Watch hockey you bastards

I'm in the middle of a very long work period and it kinda sucks. Ten out of eleven days... I get Tuesday off. A Place to Bury Strangers is playing in Chapel Hill that night and I want to go, but I don't know if I'll be up for that drive in the midst of all this crap. Also I'd be going alone. Oh and I have another meeting on Wed. so I get to go in early for a 13.5 hour work day. Lovely.

But that bitching is not why I'm here. I've decided to stand up and be heard. I'm going to defend hockey! The NHL season started last Thursday and it's time you took note. That's right all you haters, hockey is a great sport and here's why:

• First of all, it's a great game. Lots of whiners complain they don't score enough, but that's what makes it exciting. That anticipation when your team gets itself into position to score and you know it may happen.
  
• This goes in tandem with that great game argument, but there are some fantastic hits in hockey. These guys drill each other constantly. There's no rule that a burly defenseman can't hammer those dainty forwards, in fact it's a big part of most team's game plan to plow over those guys. Not like the NFL, of late, where you breathe heavy on a QB and it's a flag.
  
• Some young players that are in the game now are showing some serious skills. Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin. Those guys are gonna be legendary names one day and they are playing now. Enjoy it.
• These are literally big guys with stick and blades strapped to their feet whacking a piece of frozen rubber at one another. How can that be bad?

So there ya go. I admit my enthusiasm is running high after the Penguins' Stanley Cup run last season and all the young talent on the team now. Hard not to love that, especially after so many years of no talent in Pittsburgh. It seems like feast or famine, but maybe Mario Lemieux has finally righted the ship and things will be good there.

One complaint I do have tho, is the TV contract. I hate the fact that Versus has the rights to NHL games. It seems like they'd blow that out, have games on all the time and promote the hell out of it. Do they? Nope, maybe two games a week and fucking rodeo on Saturday. Really? Fuck. The NHL would do better to simply give the rights to a couple of games a week to air on ESPN just to help ticket sales. Bah.

Anyway I'm off to fiddle with my fantasy team and hope for a win over the dreaded Danglers.