Hey there guys,
Well I loved the Olympics. LOVED the olympics. And I couldn't fit these thoughts in the Daily Thoughts post mainly because I thought they deserved their own post, because the Olympics were just that great. Anyway Hope you enjoy.
-Olympics, Hockey now, Sid the Kid, and Medal Count
The Olympics are over, which sucks, because the more I watched it, the more in love I fell with it. Especially Hockey. This is a sport that I was already enjoyed watching, and have been trying to understand better, but after watching this past Olympics I have to say that I really do love hockey. It is still behind football, basketball, and baseball on my list but I will go out of my way to watch more than just the Predators now. But this Olympics Hockey as a whole was a major success. Let me put it this way. Through the first half of the Olympics, only 70% percent of Americans said that they were watching the Olympics. But 75% of Americans said that they watched the Hockey Finals when Canada defeated the US in overtime. That is more than the amount of people that tuned in for the Canada vs. US Hockey finals back when Salt Lake City hosted the event. And this doesn't just mean that the Winter Olympics might be growing in popularity, but also the NHL. People who aren't necessarily hockey fans are going to maybe watch a few more games, maybe even go see their local team play. This can only be good things for the NHL. Which brings me to another subject. Two debates have come about in recent times as to whether or not the NHL should stop its season for the Olympics, and which rules are better: Olympic Rules or NHL Rules? I am going to deal with the rules issue first. And despite many NHL fans I love the Olympic rules here. The major differences that the Olympic rules have over the NHL rules are No touch Icing, No Fighting, and in overtime it is 4-4 instead of 5-5. Now I do not know as much about Hockey about others but the No Touch Icing saves players from getting hit unnecessarily, I have never been a fan of fighting, I mean seriously if your game is producing so little interest that you allow fighting just to get interest than you need to rethink how to market yourleage , and finally the 4-4 provides for a faster overtime, and while I think the 5 on 5 is more fair, the 4 on 4 keeps games shorter, meaning that more people will watch, and people on the East Coast will be willing to watch games in the west coast. That's just me though.
Speaking of Olympic Hockey though I have to give props to Sidney Crosby. He knew he had more pressure on him than any other player on any team in the entire Winter Olympics and he came through with the game winning goal that gave his team that Gold Medal. And this next part is going to be hard. But I began to hear comparisons of the Olympics and this past Super Bowl. And while I as a Saints fan loved nothing more than to see My Saints win a GREAT Game I have to admit that the Finals game between Canada and the US was better. And say what you want but I think that this game mattered more, you weren't just playing for a state, but you were playing for an entire nation. And 60 minutes wasn't enough to determine the winner of this game, it took a few more for the winner to be decided. I have also begun to hear Crosby compared to Drew Brees and Lebron James. With Brees the comparison was which player meant more to its respective fan base, Brees - Louisiana, and Crosby - Canada. And again I love Drew Brees, and wouldn't trade him for any other QB in the NFL, but what Crosby did for his country is far and away better than what Brees did for Louisiana. Sorry Drew.... And as far as Lebron and Crosby? They both have Olympic Gold, and have both been named MVP of their respective sport. But Crosby has a Stanley Cup. LeBron does not have any championships. And don't tell me that the Penguins had more talent because when they won the Stanley Cup last year they won as the #4 seed in their CONFERENCE. Last year LeBron, and the Cavaliers, were #1 in their conference. Crosby wins again.
The Olympics were great and I just want to say Congratulations to all the United States Athletes for bringing home more Medals than any other country despite just about every national publication saying that Canada and Germany would bring home more than you guys. Congratulations USA USA
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