AOL News has a new home! The Huffington Post.

Click here to visit the new home of AOL News!

Hot on HuffPost:

See More Stories

Buys and Sells: Extracurricular Activities Edition

Dec 17, 2008 – 8:13 AM
Text Size
Kevin Schultz

Kevin Schultz %BloggerTitle%

Yes dear reader, your eyes do not deceive you! It is a special Wednesday morning edition of Buys and Sells. Sorry if I made you think it was Friday for a moment. I'm out on vacation and will be traveling on Friday, so for one week only we're moving to Wednesday due to my extracurricular activities. And I figured what better a time than to discuss all the extracurriculars going on in the NHL. A lot of the news in the NHL these days seems to be taking place off the ice. Sometimes it's almost more interesting than what's happening on it -- but not quite.

We've got a lot of issues to get to this week. The Philadelphia Flyers stopped in to have a quick chat with some folks at Temple University while Mats Sundin has set yet another deadline on which he will decide what he is doing this year -- as if anyone really cares at this point. We'll wrap it all up with by addressing the every increasing qualms folks have with this year's All-Star Game voting. So please, won't you jump with me?

Strong Buy: The Flyers' night out on the town. Philly is a nice city, and it's always good to see athletes being friendly with fans. I guess, even if that means enjoying themselves at a frat party. While I can't endorse drinking or frat parties, I do buy a few of the Flyers' players going out, having a good time and leaving fans with a positive story to tell about them. These days, athletes are put up on a pedestal by fans and media alike. All too often you hear stories of those same athletes treating some fans like crud. So, despite the circumstances, I can get behind the Flyers. What's the harm in hanging out downtown and putting some smiles on the faces of their fans? It only furthers the notion that hockey players have some of the best reputations in sports.

Strong, Strong, Strong -- Can we please stop talking about HIM? -- Sell: Mats Sundin, blah, blah, blah. OK, so it turns out that Mats Sundin is going to announce a decision about his future on Thursday. I don't know about you, but I got sick and tired of this story at least six months ago. I have a lot of respect for Sundin and all that he has accomplished during his NHL career. He's earned the right to take his time to make up his mind -- something I'm not sure anyone needs to earn. However, Mats, buddy, I don't care anymore. What is this, like the fifteenth third deadline you have set? Look, I'm sure you're having a ton of fun in pseudo-retirement. I can't blame you. Just let me know when you actually make a decision. Don't make announcements that you're going to make an announcement. OK?

Sell: All-Star Voting Troubles: So first there was a whole blowup about Habs players getting votes from their fans using automatic voting scripts. Then, there was a truce in the Patrick Division rivalry of the Penguins and Capitals, when their fans banded together to try and get Ovechkin into the starting lineup. Now, it turns out, that the NHL is trying to plug the crap out of everyone supposedly loving Sidney Crosby and his quest to set the record as all-time leading all-star vote getter. I'm going to have to agree with Wyshynski here: in a year plagued with voting irregularities and incidents, is this really what needs to be happening? I'm sitting here thinking that the NHL is going to eliminate fan voting because of what Habs fans did and now they're plugging the heck out of this Crosby thing? Color me confused.
Filed under: Sports

ON FACEBOOK