Best of Seven

There is a lot of baseball going on these days. Each team plays 162 games a season over the course of about 180 days. Multiply that by the teams in the league and that's about 2,430 baseball games each summer... too many for me to cover, so for today I won't. No, today I want to talk about being the best of seven, a far more manageable number on which to focus. For the mathematically challenged, that's really only winning four games in a series that could go up to seven games.

Right now being the best of seven refers to the first round of the NHL (National Hockey League) playoffs. The NHL is divided into two conferences, Eastern and Western. Here is how the series panned out this year:

Western Conference

Colorado Avalanche vs. Minnesota Wild

St. Louis Blues vs. Chicago Blackhawks

Anaheim Ducks vs. Dallas Stars
San Jose Sharks vs. Los Angeles Kings


Eastern Conference

Boston Bruins vs. Detroit Red Wings
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Montreal Canadiens
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
New York Rangers vs. Philadelphia Flyers

Feel free to choose a team and jump on their bandwagon. Since we know Sports Guy's Girls read to get general info they can share or at the very least be able to interject into a conversation, here's a helpful hint: you may not want to jump on the Detroit, St. Louis, Dallas, or Tampa Bay bandwagon. They have already been eliminated.

Games in the playoffs are played a little differently than during the regular season. If the playoff game ends regular play in a tie both teams continue to overtime periods until there is a winner. Regular season games first go to overtime then to a shoutout (three players on each take turns trying to get a shot past the opposing goalie).

Now that you know who is playing to be the best of seven and get to the second round, who will your new favorite hockey team be?

Happy Birthday, You're Terrible

Welcome back Sports Guy's fans! Today there was a major birthday in the sporting world that you may never see again... a sports venue turned 100 years old. That's right, Wrigley Field had a milestone birthday today celebrating 100 years of disappointment and loss. The reason you will probably never see this again is because unlike Cubs fans and their supporters, other teams along with their supporters have the good sense to want to watch a game in modern day comfort without the fear that parts of the stadium may literally rain down upon them.

I grew up going to Cubs games and cheering for the lovable losers, but the charm of the Curse of the Billy Goat has lost a little of its luster. Baseball games can be a lot of fun, eating hotdogs and having an Old Style can be fun too. Do you know what's not fun? Being a fan of the only MLB team to have never won a World Series, that's what. I've taken my talents of being a baseball fan to other stadiums and I have to admit, it's great to be a baseball fan in a stadium where your team wins and you have access to Club Level amenities. That being said, you can take the girl out of Wrigley, but...after many years it's sad to report you still can't take the Wrigley out of this girl.

What better way for fans to feel the love of their hometown team than with a loss to the Diamondbacks (7-5). Happy Birthday, you're still terrible, and that's only one of the 100 reasons people love the Cubs.