The World Series.  It is a dream for all young baseball players, a dream that goes unrealized for almost everyone of them.  The Rays did something that nobody thought was possible, and I include the Rays players and management too, they made it to the series.  In only their tenth year of existence, and what makes it even more remarkable, is the fact that they finished dead last every other year.  Until this year, 2008, the magic year when everything finally came together.  Think about this- the Cubs have not gone to a series in 50 years or so and have not won a championship in over a hundred years.  This will be the third time in 11 years that an expansion team from Florida plays for the title.  Just something to think about.  Also another thing that makes this series compelling is the match-up.  Not just the players on the field, but the cities they represent.  Once again Tampa has to go through a Philly team to win the championship.  In 2003 the Bucs had to beat the eagles to go to the superbowl and the next year the Lightning had to beat the Flyers to go to the Stanley Cup finals.  It almost seems like destiny that the rays will have to beat the Phillies for their championship.  Which will happen.

I thought that it was all hype.  There was no way that HDTV was as good as everybody was saying.  That was my thinking last week.  Before my new best friend, the cable guy, hooked up my new HD receiver.  I didn’t think that it would make such a difference, but I really don’t think that I can ever go back to the way it was.  Sorry regular t.v, no disrespect, but your time is over.  The new king of watching sports is HD.  I say new king, because I didn’t jump on the band wagon sooner.  Oh, all the games I’ve missed being so naive.  I could have watched the Gators trounce the Ohio Buckeyes in the championship two years ago.  I could have watched the miracle Giants beat the Patriots last year in the Super Bowl.  It is 100 percent better in HD.  I can see the sweat and dirt and grime and feel like I’m on the field.  Even NASCAR looks exciting.  It would have even made the Olympics bearable.  It would  have been glorious.  It should have been glorious, but I was stubborn.  After all, why should I get a new fancy television when the one I bought ten years ago was still working?  It didn’t make any sense.  I was wrong.  Big time.  I know that now and I take full responsibility for my actions.  Now, that I’ve forgiven myself and moved on; let the MLB playoffs start, let the NFL continue and hockey season can’t get here soon enough.  All hail HDTV!

Is it just me, or can anybody else not wait for Hockey season to start?  It feels like years since I’ve had my hockey fix and Playstation hockey isn’t cutting it for me anymore.  I just hope that the 2009 season will be as exciting and engrossing as last season.  Watching a young Pittsburgh Penguins team show up in the playoffs and nearly do the impossible, almost knocking the Red Wings back down a peg or two made for a riveting climax to an already stellar season.  Here in North Carolina, as you could imagine, Hockey is not the hot topic.  It’s all Nascar and collage basketball around here, with a little bit of NFL (if the Panthers happen to be any good) just to mix things up a bit.  But if you want to get the latest on Hockey, you have to go online, you sure as heck won’t find anything on the local channels unless the Hurricanes happen to be playing.  If they are not in the playoffs, they won’t even report the scores around here.  I just can’t wait for the ice to freeze and for the skates to be laced up and to watch some real athletes start playing for the most difficult to attain and most illustrious trophy in all of sports- the Stanley Cup.

The Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup Finals tonight by defeating the Penguins in game 6 by a score of 3-2. This marks the Red Wings fourth Finals in 11 seasons.

The Pittsburgh Penguins, Petr Sykora, scored a power-play goal 9:57 into the third overtime session in order to lift his team 4-3 over the Detroit Red Wings. The win gave the Penguins a shot for a game 6 in the Stanley Cup finals. The Red Wings lead the series 3-2.