It's hard to believe 2015 already has a month in the books. But hey, it's just another step closer to summer then, right? That works for me.
Nothing jumped out at me to focus on for this entry, so I went ahead and touched on a few notables. The Minnesota Wild will play outdoors next year, IndyCar received some bad news this week and the Australian Open is about wrapped up for another year.
Wild gets an outdoor game, finally
Well, the Wild will finally get an outdoor game. They'll play the Chicago Blackhawks Feb. 16, 2016 at TCF Bank Stadium for an NHL Stadium Series.
Of course, the State of Hockey won't be treated to the big show - the Winter Classic - just yet. No, Commissioner Gary Bettman keeps telling us gullible fans that it will happen. He just won't say when. I don't think any of us should hold our breath on this one.
Actually, Wild owner Craig Leipold held off on any kind of outdoor game offer in the past, because he wanted a Winter Classic. He finally gave in, for whatever reason.
It will be interesting to see the excitement next year as the game draws near. Right now, I'm feeling underwhelmed. The first Winter Classic was held in 2008 between Buffalo and Pittsburgh. It's truly a shame that Minnesota has not been a part of this already. This is where the whole sports-is-a-business thing comes into play. With larger markets and Original Six teams getting the Winter Classic nods so far, it shouldn't be surprising what's going on here. All about the money.
IndyCar season opener axed
IndyCar fans got some bummer news this week. The season opener, which was scheduled for March 8 in Brasilia, has been canceled. The explanation was something about financial issues and the local government not kicking in enough money that it promised.
It's really too bad because everything else sounded great about the event. A primary sponsor was in place, hospitality was sold out and two-thirds of the tickets were sold. It's tough to have the fans lose out on something like this. Now it looks like we'll have to wait until March 29 to open the 2015 IndyCar season, as the drivers take to the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.
As the powers that be at IndyCar wrap their heads around this cancellation, I've already got a solution. Bring back Road America! Yes, I will use any excuse I can to jump on Twitter and use my #bringbackRA hashtag. After years of tradition, the sounds of IndyCars have not graced the Road America (in Elkhart Lake, Wis.) road course since 2007, in the final year of the ChampCar Series.
So listen up, IndyCar officials. Road America's schedule is clear for the July 25-26 weekend. Add it to your schedule. You'll be in the Midwest anyway, with races in Milwaukee and Iowa earlier in the month. Make it happen.
Australian Open finishes up this week
The tennis Grand Slam season kicks off in January each year with a major tournament down under, the Australian Open. It's fun for a night owl like me to watch the matches, since the top match-ups usually don't take the court live until about 2 a.m. in my local time zone. It's also a time to become extremely jealous of the summer weather as I watch with a Minnesota winter taking place outside my window.
I wrote a little about the Open already, mostly about how screaming in tennis is ruining the game. It was a couple of screamers in the predictable-on-paper women's final, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. Williams added her 19th Grand Slam to her resume. I didn't see the match, which is probably fine. Again, I would have watched it on mute anyway.
The men's final pits Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray against each other. We may already know the result by the time you read this blog. Thanks, time zones.
The tournament held some upsets earlier on. Roger Federer went down in the first week. As he gets older by tennis age standards, we'll wait and see how much the greatest tennis player of all time has left in the tank before he hangs up his professional career.
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