Bonds, Vick, Donaghy....Hockey Anyone?

I'm not a big hockey fan, but I'm strangely interested in seeing the season start. RIGHT NOW.
I'm tired of hearing about Barry Bonds. I'm disgusted by Michael Vick and Tim Donaghy.

Hockey is the only one of the four major sports food groups not to have a major scandal hanging over its head right now.

I recall after the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup in '94 that the NHL actually had momentum. New fans were getting into the sport, Gretzky was a mega star and there were young players to get excited about. The sport hadn't yet been tainted by a work stoppage and the players all seemed like such average guys--kind of like baseball in the 40s. Of course, all that eventually changed and the sport was on life support when they went through their own labor issues later. And now, in a weird sense, there is a new opportunity for the game to step into the sludge-filled void left by the three ugly stories surrounding the other sports.

It's not easy to watch on TV. The puck is too small. Like the NBA, the season is too long and too many teams make the playoffs. Yet there doesn't seem to be a shadow of steroids anywhere. The NHL doesn't have a Pac Man Jones or Vick to sully the league-wide reputation of its athletes and if a ref ever thought about fixing an NHL game, he'd probably have about 25 guys with missing teeth chasing him down in the parking lot (as if there really were any interest in betting on NHL games).

There is a new Gretzky (yes, I know that's borderline sacrilege) but Sidney Crosby is as exciting as any professional athlete playing right now. The players are, with rare exception, candid with the media and nice to their fans. The league has a great history full of terrific ambassadors like Gretzky and Gordie Howe.

Michael Vick, Pac Man Jones and Chris Henry don't symbolize the NFL. Tim Donaghy didn't officiate every game and most baseball players (we hope) have sworn off anything that might get them in trouble later. But none of the slimy stuff is going away anytime soon.

Drop the puck already.