Real Sports Talk with E-$

I refuse to talk about football this week; it has gotten beaten to death whether it be all of the stuff about Peyton Manning/Andrew Luck, or how Randy Moss is making a comeback. ITS HOCKEY AND BASKETBALL SEASON.

For starters, the Atlantic division in the NHL is the best division, bar none. I talked about the New York Rangers enough last week, so I won't elaborate any more on them, but the other four teams within the division aren't bad at all either. The Philadelphia Flyers, behind right winger Claude Giroux and left winger Scott Hartnell have been extremely well this season (both have over 20 goals and 20 assists a piece), while the Pittsburgh Penguins (minus Sidney Crosby) have been on quite a run over the past few weeks since Marc-Andre Fleury started showing up between the pipes. The New Jersey Devils have also put themselves in a good position for the playoffs as Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrik Elias have proven to the rest of the NHL that they might be part of the best first line in the NHL, and Martin Brodeur/Johan Hedberg have been doing well in net.  The last team in this division, well the New York Islanders do have John Tavares and Matt Moulson, so with any type of luck that Rick DiPetro stays healthy, they might have a decent shot for the playoffs next year (though that has been their motto for the past couple of year (sounds like the Boston Red Sox)). Bottom line, in the Eastern Conference, I believe that the Ottawa Senators will end up being out of the playoffs, and that the Washington Capitals will end up sneaking into the playoffs (as the divison champs) with the Florida Panthers getting the last seed in the East. The Western Conference is dominated by three teams, as the Detroit Red Wings (Jimmy Howard has been KILLIN it in net), St. Louis Blues (Brian Elliot has also been dominant in goal, as he leads the NHL with a 1.63 goals against average, and back-up Jaroslav Halak is tied for the league lead in shu-outs with six), and Vancover Canucks (Henrik and Daniel Sedin have well over 100 points combined this year) have dominated that conference this year. Watch for the Canucks to go on a long run soon enough, as goalie Roberto Luongo seems poised to go on a run soon enough.

The NBA world sees the Oklahoma City Thunder with the best record in the league right now, but no team has been that dominant this season.  One thing that I can't get over is how well the Los Angeles Clippers are doing this season. As much as I dislike him Blake Griffin has been a dominant force (as long as he is within dunking distance of the rim), while Chris Paul has shown why he is one of the top point guards in the game right now. Coming into this season, I saw the Western Conference as being the weaker of the two conferences, but ten of the 16 teams are at or above .500 as of Monday. Other then the Clippers, the Houston Rockets are the biggest surprise in the west. Quick name the top two scorer for Rockets right now. Nothing? Maybe you got Kevin Martin (who is a very underrated scorer), but Luis Scola is the second leading scorer on the team. I can't picture this team making the playoffs, but then again, it is the NBA, and half the teams do make the playoffs. In the East, the Indiana Pacers have cooled off after their hot start, and a guy who was on a non-guaranteed contract is receiving the most amount of attention in New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin. This cat has been on fire over the past week and a half, but when the Knick start becoming healthier, it is going to be interesting to see if Lin keeps the playing time he has been receiving, let alone the productivity he has shown thus far. I predict that the Milwaukee Bucks will end up making the playoffs after the Pacers continue their downfall as the season moves on.

In other irrelevant (though I find interesting) sports news:

-Floyd Mayweather- shut up about Jeremy Lin. Why don't you talk some smack about Manny Pacquiao, and then we'll watch him kick your ass!

-RGIII better not be the first overall pick. Don't get me wrong, he was awesome in college, but I don't see him being any where near that good in the NFL.

-I would be shocked if anyone even gives Randy Moss a "tryout", let alone a roster spot.

-Watch for next week's issue to have a ton of ski stuff.

-Congrats to all of the students that made the Spring sports teams.

-Dodgeball has started back up in the gym in the HUB. Come down there at 10 on Monday and Tuesday nights, it is a lot of fun.

Non-sports information of the week

-It is amazing how quite the campus gets after midnight on any given weekday.

-Valentine's Day is such a b/s holiday (or as I like to call it, a Hallmark Holiday).

-Music of the week- Old school Linkin Park when they had Meteora. What a kick-ass CD.

-Gas prices need to stop increasing, as it seems like they have been doing for quite a long time now.

-Shout-out to the people in Plymouth that really don't get recognized to much, such as the bus drivers, janitors that keep the HUB and then dorms clean, as well as the people that actual stop their car when people are trying to go across a cross-walk. It is after all, the small things that do count.