NHL 2017-18: No Olympics, No Problem. Right?

English: Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, United States during a sold-out National Hockey League ice hockey game between the Columbus Blue Jackets (home team) and the Boston Bruins (visiting team), in 2006. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The National Hockey League made its presence felt in China, with a couple of preseason games between the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings.  But that's as far in the Far East as they're going to go for now.  The league is not sending its players to the Winter Olympics, which is scheduled for South Korea in February, citing the long travel and having to shut down the regular season for three weeks.  Some players wanted to go anyway, but they've been discouraged by the league for risking their careers over this.

As it turns out, the NHL might be doing the smart thing with tensions between the United States and North Korea reaching the boiling point.  War might break out on the Korean Peninsula by the time the Opening Ceremonies are supposed to take place, and nobody wants to put athletes at risk.  At least France isn't.

Meanwhile, back in North America, there are these questions: 

• Can the Pittsburgh Penguins win their third consecutive Stanley Cup?
• Are the Nashville Predators and Columbus Blue Jackets more than one-season wonders?
• How far will Conor McDavid and Auston Murphy take their teams?
• Will the Vegas Golden Knights be a good bet for the NHL?
• What's going to become of the Arizona Coyotes, Florida Panthers, New York Islanders and Calgary Flames?  Seattle, Kansas City and Quebec City are waiting.

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The Minnesota Wild are coming off their most successful regular season ever, yet they exited the playoffs after one round.  To help remedy that this season, they added Matt Cullen and Tyler Ennis.  Then they said goodbye to Marco Scandella (traded to Buffalo), Eric Haula (drafted by Vegas), Jason Pominville and Darcy Kuemper.

Coach Bruce Boudreau, in his second season, has to get more out of veterans Mikko Koivu, Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle, Devan Dubnyk and Zach Parise if the Wild hope to successfully navigate the tough Central Division.  Yes, they're a playoff team.  The catch is that once they get there, they have to start playing like they belong there.
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Our picks as to who will be eligible to lay claim to the Stanley Cup come April are as follows:

Eastern Conference  Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, Ottawa Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers and New York Islanders.

Western Conference  Minnesota Wild, Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, Dallas Stars, San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers.

Pot Shots '17, Volume 2

English: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There's a lot of talk about how low the TV ratings are for the first two weeks of the National Football League's 2017 schedule.  People mention politics, Mother Nature and protests over the owners' continued refusal to hire quarterback Colin Kaepernick as some of the reasons why they're not watching.  They could have also mentioned over-exposure, lousy games, and competition from that smartphone you're reading this on.  But the first two Sunday night games on NBC topped the ratings, so not all is dire.  Let's see what happens when the weather turns colder.
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The NFL already has a Breast Cancer Exploitation Month (October) and a Suck Up to the Military Month (November), so why not have a month to highlight the activism of the players?  That's a great idea, except that the league might shift the focus from players protesting racist cops and the re-emergence of white nationalist groups to promoting NFL-sponsored community outreach programs.  Maybe it would be better if the league got out of the 'cause' business altogether.  Because some people just want to watch football, and not another league-sponsored plea to give to a dubious charity's disaster relief effort.
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Was it a mistake to put two NFL teams in Los Angeles, the city league owners have coveted for so long?  Neither the Rams nor the Chargers sold out their home games last Sunday.  Granted, it's not easy to fill the massive Memorial Coliseum.  But what's the Chargers' excuse, failing to sell out their tiny (by NFL standards) soccer park?  Charging $100 for parking certainly doesn't help.  The truth is that LA did just fine without professional football for two decades.  But now they're stuck with two mediocre franchises playing in temporary homes, until a new stadium is ready for them in 2020.  Or the NFL moves the Chargers back to San Diego, whichever comes first.
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ESPN, already having problems in keeping subscribers because of cord cutting, has bungled its handling of a controversy involving "Sportscenter" anchor Jemele Hill.  She sent out tweets critical of President Donald Trump, calling him a 'white supremacist', which led to Trump demanding an apology. Instead of suspending or defending the African-American Hill for her ability to comment on the world beyond sports, the Worldwide Leader chose to reprimand her for violating the network's social media policy.  Hill then issued a "sorry not sorry" apology.  If ESPN discourages the discussion of politics as it relates to sports by its commentators, then they just don't understand the world we live in now.  And neither do some of its viewers with ostrich mentalities.

NFL 2017: Prelude to Minneapolis

English: Downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA behind Lake Calhoun. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Before we get into another head-knocking season of the National Football League . . . Wait a minute.  You mean to tell me that some players have actually quit the game, because they want to save their brains from being scrambled into an early death?  Wow.  That's heavy, man.

Anyway, here's our NFL preview:

• The New England Patriots are the defending Super Bowl champions, and are favored to do so again this year.  But quarterback Tom Brady just turned 40, and his teammates aren't getting any younger either--which makes the Patriots more vulnerable to injuries such as the one that befell Julian Edelman.  Still, never count out a Bill Belichick-coached team whether he plays by the rules or not.
• Colin Kaepernick, best known as the quarterback who took a knee during the national anthem before a game to protest African-Americans getting harassed by police officers, still does not have a job in the NFL.   It seems teams would rather hire mediocre players off the street or those who have criminal backgrounds than offend its conservative fans and stockholders, who see Kaepernick as a traitor in Trump's America.  Even the Miami Dolphins saved Jay Cutler from life as a TV analyst to be its starting QB.  But there have also been organized efforts to boycott the NFL if nobody hires Kaepernick.  Who's going to be the team that finally does?  And does Kaepernick still want to play football?
• The Raiders are still playing in Oakland this season, even though they made a deal to move to Las Vegas.  The Chargers moved up the California coast from San Diego to Los Angeles, playing in a tiny (by NFL standards) soccer park until the stadium they're sharing with the Rams is ready.  And the Atlanta Falcons, coming off the most incredible giveaway in Super Bowl history, are moving from the Georgia Dome to Mercedes Benz Stadium.  That's where the Chick-fil-A restaurant won't be open on game days.
• Some of the new rule changes in the NFL include quicker waits for decisions based on instant replay, a ten minute overtime period during the regular season, and a relaxation of celebration penalties in the end zone.
• On TV, there's also some changes:  Tony Romo, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, has replaced Phil Simms as Jim Nantz' partner in the CBS booth, while Simms has been demoted to the network's pregame show.  Mike Tirico will call NBC's Thursday night schedule, just to give Al Michaels a break.  Chris Berman has left the hosting of ESPN's NFL coverage to others.  Other than that, there will be fewer commercial breaks that prolong games.  And the NFL will be trading in Cialis and Viagra ads for hard liquor.  Try explaining that to your kids.

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The Minnesota Vikings' hangover from the collapse of last season lingers into the start of this one.  Adrian Peterson and Cordarelle Patterson are both gone.  Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater might return later this season from his devastating knee injury.  His replacement, Sam Bradford, is hanging in there despite an offensive line that, frankly, sucked.  And the coach, Mike Zimmer, has had eight eye surgeries in the past year.  Yes, we said eight.

For the Vikings to be anything other than 8-8 or worse this season, the new offensive line they stitched together must do a better job of protecting Bradford.  The defense is one of the best in the league, and should remain that way.  But the way the team looked in the preseason is not encouraging.

Let's just say the Vikings won't be playing in their home stadium for the Super Bowl.
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And now, if you're still paying attention, here's who we think will be on the road to Minneapolis come January.

AFC EAST      New England Patriots
         NORTH  Pittsburgh Steelers
         SOUTH   Houston Texans
         WEST     Oakland Raiders
WILD CARD  Kansas City Chiefs and Indianapolis Colts

NFC EAST      Dallas Cowboys
         NORTH  Green Bay Packers
         SOUTH   Atlanta Falcons
         WEST      Seattle Seahawks
WILD CARD   Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Giants.
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UPDATE (9/8/17):  We should have also mentioned that Beth Mowins will become only the second woman (the other was Gayle Sierens a couple of decades ago) to call NFL games on TV.  She will cover the Chargers-Broncos game on ESPN Monday September 11, then later in the season call some regional matchups for CBS.