KarateKen

Busy day of hockey as there are 11 games and a couple of them have already started. Here are some news and notes from around the league: The New York Rangers have singed Igor Shesterkin to an eight-year contract, making him the highest paid goaltender in history, worth 92 million dollars, 11.5 million a year, putting him a million a year more than what the Canadians were paying Carey Price. Carey Price was the highest, but now Price is the second most, so is the Price right or wrong? There is a joke in there somewhere. Anyway, Igor will be with the Rangers for a long time and make a lot of money. Update on Ovi, he is back skating and appears to be recovering well from the injury. No change in the timeline but might be able to get back on the ice before the end of the month. Maple Leafs have activated veteran Max Pacioretty off the injury list, he has been out for the last month. Wild goalie Marc Andre Fleury recently had a birthday and became only the second goalie in history to win an NHL game as a teenager and as a 40-year-old, the other was Martin Brodeur. On a personal note I can say that this is the first time my Wild and Lions have both had the best record in their respective leagues at the same time. This will probably never happen again, and it could change any day, so I had to mention it. Had to!! Then there is an unfortunate story that came out, that the ex wife of NHL player Evander Kane is now accusing P. Diddy for, let's just say, wrongdoing. Diddy is facing many serious charges and if convicted could spend life in prison. There seems to be a laundry list of famous people attached to this case and I hope everyone who is guilty gets busted and serves time. Every single one. Couple of early games scores, both in the third, Utah is up 4-1 on Buffalo and Philly is ahead of Boston 3-2. Stay cool!

Minnesota gets the 5-1 win on Friday over the Duck, putting them up to 40 standings points, best in the NHL. Vegas beat Dallas 3-2, and they have 39 points, second best. Washington and Winnipeg at third, both with 38. Other winners on Friday night were the Devils, Capitals, Rangers, and Canucks.

When there are nine or more games it feels like such a busy night of hockey, and there were nine tonight. Jets get back in the win collum, a 3-2 OT winner against the Sabers. The Blues beat the Flames in OT so @aurik will be happy about that even though the Avs did lose to the Hurricanes. Other winners on Thursday were Senators, Canadians, Lightning 8-1 over the Sharks, Panthers, Kraken, and Oilers.

MLB considering a major rule change for the upcoming season, called "The Golden Bat Rule" which would basically allow a team to pinch hit any player at any time in the game (unless this player had already been taken out of the game). So if you are down two runs in the ninth and you have a runner on first, you could put your cleanup hitter at the plate to try and tie the game even if the 8th spot was due in the lineup. Each team would be allowed to use this once per game. Not sure how it would all work or if it even happens, but the commissioner has discussed it as a possibility.

Lions beat the Packers on a last second FG, 34-31, and move to 12-1, the best the team has ever been though 13 games. They also set a team record by winning 11 games in a row. Detroit becomes the first team in the NFC this year to clinch a playoff spot and, like last Thursday, they will go to bed tonight with the best record in the NFL.

Whissell - Outlaws

Metallica - Nothing Else Matters One of my favorite Metallica songs, sometimes gets overlooked because they have such a big catalog at this point but I still like the older Metallica the best, 80s and 90s.

Do you recommend longer meditations? Typically, I hear the minimum should be five minutes, but I will fall asleep if I meditate that long.

Well, another head coach fired. The Blackhawks have canned Luke Richardson, the third coach fired this season. Replacing him is Anders Sorensen.

Zero overtime games on Wednesday. Leafs over Preds, Knights over Ducks, Bruins over Blackhawks, and Kings over Stars.

Trevor Lawrence is out for the season after that illegal hit he took while sliding on Sunday. Azeez Al-Shaair of the Texans who committed the foul has been suspended by the NFL for three games.

Just got done watching the Oilers and Golden Knights on ESPN, Vegas won it 1-0, the only goal was an unassisted one by Barbahev, his 13th of the year and leads Vegas. There were also no penalties in the game, so with one unassisted goal and zero penalties called this is officially the emptiest stat sheet I have seen for an NHL game in my life. Tough to get any less than that. The entire night of hockey was kind of strange as five of the ten games went into overtime. Overtime games were as follows: Bruins over Red Wings, Sharks over Capitals, Canadians over Islanders, Penguins over Panthers (Pens have won 4 in a row), and Wild over Canucks. Four of those games were decided in a real time span of 17 minutes. Regulation games went this way: Vegas over Edmonton, Kraken over Hurricanes, Flames over Blue Jackets, Avalanche over Sabers, and Blues over Jets as the Winnipeg has now gone four games in a row without a standings point. The worm has turned on that one. That's it for another busty Tuesday night of hockey. Been a long day and I am going to crash early tonight. Talk to ya soon!

Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin

Good news for the Toronto Maple Leafs as Austin Matthews was back in the lineup tonight and scored a goal. Toronto beat Chicago 4-1. Matthews had missed nine games due to injury and this was his first goal since October 31. Dallas beat Utah 2-1, and the New Jersey Devils defeated the New York Rangers 5-1 inside Madison Square Garden.

The Broncos beat the Browns on Monday night 41-32. The win moves Denver to 8-5 and very much in the playoff race. If the season ended today the playoffs would be set up like this...Chiefs would be the top seed, Bills would be second (both teams have clinched a playoff spot) third would be the Steelers (9-3) and fourth the Texans (8-5), those are your division leaders, the other spots would be the Chargers (8-4) then the Ravens and Broncos (8-5). The only team really in the hunt is Indy at 6-7, who maybe saved their season with that win in New England on Sunday, getting the two-point conversion with 12 seconds left to win 25-24. Miami is 5-7 so they have an outside chance also. The Bengals are 4-8 and out, along with the Jets, Patriots, Titans, Jaguars, Browns, and Raiders who are all at three wins or less. In the NFC nobody has clinched yet but here are the current seedings. First is the Lions (11-1) then the Eagles (10-2), Seahawks at 7-5 and the Falcons at 6-6 are in first place. The wild cards are Minnesota at 10-2, Green Bay at 9-3, and Washington at 8-5. Everyone is still alive in the west with the 49ers in last but only two back of the first place Seahawks. The Bucs are 6-6 so they are in contention for both a wild card and winning the southern division, Cowboys are 5-7 so not eliminated but a real outside shot. The Giants are 2-10 and out, same for the 3-9 Panthers and the 4-8 Bears.

Nickelback - If Everyone Cared

Imagine if they lost that game and 4-3 was the final because of that goal. Disaster times disaster. It helps that they won and maybe someday he can laugh about it, but I am sure we will see that goal on the hockey blooper tapes for many years to come.

In recent weeks I have been doing a simple one-minute meditation. It has been about three weeks of this and I find that it is a good fit. I am more relaxed and more mindful of what is happening around me, and what I am doing. One minute a day. Heck of a deal!

Another snow game!! I did not have much interest in the game but anytime there is snow in an NFL game I am watching. Sunday night in Buffalo the Bills beat the 49ers 35-10 in a game where players were falling and sliding all over the field because of how slippery the snow was. The area got two feet of snow between Saturday morning and Sunday night. There was also a strange play in the third quarter where Josh Allen completed a pass, the WR then pitched the ball back to Allen, who ran it in for a touchdown. I've never seen that before, where a QB completes a pass. the WR then pitches it back to the QB, who then runs it into the endzone. The way it is scored is Allen gets credit for a TD pass, and a TD reception, but does not get credit for a catch. Never seen that before either. As Chris Collinsworth said on the broadcast once "you can watch this game your whole life and still see something you've never seen before almost every week." Other winners on Sunday were the Vikings, Eagles, Rams, Bucs, Texans, Seahawks, Steelers, Commanders, Chargers, and Colts. Browns and Broncos will play Monday night.

The Jets who started out so well have slipped lately, they lost on Sunday 3-1 to Dallas. The Jets now on a three-game losing streak and have dropped to second place in the division behind Minnesota. Other winners were Vancouver, Boston, Columbs, and the Ducks. Taking a look at the standings as we are a little bit past the first quarter of the season...your first places teams are the Panthers, Capitals, Wild, and Golden Knights. The next top six in the east are Devils, Rangers, Bruins, Maple Leafs, Hurricanes, and Flyers, with Tampa only one point out. In the west the next six are Jets, Kings, Stars, Canucks, Oilers, and Flames, with the Avs two points out. Historically if you are in the top 8 on December 1 you have about a 75 percent chance of making the playoffs. That can be a little misleading though because it is mostly based on the top teams. The last place teams are Canadians, Penguins, Sharks, and Blackhawks. These teams have a low chance of making the playoffs, but of the four I'd guess Pittsburgh is the one with the best chance. Probably the only one who can realistically have a shot at it. Keep your stick on the ice!

Definitely a tough way to lose.

Pearl Jam - Even Flow

The 4-8 Chicago Bears have fired head coach Matt Eberflus after the disastrous final play against the Lions on Thursday. The Bears showed some of the most unorganized clock management I have ever seen. Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown has been promoted to interim coach. So far two NFL coaches have been fired this season. Edit: Eberflus becomes the first head coach in the 100 year history of the Bears franchise to be fired mid-season.

Jelly Roll - Save Me

All the home teams won on Thanksgiving, Lions, Cowboys, and Packers. Lions have won 10 in a row and are 11-1 for the first time in franchise history. Chiefs are 10-1 and play on Friday, but for at least one night the Lions have the best record in the NFL.