Thursday, July 14, 2011

Thursday Night Beer: UNO Goes National

The only real news that emerged from yesterday's announcement of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference was the name. We knew the members, and frankly, they didn't say much else other than make it official. It's still a work in progress as this conference will likely grow to eight. The athletic directors started to call it the "National", and while some fans scoff at the name, I really can't come up with a better alternative.  N-C-H-C?  Nucky-Hockey? I'll stick with the National.

Will the National grow beyond six teams? My guess is yes, and likely it'll be Notre Dame. That's probably the key to getting a deal with Versus.

One little gem that came out of yesterday's announcement was in Denver Post columnist Mike Chambers interview with Dean Blais, where Blais said that he thought he'd retire after his UNO contract expires in four years.

It's the middle of July, and that means that we're about halfway through the summer sports doldrums. Oh sure, it's not like there aren't things to do: vacations, swimming, golf, etc  But for the most part, there simply isn't much going on in sports locally.  The next real sports event locally is the start of the Nighthawks season in one month. Will the Nighthawks have the same buzz as last season?  My guess is that it will be close.  Just look at their Facebook page: on June 5th, they topped the 20k count in fans.  Now they are nearly to 21k. Last season went pretty well at Rosenblatt, and it should be even better at more fan-friendly TD Ameritrade Park. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't sell out games this season.

In the meantime, we're left with leftovers as far as sports goes. Like the idea that former Colorado quarterback Cody Hawkins completed 21 of 35 passes for 267 yards as the US national team defeated Mexico 17-7 on Tuesday to make the gold medal game of the IFAF world championships.  Whatever that means.  I mean, when Cody Hawkins is the national team quarterback... well, that pretty much says it all.

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