NHL Gives January 1 To NFL
Written by Christopher Corazon, Saturday December 31 2011
New Year’s Day used to be about College Football. You could recover from that New Year’s Eve hangover by going bowling with a day filled with college football. Then the NCAA decided to turn it into a “bowl season”. This year there will not be any college ball on the first. What happened next is they got to spread out the mediocrity. How else do you explain a bowl game between UCLA (led by a coach they fired a month ago) vs. Illinois (a team that lost their last 6 games)? Hey Illinois, in other sports, when a team forgets how to play in the last part of the season, they don’t go the post season, like the Red Sox. Apologies to the Red Sox, they at least won a few games.
The NHL took advantage when the NCAA abandoned the first of the year. They created the Winter Classic, an outdoor hockey game and a new tradition for New Year’s Day. Only this year, the Classic won’t be on the first. They moved it to the second. Why? Is the NHL scared of the NFL in week 17? Everybody knows week 17 barely matters. Most fantasy leagues wrapped up in week 16 (congrats by the way to Todd, for winning the Playerpress Fantasy League). Very few games matter at all this week. Sure, the Giants play the Cowboys, and the winner goes to the playoffs, but neither team will probably last deep in the post season. Kyle Orton gets to return to Denver, and may make the fans wish they made a billboard for him. After that, the schedule gets thin.
New England will play for home field in the AFC. Interestingly this week, there was a debate about Tom Brady’s health. ESPN reported he was not at practice, WBZ in Boston said that he was. Green Bay is playing, but they will not gain anything and can only risk injuries. Meanwhile, there are games like Washington vs. Philadelphia in the “Nobody Cares” Bowl. (seriously, does even B-Dub care?) The NHL could have stolen that Philadelphia audience, seeing how the Flyers are hosting this year’s classic. But the NHL decided to wait another day. In week 16, more teams still had a chance to make the playoffs. Next week, wild card weekend should be exciting. But week 17 is weak, yet it is still strong enough to make the NHL change their new tradition.
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Hey, I cared CC. I wanted the Eagles to LOSE so they could get a higher draft pick. But seriously, the NHL didn't give Jan 1 to the NFL. The NFL rules the sports universe, so the NHL was smart to stay out their way so their marque game of the year wouldn't get crushed in the ratings. By the way, I loved the Alumni game yesterday. 66 -year-old Bernie Parent in goal for a little over five minutes and throwing a shutout at the hated Rangers? Priceless.