In 1939 college hoops instituted what would become the NCAA tournament, an 8 team single elimination playoff, to crown a champion. There were 3 rounds and none of the games were televised.  Why? Well, television didn’t exist at the tourney’s birth. Twelve years later, the tournament was expanded to 16. A few years later it expanded again. By 1975 there were 32 teams. In 1979, the season that many believe changed the game (think Larry versus Magic), the field was increased to 40. A season later that became 48. Three seasons later it was over 50. It kept expanding, it kept growing. TV and ESPN helped lead to its explosion. The 24 hour sports cycle made it an unstoppable unofficial national holiday.

By 1985, the little tournament birthed in 1939, had grown from 8 teams to 64 (8 times as much) and it wasn’t so much a playoff, it was a marathon. College hoops’ popularity had exploded and March Madness was in full bloom.

For 15 years college hoops stuck with that system and it was widely accepted as the best post-season in sports.  Then came a one game play-in in 2001, and the scary, outlandish idea of expanding to a cool 96 just a few years ago. Fortunately, smarter heads prevailed, and the field simply added 3 more play-in games, creating the First Four to nicely balance the much-hyped Final Four.

No longer was it necessary to be great, merely above average had become good enough.  VCU took their First Four ticket and seized the opportunity, shooting the lights out to an improbable, almost unexplainable Final Four appearance.

The underdog fan in all of us was pleased, while old-fashioned traditionalists were bothered.  We ended up with a Final Four which included the Rams and Butler. These were not the 4 best teams. Everyone knew that.  These 4 teams had merely survived.

More exciting? Yes. More games? Yes. More interest? Yes. College hoops had scored another outlet for Cinderella to squeak through, and everybody loves a good Cinderella. But by the semi-finals, the elusive Final Four had given us 2 of them. As a sports fan, it felt wrong. It was too much. The best teams were supposed to have knocked them off, and retain normalcy in the pecking order. Traditional powers, who had traditionally outstanding seasons were left on the outside looking in, despite their superior overall resume. All because they stumbled once along the way.

Now we have more bubble teams, more excitement for schools that once never had a shot, and the most wild post-season in all of sports.

But rarely do the best teams win anymore. Even rarer is it for all 4 number 1 seeds to make it to the Final Four. Fans call this parity, traditionalists call this depressing.

Which is why there’s a major divide between those who love baseball’s new post-season proposal (expected to go into effect this coming year) of two more wild card teams, and those who hate it.

New age fans, sticklers for maxing out more games and more races are ecstatic. Teams notoriously clipped from the post-season because of the behemoths that they can’t financially compete with, now have renewed hope.  More teams get into the playoffs which means two more games, and more cities tuning in late (better attendance figures, better TV ratings), hoping their team can get into the dance.

Traditionalists are sick to their stomach.  What started out as the World Series in 1903 is about to balloon to 10, a number not nearly as extreme as college hoops expansion, but that is until you consider the context.

From 1903-1968 you won your league or you went home.  The AL and NL didn’t play each other, expansion had yet to take over the game, and there was roughly half the teams there are today. You won your league, you went right to the World Series. Other teams didn’t collect $200 or pass go. They were done.

Like anything, some years were more exciting than others.  But baseball wanted a few more participants in their post-season, so in 1969, they expanded to 2 divisions in both the AL and NL, and a Championship series was born as a prelude to the World Series.  All of a sudden the best record didn’t guarantee you a Fall Classic berth.  Imagine traditionalists and how they reacted then?

From 1969-1984 fans began adjusting to the new system and its best of 5 series format. Then in 1985, baseball expanded each series to 7 games. Some were probably annoyed by that.  Then in 1993, the Marlins and Rockies joined the sport as expansion mates, and baseball forever changed its ways, introducing its 3 division format and a –gasp – Wild Card in each league.

All of a sudden you didn’t have to win your league or your division for that matter, to get in. You could be second place. There was strife then. Rewarding a second place team? Preposterous! But alas the sport had grown, from 16 in 1903 to 28 by 1993.  It was almost like watching evolution.

And a quick side note on that 1903 season – had there been an CS that year, the Boston Americans, 14.5 games ahead of the Philadelphia Athletics, would have had to beat Philly in a series just go get to the Fall Classic. Over a team they had shown themselves superior to by nearly 15 games.

1903-ians would have scoffed at the notion. Looking back it would’ve been ridiculous. But times were different then. People didn’t even have cars!

So is introducing a 5^th playoff team in each league evolution or devolution? Is it natural to expand your playoff field as your overall field increases? Obviously, TV revenue wasn’t taken into account at the turn of the century, because no one knew what the bleep a TV was. People were still excited about silent pictures.

Baseball is introducing more teams to the ball, undoubtedly because they expect the one game playoff in each league to generate more buzz, and it goes without saying that more teams, means more opportunities, which gives more fan-bases the chance to dream big.

I’ve read the arguments from both sides – and the big one against expanding is that it dilutes the field, further blurs what it means to make the playoffs and win your division, and merely sidesteps the fact that the Wild Card is what got us into this quandary in the first place.  Some have argued that second place should garner no spoils. Win your division or get out of the way. People remember who won the pennant back in the day. Nowadays, winning your regular season crown in your league is a footnote on a website.

Great. Here’s a cookie, now go beat that Wild Card team (or if they’re in your division), another division winner.

Stop! Says baseball.  With the introduction of a 5^th team, their belief is that the 1-game winner take all free for all will force teams to go all out, thus disposing them of their best pitcher, and weakening their bullpen, assuming they advance.  Others have suggested, that if you expanded the divisional round to 7 games, it would help restore balance to the giants over the cinderellas.

While St. Louis was a great story, their overall 2011 season was pretty forgettable (and they would have been a blip in the pre-Wild Card years, where the Giants once won 103 games and didn’t get in). They tore up the NL down the stretch, as the Braves bowed down and took it towards the end. It led to the greatest day of regular season baseball I can ever recall, another point of emphasis that this expansion, injures. The Red Sox and Braves don’t completely collapse last season if they still make it into the field as the second Wild Cards. And Tampa’s unbelievable rally would’ve been another footnote in history, because the game wouldn’t have meant a thing.

Which leaves us with this: you can’t please everyone. You can’t appease owners who pay hundreds of millions dollars for their franchise and want another way to win by letting in just the top 2 teams. You can’t please fans who want parity, but also want the top deserving teams. Baseball is already on a tilted scale as is, given the lack of a salary cap, free agency and the explosion of millionaires has flipped traditionalism on its respective butt.

So in essence, by giving each league another playoff spot, you give your smaller market teams a better chance to compete, there-by leveling out just a bit the financial gap of a joke that is the sport’s economic system.

You can’t argue for tradition but bypass the fact that free agency, expansion, and TV has changed the game. Likewise, you can’t argue for expansion, and argue that the best team will have a better chance of winning. It is in that regard that the BCS kind of has it right when they pit 1 vs 2, sans a playoff system. Some years, like this one, the gap between 2 and 3 is miniscule and debate rages.  But it’s the only big-time organization that doesn’t let a party crasher knock out the heavyweight in the playoffs.  Because there is no playoffs.

Say what you will about the BCS – and I’ve said plenty – but it’s the closest thing sports has of guaranteeing us 1 versus 2.  The NFL as we’ve seen is a beacon of parity, and winning the division and getting that home game really doesn’t mean what it once did (Just look up the first decade of the new millennium for countless examples).  In the NBA the better team usually wins, but in 1999 the 8 seed Knicks made the NBA Finals.  In the NHL it’s barely even an upset when an 8 or 7 takes out the top or 2^nd best seed.

And in the NCAA, there’s so many games that one slip-up, and the best team is extinguished for an off-night.

Of course in sports there’s also injuries, unbalanced schedules, off-the-field issues, trades, cuts, and so many other factors that can get in the way. Comparing one era to another, while fun, is usually trivial. The games were different back then, the players weren’t as strong, didn’t have the same technological advances, training, etc. Loyalty was expected, not applauded. Its apples to oranges.

So maybe, after all of this, we should just accept sports for what it is: a fun game where expansion happens. We are a country littered with obesity, and we like more, more, and a little more. Expansion is exactly that: more.

It’s like in little league, when every team and every kid gets a trophy just for competing.

We’re looking to make everyone happy when that’s impossible. But the more teams you let in, the more that go home happy.

Is that what we want? Hope for all?  Or do we want the best handful of teams to duke it out in a system that rewards their regular season greatness?

Sports don’t seem to care as much about the latter anymore.

Whether that’s a good or bad thing, simply depends who you ask.

Photos: AP, Getty

SCOTT JACOBS

In 1996 the Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix and became the Coyotes.  In 2011 the Atlanta Thrashers left town after being bought by True North Sports and Entertainment and became the Jets. Complicating matters is that the Jets old history remains with Phoenix, while Atlanta’s grim lackluster presence gets to stay with the new Jets. Okay, now that we got that out of the way the Jets finally unveiled their new logos today.

I want to like them, I do.  But shove a maple leaf down my throat in a sport that has a number of Canadian teams already and I just don’t understand why they couldn’t have been a little more creative with this.  I’ll reserve jdgement until when the jerseys come out (September I’m hearing), but I’d give it a 6/10. It’s a hell of a lot better than the last sports franchise to relocate: The Oklahoma City Thunder.   But red, navy, and silver?  Again.  They couldn’t have tried a more unique color combo?

SCOTT JACOBS

05.

UConn! What a show Kemba Walker put on during the Big East Championships.  Smashing the record for points in a tournament, Walker, a budding superstar (and possible one and done) scored 130 points in 5 games, as the Huskies became the first team in the history of the conference tournament format to pull off 5 wins in 5 days.  Of course, this probably means they’ll get a high seed and then get bounced in the first round from being gassed (ala: Syracuse and Jerry McNamara of a few years ago).  But that Syracuse team didn’t have Walker, and UConn is tourney tested (they also won the Maui Invitational) so depending on their draw, they could be my pick to make a big time run.

San Diego State! Finally, the Aztecs hurdled over the one team that they could not beat in the regular season:  BYU.  San Diego State, needing a big time win to add to it’s resume finally got it over the Cougs, who have fell from grace since suspending one of their players for pre-marital sex.  Thought to be a possible one seed, BYU may end up a 3 or a 4.  But Jimmer Fredettte makes anything possible for BYU.  His 52 on Friday was brilliant to knock out New Mexico, but a rough shooting night on Saturday did in BYU’s chances.

Washington! Look, I get that the Pac10 is not the power it has been in years past, but what a game Arizona and the Huskies put on at Staples Center on the ugliest looking court of any conference tournament.  Washington’s  Isaiah Thomas’ fadeway jumper as time expired in the first OT gave the Huskies their second straight Pac10 tourney crown.  It was the first over-time game in the title game’s history and it was a thriller at that.  That’s how you want these games to finish, because they’re supposed to pit that conference’s two best teams against each other.  Washington may not be great, but this kid Thomas has ice in his veins.  Look out for him in the tourney as the Huskies could surprise some folks.

Princeton! On Yale’s home court in a winner take all one game playoff between the Ivies, the Tigers beat Harvard on an absolutely beautiful buzzer beater.  Douglas Davis’ fantastic fake, bought him just enough time to shoot the game winner as he was falling sideways, and Princeton claimed their 24th Ivy League title.  As for Harvard, well they still have a shot to get into the dance for the first time since 1946, but boy o boy, what a way to lose.  Both schools are smart enough to know that this was a classic!

04.

I shouldn’t be bothered by this, because quite frankly the NCAA tourney expanding to 68 teams is not that big of a difference, but there’s something that just doesn’t sit right with me calling next week’s real first round games ‘the Second Round.’  Look I get that the NCAA wants to really make these ‘play-in games’ (because that’s exactly what they are, ‘play in games’) matter, but c’mon, everyone knows that the first round truly starts on Thursday at noon.  That’s how it’s always been since I can remember and that’s the way it should be.  Watching Virginia Tech play Colorado so that they can get plotted into the real first round just doesn’t sound right.

03.

Hockey!  Last week we honed in on the Western Conference playoffs race in the NHL, and how close it was teams 3-10.  Well this week, if you can believe it, it’s even closer.  About a dozen games remain on each team’s schedules, and even though San Jose has cemented a 4 point cushion on the 3 seed, seeds 4-11 are currently separated by just 5 points.

4. Dallas          82 pts
5. Chicago      82 pts
6. L.A.             81  pts
7. Phoenix    81  pts
8. Calgary      81 pts
9. Nashville   80 pts
10. Anaheim 79 pts
11. Minnesota 77 pts

We’ll be back next week to update you on all the action.

02.

Charlie Sheen!  Because the man is crazy.  After going on UStream and doing more bashing and idiotic rambling, CBS finally decided to pull the plug on Sheen’s reign of terror over Two and a Half Men.  But this story isn’t over.  Not by a long shot.  Sheen responded by filing a $100 million lawsuit against the network and then called co-star Jon Cryer a troll, amongst other things.  Cryer who had kept his mouth shut through all of this, responded to Sheen’s rant through a pair of talk shows, showing how much of a class act he truly is.  Take a look:

On Conan:

On Ellen:

01

The Lockout.  What, like you thought number one could be anything else?  Roger Goodell is officially making a dollar, the players have officially been locked out, and the NFLPA has decertified.  The mediators have been replaced by lawyers, lots of lawyers, and you know who really loses most in all of this?  The fans!  If it wasn’t for us, there would be no millionaires in the league.  We buy the hats, tickets, programs, and we foot the bill for these absurdly expensive palaces for our teams to play in.  And our reward is a stinkin’ lockout?  Most ironic was the timing.  While Japan was recovering from a vicious Earthquake that shoke their world to the core, and literally moved the Earth 8 feet, the NFL Player reps and bigwigs sat in a room and managed to accomplish nothing.  Now it’s a war of words and an ugly battle is likely to ensue.  Just how long the lockout will last is anyone’s guess but they’re a ways away from figuring out how to split that $1 billion.  So we want to know: how long will this lockout last?  Vote on the right side.

Photo: Getty

SCOTT JACOBS

05.

The NCAA Tournament is wide open.  I’m talking bigger than Michael Strahan’s gap tooth, open.  How many #1 teams have fell this year? Answer: a lot.  There are few true star players, and the guys that will be heading out to the NBA come April all have something to prove.  Which means that this tournament should be one hell of a fight.  We still have championship week to go, but I’ll go out on a limb and say that a team as low as a 6 seed could win it all this year. Yeah, 6.

04.

Hey LeBron, tweet responsibly.  After typing away this number, “20+ games left in phase 2. I’m ReFOCUSED! No prisoners, I have no friends when at WAR besides my Soldiers,” the Heat have fell into an embarrassing swoon, their worst since their 9-8 start.  But I’d argue that to blow a 24 point lead in the 3rd quarter against Orlando and then follow that up with a 30 point loss in San Antonio is far, far worse.  Why?  Because this whole, they need time to gel thing just doesn’t fly no more.  It’s put up or shut up for the Heat right now, and their play isn’t shutting anyone up right now.

03.

And for Godsakes, as much as I despise the Spurs, they’re clearly the best team in the NBA right now.  Just give them credit for that, whether you think they’re going to win the NBA title or not.  Plus, Tony Parker coming back after a week was a little Willis Reed-esque. On a night where they led the Heat by 24 after 1, it probably wasn’t the difference, but make no mistake about it, the Spurs are a totally different team without their French point guard.

02.

The Knicks are better than what they were, but man o man, what is with this curse against the Cavs?  New York lost their third straight game this year to Cleveland, giving the atrocious Cavs 25% of their win total for the year.  That’s really astonishing when you think about it.  Those 3 games are looking to be huge, as the Knicks lead the resurgent 76ers (yeah the same team that was once 3-13) by just a 1/2 game for 6th in the top heavy East.

01.

Hockey!  The Coyotes finally ended their losing streak yesterday in a shootout win over Detroit leaving the Western Conference playoff race in one of the all time great jams.  Seeds 3-10 right now in the NHL’s Western Conference are separated by a measly 7 points.

3. San Jose 82 pts
4. Chicago  80 pts
5. Phoenix  78 pts
6. Dallas      77 pts
7. Calgary   77 pts
8. L.A.          76 pts
9. Anaheim 75 pts
10. Nashville 75 pts

That’s crazy tight kids.  The NHL has roughly 15-17 games left for each team, so this race should be something to really look out for.  Unless of course you’re ESPN (They’re anti-hockey, Pro-Barry Melrose).

Just missed the Cut:

The Lockout
Nothing new to report here.  just millionaires arguing with billionaires.  But hey, that little extension should get them to at least agree on what color the podium should be for the 2014 Draft!

Cam Newton
His draft status has risen and fallen like no other prospect.  From 3-10, to 10-3, o wait a minute, the guy will be an instant multi-millionaire either way. Next!

Comedies!
Finally a plethora of funny movies out for the masses.  Haven’t seen any yet, but Hall Pass, Cedar Rapids, Take Me Home Tonight, and Just Go With it are clogging the box office list, and laughter is the greatest medicine.  Even if the critics aren’t laughing with them.

Charlie Sheen
1.8 million twitter followers in a week.  5 exclusive interviews in like 35 hours.  Now he’s on USteam.  The guy is trending so fast he may destroy Twitter.  Who killed Twitter?  The drug that is, Charlie Sheen!

Photo: Reuters

Remember when you were 10 years old how fun it was to get in fights at school?

NHL players get into fights every game, sucker punching each other with intent to assault, getting into six fights in two minutes and intentionally breaking each others’ jaws.

Hockey is essentially legalized assault. Crime on ice. In a minor league hockey match, which included the six fights in the first two minutes, one player is actually being charged with assault:

The Jacks confirmed that they have pressed charges against Macmillian and that more charges could be filed against others involved in the incident.

This is the same thing that happens in every hockey game just to a worse degree. Hockey is allegedly a sport about getting a puck into a goal, but they have basically legalized and promoted assault and battery in the games. There are penalties for some of the fights, but the league doesn’t do anything to discourage fighting, because they want players to fight.

In the NBA or NFL, when players fight, there’s a big controversy on ESPN, and players get suspended and denounced as thugs. In hockey, the point of the game is to be a thug. Shall we say there is a racial question sticking its head here, or is it just because no one ever sees any fights in hockey–no one watches–that they don’t talk about it? As Scott Jacobs wrote at JSB, hockey begins another season under relative obscurity.

I wonder, do hockey players think they are being tough by fighting? They’re playing a sport for freaks sake, so if they are actually any good at that sport, they should just score a goal rather than fighting. Fighting is the providence of 10-year-olds who get into a lame argument about what down it is in recess football.

Fighting in hockey, I guess, is for losers who can’t outplay their opponents on the ice. Indeed, Wikipedia says, “Fighting is usually performed by one or more enforcers, or “goons” — players who are typically better at fighting than hockey.”

Also according to Wikipedia, “Fighting is governed by a complex system of unwritten rules that players, coaches, officials, and the media refer to as “the code”.” Yes, hitting people from behind and unprovoked is part of a great ethical code…

If football is war, with two teams engaging on the gridiron battlefield, hockey is terrorism. Football players follow the Geneva Convention, so to speak, but hockey players ignore all rules of war and fight with terrorist tactics and war crimes.

Wikipedia says that fighting is “a considerable draw for the sport” and that “some fans attend games primarily to see fights.” True, the sport of hockey is itself very boring, but fighting over the results of such a boring sport is only pointless and ignorant.

Apparently fighting is supposed to “intimidate” players. That means that football is a more manly game. Football players don’t have to fight to intimidate each other. They just lay into their opponents with a devastating hit, consistent with the rules of the game. If hockey players were able to check very hard, also consistent with the on-paper rules of the game, they could maybe intimidate each other that way.

So people who want to watch sports will continue to not watch the non-sport of hockey. People who want to watch fighting would be better off watching MMA. And hockey will continue to get no ratings for their thug league.

SCOTT JACOBS

The NHL season began today.  Did you know that?

I practically forgot.

The NFL’s opening game each year is a national event, a shrine to the previous season’s Super Bowl winner.  MLB’s first game usually takes place on a Sunday Night on national TV, usually between two primetime teams.  The NBA has recently been opening it’s season on a Wednesday night on TNT with a doubleheader, always featuring the defending champion and their ring ceremony. And the NHL opens in a foreign country so out of touch from the sports fans psyche that the game is practically forgotten.

Tucked in between a trifecta of MLB Division round games, the NBA’s exhibition season, and a month and a half into the NFL and college football seasons, the NHL opened it’s 2010 season today.  In Helsinki.  Where’s that?

Answer: Finland.

And o by the way, if you’re curious, it’s the Hurricanes taking on the Wild.

As I write this article they play on.  For those of you keeping score at home it’s 2 Eastern time in the U.S.  Most people are at work.  Most kids are at school, and the MLB Playoffs resume later today.

The NHL is already behind the eight ball.  ESPN Magazine’s Preview for the sport was shameful.  I get that ESPN doesn’t care about hockey.  They helped kill it’s vitality in the states.  Versus is still relatively obscure to most people, even in spite of their great college football games that they’ve had.

For years the start of hockey season was a big deal for me.  I circled it on my calendar eagerly anticipating it’s arrival.  But now the NHL is such an afterthought that it’s feasible a week could go by without some casual sports fans even realizing they dropped the puck.

The NHL needs a big stage to open it’s season, not a location that I need a globe to find.

They need to make it known that their opening game is important, that you should watch because of this, this, and this.

The NHL which was once one of the Big 4 sports in North America is now a forgotten entity, revisited in mid spring when they start the playoffs.  In any other sport, the defending champions slicing and dicing their roster (like the Blackhawks did) would be one of the summer’s biggest stories.  In any other sport, a team that made the playoffs despite being bankrupt and owned by the sport, would be at the forefront of our sports news.  In any other sport, stars defecting to Europe would be a big deal.

But this is the NHL we’re talking about.  And if you can name the two teams to which I was referring you’re ahead of most casual fans.

The NHL has a niche following, and many people feel it’s experimentation with the Sun Belt has failed.  But hockey’s ability to promote itself and get it out on the forefront has also failed.  Yes, they’re still coming in drives to the arenas, but hockey’s water cooler appeal has flat out melted in the last 5-7 years.

And living in the Southeast like I do, well forget it.  You’re practically a minority if you can put together a cohesive hockey conversation.

But I find it hard to believe that a league that’s been around since 1917 can be such a blip on our sports radar. Maybe they expanded too fast, maybe they made some bad decisions, but to have been around for almost a 100 years and have the most well known trophy in sports, it seems inexcusable to open a season this quietly.

Some say the NHL doesn’t mind being a niche sport.  I don’t think that’s the case.  I just think that the NHL has fallen off the map so much, that they don’t even have any idea where to begin to start climbing back up.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: we tend to think these mega sports leagues like the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL are infallible, but with the path the NHL is going towards, it’s on the verge of becoming invisible.  Which for the sake of their league, isn’t a whole lot better.

Photo: AP

SCOTT JACOBS

If you found yourself rooting for a goalie you had never heard of, before these 2010 Vancouver games began, you weren’t alone.  Aside from your hard core hockey enthusiasts, America wasn’t exactly making U.S.A goaltender Ryan Miller their Olympic poster child.  Many didn’t even expect the country just south of Canada to even medal at all.

And then Miller played the tournament of his life, and team U.S.A. put on a spectacular performance themslves, falling just short of Olympic gold in a take-your-breath away classic that won’t soon be forgetten, by sports fans, and Americans alike.

Whether you knew who you were rooting for, whether you knew a blue line from a red one, didn’t matter in these Olympic games.  All that mattered is hockey took center stage, in a country that had seemingly abandoned it.  No, not Canada.  The country that invented the games, got what they wanted: gold in the sport that they live, breathe, and sleep.

But in the U.S.A. where hockey has become a blip on the underpants of our sports crazy society, team U.S.A.’s gutsy Vancouver showing opened up some eyes, and had to of– at the very worst– drawn a new curiosity to the sport that may have not been there before.

Canada beat the U.S. 3-2 in overtime in an instant classic that rivals some of the greatest hockey games I can recall.

The argument for the olympics has always been– and will continue to be– that we watch because it’s a national pride thing.  We watch speed skating, and ice skating, and hockey because it’s a “our country” versus “theirs” type of thing.  As soon as the Olympics end, our interest in those sports does too.  At least for four more years.  But ya know what?  This just might be different.

And we got to see sports in their most perfect form: with no commercials.  Like seriously, if you were lucky enough to see the GOld Medal game, you saw uninterrupted periods played out entirely, creating suspense unlike anything any other sporting event could create.  This was sports at its finest.  Sports at its purest.  This was truly awesome.

The NHL hopes to capitalize on the wave of emotion and maybe some new fans when they resume play tomorrow, turning back on a season that was paused for the Olympic games.  How much influence this game and this tournament has on joe casual remains to be seen.  But there is nothing more exciting than a winner take all hockey game, and that’s what made this Gold Medal showcase a stunning display of grit, determination, and pure athleticism.

There’s a reason hockey isn’t close to being the most popular sport in the U.S.A.

It’s tough. It’s the only sport of the so called “Big 4″ which puts its athletes on skates.  It’s expensive to play too.  All those pads and equipment aren’t cheap.  Hockey is a tough sell on TV.  Many have complained over the years that the puck is too hard to follow and the game is too complex.  Anyone who likes sports even a little probably recalls Fox’s mockery of the sport, when they used to put a glow on the puck during their 1990’s coverage, making games feel more like video games.  And ESPN leaving hockey to die hasn’t helped either.  Sure Versus has taken the reigns and their coverage is hard-core, but it’s hard enough to find the channel, and for joe casual it doesn’t exactly pop up on your TV.

Many will argue that when the best athletes from their own countries are playing it’s different.  The games are more well played (probably true), the games are more emotional (I wouldn’t disagree), and there’s a natural connect (possibly).

But maybe, just maybe, Ryan Miller and co.’s performance, and the hockey tournament itself in hockey crazy Canada opened up some bright eyed kids’ eyes to a sport that can create the finest of moments.

Maybe.  Maybe new interest will creep up regarding the NHL.  Again, maybe.

No matter what happens though, one thing is for sure: Canada won the gold, but brand awareness and a new found appreciation for a ’sometimes buried sport’ reached an all time high.  What that all means going forward, well only time will tell.

Photo: Getty

SCOTT JACOBS

The NBA: Where Amazing Happens.

Boston, MA: Where Game Sevens Happen.

With the Burins and now Celtics going to game sevens in their second round series’ respectively, Boston is officially the Game Seven epicenter of the sports universe.

Now onto some playoff thoughts:

First of all I officially hate DirecTV for putting Versus (the only station that basically shows hockey) on their Choice Xtra Package, and not their regular package like every other cable provider.  Thanks to their ignorance of hockey central, I’ve been unable to watch any of the game sevens in the second round, and will also be unable to watch the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals, also on Versus.  Instead, I’ve been relegated to watch the game on my computer, on a 20 minute delay.  Whatever.

Now that I got that off my chest, let’s talk about the second round of the NBA Playoffs which have been very forgettable with the exception of game four in Dallas, and most of the Celtics-Magic series.  The Cavs-Hawks series was an absolute dud, and made the Hawks look like the worst second round team well, ever. None of those games were close with the exception of game four, which was played after the Hawks pretty much knew their season was over.  Look, LeBron is a phenomenol player, but Atlanta turned in such a horrific performance that its hard to say if Cleveland was even tested.

What a poorly played game six in Orlando.  With a chance to move on to the Conference Finals the Celtics committed an atrocious 22 turnovers, on the road nonetheless.  Ray Allen was a no show, Paul Pierce made a cameo appearance late in the game, but was kept in check.  The Celtics still almost won because Orlando shot a lackluster 36% from the field.  And then there was the discrepency at the line.  Boston got there just 13 times, and shot 61%.  The Magic were consistent visitors to the stripe, but couldn’t take advantage.  It’s hard to believe that with their season on the line they could miss 14 foul shots, but that’s exactly what happened.

Dwight Howard had a nice game, and was a force on the offensive boards, but his foul shooting just 5-12, really hurt the Magic.  But we’ll cut him some slack, since he did chip in a not too shabby 23 points and 22 boards.  Howard consistently got touches, even late in the game, but he once again proved that he needs more of an offensive repetoire to truly be unstoppable.  That said, Howard’s relentlessness down in the paint was a big reason the Magic are still breathing.

The Nuggets just might be for real.  They dismantled the Mavs rather easily in five games, and now await the winner of the Lakers-Rockets series.  It cannot be over-staed that the addition of Chauncey Billups has completely changed the culture in Denver.  No longer an offensive show, the Nuggs now look like a complete team.  And how about Billups, who will appear in the Conference Finals for an incredible 7th straight year.  Wow.  Just wow.  A winner, and a class act, and to think, they got him for A.I., who didn’t even play in the playoffs for the Pistons.  What a steal that trade turned out to be.

It seems inevitable that the Cavs are going to the Finals, but they’ll have so much rest time in between the end of their series with the Hawks (past Monday) and the start of their series with either Boston or Cleveland (Tuesday) that they may come out and throw a few clunkers on the board, which gives either team at least a fighting shot.

Finally there’s this: These NBA playoffs have proven that outside of Cleveland there are no dominant teams in this year’s playoffs.  But we’ll chalk that up to the reality that so many injuries have caused it to become watered down.  No Tracy McGrady, Yao, Kevin Garnett, or Jameer Nelson, and that’s just naming a few off the top of my head.  I can’t remember a post-season were so many big names missed out on the fun.  That’s a shame, because these playoffs could have been so much more then what they’ve been so far.

Photo: AP