This weekend was eventful for two reasons and I'll talk about the good one first. I went to my first NHL game ever: the Nashville Predators vs. the Anaheim (no longer Mighty) Ducks. Wow, color me impressed. Growing up in Peoria, I have been to minor league hockey games and knew that live hockey games were really fun. But the Predators experience was far better than watching the Rivermen. The talent level was very evident. The speed, puck-handling and goaltending was amazing. I enjoyed the NHL better than NFL, MLB and NBA games that I've been to because of the closeness to the ice and the constant motion. What they say is true, the game does not translate well to tv. Now, if they would just lower the ticket prices. I would love to go more often, but truth be told I wouldn't even have gone to this game had I not gotten free tickets (thanks NH!). Hockey would be much bigger I think if they would make the tickets more affordable.
Now to the bad part of the weekend -- the Super Bowl. It wasn't so super. I suppose it was too much to hope for that both my teams - the Cardinals and Bears - would win championships in the same year. While I'm not going to lay the blame at Rex Grossman's feet, I do think that I'm at the point where I won't defend him either. He's got a ton of talent and potential, but it appears that he will never shake that bad decision making. The bigger reason for the loss IMO was the play of the defense - particularly up the middle. Tommie Harris would've made a huge difference getting push up the middle and allowing Urlacher to run free. I also think that in order to play the cover 2 you need to have two good safeties and the Bears without Mike Brown don't have one. The corners did an admirable job, but had to give a huge cushion because I don't think they could trust Chris Harris to have their back. Hopefully next year they get some help at safety, tight end and o-line and maybe find another answer at QB.
Now to the bad part of the weekend -- the Super Bowl. It wasn't so super. I suppose it was too much to hope for that both my teams - the Cardinals and Bears - would win championships in the same year. While I'm not going to lay the blame at Rex Grossman's feet, I do think that I'm at the point where I won't defend him either. He's got a ton of talent and potential, but it appears that he will never shake that bad decision making. The bigger reason for the loss IMO was the play of the defense - particularly up the middle. Tommie Harris would've made a huge difference getting push up the middle and allowing Urlacher to run free. I also think that in order to play the cover 2 you need to have two good safeties and the Bears without Mike Brown don't have one. The corners did an admirable job, but had to give a huge cushion because I don't think they could trust Chris Harris to have their back. Hopefully next year they get some help at safety, tight end and o-line and maybe find another answer at QB.
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