the 4th star

Once the National Hockey League invaded the Olympic rinks, I knew I wanted more. How were hockey fans going to deal with waiting for this tournament every four years? The World Cup? No thanks. The World Juniors? Gimmie a break. Do I look like Pierre McGuire? No, I’m talking about taking the game to the next level, catapulting the sport into an event of pure monetary selfishness for the team owners and pure competitive bliss for the fans.

A Champions League of Hockey.

Before you say, ‘Don’t they already have that, idiot?‘ let me bring you up to speed. The IIHF Champions Hockey League does exist, but after the *memorable* 2008-09 event that saw the Swiss ZSC Lions beat Metallurg Magnitogorsk (Russia), the league was suspended. Plans are in the works to fire it up again for the 2010-11 winter, but we’ll see if that actually happens. The problem with this paper version of the iced Champions League, or why no one on this side of the planet cares, is simple: There are no NHL teams.

Only clubs from the big European leagues are invited to participate, meaning a true champion of professional hockey cannot be determined. The seven victors from Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, Switzerland and Germany are invited, as are a handful of wildcards to make up the 12-team list. No Stanley Cup champion. No NHL conference finalists. Nothing from the greatest league in the world. Not that the league governors would want to participate in something like this, anyway. No one could justify flying over to Europe for a long weekend, play a couple games, and then come back to the grind of the North American experience. The discussion stops right there. No owner would go for it. They’re not going to sacrifice a chance for a NHL post season spot (and NHL post season revenue) for some ‘big picture’ ideology. Not going to happen.

But you know what would be great? If the IIHF somehow could convince the NHL owners to participate. If there was somehow enough money on the table to make the prospect of an international professional hockey tournament worthwhile for them. And forget about the 12-team format. Let’s open it up to a 32-team tourney, where each league provides its champion and three qualified wildcards. Imagine it: The Pittsburgh Penguins taking on Avangard Omsk. Or the Boston Bruins skating up against Eisbären Berlin. What about the Vancouver Canucks facing off with HC Vítkovice Steel, while everyone in Canada looks on the Internet to see what league HC Vítkovice Steel plays in (Czech Republic).

Too bad it will never happen.

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You Know What Would Be Great? will occur on this site from time to time. Or maybe it won’t. I might hate this tomorrow. But if you have any suggestions on how to make the sporting world a better place, or an idea that may not work in real terms but would be cool if it happened anyway, feel free to type it up and send it over. It can be any sport you wish. If you can make baseball better, let’s hear it. If you think the NFL isn’t perfect, tell us how you’d fix it. If you wish wrestling wasn’t so real, put in a request for some new writers. Anything goes. The e-mail address is the4thstar@gmail.com. Send it over and you’ll get full credit for your idea — and then we can all roll our eyes and laugh at your suggestion. Just kidding. Relax.

The Mike Danton interview was on SportsNet last night. I decided to watch, not that I was expecting anything interesting to come out of it. I just wanted to see how Nick Kypreos would handle the discussion. Would he go for the kill, or was the conversatioon pre-scripted? Danton was a big get for the former hockey player turned TV analyst and kudos to him for landing it. I’m sure others have tried and came up short.

Unfortunately though, when you get a big fish on the hook you have to get it into the boat, and Kypreos left all of us holding the line last night. Nothing was really answered or explained, just a series of though processes and possible endings that really didn’t amount to anything tangible. Sadly, there were no tales of bounty or anything like that. It felt like Danton was just using the opportunity to have his name out there again. Some thought the interview made for compelling television, while Houston gave Kypreos and SportsNet a failing grade.

Like him or not, Bruce Dowbiggin hit the nail right on the head when he previewed the interview Wednesday. He didn’t think Danton would come clean and sure enough, he didn’t. Here’s what Dowbiggin had in his Globe piece yesterday:

…we still only have snippets to indicate whether Danton is going to go Fleury-honest tonight. From the provided clips, however, it seems Danton is not ready to go there yet. Which is his choice, of course. But it also postpones the inevitable date with reality. Just ask Theo.

Not to sound too cynical, but it also postpones the release of the Danton book, which is as automatic as my mother’s old ’84 Buick Regal. What am I talking about? There’s probably one coming out already, which maybe explains why the interview occurred in the first place. Can an NHL *comeback* be far behind?

Everyone knows what Facebook is. Most of you have an account in the social utility, though its uses vary. Some use it to promote their interest, whether it be a band or an event, while others use it as their main vehicle to communicate with others. Texting is just too personal for some, I guess. Some have an account and check in once in a blue moon, just to see which of their friends posted a drunk picture from that vacation they went on that no one but them cares about. Ah, Facebook. It doesn’t define narcissism, but it certainly thinks it’s all that and a bag of chips. If Twitter is micro-blogging for the self-involved, than Facebook is the online after-party, where no one has any time or need to talk in person.

Facebook. I have an account. I used to check it all the time. Not for any real social connection, basically just to see if anyone has said something interesting. Maybe a link to something that would be of value, that kind of thing. The pop-ins are less frequent these days, though. It’s getting too stupid and redundant. People really seem to think others really care about every little thing they do. It’s become one big spam site. I don’t give a crap that you have the weekend off or that you’re getting a new pool, or that you’re currently enjoying the best meal ever. Newsflash: If it was the best meal ever, you wouldn’t be telling me on Facebook. Some people forget that the site isn’t their brain, and write whatever pops into their head. Yesterday, one of my friends actually (actually!) questioned the relevance of Remembrance Day, justifying her position by saying she didn’t know anyone (or hasn’t met anyone) who was in the war. Yep. Thirty-six-year olds say the darndest things.

That’s what probably set this whole rant off, I guess. Maybe it’s always been this irrelevant, this frustrating, and I just didn’t pay attention. Ironic, the site that screams ‘Look at me’ has slowly been ignored by the populace. Attention. That’s what I think Facebook needs. Along those lines, make way for this link, as it will occupy the majority of your working hours the rest of the week. Seriously, just take the rest of the afternoon off right now. This is like the crack cocaine of social networking comedy. I know it’s not new, and I’m sure you’ve seen it come across your desktop by now, but that doesn’t make it any less funny. Or sad. Or scary. I fear for the future of this planet. I really do.

Not to help those who remain alive and kicking in the 4th Star Suicide Pool: Zombie Edition, but Yahoo! Sports is providing some excellent gambling advice for Week 10 in the National Football League.

Don’t know about you, but I have a good feeling about the Raiders this week. OK. So we all make mistakes. God knows typos and this blog have been in bed together for years now. I say TIE, you say POSE! TY-POS! TY-POS! Mistakes happen, and when you go editor-free (like I do over here) sometimes you miss a few things. These are the dangers of walking the tightrope without a net. One mistake, and your argument loses some of its shine. That’s the business, I guess. Grow an extra layer of skin and move on. No excuse for Yahoo!, though. You’re telling me they don’t have enough people working over there? Puh-leez.

Let’s get to the suicide pool. Thanks to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans, there’s a little more room in the 4th Star hot tub this week. We say goodnight to Wingman2, Hustlerama, and DKUN, the latter two having met a horrible, Creamsicle fate in Florida on Sunday. As for second in command Wingman, his 49ers pick was a reach from the start. He must have been looking for a way to get out.

Three of us remain: Young upstart MDB is proving himself to be quite the NFL player. On the other side we have Ian Hudson, who is trying to throw his legions of fans off the scent by changing his handle in the comments. Just like that, he’s Hudsy. Everyone update their records, please. In the middle of these two captains of industry sits yours truly. The menage is complete. Let’s see what you got!

Before I reveal my pick a reminder to all the stations on the network that the following four teams — Indianapolis, Minnesota, Denver, and New Orleans — remain quarantine with the H1N1 influenza virus. Do not touch them, do not pick them up. As an aside, have the others noticed how difficult this is without those teams in the mix? Geesh. As tempting as Oakland is (it’s not), I’m going with the Miami Dolphins to beat Tampa Bay at South Beach. There’s no possible way the Bucs can win two in a row, right?

Oh crap.