, this will be the first time they (the players) will have played with their respective teams either for the first time, or last year. Many have gone over sea's to play, so rust won't be an issue.

On the 7th of January, we saw the last BCS bowl game for the time being. I though Notre Dame had a chance, I was wrong big time. Notre Dame looked like little kids playing grown men on steroids  It didn't look good, especially when Alabama ran the ball, it was like the defensive line for Notre Dame didn't want to touch their ( Alabama's) Backs.

In the NFL, the battle to get to the superbowl continues with the greenbay packers and the Broncos of Denver ending their season tonight. On Sunday, the New England Patriots play the Houston Texans, and the Seattle Seahawks go to Atlanta to play the Falcons. Both look to be great games to watch. I'll be paying more attention to the New England game because I'm  a patriots fan, but I'll definatly watch the Falcons game as well. For anyone who isn't sure of the times. Falcons-Seahawks are at 1pm EST and the Patriots-Texans is at 4:30pm EST.

 

More cancellation point to the rift between the NHLPA and the NHL

possibility of no season becomes more apparent

"A total of 422 regular-season games -- 34.3 percent of the season -- were scheduled for Oct. 11 through Dec.14"

Along with those games, is the cancellation of the 2013 NHL All-Star game, that was to be hosted by the Columbus Blue Jackets, in Columbus,Ohio. 

With the lack of a CBA ( collective bargaining agreement ) there can be no season. And as long as the two sides can not come to an agreement, there will be no season.

The next time you hear the NHL announce something, it will be for two things. Either the cancellation of the entire season, or to announce a shortened  season will commence.

Winter classic cancelled 
As you all know, the NHL is currently in a lock out due to the CBA coming to an end of its contract and a contract not being written up due to both sides not being able to agree on a final format.

This years Winter classic was supposed to be played at the Big House, the football stadium of the University of Michigan  the largest college football stadium, It even towers over professional football stadiums its that large, holding around 107,501 crazed fans on Saturdays, it can be the perfect environment to hold a hockey game. 

Along with the winter classic, there was supposed to be a big hockey celebration that involved high school teams, OHL (Ontario Hockey League)  teams, and even AHL ( American Hockey Leagues) teams were to play games here after the winter classic was done. 

We saw events like this with the 2010 winter classic. After Boston and Philly had played their game, an event called "Frozen Fenway" occurred. It pitted 4 teams from Hockey East( 1 Women's game and 1 Men's game) at Fenway park.

It had Northeastern and UNH (university of New Hampshire) for the women's match, and Commonwealth Avenue foes Boston University and Boston College suiting up for the late game  for the men's game.

It's a shame that this wonderful event has to be cancelled due to a new CBA not being agreed on by both parties.

Lets hope that we at least have a season to talk about

NHL LOCKOUT UPDATE

The  2012-13 NHL has been canceled through November 30th due to both sides not able to come to an agreement towards the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the NHL and the NHLPA (players Association).

A total of 326 scheduled games have been canceled from Oct 11th through Nov 30th. This amount is around 26.5% of the total season.

The New York Islanders have found a new home for the 2015-16 season

The New York Islanders, who have been playing in the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum ever since the team joined the league in  1972. Has seen many great players and great events such as a stretch of 4 straight Stanley cups from 1980-1983.

After a long stay here, they (Islanders) are moving to Brooklyn after their long stay in Uniondale. Previous attempts were made to renovate and build a new arena near the coliseum and keep the Islanders in Uniondale. 

The Islanders will keep there color scheme, logo and will still be the "New York" Islanders. Hope to see how they do when they make the move. They will also be sharing the arena with the Nets, who they shared the coliseum  in the early 70's.
There's no place like home, except when home is a 3 year old arena.

Below is some concept art if the Islanders were to change their logo
http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2012/10/24/an-overview-of-what-the-islanders-move-to-brooklyn-means-for-their-fans/

^the link above is where the art was found

NHL CANCELED THROUGH NOVEMBER 1ST

Well after the proposed 50/50 offer, I though that there might be hope for a full season of hockey, I guess not. A total of 135 regular season games were scheduled between Oct 11 and Nov 1. The ball was in the player court, apparently the NHLPA did not like the offer and turned it down. The cancellation of these games were due to an absence of agreement towards the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)

Here is the official notification from the National Hockey League's (NHL) web site.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=643820&cmpid=fb

NHL Lockout

The longer the lockout goes on for, the more and more Professional hockey players playing in the NHL  will sign with teams in Sweden, Russia and other European hockey leagues.

Alexander Ovechkin has been reported to have signed with his former Russian KHL team, the Dynamo Moscow. Don't be surprised if you see other players jumping ship and getting out of dodge while they can.

Another star of the NHL has also left and signed overseas's in Russia. Evgeny Malkin has signed with the Russian hockey organization Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Following Malkin to Metallurg are Ottawa Senators Defense man Sergei Gpnchar and Toronto Maple Leafs Nikolai Kulemin.

If the lock out ends soon, some of the players that sign with European teams might be stuck over there for the year. One of the big problems that European basketball teams faced was signing NBA players to contracts, only to see them gone the next month due to the lockout ending. Some players had to sign a clause that said they had to play the entire year with that team.

Where did the NFL find these replacement refs

So I go to Yahoo to look for a story to read and I see this:

"The NFL is using Officials who weren't good enough for the Lingerie League"

Well I guess I know why some of the refs are completely blowing the games.They weren't good enough for a sub par league where half the crowd doesn't even go for the game (Big surprise there).Lets Hope that none of these lingerie refs weren't officiating the Seattle vs Green Bay Game
If you want to read the full Story, click the link below:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl---lingerie-football-league-commissioner-mocks-nfl-for-its-low-officiating-standards.html
Lets get the real refs back!!!