Top 5 things you'll read about in this Blog: 1. Hockey (NJ Devils particularly) 2. Personal Viewpoints 3. World Events 4. Religion/Philosophy 5. Federal/State Politics I begin at the start of the NHL Free-Agency following the first season after the dreaded lockout stymied what was predominantly seen as a stagnant top-tier professional sport in North America. Suffering through a full year of college and minor league hockey while the money-hungry owners and petulant primadonna players quabbled over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. In the season that materialized afterwards we saw talent sifted down and distributed across the league to produce parity, and I have to admit i was plasantly surprised by the amount of competitive teams that emerged. Only 8 out of the 30 teams were below .500 with the teams who used to rely on high payroll to buy talent found themselves faltering and squeaking into the playoffs if they were lucky (and in the case of the New York Rangers, lucky enough to get swept in the 1st round.) With free-agency now I see an immeasurable amount of competitve parity engendered by the financial parity mandated by the CBA and in particular the salary cap and floor. While i still feel hockey players are far and away the most underpaid professional athletes considering the 82 games + playoffs and the style of play (even though the 'old-school' hockey is supposedly on its way out). BIG NEWS - after the heritage hockey game back up in Canada the NHL is in talks with the Boss (Steinbrenner) and MLB to hold and outdoor hockey game in Yankee fricken' stadium! How great will that be, screaming with 40,000+ other fanatics. Even though it will only be the Rangers vs. the Islanders.... more later...