Winter Classic

The NHL has done well two years in a row now in regards to the Winter Classic. Wrigley Field may not have had the best sight lines, but I don't think anybody in the crowd cared.

I do consider myself a uniform buff, and both teams looked really sharp this year in the throwback sweaters. The Olde-English D was a nice toss up to the Wings history before they were the Red Wings- they were actually the Detroit Cougars at the time. The Wings unis were completed by some pretty kickass bumble bee socks. Hopefully in the future, the Wings don these and the old Detroit Falcons jerseys for a couple games a year. The Hawks jerseys looked sharp as well, with the big chest stripe and the old school logo crest. Even the coaches on both clubs got into the act, wearing old fasioned looking varsity jackets. However, the best dressed not has to go to the Red Wing's bench. As much as I love Coach Babcock's gloriously blowdried coif, it was a really nice touch to wear the fedoras. Hopefully they bought them at Henry the Hatter.

I initially was upset at the league for putting the game on New Years Day, but I now think it was great idea. New Years is a day where nobody is at work, and everyone is at home hungover and looking for something to do. If you're a hockey fan, you're going to watch anyway. If you're normally a football fan, you might stumble upon the game for the first time and see how cool it is. My only question is if maybe the league should make it an all day thing, such as the NFL's Thanksgiving lineup. This way you have all day to capture the channel surfers, and more cities are involved.

In conclusion, it seems the NHL has a hit on its hands. It's a cool idea, and for once under Gary Bettman's reign of terror an event has been marketed well. I raise an ice cold Labatt to the NHL for this one.