Penn State Football

It's rivalry week in college football, so it's justified that many eyes may not have been on the Penn State and Wisconsin game in Happy Valley this afternoon.

Many may have been looking at Bedlam, the Iron Bowl, Michigan vs. Ohio St., Florida vs, Florida State, etc. However, those who missed Penn State and Wisconsin play missed a memorable game.

 This game would be the last for the seniors, who have faced NCAA sanctions and off field problems that many people could could no even fathom. Senior, Micheal Mauti, missed the game due to a left knee injury, and to show how much he meant to the team, the entire Penn State roster wore his number 42 on their helmets.

Mauti was one of the 31 seniors who chose to stay at Penn State, when given the opportunity to transfer without penalty. He was also one of those who stood up before the season and guaranteed that the Penn State football team would give 100% effort game in and game out.

Did they ever.

      I can not remember how many ESPN College Football analysts I heard saying that Penn State would be lucky to get three maybe four wins this year. I think I even heard some people saying that they would not get a win at all.

8-4.

Eight wins, four losses for the Penn State football team that not only won games, they dominated many. Head coach Bill O'Brian should get serious consideration for Big Ten coach of the year if not national coach of the year.

The seniors went out with an emotional overtime win over Big Ten Championship Bound Wisconsin. Oddly enough, Penn State finished the regular season with a better record that the Badgers of Wisconsin.

We will see what the next few seasons have in store for the Nittany Lions, but for now at least they can hold their heads high.

How's eight wins for you experts.

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.

Thanksgiving Football

As I'm stuck in traffic at the I'm writing this, I begin to think how ingrained football has become in our country. Throughout the day you can watch football, from your local high schools to collegiate and the professionals wearing their throwbacks. I'm not saying that everyone watches football, that's a given, but Thanksgiving football is one of the best ways to try to get them into the sport. A saying I'm heard a bit is the 3 F's on Thanksgiving. In case you're not aware of them they are family, food and football. Not a bad pairing.

For today's matchups we have the 9-1 Houston Texans against the 4-6 Detroit lions. I think this will go down to the wire. Even with the Lions having a sub-par record so far. I expect them to give the Texans a run for their money. (Of course as I'm writing this the Lions are winning(34-24)

Another game on today is the Washington vs. Dallas game. I think that this one will also be a close game. With the Redskins recording a great win over the struggling Eagles (3-7) in their last game. At 4-6, Washington is 3rd in the NFC East. With New York at 6-4, if the dice roll in Washington's favor we could see Washington winning the division with the Giants and the Cowboys both struggling in the division. The only way I see the Eagles winning the division is if they win out and  have Washington, Dallas and New York all having 7 or less wins.

  

And the last game on the schedule tonight is the New England vs. New York game. With the Patriots at 7-3 and the J-E-T-S jets at 4-6 ,it should be interesting to see if the Jets can keep the winning streak alive after their win against St. Louis. While with New England coming off their impressive victory against Andrew Luck and the surging colt.

Thanksgiving is one of the best day for football. Hope you all enjoy your day, and enjoy your football. Enjoy

Miami Marlins

Last winter, the Marlins organization changed its name from "Florida" to "Miami," built a new stadium, and signed a bunch a new free agents with big contracts. The fans and organization both hoped to be in World Series contention for years to come.

What a difference 12 months makes.

A year later the Marlins have traded away all it's big name players, and a huge amount of salary. ESPN's Buster Olney said that this was something Major League Baseball feared after the Marlins 69 win season a year ago.

Why fear? Well, there seems to be no intention from ownership to use the now free salary space to make the Marlins competitive. And after 80% of the funds for the new stadium was used from tax payers money, what is the organization giving back to the fans?

The MLB fears that this upcoming year for Miami may bring in some of the lowest revenue of any team in any season prior. What motive do the fans have to go out and pay to watch the Marlins this year? Love of the game? We'll see, but one thing is certain, the Marlins don't appear to de done dealing away top players either.

Several tweets from current players who have managed not be traded have voiced their displeasure with what the organization is doing as well.

Hey Miami, I'll come play for you. Just pay for my college tuition and I'll be there....I'm sure you have enough money stores somewhere for that.

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