USA, Canada will bring back the NHL

In 1998, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa brought baseball back. Their legendary (although steroid fueled) home run race captivated our country, and was the springboard that launched Major League Baseball out of the hole it had dug itself during the 1994 strike shortened season.

Sunday's hockey game between the United States and Canada will do the same for the NHL.

Not too long ago, there was no hockey in America. The lockout that cancelled the 2004-2005 season left hockey enthusiasts wondering if the sport would ever rebound, and put the sport in jeopardy of being removed as one of the "big four" in the United States (basketball, football, baseball, hockey).

Hockey returned for the '05-'06 season, but it wasn't the same. Gone was ESPN's hockey game coverage (Sportcenter still showed highlights, however brief), and mainstream media seemingly didn't care that the Carolina Hurricanes hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2006 (does anyone remember OLN??).

Since that time, the NHL has been gaining steam. Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin have provided the league with superstar appeal and intrigue, and Detroit and Pittsburgh have added excitement, suspense, and star-power to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Sunday's game was what put the NHL over the top of the mountain. Everything leading up to yesterday helped inch the NHL closer and closer to the peak, and USA/Canada provided the necessary shove over the top.

Yesterday was not comparable to Lake Placid in 1980 (nothing will ever compare to that game), but it was a start to a new era of hockey. Look at the star power that yesterday's game had - Sidney Crosby, Ryan Getzlaf, Jarome Iginla, Chris Pronger, and Rick Nash for the Canadian team (those are just a few), and Ryan Miller, Zach Parise, and Patrick Kane for the Americans. The point I'm getting at is that hockey at its highest level was on display yesterday. The excitement and suspense added to the intrigue of the matchup, and I don't doubt that the NHL will reap the benefits going forward.

In 1998, McGwire and Sosa were the heros. In 2010, Ryan Miller and Sidney Crosby have to be considered the heros. Miller has become the face of the United States hockey team, and has let the world know that he is currently the best goaltender on the planet. Without him, the U.S. team wouldn't have come close to the gold medal game. Crosby is Canada's favorite son. He's not "The Great One" but instead he's simply "The Next One," which is a title that adequately salutes his skill and ability without unfairly comparing him to #99. He needs a new nickname though - despite being only 22 years old, "Sid the Kid" seems far too juvenile for someone who has already hoisted a Stanley Cup and won a gold medal.

Four years after the strike-shortened season, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa brought baseball back. Five years after a cancelled season, the NHL is back...thanks to the Olympics.

First Ever Podcast

Saints, Colts display football at its best

Regardless of who you were rooting for last night, the overriding element that no fan can deny is the extremely high level at which the Super Bowl was played. Both the Saints and Colts made fantastic plays throughout the game, which will be the lasting memory of Super Bowl XLIV for me personally.

Winning is the goal of any team that takes the field. No one really cares HOW they win, just as long as their team has more points than the other team when the clock hits 0:00. So if your team turns the ball over three times, commits a dozen penalties, and you somehow win the game...well then who cares. Yeah, you're gonna try to correct those mistakes for the next game, but for that one brief moment you really are just happy to have won.

Typically, football games are decided like this. One team makes a handful of mistakes, whether it be penalties, turnovers, etc., and their opponent benefits from those mistakes. And I'm sure if you were to go back and watch last night's Super Bowl over again, you would notice a few mistakes here and there that affected the outcome. But those mistakes were microscopic in comparison to the big plays made on both sides.

Think about these two stats for a moment: 8 total penalties for 64 yards and 1 turnover. I know that there are countless teams throughout history that have won football games despite committing eight penalties and turning the ball over once. But those eight penalties and one turnover were the combined stats for both the Saints and the Colts.

I know what you're thinking: Peyton Manning made a HUGE mistake by throwing the 4th quarter interception to Tracy Porter that ultimately clinched the game for the Saints. And to a point, I will agree with you. The Colts had run that same slant or z-route at least twice earlier in the game, so maybe it was partly their fault for being too vanilla with the play call.

I will argue in the other direction - Tracy Porter made a GREAT play. Peyton didn't make an awful throw. Reggie Wayne didn't run a terrible route. Tracy Porter did two amazing things on that play: First, he said to himself "WAIT, I've seen this before," and secondly, he instinctively made a break on the ball.

As a former high school and collegiate athlete, I can tell you from experience that athletes perform at their peak when they aren't thinking, but rather reacting and playing on instinct. Porter's interception was 100% instinct based, and it clinched the Super Bowl for the Saints.

The other monumental play was (obviously) the onside kick to open the second half. Kudos to Sean Payton for following the wise words of Herm Edwards. Payton rolled the dice knowing that if successful, his team would be much, much closer to raising the Lombardi Trophy. And his team executed the kick flawlessly.

There were so many other great plays that I don't have time to write about - the Manning touchdown throw to Pierre Garcon, a number of great runs by Joseph Addai and Pierre Thomas, the sack by Dwight Freeney, the goal line stand by the Colts defense (most notably the hit by Gary Brackett on fourth down), Garrett Hartley's Super Bowl record of three field goals of over 40 yards, and you could pick a handful of precision throws by Drew Brees.

Let's face it - we've been spoiled rotten by the Super Bowl over the past two years. David Tyree has become a household name, James Harrison made "the play," and Santonio Holmes made maybe the greatest game-winning touchdown catch in Super Bowl history. Although last night's game didn't have a jaw-dropping play comparable to those, it did display football at its highest level, which definitely did not leave me disappointed.