It's About Time...

The NHL has just put a new "cheap shot" rule into action that will remain in effect until the end of the 2009-2010 season. The rule was voted in by the NHL Owners, even before the Players Association caught wind of it, but now it appears everyone is on the same page.

"The league will prohibit lateral, back-pressure or blindside hits to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or the principal point of contact."

The picture at the top of is Marc Savard down on the ice after a concussion given to him by Penguins' defenseman Matt Cooke. Watch any highlight of "superstar" Alexander Ovechkin from this past season, and watch how much of a goon he is. I understand he's a great player, and he can score goals like he's drinking a cup of tea, but let's be real, he plays like a scumbag. I bet if you think about it for a second, you can think of a bunch of dirty hits that happened in the past few years that should've prompted this rule sooner.

Cooke on Savard

Ovechkin being his scumbag self

Janssen on Bradley

New Rule, Same Results

I couldn't decide whether I wanted to write something up on the NFL's new overtime rule or on "Big Ben Strikes Back." (Roethlisberger's newest sexual assault case.) I figure I don't care much about one or the other, but this new rule is idiotic and I'm interested in how anyone thought, "oh yeah, this is new and different, let's go for it!"

Tie game at the end of regulation. You just watched 60 minutes of football, which really lasted 4 hours, and all you got to see was about 11 minutes of real action. Old overtime rule: Coin toss, sudden death. 80% of the time, the team who won the toss, won the game. New overtime rule: Coin toss, winning team automatically wins with a touchdown, but if they settle for a field goal, the other team gets a chance to go for the touchdown and take home the crown. If the second team also opts for a field goal, then it goes back to sudden death.

So really they will have just wasted their time going for 2 field goals, only to give the first team an 80% chance of winning again. Personally, I'm as sick of writing about this as I will be when I have to watch these shenanigans. I'm a college football guy, and I think the NCAA has it right. Each team gets a drive, doesn't matter if one team only gets a field goal, each team gets one drive.

At least the NFL is aware this is garbage, saying that it's only going to be used in the postseason. I hope they come out with a few more press releases trying to clear up the confusion after every show on ESPN has bashed the hell out of it.

It's Official...

Curling is underway at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

GBR vs SWE
NOR vs CAN
USA vs GER
SWI vs DEN
CAN vs GER
CHN vs FRA
USA vs NOR

All these match-ups are slated for action today. I'm watching the US take on Germany right now, and it's pretty much stopped time for the seven of us in the room. If you've never seen curling before, here's a little breakdown of how it works.

The game is played down a lane of ice, and the point is to get your curling stone the closest to the center of the target at the end. Each team gets 8 alternating throws, over 10 ends (or frames). Once the stone is thrown by one team member, the other 3 may use their brooms to smooth out the ice to further the stone along. The teams go back and forth, and have 73 minutes to complete all their throws in the 10 frames.

Pretty weak explanation of the sport, but that's basically curling in a nutshell. So enjoy the Games.