Winter Classic: NYR vs. BUF

It has been announced that the Rangers and the baby Buffalos will be taking part in next year’s winter classic. First reaction was- uhhh what? This may be the weirdest Winter Classic match-up of all time. They’re not rivals, never have been. They play in different divisions of the league and to be honest who really wants to see the Sabres play on national TV? I mean, yeah they got the curly headed kid out of BU who actually is pretty decent and who has become the self-proclaimed GM of Buffalo, but honestly, the Sabres?

But then a thought came in my head that I’m pretty sure everyone from Upstate NY, including myself, has a major problem with. MSG Blackouts- If you’re a Rangers fan and the Sabres play the same night as the Broadway Blue Shirts, more likely than not you have to listen to dumbass Rick Jeanneret squeal like an old pig that he is for 3 hours while your team is in the middle of playoff race (sabres fans look up the word playoffs). To me, this is infuriating. I live 2 ½ hours from NYC and 5 from Buffalo- How does this make sense?  Oh, I’m right AGAIN- It doesn’t. This brings me to my amazing idea.

Make this game the battle of MSG TV rights. Whoever wins this game gets to claim ownership on the MSG channel (MSG stands for Madison Square Garden, but I digress).  This is the only way I will get excited about this game. Give the Rangers the opportunity to kick the Sabres off of MSG and onto some bullshit local channel in Buffalo that only Bills Mafia will watch- which to be honest, I’d probably order. Obviously I’d skip all Sabres games but 12+ hours of Drunk Buffalo people jumping through tables on fire would add an element to Television that hasn’t been around since The Situation and Jersey Shore. So NHL if you want to market the game that way, that is something myself and all of upstate NYR fans can get behind.

Extra: Thinking about the Winter Classic show and who would play it. NYR would send Billy Joel (More banners than the NYR have for Stanley Cups) and you have to believe Buffalo would send the Goo Goo Dolls or Brian McKnight… Yawnnnn