1. YES...a good season--except for my Ducks! GAH!--with some very good competition in key markets like LA, NY, BOS, and the ressurection of Canadian Hockey Franchises--first the Winnipeg Jets, and with the arena deal struck in Quebec and a realignment that would allow the Yotes to move to QBC free of alignment hassle, presumably AT LEAST one more, the Nordiques of Quebec, are on the way--AND A GREAT STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS AND FINAL LAST YEAR...
I'll put it this way--
Here in LA, a basketball MECCA, I know AT LEAST as many Kings/Ducks/Sharks fan as I do Lakers fans--pfff...ZERO Clippers fans!--and the NHL is being talked about, NOT the NBA, even with it coming back, even with the Xmas game looming...
If anyone talks about basketball, it's usually UCLA b-ball.
The NHL has solved a good deal of its problems and has some great, great players and competition and rivalries worked out--and the Ducks SHOULD be engaged in one of them but are just incapable of playing defense...GAHHHHH!!!!--and the NBA now has this HUGE Chris Paul fiasco AND now a tampering charge with the Nets and Dwight Howard AND just general discontent with how the league is run.
David Stern, congrats--you managed to out-screw-up Gary Bettman.
(Somewhere, Roger Goodel is smiling, knowing he's the one good commish, and Bud Selig is HUGELY grateful with Bettman and Stern making him look almost decent...)
2. I think so.
I know I'll watch, and I NEVER would ahve in '08 if not for the run...
We'll see, I'll see what some of you all say, but hey, I think so...
3. Yes.
The Yankees/Red Sox are always favorites there...
I'd argue the Angels just became a Superpower like those two...the Tigers/White SoxIndians have nothing on the Angels, and the Rangers have blown it TWICE now in the World Series, and now have lost C.J. Wilson to a divisonal rival.
4. YES.
The Colts are dead.
The Patriots are becoming the 90s 49ers...good offense, bad defense, a playoff berth, but an exit from the playoffs...their time has passed.
The Steelers are still a good team, and a Ravens/Steelers AFC Championship showdown scould--maybe should--go down, it would be EPIC...
But even with the Ravens losing the previous playoff matchups, I think this is the Ravens year--Flacco's come of age and that defense is THE BEST in the NFL.
Ravens/Steelers and 49ers/Packers are my Championship picks...
And that sounds AMAZING, ANY combination of those teams in the SB is great.