HOCKEY

The New York Islanders are often an afterthought.  They play in Long Island, New York (hence the name) and haven’t been competitive for over a decade. They’re essentially the Kansas City Royals of hockey.  Except, the Islanders have the benefit of being in a major market, and now they’re taking a page out of the same book as the New Jersey Nets — they’re moving to Brooklyn in 2015.  Brooklyn is fast becoming one of the most densely populated areas of New York City.  But, in actuality, every area in New York just kind of bleeds into the next.  Point is, it can support multiple sports franchises, and now “Brooklyn” will offer both a basketball and hockey option to compete with the main attraction in New York (The Knicks and The Rangers at Madison Square Garden).  This is a smart move for the Islanders.  However, long time Long Island natives who grew up with the team will be sad to see them leave.

SOCCER

Europe is in the midst of its Champions League, in which the best teams from all Europe’s Leagues compete.  It’s a super popular event, as it gives the continent a chance for the leagues to merge.  The best from the Premiership League, La Liga (Spain), and Italy’s best.  But just Wednesday, some of the best teams in the world all got upset.  Manchester City (Manchester United’s rival) fell, as did Real Madrid (one of the most talented teams in the world) and Aresenal.  They all got toppled, which sent waves through the soccer world.  However, with their defeat, comes an opportunity for an up-and-coming team to put themselves on the global map as a club not to be messed with.

FOOTBALL

Finally, Forbes magazine published an article of the ‘least liked’ players in the NFL.  Given that the NFL isn’t exactly a ‘personality’ driven league on account of players wearing helmets, it’s hard to imagine who exactly would be on that list.  Basically, in the NFL, you have to go out of your way to be disliked or to really rub the media the wrong way.  There are two players who do that quite well, and they made it to the top of the list:  Detroit Lions defensive end Ndamukong Suh and Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.  Suh made a name for himself with late hits to quarterbacks, and even stepping on a player last year, whereas Jay Cutler is constantly sour on the sideline, and even yells at his own players.  That’s the kind of stuff that ESPN loves to replay about 500,000 times during the week, and it gets in the public’s mind that you are a ‘bad guy’.  Being #1 and #2 on this list isn’t going to help their endorsement deals much.