Well This Throws A Wrench Into Things

Surely if you're here and you have the patience to read the header of this blog, you know what the whole point of it all really is. This is a running account of my adventures and journeys to see all 122 teams in the NFL, NHL, MLB and NBA play a home game. The goal is to get it all done by the time I'm 55, and with 41 teams down, I've made some significant progress in my years, but there are still some outstanding issues. I get asked a number of questions about my plans and my adventures and there are two that show up more than any others.

1) If a team builds a new arena, do you have to go see that team again? Yes, I do.

2) What happens if a team moves?

That second one is slightly more complicated. Well, the answer isn't really all that complicated -- yes, I need to see them again -- but for record keeping purposes will I have to assume that there is suddenly 123 teams to keep track of? If I haven't seen that initial franchise, well, I guess not, and it appears I won't have to answer that question just yet, but it appears I may have my first test on question No. 2 today, with the announcement that the True North Sports Group has agreed to a deal to purchase the Atlanta Thrashers. While the franchise is not officially on the move to Winnipeg, Manitoba just yet -- that can't be formally done until the board of governors approves the deal on June 21 -- most parties involved seem to expect that that will be the case from the NHL, to the Atlanta Thrashers, to even the more comically social media savvy players.

So, with a team likely moving to Winnipeg and out of Atlanta, I'm sure the big concern for all of you is, "I wonder what this means for David Kalan." Don't worry, I'm going to tell you. I've thought about this often because earlier this year it appeared painfully obvious that I was going to have to account for a team moving this summer, although I didn't expect it to be a hockey team. Of course, that move wound up not happening, and possibly do to some, uh, outside resistance. But that move wouldn't really have been so bad because a) I've been to Sacramento before and feel no real need to go back, and b) a cluster of three NBA teams in the Los Angeles/Anaheim metropolitan area would have made for a convenient and fun little swing through southern California.

This move is completely different because Winnipeg isn't near, well, anything really, but it does actually excite me somewhat because I now have a reason to go there, and I like being able to see new cities. It is somewhat unfortunate in that had the Thrashers stayed in Atlanta, I have several friends I could stay with whereas I know no one who currently lives in Manitoba. There is the chance however that I could try to tack Winnipeg onto the beginning of a Western Canadian hockey tour that I am planning on doing at some point, one that would take me from Calgary to Edmonton and then to Vancouver via a train that goes through the Canadian Rockies which are supposed to be, you know, gorgeous. It's worth noting of course that Winnipeg is some 824 miles from Calgary, roughly the same distance from New York City to Chicago, so taking it onto that trip could be ill-conceived, but how often am I in Western Canada anyway?

Either way, there is some sadness here for the Atlanta organization and its fans, though I suppose they'll always have a memory of Dustin Byfuglien lifting the Cup in his Thrashers jersey after being traded by the Blackhawks last summer, or Lil Jon dining with it. Byfuglien, incidentally, hails from Roseau, Minnesota, which is just 116 miles or so from Winnipeg.

So, in the end, with this news breaking it looks as though I'll have to add Winnipeg's MTS Centre onto my list of arenas, which given what it looks like, actually should be pretty cool when I finally get there, though it will be interesting to see a game there if, for no other reason, it only holds a little more than 15,000 people. And if I do manage to put Winnipeg onto my Western Canadian hockey swing, it will be particularly fun to go through each city and see the differences before winding up ultimately in Vancouver, which, if none of you have noticed, is also in the hockey news these days because it's hosting Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

And it's hosting it tomorrow.

Yeah, the Stanley Cup Final, one of my all-time favorite things to watch or experience kicks off between the Canucks and Bruins Wednesday night, and while some mediocre sportswriter is giving you the ins and outs of some meaningless statistics, fan-related angst and video game predictions, there really is nothing quite like just sitting down and watching the game. Personally, I'm of the mindset that Vancouver is just too good and will take the series in six games, but Boston is certainly no slouch of a team after pulling off a gutsy Game 7 win over Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference Finals Friday night.

If nothing else a good, hard series between these two will be a great distraction from the messiness of Mets land, where, despite two wins in a row now, things have kind of gotten sticky due to some comments from the man in charge right around when he's selling a chunk of the team to a guy that, despite his great name, could probably use a little better fashion sense when he's playing poker. Many are hoping David Einhorn will stick around long enough to get majority ownership and end the Wilpon regime, or at least long enough to continue the flood of Ace Ventura jokes.

Another particularly awesome aspect of the whole thing is that if Vancouver finally wins its first Stanley Cup, it will likely do so in large part due to the efforts of Ryan Kesler and Henrik and Daniel Sedin. The upshot of that, is that Canada will finally get its vaunted Cup back for the first time in 18 years, but doing so would require the charge being led by an American and two Swedes.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they'd be plenty happy and the Canucks roster is still made up of a vast majority of Canadians, but relying on the Americans to get your achievement would still be pretty fun -- almost as fun as knowing that Qatar, which famously and quite possibly corruptly beat the U.S. for the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, is doing so largely on the basis of ideas that are not just being stolen from America, but being stolen from American television. That's right. Qatar's plan to block out the sun during its insanely hot summers is essentially lifted from The Simpsons, which on a side note, after re-watching this episode from the "Who Shot Mr. Burns" Saga, I am still convinced was the greatest show in history in its prime.

So yeah, I'm excited about the Stanley Cup Final. I hope you are, too.

Get Your Overpriced Ephemeral Merchandise Here!

Some of you probably noticed that there was a huge television extravaganza on recently with some royalty involved. Yes, the first round of the NFL Draft was last night, and boy howdy was it a party. I know, I know, you probably thought I was talking about some other royal TV... thing, but come on, we fought pretty damn hard to free ourselves from the yoke of these imperial oppressors, no matter how fabulous their sense of humor might be.

The brilliant, and not at all crazy, Jack Edwards knows exactly what I'm talking about.

So no, the royal wedding in the wee hours of this morning was not the exciting TV event I was talking about, although I really did enjoy when NBC's camera lingered over Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera clearly had no idea who she was. Come on, people? Even Dust and Sand knows who she is. Frankly, I think it's awfully nice of her to even bother making the trip to the wedding considering all of Australia was probably emotionally spent from Geelong's stunning win over Hawthorn earlier this week. Of course, the Cats have done that before.

But I digress. The draft. The Giants had the 19th pick in the NFL's annual selection gala, and chose to use it on Prince Amukamara, so named because he was the first son of a Nigerian chief, and if you don't think this qualifies him as royalty, you should check out the names of his sisters. Interestingly, he's not the first Giant draftee to be a sort of African royalty, although he grew up in Arizona, but what struck me most about the evening, aside from the fact that many Giants fans weren't sure we needed another defensive back (Ed: You can never have enough defensive backs), was that within moments I got an e-mail from the Giants offering me the exclusive opportunity to purchase what might just be the most useless piece of merchandise I've ever seen from a sports team.

You see, at least draft hats and the like can still be worn easily. The Giants are probably never changing their logo. But this was advertised to me as a "Prince Amukamara draft jersey". I understand this is a business and that sports teams need to make money where they can, but this just seems over the top. To buy this jersey would be a painfully silly purchase. And there are more than a few reasons why.

For one, and perhaps most importantly, we know nothing about how Prince Amukamara will be as an NFL cornerback. He may be the next Champ Bailey, but he may also be the next Rashard Anderson. We don't know. Personally, I don't really understand shelling out $85 for a player who may wallow in obscurity.

For two, Prince Amukamara may not even make the team. Sure that's unlikely, but it's certainly possible, and if that's the case, well, personally, I don't really understand shelling out $85 for a player who may never actually be a Giant.

For three, the number on the jersey is "No. 1". If Amukamara makes the team he will almost certainly not wear No. 1. Some of you may thing this is a place holder and that those who purchase this jersey will get a jersey with his actual number, but no. The description actually says, "made to look like the exact jersey given to Amukamara on draft day", which means it will be No. 1. And, uh, personally I don't really understand shelling out $85 for a player who may not actually wear the number on the jersey I'm purchasing.

For four, it's a replica. It's not even nice! It's just a thin piece of mesh with the No. 1 and Amukamara silk-screened on it. Personally, I don't really understand shelling out $85 for a player whose jersey may have the numbers rubbed off after five times through the wash.

So yeah, basically what I'm telling you all is that the NFL is asking me to pay $85 for a piece of merchandise that has the shelf life of, oh, two weeks. Who, exactly, is buying this jersey? Well, not me, but as we know, in service to the almighty dollar, the NFL has had a tendency to do what it can to get as many premature dollars as possible.

Far be it from me to stand in the way.

Of course, once the Giants picked I mostly tuned out from the draft, which is fine since some Giants were preoccupied anyway, and for most of the first two hours I was flipping between it and the Mets, who, tragically, saw their Major League-high six-game winning streak come to an end in Washington. It is worth noting after that winning streak that the Mets are still under .500. Once I tuned out I moved on to the NHL playoffs, which, duh, you should all be watching. All sorts of fun stuff could happen, and many prognosticators are putting their opinion in.

As are the brilliant scribes reporting on it. And that doesn't even include the awards nominations which, surely, you've all paid attention to.

If you haven't, there's a chance for you to jump on the bandwagon tonight when the Capitals and Lightning open up a doubleheader that will later feature the Red Wings and Sharks. And if you don't tonight, I won't blame you.

You're probably too angry at yourself for spending $85 on that short-lived Amukamara draft jersey.

Alright, Devils. I'm In. Let's Do This Thing.

Let's be serious here. About four people read this. Maybe more, but I doubt it. So most of you probably don't know, nor will you know what my thought has been regarding the once-moribund and now flourishing New Jersey Devils, though I've mentioned it a few times. And that thought was this. The Devils haven't had a decent first-round draft position in nearly two decades because, well, they've always been pretty good. New Jersey hadn't missed the playoffs since 1996 and it seemed unlikely that that would be changing any time soon. Some pegged the Devils as Stanley Cup contenders this season and they looked every bit of it the first ten minutes of the year before letting an early two-goal lead slip away against Dallas in a game they'd eventually lose in overtime 4-3.

Then Zach Parise tore up his knee. Then the team was terrible. Then coach John MacLean was fired. Then the team was still terrible.

Ostensibly, New Jersey was awful, having, for most of this season, the worst record in the League, and by a fair margin at that, but then things started to change. The Devils shipped off captain Jamie Langenbrunner and players began buying into Jacques Lemaire's philosophy. Now New Jersey is the hottest team int he League, which left me with a decision to make. Do I lament the loss of what could have been a top-five pick for a team that despite its hot streak is so far out the playoffs are a near impossibility? Or do I throw my emotion behind it and invest myself for what is still an unlikely occurrence?

I opted to wait and see the progress and I decided that if New Jersey could trim a deficit between it and the No. 8 seed, which once was as high as 27 points, down to 10 points by the end of their 60th game, I would start to believe. In New Jersey's last 18 games, the Devils are an astonishing 15-1-2. On Saturday night they played their 59th game, and their third in the last 12 games against eighth-seeded Carolina, and walked away with an impressive 4-1 win.

And just like that, with 59 games gone in the season, the deficit is down to 10.

I'm in.

There are 23 games left for the Devils to make a 10-point deficit disappear, and it's still a tall task despite how well the team is playing. According to Cool Standings.com, the Devils still have just a 1.7% chance of making the playoffs as things stand, but that is still a major improvement over just 11 days ago, when the Devils, despite already playing great hockey and moving up the standings, were given less than a 0.1% chance of reaching the top eight. New Jersey has 54 points, but 32 of them have come in the last 18 games. To continue playing at this pace is highly unlikely, and it may be necessary to pull off the impossible dream, but now that they're this close, I'm jumping along for the ride. And since the Devils' performance clearly hinges on my dedication, this is crucial.

The journey continues tonight in Dallas, where the Devils will be playing those same Stars they faced on opening night, only now they'll be facing them with former-captain Jamie Langenbrunner across the ice, though, it should be noted, Langs is pulling for his old mates. I'm sure most of you are caught up to speed on tonight's game after reading that great preview some guy wrote about it on the interwebs, and you just can't wait to see the Devils drop the puck. I know I can't. This team is real now, they're really in the race and I'm not the only one who thinks it.

If you aren't as excited then you're probably too distracted by the huge trade that broke yesterday. You know, the one in which the Stars shipped James Neal and Matt Niskanen to Pittsburgh for Alex Goligoski. I'm sure you were highly concerned about the potential ramifications of the trade both in the real world and for your fantasy hockey team.

Of course, there's the chance that you were actually thinking about that trade where Carmelo Anthony, finally, at long last, after what seemed like centuries of build up, was sent to the Knicks last night for Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, several draft picks, cash, Patrick Ewing's retired number banner and the vast French North American territory known as "Louisiana".

Don't get me wrong. I wanted Melo. I'm glad he's here. The Knicks are better today than they were yesterday. But simply put, the 'Bockers got fleeced in this deal, and it isn't difficult to see how or why. Everyone and their mother knew Melo was eventually going to be a Knick. He wanted it, the Knicks wanted it and it didn't matter how many players the Nets were going to offer Denver. Anthony was never going to sign an extension and the deal was never going to land him in New Jersey. Donnie Walsh knew the Knicks had all the cards and wanted to hold out as long as possible to either force the Nuggets to take New York's previous offers or to simply sign Melo in the offseason as a free agent.

But James Dolan is a petulant needy child, and he just had to get his man. And he wanted him now. And as a result, Dolan just had to get involved this weekend and muck it all up. Sure, the Knicks got the man they wanted all along and they have ample cap space in the future to try and get a third big star to power the roster such as Deron Williams or Chris Paul, but they didn't have to give up what they gave up. And perhaps more specifically, they didn't have to give up Danilo Gallinari. Gallo was developing into a quality swingman who could have been a quality player on a championship contending squad next to Amar'e Stoudemire and Anthony. Instead, the roster, aside from these two stars, has been completely stripped bare, and while the Knicks have a blank canvass to work with, they don't have much else.

And perhaps the most frightening thing about this? Despite statements to the contrary, it's pretty clear to just about everyone that Isiah Thomas has been advising Dolan from a far. It also seems apparent that Thomas, the man who single-handedly destroyed the franchise for nearly a decade, might have more influence than Walsh, a man with a proven record of building quality teams. In the end, it seems obvious that Dolan's need for instant gratification and his inexplicable love for Thomas won out. In a bitter twist of irony, the deal brings Renaldo Balkman back to the Garden, a player Thomas inexplicably selected in the first round in 2006 when he was projected as an undrafted free agent, and waves goodbye to Eddy Curry, likely Thomas' worst of several awful moves, whose expiring contract will wind up in Minnesota as part of the deal.

This isn't the first time Dolan's childlike neediness has become readily apparent to just about everyone, and it probably won't be the last. And knowing that New York could have brow-beaten Denver into a better offer for the Knicks instead of giving them everything short of Stoudemire, Landry Fields and the urinal in Dolan's private bathroom is irritating. But in the end, if the Knicks win a championship in the next few years, I, and everyone else, will have forgotten about the pieces that could have been kept and rightly so. In the end, that's all we really want.

And if that doesn't happen, at least I have other reasons for optimism. I mean, come on. The Devils are playing awesome hockey right now.

Anyone Notice That The Devils Are Kind Of Really Good Right Now?

I am faced with a massive quandary as a Devils fan right now. In what has been a trying season -- New Jersey has spent most of the season with the League's worst record -- my team is suddenly hot as a pistol and making a wild, bizarre run at the final playoff spot in the East. That playoff spot is still a far, far ways off, but it's an awful lot closer than it used to be. Last night, New Jersey trailed in the third period in Toronto before Ilya Kovalchuk pushed himself end-to-end and fired a game-winner past James Reimer in the waning seconds of overtime.

And just like that the deficit was down to 13.

Now that may not seem like the most exciting revelation. After all, New Jersey is still third to last in the Eastern conference. But that 13-point deficit was 24 points not so long ago, and with 27 games remaining there is ample time for that deficit to start dropping bit by bit. In fact, that win over Toronto Thursday night has pushed New Jersey's mark to 11-1-2 in its last 14 games, which easily makes them the hottest team in the League at the moment. Thursday night was the Devils' second consecutive overtime victory after defeating the Hurricanes in OT Tuesday at The Rock -- a game I was actually in attendance for -- and it now may have the New Jersey building the adequate momentum to make a serious run at the final postseason seed.

The win in Toronto also put coach Jacques Lemaire in the 600-win club, a feat that was written up by some anonymous lackey at NHL.com.

Lemaire's accomplishments are a pivotal part of the story, of course. The man who led the Devils to their first Stanley Cup Championship in 1995, has showed a remarkable ability to get the most out of his teams -- as he did with the Devils a season ago in what was expected to be a one-season return to the Garden State before moving on into retirement. What he has done so far this season, however, may eclipse anything else he's done. New Jersey was 9-22-2 when Lemaire was brought in to replace company man John MacLean on Dec. 23. At that point the idea of a playoff run was well off the team's radar -- and in likelihood it still is. Instead for the Lemaire, the challenge was to remind the players that not only were they professionals, but they were expected to be Stanley Cup contenders when the season began.

Rediscovering the Devils' confidence under Lemaire has been a rough process -- New Jersey went 1-7-0 in its first eight games following the coaching change, culminating in a home-and-home sweep at the hands of the hated Flyers. Since then, there has been a change, however. And the results have been staggering.



New Jersey was 27 points behind eighth-place Montreal on Jan. 9. In 14 games, the deficit has been halved.

With 27 games remaining there is certainly time for the Devils to get closer and closer, and while they would likely have to continue playing at the same remarkable pace of the past month, fans like myself have slowly started to believe that anything is possible. So why not?

Well, probability is one reason to believe why not. Cool Standings as of today still lists the Devils' chances of making the postseason this year at less than .1%, and I generally find a reliance on numbers and statistics to be the likely outcome in the long run. But without knowing the actual math they use, I'm not sure they can account for intangibles like momentum, but I can also attest, mathematically speaking, to a belief in regression to the mean and the law of larger numbers. All season long the Devils have been playing beneath their expectations and their talent level, but the larger the sample size -- in this case, 82 games -- the more likely the Devils' final record should approach their expected performance this season.

Now the Devils were expected to compete for a division title against the likes of defending-Eastern Conference Champion Philadelphia and 2009 Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh. While the chances of winding up in that race are just about nil, sneaking into the postseason with the final seed, if this team continues to return to its expected level performance over the long haul, certainly doesn't seem all that outlandish to me.

So that aforementioned quandary is this. Do I lament the likely loss of the Devils first potential top-five draft pick in decades, which could be used to patch a number of holes? Or do I get behind the improbable comeback?

Is it likely? Probably not. In fact, earlier this week I decided that I would wait until New Jersey had closed the gap to 10 points, and that it would have to happen by the 61st game of the season, before I fully invested myself emotionally in the prospect of the Devils making a stunning and unlikely playoff run. But with five games and only three points to go before that threshold, I'm starting to believe. It's only been a month of this season that the team has actually shown any signs of life, but now they're as lively as can be. And if they knock off the hottest team in the West in Newark tonight, (though I should note tonight's Chicago-Dallas game is also pretty intriguing as this preview attests) things could really get interesting.

And then I'd really start to believe that it's possible. In the end, short of a Championship, believing, in any season, is all you can really hope for.

NFL Picks Week Two: In Which I Atone For Week One

Yes, once again I've been neglecting to update but I actually have a really good reason this time. I swear.

For the past three days I've been up in Boston covering some rookie games between the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders, in addition to snooping around No. 2 2010 NHL Draft Pick Tyler Seguin and the No. 5 selection Nino Niederreiter. If you don't believe me, I have plenty of evidence.

Also, I have to admit I spent far longer than I should have leering at the brand new Bobby Orr "Superman" statue that's been erected outside Boston's TD Garden. Because, let's be honest -- it's fucking awesome. I took a few minutes to really take a good look at it because it wasn't up the last time I made my way to the Garden 19 months ago, and it just may be my favorite of all the numerous sports stadium statues I've seen. In fact, the brilliant statue of Willie Mays outside PacBell/SBC/AT&T Park is the only one that comes close.

I also received another distraction when the Mets released their 2011 schedule and I immediately began plotting ball park trips for next summer. Does a sweltering trip that includes Texas and Houston in late June or a scenic drive from Arizona to San Diego in mid-August sound exciting to anyone else?

Ugh. Didn't think so.

But don't worry, dear readers. Or possibly reader. Because I will not neglect you. In the midst of what is an absurdly busy week -- Boston from Tuesday to Friday, Yom Kippur Friday to Saturday, Indianapolis Sunday to Monday -- I'm still going to give you an insight into just how poorly I'm going to predict this week's NFL action.

And why?
Well, for one, I'm pretty sure I told all of you that I'd do it. That's almost certainly the biggest reason. But the other ones are valid, too. Those are that there are two things currently on my mind right now. The first is how I woke up early at my hotel this morning so I could watch the Preliminary Final between Geelong and Collingwood, which went, uh, not according to plan. The other thing on my mind is how the train I'm on right now is going through Rhode Island, and I'm seeing nothing but gorgeous ocean shore houses that I will never be wealthy enough to own.

I don't want to think about either of those things, so blogging it is.

Of course, I should note that this train ride is still better than the one I took to Boston on Tuesday. That one was delayed for an hour before our train finally left Penn Station, broke down in Queens and got hauled back to Penn Station so we could board another train three hours and 40 minutes after we were originally expected to leave. Amazingly, the best part of that ride was finding out that the girl I was sitting next to works with someone I used to date. At least that I could laugh about.

In any event, I'm getting stunningly off topic. Before I continue, I want to make mention of my next major excursion -- which I'm almost obscenely excited about -- and that is this Sunday in Indianapolis, where the indomitable Dov Turner will join me to possibly tour the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, scour the Circle City for cheap parking, and attend the main attraction: Manning Bowl II. Yes, Eli and Peyton Manning will be going mano a mano Sunday night on national TV, but instead of relying on my cable carrier to bring me the action, I've decided to pay way too much over face value to watch from the nosebleeds of Lucas Oil Stadium.

And more excited I could not be.

This will make the Indianapolis Colts team No. 35 in my quixotic quest to do nothing constructive with my life whatsoever. In addition to the attention that comes with Manning vs. Manning, this is also the Colts' 2010 home opener, which means during the pregame they'll be raising their 2009 AFC Champions banner, and while it isn't the banner they wanted in the rafters, the experience will still be one of the cooler visits I've made. Also, that stadium looks fucking awesome.

I can't get to Indianapolis soon enough -- which is as unusual a statement as I'll ever make -- but the wait, unfortunately, will seem longer than normal. Because Yom Kippur starts tonight at sundown, I'll be spending the 24 hours prior to my trip reflecting, counting down the minutes and, well, not eating.

Perhaps I can also spend the day pondering just which of my predictions is about to go wrong. And speaking of which, here are the picks:

Last week: 6-8-2
Season: 6-8-2

NY Giants (+4.5) over INDIANAPOLIS
ATLANTA (-6.5) over Arizona
Baltimore (-2.5) over CINCINNATI
Kansas City (+2) over CLEVELAND
DALLAS (-7) over Chicago
DETROIT (+6) over Philadelphia
GREEN BAY (-12.5) over Buffalo
TENNESSEE (-5) over Pittsburgh
MINNESOTA (-5.5) over Miami
CAROLINA (-3.5) over Tampa Bay
DENVER (-3.5) over Seattle
St. Louis (+3.5) over OAKLAND **
NY JETS (+3) over New England
SAN DIEGO (-7) over Jacksonville
Houston (-3) over WASHINGTON
New Orleans (-5.5) over SAN FRANCISCO

And there you have it. Which of these will I get wrong? Well that's all up for the fates to decide. That is why the play the games after all.

I'll check in again once I'm back from Indy on Monday. In the meantime have a good weekend, and for those of you observing, an easy fast.

**See last week's prediction for Cleveland against Tampa Bay.