10 Awesome Things That Happened Last Weekend (1/28-1/30)

10. Former American Idol Winner Kris Allen Sings National Anthem at Pro Bowl

            This is on the heals of Fox planting last year’s winner into the halftime show at the Bears-Packers game (note to NFL teams: Don’t hire struggling reality show winners as your halftime entertainment. It’s not good karma). I can appreciate the efforts of Fox trying to raise the profile of these two singers, but at some point they have to realize that the majority of America doesn’t care about them. What’s next, fat Ruben singing before the Daytona 500?

9. “Grey’s Anatomy” Star Patrick Dempsey Finishes 3^rd at Daytona Rolex 24

            I’ve never watched “Grey’s”, and have very little knowledge of a guy who is referred to as “McDreamy” by TV Guide, but it’s not every day you see an actor for a chick-show finish well in one of the most prestigious auto races in the world. This isn’t just some celebrity race. These cars get up to 200 mph. I’m not sure how he finds time for this hobby, but kudos to him.

8. St. John’s Destroys #3 Duke

            You either hate Duke or you love Duke. There is no middle ground. Being in the first group, I was pleased with this result.

            I’ve never understood why St. John’s has struggled for the last 20 years. The college is in New York City, the Mecca of basketball. They play their home games in Madison Square Garden. How do they not get a top-5 recruiting class every single year? It’s never made sense. Now that they have former UCLA coach Steve Lavin (and more importantly, Steve Lavin’s hair. Have you ever seen Lavin’s hair? It should have its own Twitter account), St. John’s should be able to capitalize on their prime location.

7. Djokovic Wins Australian Open

            I know as much about tennis as the Kardashian sisters know about calculus, but I do know that Djokovic is kind of an asshole (which I like in an individual sport). And he has two funny consonants at the beginning of his name. I hope he makes a good run at Wimbledon. 

6. Team Lidstrom Beats Team Staal 11-10 in NHL All-Star Game

            It was an entertaining game, but I had a hard time trying to pick which team to cheer for, or figure out who was on which team. Hopefully next year we can get the Crosby-Ovechkin rivalry at the forefront of this game.

5. Miami Holds Off Thunder

            Sunday’s game between Durant and Lebron was an oddly paced affair. It started as a wide-open game (38-35 at the end of the first quarter) and then ended as a defensive battle. As currently constructed, the Thunder doesn’t have a strong enough post player to take advantage of Miami’s weakness in the paint. Miami finally put its best crunch time lineup on the floor (Lebron at the point, Wade and Mike Miller on the wings, Bosh in the post, and some stiff filling the 5^th spot) in the last 5 minutes that proved to be effective. The “stiff spot” (sounds dirty, but in this case, it isn’t) actually proved to be valuable for Miami, as they are able to use the spot on a bigger guy when needed (Joel Anthony, Big Z), or a 3-point specialist (James Jones, Eddie House’s carcass that somehow hit the go ahead shot on Sunday). Miami is a half-court offense away from being a very dangerous team.

4. Zdeno Chara Shoots a Puck 105.9 mph. During Skills Competition

            For those of you not in the know, that’s really, really hard. Chara looks like these creature that was created by Dr. Frankenstein whose sole purpose is to fire slap shots and crush people. Also, he’s the second person mentioned in this column that has two weird consonants as the first two letters of his name. 

3. O.J. Mayo Claims Energy Drink Caused Failed Drug Test

            No word yet on whether Mayo is also blaming the energy drink for being the reason he’s only averaging 12 points per game. Memphis has some nice pieces in place (Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, Mike Conley), which in my opinion means they should look to move Mayo for draft picks. They’re already using their designated “crazy dude” spot on Randolph.

2. Celtics Defeat Lakers

            What do you get when you have a team with a chip on its shoulder playing a team that doesn’t care until the playoffs? The game we saw yesterday between Boston and the Lakers.

            Apparently there’s major panic going on in Los Angeles over the state of the Lakers. Some callers on sports radio shows have suggested everything from trading Andrew Bynum for Carmelo Anthony, starting Lamar Odom at point guard, and even trading Kobe Bryant. While those are all amusing suggestions, we won’t know what this Lakers team is capable of until we get to April. If Ron Artest can rediscover the desire to play lockdown defense, they will still be the favorites in the Western Conference.

1. NHL Hold’s First Ever Fantasy Draft to Select All-Star Rosters

            This event was five times more interesting than the actual All-Star Game. On paper, watching socially awkward hockey players sitting around in suits waiting to get picked onto a side may not sound like a strong television program, but it was a fascinating watch. The NBA needs to just blatantly copy this for next years game, and maybe if the Pro Bowl squads were picked this way, and the winning side could split $1 million, we’d see an actual football game.

The NHL Makes a Bold All-Star Game Change

            All-star games have been terrible for years. I don’t care what sport it is. None of the participants care, since there is really nothing to play for (don’t bother bringing up how the winner of the MLB All-Star Game gets home-field advantage in the World Series. I have a hard time believing that the lone all-star representative of the Pittsburgh Pirates gives a damn about the National League having home-field). Believe it or not, NASCAR has the only all-star event that has anything on the line ($1 million), but sadly the sport is NASCAR so very few people care. The NHL today made an announcement that will hopefully turn this trend around.

            The players that are chosen to be all-stars will elect four captains, with the four being split into groups of two. They will then take turns choosing players to fill out their roster. The teams will not be limited to one side being the eastern conference and the other the western conference. This is true playground style roster building in the purest sense. Each team has to have a specific number of forwards, defenseman, and goalies, but the captains can fill out the roster in any order they want.

            I’m not sure if I can use enough superlatives to describe how awesome this idea is. What would be better than Sidney Crosby’s team versus Alexander Ovechkin’s team? I know those guys would care about that game. Not to mention all the pressure on the guys that are picked first. I would like to know what the guys who get picked last would be thinking also (I believe they’ll have a chip on their shoulder). Killing the notion that the East needs to play the West is the most brilliant aspect of this. This opens up the possibilities of having players from the same team split, which always spices things up. All this game needs is a frozen pond in the middle of the Canadien woods, and we'll have ourselves some spectacular television.

            I’m not sure if this will create a ratings win for the NHL, but the fact that they are thinking outside of the box is encouraging. The league hit rock bottom during the lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season, and fortunately for their sake they have been aggressive in rebuilding their fan base. Hockey currently has a salary cap system that is the envy of the NBA (it’s been widely reported that the NBA hopes to adopt a hard salary cap that is very similar to what the NHL has put in place). If they can just move one or two of the southern US teams back up into Canada, where people actually care about hockey, then the NHL will really be in business. What makes more sense to you, having a team in Quebec or a team in Phoenix?

            The NHL is slowly on its way back to its pre-lockout form. The New Year’s Day Winter Classic has been a hit for three years running, more than holding it’s own against college football bowl games. Last winter’s Olympics tournament created the most buzz that hockey has had since Mark Messier led the Rangers to a Stanley Cup in 1994. I hope the playground-style roster building becomes a trend (imagine Lebron vs. Kobe in the NBA All-Star Game choosing their own teams. Yikes.) As long as the NHL All-Star Game isn’t hidden on Versus, I’ll make a point to watch.