Nathan MacKinnon & the bra brigade; A requiem for the Bills; Todd Helton's magic act

Seeing a four-goal game is perhaps the rarest thing a hockey fan can witness in person. It’s not too far off from seeing a no-hitter. I’ve been going to hockey games for 364 years, and I’ve seen one. Steve Thomas vs. the Devils in March of 1990 at Chicago Stadium. I didn’t have to look that up (well, the date I did, but I knew it was against the Devils) which tells you how poignant four-goal games are. - Sam Fels Read More

Every great dynasty has its one foe that is there simply to be toppled and make that conquering force look all the more mighty. Michael Jordan had the New York Knicks. Tom Brady had Peyton Manning. The New York Yankees had the Boston Red Sox. And then the Red Sox had the Yankees. The Romans kicked around the Gauls for a while there. And the Kansas City Chiefs have the Buffalo Bills. - Sam Fels Read More

Wading into Baseball Hall of Fame debates is like diving into a pool full of eels, if the eels were up their own ass (personally, not physically, which eels might be able to do). Everyone’s got their own benchmarks, everyone hates your benchmarks, and never the twain shall meet. At the end of the day, all of us baseball fans are debating other people’s opinions. Which is the same as getting worked up about the Oscars, perhaps the only ceremony decided on by people even more up their own ass than baseball writers. - Sam Fels Read More

Hockey can be infuriating. In no other sport can you do mostly everything right, but a little chinks in the armor can have an outsized effect if they’re spaced out correctly. Go 0-fer on the power play, or don’t get a save at the right time, or give up the wrong odd-man rush in the gimmick of overtime, face too many hot goalies on the other side in a week, and suddenly it feels like all the good things a team does have been washed away. - Sam Fels Read More