I am totally going to this.
Posted by Tino Evangelou on March 11, 2008
It appears that the New York Rangers may be pegged to play the second outdoor Winter Classic next season at Yankee Stadium before the ballpark closes its doors for good. Ignoring for a moment the baseball purists* who will no doubt bitch and moan about the last event in the revered Stadium being a hockey game (Hockey? Isn’t that on the fishing channel?) this is actually one of Gary Bettman’s few good ideas as NHL Commissioner. Having 55,000 people fill up Yankee Stadium to root for the Rangers would go a long way in giving hockey some more good exposure in the United States as well as helping the NHL continue to reestablish its viability as a major sports league. With that said…who else wants to get tickets?
The Rangers’ surge up the Eastern Conference standings continues after another shootout win yesterday (Am I a reverse jinx or what?), as they now stand just 3 points out of first place. Granted, the 8th place Flyers are “only” 8 points out of first, but one can dream of a #1 seed.
Oh, and Johan’s looking good. I thought I’d point that out.
*I don’t like the term “baseball purist.” I usually relate it to people who throw a shitfit when you use VORP or OPS or some other crazy math to evaluate a player instead of a scout’s totally subjective opinion. In other words, the same crotchety old men who SWEAR that players of yesteryear were better even though there were like no black or hispanic players and pitchers threw 150 pitches an outing and ruined their careers when they were 29 and there were no specialists coming out of the bullpen to throw cutters and sliders and 97 MPH fastballs at hitters. Right. Just as good as today.
