The Winter and Heritage Classics

The NHL has recently included outdoor games into the regular season schedule; the Winter Classic and the Heritage Classic. The Winter Classic is held on New Years Day for the past 4 years. The Winter Classic has always involved teams from the U.S. The reason being that the whole purpose of the Winter Classic is to generate more fan in the states. You won't be as successful if you use Canadian teams to gather U.S. fans.

Because of this the NHL has instilled the Heritage Classic that will take place between two Canadian teams. The Heritage Classic was held yesterday afternoon in Calgary between the Calgary Flames and the Montreal Canadiens. I did not watch the Heritage Classic. I tried but I couldn't get into it.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the outdoor games, especially if my team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, is not involved. Even when they are I'm glued to the TV. This year as the Pens were in the Winter Classic I fell asleep for the entire 3rd period. Everyone harps about playing the game the way it once was. Who cares? U.S. citizens the NHL is trying to garner sure don't. Even I don't care. The ice can be sloppy outdoors and there are so many other factors to take in when playing the game. I fell in love with the game inside a rink, and that's where it should stay. However the Winter Classic gets good U.S. ratings so I would think that it's here to stay. The Heritage Classic will be here as long as the Winter Classic is to apease Canadian fans.

A Terrible Day for our Sport

In the NHL the New York Islanders are not a very exciting team. They have been the bottom barrell of the NHL for the past decade due to poor team management and ownership. When you get pushed around as much as the Islanders do sometimes you snap. That's exactly what happened on Feburary 11th when the Penguins faced the Islanders in Long Island. The previous game between these two was not very pretty either. The game ended up with both goalies fighting and Penguins backup Brent Johnson injuring Islander starter Rick DiPietro causing him to be out for multiple weeks.

February 11th was an embarresment for the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the New York Islanders. It was well known the Islanders would dress multiple "goons" for this game as they came out and said it. If it wasn't bad enough the Penguins were routed 9-3 by such a poor oppenent, but the beatings by fists were not so great either.

The game was nothing but a brawl fest brought on by the Islanders. That is no way to increase the popularity of our sport. It's not rough old time hockey but a sideshow. If new fans want to watch fighting, they'll tune into boxing or Ulitmate Fighting. The Islanders organization should be most concious about bringing in new fans especially in a struggling franchise such as theirs. The game created a lot of contreversy throughout the hockey world. It definitely didn't stop with me.

ESPN Insider

ESPN Insider is one of the best Apps and/or online resources for inside information on trades, signings, sales of teams etc through the most respected sports network in the U.S. ESPN. Although it is required that you pay a yearly fee it is well worth it for the devoted sports fan. Ever wonder how the analysts and reporters on ESPN are able to predict trades/signings etc, weeks before it happens? It's because of the inside information that they recieve as members of the press and so on. ESPN is allowing us as fans access to that same information. ESPN Insider will make you seem like the sports genius amongst your friends. To be allowed on the "in" for a mere $3.33 a year is well worth it to me as it should be for any devoted sports fan.

Introduction

First of all let me thank you for visiting my blog. My blog is best described by my title, "Simply Sports". I would like to try my best to blog about as many different sports as I can. I am attempting this not only to give you as the reader fresh material, but so that I myself can learn more about sports I may not follow as closely. Thanks again for reading. Here we go!