Oh good, this jersey on NBC again!

According to multiple reports, Gary Bettman is going to announce today that the 2011 Winter Classic will be played at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh between the Penguins and the Capitals. It’s been rumored that this would be the sight and matchup since 10 minutes after this year’s Winter Classic ended and the US Olympic Hockey team was announced by racially diverse children wearing oversized jerseys. I personally remember saying that they’d fashion a network ratings wet dream: Crosby vs. Ovechkin vs. The Snow.

I’m a fan of great hockey, regardless of who’s playing. Regardless of who’s playing, I can enjoy the game that I love, even if it’s a bitter rival of my Devils (i.e. the Stanley Cup Finals this year). But the fact of the matter is that the NHL has been billing itself as a league with 2 superstars, and the rest of the players are just a bunch of ragtag guys who beat each other about the face and head until their teeth fly out, and I’ve just about had enough.

For the record, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin are without a doubt two of the best players in the league. I highly doubt any sane and rational person can dispute that fact; they’ve put up stellar numbers in the regular seasons and demonstrated tremendous individual skill for the past few years. This fact, along with the history of general discontent with one another, should not be a justifiable reason enough to put the Pens back in the Winter Classic. In 2008, the Pens beat the Sabres in a shootout in the inaugural Winter Classic with Crosby potting the final goal. Having the Winter Classic in Pittsburgh puts the Penguins in 2 of the first 4 nationally televised outdoor games, and I don’t see that it’s fair at all.

I’m sure the league office can justify why they’re choosing Pittsburgh to play again: Heinz Field was available and seats 65,000+, weather in Pittsburgh in January is conducive to a quality game atmosphere, etc. Most of all, it comes down to exposure for the league. Crosby and Ovechkin will draw a large audience because they’re easy to hype. Show each of them scoring some absurd goals, then the two of them jarring from the 2009 Playoffs, splice in a couple shots of each of them standing in a poorly lit hallway with spotlights on them and a bad voice over, “The NHL on NBC,” date and time of the game, and onto the next commercial.

What irritates me most is how much thought must have gone into this decision with only regards to how profitable the entire endeavor would be. The league office doesn’t seem to care that there’s other marquee players they could be promoting with such a great platform. Take a look at what Joe Pavelski did in this year’s playoffs and tell me they couldn’t turn that into a viable ratings success. Tell me that there’s no players that come close to the level of excitement of the two men I’ve mentioned so many times, I refuse to do it again here. Parise, Stamkos, Sedin, Kovalchuk (wherever he may land), Gaborik, Heatley, nothing? Maybe the NHL could have played off the success of NBC’s Olympic Hockey coverage and put two teams chock full of US and Canadian Olympians, like the Devils with Zach and Jamie, or the Sharks with their entire top line.

The bottom line is I’ll watch the game, and I’ll almost certainly enjoy it. I’ve watched every Winter Classic game from beginning to end like a giddy schoolgirl, loving every second of it. However, I promise that I’ll watch the game under protest with a distant hope that the 2012 Winter Classic will see the Devils take on the Rangers in Yankee Stadium. Make it happen, Bettman. If that’s not an option, don’t put a repeat team in this once-a-year masterpiece. Maybe you could get really crazy and put a Western Conference team in there that wasn’t an Original Six, perish the thought of me.

We added a new contributor to the Loudville team, Ambrose. He loves the hell out of Sidney Crosby and he hates Chris Pronger so he probably won’t watch the Flyers HBO documentary that’s on tomorrow.

Johan Santana threw the worst game of his life yesterday. That’s interesting and all, but I’m not really concerned. He’ll bounce back and the Mets will do okay for a while until they all get hurt or September, whichever comes first. What’s better than talking about the Mets? Watching the Fordham Leap again.

The Saints may have done a bad thing. Who Dat’s accused of distributing stolen Vicodin, among other things, by a former staff member who seems like a dick. Unfortunately we can’t see how this plays out through Steven Segal’s eyes, since his Jefferson Parish sheriff show is still on hiatus. Oh well.

The most popular search that led people to Loudville this weekend was…

No sir, Dany Heatley is an all-star. Everybody knows that.

This post was really supposed to involve Wade Boggs. I need to work on that for next time, but for now let’s talk about another old man. Brett Favre might have told a guy that he’s going to retire, but nothing is solid. He was told last week that he needs surgery to play this season; I honestly think Favre is just being his selfish old man self, was aware of this in February and hid it from the Vikings staff and the media until after the draft so he wasn’t replaced by a first or second round pick. Childress might have not done that anyway though, and let his man-crush on Favre cloud his judgement, so who knows.

The Cleveland Cavaliers call their best section Loudville so I might as well mention that LeBron James won the NBA MVP for the second year in a row. His speech mentioned Akron, Ohio in a nostalgic fashion and people have been speculating that it indicated he’s changing teams as a free agent. People have been echoing the same for years. I refrain from comment. I’m not even going to link it.

© Sal Iovine

I spent half my morning trying to fix some code here so I may as well post something. Loudville has a new voicemail hotline: 732-646-LOUD

How ’bout those Mets? First in the NL East and they beat down on the Phillies 9-1 last night. Outstanding. If only they could keep it up all year… can you imagine if they had a manager who seemed like he knew what he’s doing? The Yankees won too, and the Rays and Sox lost so it’s like two wins in a day for the Bombers. Bonus. Oh, and Dany Heatley got his first playoff goal of the season on Thursday. He’s an all-star.

I wasn’t really looking to blog today so I’m going to cut it here with another “history will be made” video, this one on the Sean Avery rule.

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She gets bigger if you click on her.

I’m absolutely thrilled that the Habs knocked out the Caps last night, not because I’m a dirty Canada-loving hippie but because I really hated the level of success the Caps had in the regular season for the past few years. I’m a jerk like that. Washington is great team and they finally have half-decent fans and good attendance, but the Habs have a long tradition of being called the Habs for no good reason and I can go along with that.

Now you may be thinking to yourself, “Dan, that’s a smokin’-hot chick in goalie pads,” and you’d be right. I’m throwing my full support behind Boston against the Flyers despite them being part of Red Sox Nation because I’m pretty pissed that Philly knocked out my Devs. I’m not ready to talk about the Devils yet though, so I’m just gonna move on to a new topic.

There was a video of a Canadiens fan in a bikini here that my buddy Bob sent me, but some youtube deity has taken it away. In its place, one of those “history will be made” videos:

Now, really back on track. Tonight’s only hockey game is Detroit at San Jose, and everyone’s astounded the Sharks haven’t choked yet. My brother seems convinced this is a sign they’re going to win it all and dance with the Cup. But here’s the thing: Dany Heatley hasn’t scored a playoff goal yet. One man is not a team, but he’s the league’s 8th ranked scorer. He’s an all-star. And for more on Heatley, I direct you to his biggest fan on the youtube.