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The NHL has allowed fighting pretty much since the league’s inception. Now the NHL general managers are going to take a look at whether they should keep it or change the rules about fighting.

Lets look at the positive and negatives of fighting in the NHL. One positive is that many fans enjoy watching the fights and it gets everyone riled up. In many games a goal is not scored every period so there is not a ton of action in between scores. Many hockey fans I talk to enjoy the fights and might not go to games or watch them if they were banned completely.

Another positive is that it gives hockey a unique characteristic that other sports programs don’t have. You can’t see all out fights in basketball and football without players getting suspended for long periods of time. That and they rarely occur. Hockey has always embraced fighting, and claimed to be the toughest and most rugged of the four main sports. If the NHL got rid of fighting, the NFL would then take over as the roughest sport of the four. Even if no fight occur in a game, just the sheer fact that “it could happen” keeps some people entranced waiting for it to happen.

Some negatives are that parents watching hockey and see fights might not want their children playing such a violent sport. Another reason is that it slows the game down, the NHL is trying to speed up games by cutting out time stopping or slowing rules. Another is the image, some people may not watch hockey because it encourages fights and doesn’t try to stop them. They may consider it “barbaric” or “not civilized”.

Furthermore, there is the offhand chance it could be to prevent injuries from occurring. If you punch someone in the face multiple times there is always a slight chance it could prove fatal. So far the NHL has been lucky and hasn’t had any deaths. I remember when Bertuzzi clipped a guy from behind and nearly killed/paralyzed him. It wasn’t a fight, it was a cheap shot, but because of the “let loose” realm of hockey, players think along the lines of “how can I really hurt my opponent”.

I think however, that despite all the negatives, the sport of hockey would lose a lot of fans if they cut out fighting. It is a much a part of hockey as peanuts are at a baseball game. Just look at how much popularity UFC has been gaining, Americans want more violence, not less. You cut out fights and hockey becomes as entertaining to an American as a soccer game.

We all look forward to March Madness, whether its the office pool or some website’s chance at a million dollars with a near perfect bracket. We doubt that we will actually achieve a near perfect bracket but it’s an exciting roller coaster none the less.

There is also the drama of the Cinderellas and upset games, there is nothing like a kid hitting that buzzer beater to knock off the big school. College Football and Baseball got nothing on basketball, it is way more fastpaced and a better tournament. Everyone was clamoring for a playoff in football this year, but we know that will never happen. Too much money being passed around in the BCS.

There will be a lot of new comers that haven’t seen recent success like Clemson, Missouri, and Arizona State. There are also a lot of teams like Creighton and VCU who love upsetting the big dogs. Basketball is my favorite sport, and the NCAA Tournament is my favorite sporting event. It lasts longer than the SuperBowl. It plays at a much faster pace than the World Series or College World Series. Elimination tournaments are the best. You win, you keep going, you lose, bye bye. I’ve been doing brackets for over ten years now and you can never predict the first round, even when playing with 6 different brackets. Even if you do you have the second and sweet 16 which you couldn’t make it through flawlessly. I believe I predicting North Carolina winning it all a couple of years ago. That is one of the few years i predicted the winner from the beginning. But that was a pretty dominate team, with Felton and May. This year Uconn, UNC, Pittsburgh, and Oklahoma all look powerful, who knows who’ll win it all? Maybe a Cinderella will steal the glory or maybe all the favorites will dominate like two years ago.

There is no set pattern for picking a winner, some people flip coins, some ask their little sister. Sometimes your wife could predict more right than you? We all get very superstitious around this time. We wear different shirts, avoid watching certain games. Shout stupid stuff when players attempt free throws. It’s absurd but it makes the whole thing even more fun and intense. We hang on every shot of some games, and hold our breathe in the final seconds. When March Madness comes and goes we’ll see who’s brackets are left standing, and whose brackets are in shambles. Like Forest Gump said “you never know what your going to get” and I like it that way.

Want to be in the driver seat of the truck of one of the greatest quarterbacks ever? Well go to eBay and you will find it up for auction. It is Brett Favre’s 2007 F-150 pickup truck with only 84-hundred miles on it. He will even autograph the dashboard if you win it, now there’s a deal! The bidding starts at $35,000.

The online auction for Brett Favre’s truck

Let’s look at the teams that struggled, tripped over their own feet, and couldn’t find the playoffs if they got a first round draft pick. Here is this year’s worst NBA teams of 2009.

10. Charlotte Bobcats (25-35) - They look miserable this year and are unlikely to get better anytime soon. They have never made the playoffs and this is certainly not going to be their year. They always get high draft picks but don’t seem to develop them. They could be the shortest lived franchise in history if they go broke this year or next year.

9. New York Knicks (24-35) - They drafted Danilo Gallinari but he hasn’t become a super star yet. Everyone else on their team is not exactly All-Star material either. They finally have a good coach in Mike D’antoni who can turn things around, but it’s probably too late this season. Hey, at least they have the slam dunk champion (Nate Robinson).

8. Toronto Raptors (23-38) - They have Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon, Jason Capono and Shawn Marion so I am stunned as to why they are not winning! They probably need a better coach and another big man inside to dominate the post. Maybe they’ll find one in this year’s draft.

7. Golden State Warriors (20-39) - Stephen Jackson and Jamal Crawford are their best players, sad. They were considered one of the most athletic teams two years ago and upset the first seed Mavericks which had never been done in a seven game series. Now look how far they’ve fallen. You can hear cries “Baron Davis, where are you!!??” if you listen close.

6. Minnesota Timberwolves (18-41) - They’ve been through a lot of coaching changes and have struggled since the lose of Kevin Garnett. It will take one heck of a draft pick and a lot of heart next year for these guys to have a fighting shot at greatness.

5. Oklahoma City Thunder (15-45) - I’m wasn’t even a Seattle Sonics fan and it still bothers me that a team as established as the Sonics got bought and sent to Oklahoma and changed their name! What gives? Either way this team’s new outlook hasn’t helped them win games. Sure they got Kevin Durant, but he needs other stars around him to prosper. A good point guard in the draft would help, maybe his old teammate from Texas A.J. Abrams would bring some team chemistry.

4. Memphis Grizzlies (15-43) - They have a very young team so their is some hope. It cracks me up that they went and got Marc Gasol (top) after they lost his older, better, brother Pau Gasol. Also, they are set to face the Lakers and his brother in their next game. Good luck with that!

3. Washington Wizards (14-46) - Gilbert Arenas is finally starting to practice and says his knee is getting better. But even if they win 20 straight games they would still miss the playoffs. I think the Wizards missed their Finals window during the last three years.

2. Sacramento Kings (13-48) - Bobby Jackson is the best player on this team, and he’s way past his prime. This team will likely get a top 5 draft pick and they better get someone who can change the game. It will in all likely hood take three to four years before this team can make a turn around.

1. L.A. Clippers (15-46) - They have Baron Davis and Marcus Camby but I just don’t think they gel as a team. They need to hold on to their best players and stop trading away their draft picks. They could use an excellent shooting guard like Ricky Rubio or James Harden to take their team to the next level.

The hype that follows Stephen Curry is astonishing. This small kid who plays guard for Davidson and the son of NBA player Dell Curry. I followed this player and think he is good, but does he have the size, strength and skills to be effective at the next level? He has bulked up a little but I still think he is a bit to scrawny for the NBA.

Curry took his team to the sweet sixteen last year and Davidson was the prime Cinderella story of the NCAA tourney. To top his feats from last year he would have to make the final four and score 40+ points in each game. I doubt he has that in him. But if he does that America’s obsession will grow ten fold.

I can see why people like this kid, he is mild mannered, comes from good stock, and is an underdog on an underdog team. Everyone loves an underdog. This kid does have talent, but can you see him driving past Chris Paul, I sure can’t picture it.

He even has a brother in college basketball. Many are unaware of Seth Curry, who is currently a freshman starter for the Liberty University Flames. I don’t know what’s with this family and going to small schools. Maybe their father Dell told them that they will get noticed more if there a star on a small school. True, but Liberty?! Come on! They won’t even make the tournament. But Seth does put up 20.6 pts per game and if he keeps that up he could get noticed. His older brother is averaging 29 pts a game, could this fuel some brotherly competition?

The sad things is players like Stephen Curry don’t stay very long in college. Curry has been the exception staying for his Junior year. I even think if his team doesn’t make the Final Four he should return once more. Next year he may have it easier in the league as Seniors like Tyler Hansbrough won’t be back and you can always improve your game more before journeying into the next level. And we all know he doesn’t need the money as his dad played in the NBA and they pay well. If he goes pro, the college game won’t have many familiar faces next year and someone knew will have to arise. Will we ever see more great Cinderella stories with amazingly good player, probably. But it may take a couple more years before we see one that blows us away like Stephen Curry did.

How dumb is it to complain about not getting traded. Well it’s really dumb if your Jay Cutler and your stuck quarterbacking the team for the next few years. Now it’s almost as if the Broncos have to trade him! How do you motivate the rest of the team when their leader has stated he doesn’t want to be there. Cutler will just have to suck it up and act like he is okay with staying, or he and Denver will me in a huge mess.