oh, the Winter Classic

since I'm failing at much Blackhawks blogging this week (but I was one of the first? only? to post a photo of the new Patrick Kane bobblehead, surely that counts for something?), let's just give Boston even MORE attention and post a little on the Winter Classic vs. the Flyers, just over 2 weeks away. for much, much, okay, possibly TOO much more, there's a lot at NHL.com, but you knew that already.

this screenshot is a thing of beauty:

"Hockey," it almost brings tears to my eyes

today Puck Daddy speculated on future Classics: who and where? I'm guessing Capitals get to play next, if not in D.C. they're also running a Winter Classic Parade Float Contest and these are some of the (silly, of course) first entries.

meanwhile, a Flyers blog posted A Flyers Fan's Guide to Surviving the Winter Classic. I skimmed through it and it looks like decent advice, but even I, who haven't spent that much time in Boston, knows that South End isn't a bad neighborhood. what I saw this year was the gentrified dog parks/dessert boutiques/art galleries kind of neighborhood. either they're confusing it with how it was circa Common Ground, or confusing it with South Boston. and even what I saw when I wandered around Southie--an Amtrak yard, a dumping ground for MBTA bus shelters, the infamous Old Colony housing project--didn't seem too bad. I have strict standards for "bad" neighborhoods, and so far I haven't seen places in Boston (or Denver, or Minneapolis, though all these cities definitely have lots of sketchy people around their Greyhound stations) that are remotely close to what I've seen in St. Louis, Detroit, or...well, Chicago.

I'd say some stuff about the Winter Classic in Chicago but I'm in a hurry today...