Anything can happen in a shortened season. Sure, Jaromir Jagr and Eric Lindros leading the league in points during the lockout-shortened 1995 season wasn’t surprising, but Boston’s Blaine Lacher coming within one shutout of leading the league wasn’t a popular preseason bet. The possibility of unpredictability, plus the increasing importance of every game due to a sprint to the playoffs, means early season stats are becoming overblown, regardless of the small sample size.

Nobody’s saying that dealing with an impromptu brownout during the largest television event of the year isn’t a difficult hurdle to overcome, but did CBS’ failure to navigate the Super Bowl XLVII hiccup smoothly reveal something about the state of sports broadcasting? Is the influx of former athletes in the media to blame? The demise of the sideline reporter?

Nobody ever said cracking down on the injury epidemic in the NHL would be an easy task. That’s why, when refs get calls wrong – which they inevitably do – it can be beneficial to take a step back and evaluate how the big picture is unfolding. Rest assured though hockey fans, gradual progress toward a cleaner game has already begun.

With the recent announcement that the construction of a professional hockey-worthy arena will proceed just north of Toronto, hockey fans and analysts are salivating over the idea of a franchise following suit. What would have to happen for a Markham NHL team to arise and is it even a possibility worth getting excited for?

Admitting you have a problem is tough, but I feel that I need to come clean. My name is Doug, and I am a Joe Dumars apologist. Typically, loving one of the greatest NBA players of all-time wouldn’t classify as a problem; but as the Detroit Pistons continue to fade into obscurity, I’m moving closer to the realization that maybe it isn’t exactly the best fit for the team.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco headed into this season without a guaranteed contract for next season and beyond. Fast forward to today; Flacco and his Baltimore Ravens are preparing to square off against the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl this coming Sunday. Are we ready to call him elite yet?

There’s been talk of yet another Michael Jordan comeback in the air, and as of yet, nobody’s quite figured out if it’s actually serious or not. With Air Jordan’s 50th birthday fast approaching (on Feb. 19th), fans and critics alike are taking a good hard look at the man’s Hall of Fame speech and reconsidering the possibility of him putting on a uniform for one last, symbolic game.

In the NBA, the writing has been on the wall for quite some time now. Teams are getting smaller, and the action is increasingly moving away from the basket. This isn’t necessarily a new trend, but it has been a somewhat controversial one. Gerard Spalding sheds some light on which of the current teams are pulling it off in 2012-13 and which have found success doing the exact opposite.

Is the role of NHL goon less and less significant with each passing year? Was it every truly instrumental to the game in the first place? Tim Kolupanowich suggests as much while taking a good look at the difference between Toronto’s Colton Orr and Los Angeles’ Steve Bernier, between Maple Leaf Mike Brown and iconic Red Wing Kris Draper.

From Cam Newton to Robert Griffin III to Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick, many of the NFL’s most exciting young quarterbacks are frequently running systems and schemes that haven’t been seen much at this level, and they’re finding great success in doing so. One of the most intriguing elements that’s shown up to some extent in most of these new attacks is what’s known as the zone read. Might this be San Francisco’s ticket to Super Bowl success this weekend?