NHL > NBA?

I will always love basketball more than hockey. Basketball is my favorite sport to play and one of my favorites to watch. So, I never thought I’d be saying this, but:

Thank god the hockey playoffs are starting up again tonight, because the NBA playoffs have been just awful. As for hockey? Incredible.

The Sharks-Stars 4OT masterpiece was probably the best hockey game I’ve ever seen and, logically, Marty Turco and Evgeni Nabokov put in two of the best goaltending performances I’ve ever seen. I can’t even imagine going out there for the 4th overtime and being able to walk, let alone ice skate with any urgency!

Yes, my favorite team, the New York Rangers, failed to advance to this round. This definitely puts a damper on the rest of the playoffs, but you have to realize – I haven’t been this big into hockey for about ten years. When the Rangers started going downhill in the late 90s, I lost interest and I was always more of a basketball fan anyway.

But, there’s one thing that can’t be denied. The NHL playoffs this year have blown the NBA playoffs out of the water.

I didn’t see this coming at all, with how competitive the Western Conference was this year. But, the conference's first round was an absolute bore, with the higher seeds toppling the lower ones easily. Same with the Eastern Conference, although surprisingly, the Celtics and Pistons were pushed a bit. The games themselves have been downhill since Game 1 of the Spurs-Suns series, in which players hit a series of clutch shots, including Tim Duncan nailing his first three of the season to put it into a second overtime.

The second round has been more of the same. Every home game has won. Yawnnnnnnn.
Not the case in the NHL.

There was the drama of Sean Avery’s stick-wielding antics in front of nemesis Martin Brodeur. And the brilliant 7 game series between the Flyers and Capitals, decided in overtime no less. And, of course, the valiant comebacks by the Rangers and Sharks, only to fall short. The best part about the NHL playoffs? They’ve been unpredictable.

Look at the first round. The 6th seeded Avalanche beat the 3rd seeded Wilds. The 7th seeded Flames pushed the 2nd seeded Sharks to 7. The 8th seeded Bruins did the same to the top seeded Canadiens. The 6th seeded Flyers toppled the 3rd seeded Capitals.

And now, the Eastern Conference Finals features a 2 vs. a 6 and the Western Conference Finals is a 1 vs.5 matchup. Hardly what anyone saw coming.

My final point is a simple one: nothing beats hockey playoffs. Nothing beats the intensity that comes with one shot of the puck, or one freak play, defining an entire team’s fate.

I’ll still be watching Kobe, Paul and Garnett go at it. But, for some reason, I think Crosby, Franzen and Turco may provide the better entertainment.

Man Crush of the Week #2 - Sean Avery

From my seat in Row A of Section 414 at Madison Square Garden, I can see almost everything that happens during the course of a Rangers game. Stationed centrally behind the net at the 8th Ave. end (where the Rangers attack in the 1st and 3rd periods), I get a full view of the ice, and most of the time I watch the puck and the play, like most people would.

But when a certain Ranger hits the ice, I’m transfixed on only him.

He’s unpredictable. He’s fast. He’s a good scorer, a deft passer. He’s a hitter and a fighter. He’s annoying as hell.

He’s Sean Avery.

When Avery became a Ranger on February 6th last season, I knew very little about him. Because Avery played in Los Angeles and the NHL has pretty much zero west-coast TV coverage, he was basically an unknown commodity. I think this was the case for a lot of people.

But since his arrival in New York, I have absolutely fallen in love with Sean Avery…in a totally non-sexual way, of course (come on, I’d have no shot anyway, this guy dated Elisha Cuthbert!), and so has most of New York.

Avery actually makes me laugh out loud when I watch the Rangers, partly because of the way he goes about getting under his opponent’s skin (yapping away from behind his infamous black mouth guard, throwing well-timed body checks, and of course face-washing players during post-whistle get-togethers), but mostly because he’s actually a terrific hockey player. It truly is a joy to watch the guy play the game. Most people can’t get past the agitation factor to recognize this, and that quite frankly is their loss.

Avery is the player that everyone – including even some Ranger fans – loves to hate. His language on the ice is crude, he’s brutally honest during interviews (“I guess fatso there forgot to shake my hand…”) and his goal celebrations are a bit over the top (though I think scoring a goal in the NHL would fire anyone up and I like the expression of emotion).

But I also think that the NHL’s resident bad boy fulfills the cliché, “Women want him and men want to be him.” After all, Avery isn’t just a hockey player…he’s a renaissance man. When he’s not at the rink, he claims he really doesn’t pay much attention to the hockey world and would rather talk about art than sports. His interests include high fashion and indie music. This summer, he’s interning at Vogue Magazine. Guy’s got a pretty cool life, no?

What I think a lot of people, especially over at NHL Headquarters on 6th Ave., are missing is that Avery has become one of the league’s most marketable stars. And in typical NHL fashion, Gary Bettman and Co. have shunned him. In a league that is struggling not only to garner more attention but also to promote its stars, Avery is a lightning rod for attention. He plays the part of the villain perfectly.

Now, many hockey pundits would tell me that the league is trying to clean up its image, that a “villain” is the last thing it needs. They’ll say the NHL is sick of the Todd Bertuzzi/Marty McSorely/Chris Simon moments that seem to happen yearly and give hockey an endless stream of bad press.

My argument is this: Sean Avery is not a goon. He doesn’t hit from behind. He doesn’t swing his stick at people’s heads. He doesn’t engage in slew-footing like Evgeni Malkin did in pathetic sore-loser fashion at the end of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Rather, Avery is a modern agitator with an old-school edge. And he’s a good interview because he’s articulate and will say a thing or two that catches everyone off-guard. He also has a personality off the ice.

I watched the Rangers playoffs with a few people who are not hardcore hockey fans like me and even they were interested in Sean Avery. Say what you will about his questionable screening tactics on Martin Brodeur…it made headlines, didn’t it? The national media was talking quite a bit about hockey the next day, weren’t they? I rest my case.

I’ll say this before I go. A lot of people have accused Avery of being selfish, especially when February rolled around and Avery met with the Rangers brass to discuss extending his contract, a one-year deal that expires on June 30th. SHOCKER: Avery asked for too much money. Go figure that…a pro athlete acting like, well, a pro athlete.

The thing is that Avery has proven his worth. The Rangers were 33-14-10 this past season when Avery played and 9-13-3 when he didn’t. And then came this gem from New York Post writer Larry Brooks, who scored an exclusive interview with Avery when he was released from the hospital earlier this week after beginning his recovery from a lacerated spleen.

Avery bleeds Ranger blue.

That’s good enough for me. But even if he leaves the Rangers, I will always have a soft-spot in my heart for Sean Avery, this week’s Sports Freakers Man Crush of the Week.

The Blueshirts Live to See Another Day

After giving up 12 goals in the first 3 games to the Penguins, the Rangers fell into a massive hole. The Penguins quickly gained a 3-0 series lead and it was all but over for the Rangers.

But the Rangers, who earlier this season went on an incredible 13 game run where they gained a point in each outing, are not quick to give up on anything.

They came out to a blisteringly loud crowd at the Garden last night with the intensions of satisfying their fans at least one more time this season. If anything, they were not going to lose this series on home ice. Easier said than done, of course. The Penguins are good. They are exceptionally good. Perhaps the best in the entire NHL.

Henrik Lundqvist, who has been very shaky in games 1 and 3, needed to be stellar if they were going to survive this do-or-die match. He needed to be perfect. Well, perfect he was, saving all 29 shots that came his way, including a penalty shot from the intimidating Evgeni Malkin, to record his 2nd career playoff shutout.

The young rookie (and soon to be superstar) Brandon Dubinsky, scored his 4th goal of the playoffs on a power play early on in the 3rd period. He also recorded his 4th assist of the playoffs in the 2nd period.

But if there was one player who truly played like it could be the final game for the Blueshirts, it was none other than Jaromir Jagr...well, because, it might not have only been his final game for the season, but his final game in the NHL. Jagr, who will likely be ending his hall of fame career at the end of this season to pursue a league in Russia, was the star of the night. He scored the first goal of the game midway through the 2nd period to give the Rangers the boost they needed. He also assisted on Dubinsky's goal, and finished the night off with an empty net goal with 14 seconds left in the game. It was inspiring, to say the least, hearing loud roars from the crowd "JAGR, JAGR, JAGR"

The game was intense. It was exciting. It was beautiful.

The Rangers may or may not end up pulling off a miraculous comeback, but at the very least, they played their hearts out last night at MSG and will be going off in style. All I know is that the last team to blow a 3-0 lead in the playoffs were none other than the Penguins back in 1975. So who's to say history won't repeat itself? I can only hope.

LET'S GO RANGERS!

Xavier's the name, hockey's the game

Before I jump into the world of "sports freaking," as it were, I want to sort of set the stage for what you'll be getting out of my particular posts.

I am a huge sports fan...as big a sports fan as any of the other five contributors on this blog. We all have slightly varying interests, some different favorite teams (though we're all from the New York Metro area, so figure it out), and different feelings about what goes on in the modern world of sports. However, I consider myself particularly passionate about a couple of sports that fall to the periphery of the spectrum for most American sports fans: hockey and soccer. Later on, I'll rant about the latter...but with the Rangers biggest game of the season looming tonight, I'll stick to the ice.

Now, I was brought up on hockey. I played, coached and refereed the game. The first championship I experienced was the New York Rangers winning the Stanley Cup in 1994. I have been a season ticket holder at Madison Square Garden since the early 2000's when, pardon my French, the team was a collection of absolute shit and was missing the playoffs for seven straight seasons. I sing the Goal Song that we Ranger fans adore and our rival fans despise as loud as humanly possible when a Blueshirt puts the puck in the net. From the months of October to June (hopefully), the Rangers and the NHL are my life.

And even though I am well aware - well aware - that hockey simply doesn't "do it" for a lot of people in this country, particularly in regions which don't experience much cold weather, I still get irked when ESPN decides that the NFL Scouting Combine is a more important story than the NHL playoff race. Hmmm, actual sporting events with outcomes and ramifications vs. MEANINGLESS EVALUATIONS OF COLLEGE PLAYERS RUNNING NON-FOOTBALL DRILLS? What seems more important on the surface? ESPN sets the sports agenda, and quite frankly, they generally do an awful job of it. And by the way, I know why they don't show hockey highlights, but this being a more philosophical discussion, that's simply not the point.

Perhaps what is more frustrating is this. Being in Manhattan everyday, I am afforded the privilege of seeing the back pages of New York City's finest rags, the Daily News and the Post. While both of these are poor excuses for newspapers, they are renown for their sports sections. Some of the best sportswriters in the country contribute to these newspapers. This winter was certainly eventful, but when the dust settled after such happenings as the A-Rod opt-out, the Giants Super Bowl win and the Roger Clemens steroid freak show, you would think the Rangers would receive top-billing in NYC right?

I mean, the Knicks were awful (the Rangers had better local TV ratings than them), and honestly what happens in February in baseball? Phil Hughes threw 40 pitches off the mound (maybe he should have thrown a few more...) before spring training began? How about the Rangers torrid run post All-Star break to seal their 3rd straight post-season berth? Or them blowing a 5-0 lead in Montreal on Feb. 19 but then posting a 7-0-1 record immediately thereafter? Chris Drury and Scott Gomez, the Rangers big splash summer free-agent signings, emerging as the leaders they were expected to be? Henrik Lundqvist receiving a contract extension, playing through distraction while his father in Sweden recovered from a brain aneurysm, and securing his third straight Vezina Trophy (award given to the league's outstanding goaltender) nomination? In a world where the Knicks were sadly disappearing from the consciousness of New York sports fans, the Rangers provided plenty of top-story fodder. At least that's how I see it.

But I am somewhat resigned to the fact that ESPN and the back pages will rarely lead with hockey. Maybe it's better that way. I do know that if the Rangers win the Stanley Cup, they will be the toast of the town here in New York...and damn rightfully so.