You want to escape for a long weekend, but where? Big cities are always tempting, but they typically require advance planning to get a good room or tickets to a favorite show or event. Tourist spots are often in smaller cities, but they’re, well, full of tourists, which isn’t always relaxing. But if you head to a college town, you’ll likely have an easy-to-plan, enjoyable getaway.

College towns have an energizing vibe that’s hard to resist. It emanates from the students and their youthful enthusiasm, but also from the eclectic mix of shops and entertainment options that spring up around them.

Should you hang out at the outdoor vegan café or take in a poetry reading at the bookstore? Listen to some soulful jazz in a dimly lit club or hit the eye-popping contemporary art exhibit that just opened in the arts building? Stroll through the university’s leafy arboretum or its intriguing observatory?

With so many great colleges and universities in the U.S., there’s probably a prime college town within easy driving distance of your home–yet another plus. But if you’re having trouble coming up with a place to go, here are three options.

Boulder, Colorado
Home of the University of Colorado at Boulder and its 29,000 students, the city has a lively downtown featuring Pearl Street Mall, a popular pedestrian pathway. Pearl Street is lined with a diverse selection of restaurants, bookstores, boutiques and sidewalk cafes, and hosts everything from seasonal art shows to craft fairs and musical performances.

Make sure to stop in for a cup of tea at the colorful Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. Handcrafted by more than 40 Tajik artisans, the stunning Persian structure–which is the largest piece of Central Asian art in the Western Hemisphere–features about 100 varieties of tea and an extensive international menu. Afterward, stroll, bike or skate along the 16-mile Boulder Creek Path, which snakes from the eastern end of the city, through downtown and out into Boulder Canyon, paralleling Boulder Creek.

Omaha, Nebraska
This city in the plains is home to nearly a dozen colleges and universities, including the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Creighton University. While not as funky as Boulder, it’s still hopping and contains a wealth of impressive–and little-known–gems.

Its Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, founded in 1981, is the largest urban artists’ colony in the world. And Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo is widely viewed as one of the best zoos on the planet. It home to–hold onto your hat–the world’s largest nocturnal exhibit, indoor swamp, indoor rainforest, indoor desert and geodesic dome. Grab a drink in the city’s historic Old Market district, filled with renovated warehouses now home to a wide variety of restaurants, bars, shops and art galleries.

Austin, Texas
The University of Texas’ main campus is in Austin, which thrives on being considered weird. But weird can be good. The city has a vibrant music scene, claiming more music venues per capita than any other American city. Hit the nightclubs on 6th Street, or come for South by Southwest, Austin’s annual spring film/music/multimedia festival.

The city also has a thriving theater culture, with numerous live performance venues. Residents and students are active here, and flock to places like Hippie Hollow, a county park where you can kayak, swim, rock-climb and hike. But be forewarned, it’s Texas’ only officially sanctioned, clothing-optional public park.

Make sure to check out spring-fed Barton Springs Pool, the nation’s largest natural swimming pool in an urban area. Numerous locals make it a tradition to swim in Barton Springs at Christmas.

–Melanie Radzicki McManus, RED Editorial Staff

There’s a short film I remember watching when I was young called The Point, about a young boy named Oblio.  It came out in 1971, but due to biological restrictions (I wasn’t born yet) I didn’t get around to watching it until sometime during the 80s.  But that isn’t the point.

Point is, there’s a character in that film who says, “You see what you want to see and you hear what you want to hear.”  That line always sticks with me–especially in an election year.

Like many (all?) concerned Americans, I watched the debates over the weekend and then watched the highlights as often as my patience allowed.  And of course, immediately after the debates, the scorecards and polls started flooding in and the only question any television analyst wanted to answer was, “Who won?”

Now, despite what your parents and teachers might have told you when you were young, there IS such a thing as a stupid question, and trying to definitively ascertain who won the debates this past weekend is an exercise in futility.

If you pay attention to the analysis still poring out of major media sites, you’ll find the majority of headlines related to last Friday’s debates are just more questions.  No answers.  Sure, most of the major polls claim that Sen. Obama won the debate, but if you’re a McCain supporter there’s no chance on Earth you believe that.

Obama supporters will claim their man won, pointing to the network polls as evidence, and McCain supporters will scoff at that evidence and claim how obsequiously the media panders to Sen. Obama.  And really, both have a point.

You see what you want to see, and hear what you want to hear.  You see?

And that’s why this Thursday’s vice presidential debate is more important than people are giving it credit for.  Most think it’s going to be a train wreck, to put it lightly, when the focus shifts to Gov. Palin’s foreign policy experience.

Conservative writers (Kathleen Parker said “If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.”) are already calling for her to step down; that McCain has made a terrible decision by picking Palin as his second, and that now is the time for McCain’s campaign to get some shakin’ up and some fixin’ before it’s too late.

But there are also some off-the-record liberal officials in Washington that are worried just as much about Biden falling apart.  It could be a valid concern.  There’s no question that Biden has more experience than Palin in Washington, but Biden’s ability to talk faster than his brain can edit has been a problem before.

So between Biden and Palin, experience or no experience, the “winner” will be the one who shows the most restraint–a rational criteria for an elected official who’s one heartbeat away from the presidency.  Hardly enough to go on, though.

Still, we’re going to do it anyway.  It doesn’t matter how ugly things get between Biden and Palin.  Those voters who’ve already made up their minds will forgive the most appalling gaffes and gloss over the most glaring mistakes each candidate might make, and they certainly won’t be able to get their fingers in their ears fast enough if someone mentions anything to the contrary.

Because if all you do in life is see what you want to see and hear what you want to hear, eventually you won’t notice anything at all.

–Joey Alfino, RED Editorial Staff.

Which ESPN catchphrase works best for the kind of Saturday we had in college football this past weekend?

How about Separation Saturday (and Thursday).

The rash of upsets and egg-layings these past seven days have gone a long way toward weeding out 2008’s national title pretenders, and much earlier in the season than we are accustomed to.

Last Monday, we still thought that Georgia was a national title contender, Florida was one of the nation’s most dangerous teams, USC was unstoppable, and that the ACC was still a BCS conference.

This Monday, we all know better.

And there is one thing we should have seen coming from a mile away.

After Georgia needed a goal-line fumble and last second interception to beat Steve Spurrier’s perpetually mediocre South Carolina Gamecocks, the pollsters were skeptical and dropped the Bulldogs from their number one ranking.

Then, after they didn’t exactly shock and awe the regressed Sun Devils of Arizona State, they went down another notch to number three, an unusual development for a preseason number one with no losses.

Turns out, the pollsters were being more prophetic than usual.

Alabama didn’t so much drop the boom on Georgia as they exposed what should have been obvious all along: the Bulldogs are a middle-of-the-road top 25 team, with the much ballyhooed QB-RB tandem of Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno being the main culprit.

While putting up slightly above average numbers in non-conference play, the duo has been the definition of pedestrian in its two SEC games.

Stafford, who many thought was the best pure passer in the country at the beginning of the season, has gone 39 of 67 with only 420 yards. More telling is that 107 of those yards, and both of his touchdowns, came in the fourth quarter of the Alabama game, which had long before been decided. Altogether, nearly half of his SEC passing yards (198) came after Georgia was already losing 31-0 to the Crimson Tide.

Moreno has been even worse. After he struggled for 79 yards on 20 carries against South Carolina, he was a complete non-factor against Alabama; going for only 34 yards on nine carries, with his longest rush being 11 yards.

Not exactly the way to carry a team to the national championship game.

And unlike many in the national media, Mark Richt seemed to know his Bulldogs were outclassed all along.

Making such a big deal of Georgia’s “blackout” only seemed tacky before Saturday night. Now it appears to have been a desperate ploy to get his team to once again play beyond their means and live up to their crushing preseason hype.

Last year, the distraction (the Dawgs’ whole team endzone celebration) worked against an overrated Florida team. This year, it didn’t against a very scary Alabama squad, and no one should be surprised.

Moreno and Stafford may still turn it around, but it doesn’t get any easier for Georgia in the weeks ahead. With four of its next six games against top 20 teams, in theory, the Dawgs could work their way back up to the top of the polls, but more likely is that Alabama isn’t going to be the only team to throw dirt on Georgia’s once dream season.

So don’t be looking for these Dawgs to hit up the Orange Bowl with only one loss. They simply don’t have enough bite.

–Patrick Daugherty, RED Editorial Staff.

FedEx, SchmedEx. After Vijay Singh signed his scorecard correctly for the fourth straight round to bag $10 million in the FedEx playoff format, he explained that he only had one bogey and one birdie along his 16 pars. Hard to make a mistake with that scorecard, he told reporters.

Like we care. Sunday in Atlanta was sweet for Vijay anti-fans, even if Singh did pocket a whole lot of cash for dominating the leaderboards at the three tournaments running up to the Tour Championship played this weekend. While Singh mused about his scorecard, the “Near Future of Golf That is Not Tiger Woods” was unfolding in the final two groups.

Vijay–ever notice sports fans like to be on a one-name basis with athletes they greatly dislike as much ones they like?–was soon dismissed to focus on a double-seesaw back nine featuring Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim, Sergio Garcia and Villegas.

Mickelson was hanging tough and playing the final group with Garcia. Mickeson missed a 20-footer on No. 18 that would have put him in a playoff. But something’s up with Mickelson; more fans were cheering for him. That something is called a Ryder “W.”

Kim missed a 30-footer of his own on 18 to miss the playoff fun. But he bounced back from an uncharacteristically unsteady Saturday round in which he lost the lead to Garcia. Kim didn’t offer it as an excuse but did explain that he was off-balance from the start of Saturday’s round because he was joking too long with clubhouse attendants, thinking he round started at 11:50 a.m. when it was in fact 11:20.

Kim made it out to the tee in time, but only after he looked around the clubhouse and noticed there was no other golfer in site. “We were just having a good time,” said Kim. What’s not to love about this guy?

Garcia, doing some big talking after Saturday, flailed early on the front nine and recovered enough on the final holes to tie with Villegas. He then promptly couldn’t par the first playoff hole and lost the tourney. Too bad, so sad.

Which brings us to Villegas, the 26-year-old Colombian nicknamed Spiderman for that crazy one-handed horizontal low maneuver he does to line up especially tough putts. He hit two 45-foot lag putts–things of beauty if you can believe it–on No. 18, one to tie Garcia and the second time to earn par with a tap-in to beat Garcia.

Villegas is not only a PGA darling but the reigning chick magnet with the muscular body and long, wavy, unkempt locks. He works out and pals around with Greg Norman, the former golf hunk who made a beloved cameo at the British this summer. In the golf year that You-Know-Who’s Knee was supposed to make us, Villegas, Kim, Garcia and, yes, even Mickelson left a lasting impression.

Much more so than the guy who went home with the most money.

–Bob Condor, RED Editorial Staff.

–Brazilian authorities have arrested an individual at Sao Paulo international airport after customs officials discovered he was attempting to smuggle 200 Canary birds (65 of them dead) in his luggage.  Police will charge Sylvester the Cat with animal trafficking, and the remaining birds will be returned to Granny.

–In Europe, the “Rocket Man” has become the first man to fly across the English Channel using a jet powered fixed wing backpack.  I had no idea Elton John was in to that sort of thing.

–A handful of Hollywood insiders have reported that Disney is planning a fourth installment to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise . . . proof that no one ever listens to anything a film critic has to say.

–Chinese astronauts are ready to make history by performing their first official spacewalk this weekend and the Chinese government is terribly excited.  It’s an excellent way to keep an eye on Taiwan.

–Researchers at the University of Georgia will release a study suggesting a significant amount of people who use social networking sites like Facebook fit the classic profile of a narcissist.  Well, like, I dunno what that means and stuff, but I’ve got, like, six bazillion friends so I’m really important and they’re a bunch of losers.

–In California, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed a law making it illegal to read or send text messages while driving. Schwarzenegger announced the law would “keep drivers’ hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road.”  Plus, it will be much easier for drivers in Los Angeles to pay more attention to people shooting at them on the highway.

–In Rome, a 25-year old man who tried to kill a priest by stabbing him told authorities that his actions were inspired by the film version of Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code.”  Good thing that guy never watched “Soylent Green.”

–In an interview with Katie Couric, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin reinforced her foreign policy credentials by highlighting her experience in dealing with Canada and Russia, but if that qualifies as bona fide experience, then why isn’t NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on the ticket?  He manages a bunch of Russians, a bunch of Canadians, and they all carry blunt instruments.

–Joey Alfino, RED Editorial Staff.

And then there were two.  Conferences, that is.

With USC’s inexplicable loss to the previously 1-2 Oregon State Beavers, no team outside the Big 12 or SEC currently has a clear path to the national title game.

Barring any major upsets this weekend, the nation’s two elite conferences will have eight of the nation’s top ten teams (as they do this week) when the new AP rankings come out on Sunday, including the top six. How many top ten teams will the other four power conferences have? Two maximum, one if BYU replaces USC.

If you take these stats a little further, they become even more staggering.

Combined, the Big 12 and SEC have as many teams in the top ten as the Big 10, Pac 10, Big East and ACC have combined in the entire poll.

The SEC has as many teams in the top five as the Pac 10 and ACC have in the entire poll.

The Big 12 has as many teams in the top six as the Pac 10 and Big East have in the entire poll.

And all these statistics still include USC at number one.

This isn’t just dominance, it’s monopolistic. It’s like Standard Oil and Microsoft taking on Gil’s Gas and Jan’s Computers.

Will it stay this way all season?

The first answer is that it might not even stay this way through the weekend. With Georgia and Alabama facing off Saturday, a lopsided game might knock one of them out of the top ten. But if it’s close, the Big 12 and SEC’s vice grip will be as tight as ever on Sunday afternoon.

But in the long run, their dominance may prove to be more of a curse than a gift. Last year, we all saw what happens when good teams and conferences beat up on each other: one loss Ohio State gets invited to spoil the party.

And, obviously, all of the SEC and Big 12 contenders have brutal schedules down the stretch. Combined, their eight teams ranked in the top ten have 18 games remaining vs. current top ten teams and 27 games left vs. current top 25 teams.

If you throw in their other ranked teams, Kansas, Vanderbilt and Auburn, the Big 12’s and SEC’s ranked teams have 26 games remaining against top 10 teams and 38 vs. top 25 teams.

To put that in perspective, the fourteen teams currently in the AP top 25 that aren’t Big 12 or SEC teams have four games remaining against top 10 teams and 24 against top 25 teams.

What’s all this talk about parity again? The nation’s talent hasn’t spread out, it’s just consolidated in these two mammoth conferences.

So if there is a college football god, at least one team from the SEC and one team from the Big 12 will survive the gauntlet and play on January 8 in Miami.

If not? Make way for a two-loss SEC team and a one-loss other “power” conference team. I think you can predict the score.

–Patrick Daugherty, RED Editorial Staff.

It’s a typical weekday. Your alarm clock goes off at 5am. In the distance, a haunting roar punctures the dawn as a lion lays claim to his territory.

You stretch and yawn, carefully searching around your sheets for any Black Mambas that may have curled up beside you for warmth during the night.

Tap out your boots to make sure there aren’t any spiders hunting for bugs inside the dark, warm cave of your Timberlands. To most, an extreme way to wake up.  But to Safari Guide Dave Bower of World Wide Tracks Safaris, it’s just another day at the office.

Ever since photographs of Teddy Roosevelt’s and Ernest Hemingway’s adventures in Africa appeared in the early 20th century, the world has both romanticized and demonized the African safari.

Our vision of this exotic experience is a posh and elaborate excursion replete with wealthy khaki-clad hunters who sip tea between shooting unaware animals.

A hint of that vision may be true, but after interviewing safari guide Dave Bower, I quickly learned the Safaris are more a balance of man vs. animal, man vs. the elements and man vs. man.

Most of Dave Bower’s safari clients are men and women of independent means looking to challenge the elements of nature. His most popular destinations include Africa, Russia, Spain, Siberia, Alaska and South America.

Is our vision of African safaris correct . . . a stylish expedition straight from the outtakes from “Out of Africa”?

Yes and no. Sure, you can have a safari where you are surrounded by French antiques and sleep in high count silk-like sheets, but more than likely, my clients want to sleep in tents or cabins on army-style cots.

It’s their sense of getting back to nature and being part of the animal’s world. The moment you step onto that continent (Africa) you feel alive and primal.

Your guide is going to wake you about 4 a.m. so you can get in the Land Rover by 5 a.m. to start your tracking. This is not the Land Rover the soccer moms drive today with Bluetooth technology and heated leather seats. These vehicles have numerous scars from incursions with five feet wide aardvark holes and dents from rhino horns.

Tracking the animals is left to the local tribes. They glean clues from the sand and dirt that even a microscope couldn’t pick up. It’s their sixth sense and what has kept them alive for centuries.

You may end up at a watering hole with hippos chortling and hyenas bringing their broods cautiously in for a careful sip of water.

If an animal is taken down, it’s never going to be a mother or a female of breeding stock. A prayer is offered to thank the animal for its life and is taken back to camp for dressing. Most of the meat is offered to the tribe while the tenderloins and perhaps the liver are reserved for cooking that night for dinner. Every scrap of the animal is utilized.

Does everyone hunt in your safaris?

Most often, the wives and children enjoy the photographic safaris. Guides will take them to watering holes and natural landmarks. They will see anything from baby giraffes clinging to their mom’s ankles or start a road race with a leggy ostrich.

Was there ever a time you thought you weren’t coming home?

Absolutely. But I’d never reveal that to a client. You need to keep your cool.

One trip to Namibia, we flew a four-seat Cessna in two shifts to get the entire hunting party to the hunting camp. It was a two hour flight each way into the desolate desert. I was on the second shift.

As we landed on the sandy strip, our tire blew and the plane veered towards our friend who was video taping our landing just off the runway. From his perspective, he couldn’t tell how out of control the plane was and the wing just blew over his head. It was the closest I’ve ever seen someone almost decapitated.

The worst part was, we had no parts to replace the pins that held the tire onto the struts. So there was no taking off and no landing. This was the age before cell phones so we couldn’t call for help. Thankfully, a part from my Swiss Army knife served as a pin to hold the spare on. Still, we had no guarantees the pin would hold for the first flight out.

With our breath deeply held, we learned after our first trial landing our MacGyver tricks worked. Disaster was craftily averted.

Do you plan to guide safaris till you retire?

Wish I could, but safaris are very physical and require a fit mind and body. I think I’ll stay closer to home and fish for tarpon and redfish. I’ve retired the rifle for a fly rod. There will always be a part of me in Africa, though. At some point, you just need to cash in your chips and call it a day.

–Shelly Connors, RED editorial staff.

Do we love Anthony Kim or what? First, he declares at the Ryder Cup that playing for his country is something he wouldn’t trade for $10 million, naming a figure, of course, that happens to match the exact amount that Vijay Singh will win this weekend as winner of the FedEx Cup playoffs. That’s provided that Vijay simply finishes all four rounds at the Tour Championship in Atlanta and signs his scorecards correctly.

Next, Kim shows up at East Lake in Atlanta and says it took him a couple of days to get over the celebration after the Ryder Cup win, which included the leadoff stomping of primal screamer Sergio Garcia. Not as bad as a college hangover, Kim said, but still rough. Beautiful.

Then Kim goes out, shoots a 64 and leads the Tour Championship by four strokes over Ryder laughing partner Phil Mickelson (you’re kinda thinking his hangover was gigantic too), Trevor Immelman (oh, right, Masters winner, that was still this year?) and Ernie Els (now there’s a guy who could use a Tour Championship win). It doesn’t matter if Kim goes straight south–he won’t–to finish last among the 30 players here. The guy is America’s newest golf idol.

Be like Anthony.

The figurative Ryder Cup hangover permeates this entire golf tournament. Fans are lighting up the blogs and live chats–it’s golf online, man, where have you been?–about the absence of J.B. Holmes and Boo Weekley (now there’s a hangover that would be both mind-bending and, well, sorta fun to be him).

Savvy fans throw in Geoff Oglivy, Adam Scott and Stephen Ames as missing players who, over the 2008 season, are clearly top 30 players deserving to play for the Tour Championship.

Well, sure, but the problem is lots of top players were ditching the September tournaments and pretty much clearing out their golf bags right after the PGA. Maybe take a couple weeks off, get the kids in school, eat some pie. Then if you were top 30, you took a serious week on the course to prepare for the Tour Championship. And maybe eat one more slice of pie.

The Tour execs were smart to figure out some way to draw good fields to the last three tournaments of the year. That part worked. The rest of it seems clunky, especially since Vijay Singh gets to sweep up all the FedEx chips come Sunday. He not only played his usual stellar golf all year, he got hot at the right time for his bankers: right after the PGA, the former wasteland stretch of the Tour now gilded.

On Thursday, Vijay finished nine shots behind Kim, the Next Big Thing, and shrugged. His pot is at will call. This is his rainbow and everyone else is walking it.

–Bob Condor, Red editorial staff

As any Cubs fan will tell, Carlos Zambrano is not the silent type. The ace-starter whose emotions are as apparent on his sleeve as the number on his back when he takes the hill has had his fair share of ups and downs, from winning a silver slugger to fighting in the dugout with his own catcher.  The man is anything but predictable.

But lately it seems like he’s more like Jekyll and Hyde . . . literally.

He started the month on the DL with rotator cuff tendinitis; missing two key starts while the Cubs felt the pangs of a 3 and 6 mini-slump. Then on September 14 he pitched the game of his life; throwing his first career no-hitter against a surging Astros team in a controversial Houston “home” game in Miller Park courtesy of Hurricane Ike.

Suddenly the Big Z was back, and so were the Cubbies. Since his return the lovable losers have gone 8-3, clinching back-to-back division titles and home-field advantage throughout after a 5-1 victory over the Cards on Sunday.

But not so fast. Since Z’s no-no he has looked awful. In his two starts following he has given up 13 earned runs in 6 1/3 innings.

13!

His start Friday against the Cardinals was his shortest start since 2006 when he went just an inning and a third against the Pirates. The Big Z was pulled by Sweet Lou after just 1 2/3 innings with his line reading eight runs on six hits including a first inning grand slam by Ryan Ludwick.

Enter Mr. Hyde.

Last night was more of the same. In his last regular season start in Shea Stadium Zambrano looked good through the first two innings, not allowing a run in a possible spoiler game for the mercurial Mets. Then came the third.

After the Mets evened the score at one apiece, Carlos Delgado stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded, ripped a granny, and Carlos (Z not D) earned his second four-bagger given up in just five innings.

But fear not faithful Northsiders.  While Zambrano may be the workhorse of the starting rotation, this is not a one-horse team.

First there is the Dumpster, Ryan Dempster. His 2008 return to the starting rotation has been nothing short of phenomenal, posting a 17-6 record with a sparkling ERA of 2.99. It is highly likely Dempster will get the ball in Game 1 of the NLDS regardless who the Cubs play.

Next you have Ted Lilly who is 16-9 on the season and has looked virtually unhittable in his last few starts.

Then there is mid-season acquisition Rich Harden who is 5-1 with a microscopic 1.66 ERA since joining the Cubs.

And finally you have the wild-card that is Jason Marquis. While his 11-9 record and 4.43 ERA may not be impressive, keep in mind that on Monday he hit a grand slam against the Mets and became the first Cubs pitcher in 36 years to have 5 RBIs in one game.

So here it goes, I’m gonna go ahead and say it on the record . . . the Chicago Cubs baseball club will be the 2008 World Series Champs.

After all, anyone can have a bad century . . . but if you listen closely I think you’ll hear Harry Caray slurring, “Cubs win, Cubs win!”

–Aaron Whitebread RED Editorial Staff.

I always know hockey season is about to get under way when the “trash talk” and hockey “discussions” get heated with my friends.  We pull out our favorite jerseys to let them see the light of day and spots at our favorite pub get warmed. This hockey year is going to be full of hallmarks and arguments that may just make for one of the most exciting hockey seasons ever.

Here are some of my picks for some great “conversations” while you drop a pint with some friends and watch some of your favorite teams: Which franchise makes for the best “Cinderella” story.  Who is hockey’s greatest Goaltender? Can a team overcome the “Stanley Cup Hangover?” What about the runner-up curse?

The NHL’s oldest and most successful franchise, the Montreal Canadiens, will be hoping to hoist a 25th Stanley Cup banner on their 100 year anniversary. Their happy ending may not happen if clubs like Detroit, Pittsburgh, Boston or even Chicago live up to their potentials. Montreal is, however, going to be celebrating their centennial by hosting the 2009 All-Star Game, the 2009 entry draft and retiring the number of legendary (if not controversial) goaltender Patrick Roy.

Speaking of goaltenders, Martin Brodeur is just 13 regular season victories away from taking Mr. Roy’s position as the NHL’s goaltender with the most wins.  While Roy is known for his (justifiably) cocky character and fiery spirit, Brodeur is the quiet yet fierce competitor.

Roy has one more Stanley Cup ring (four total) than Brodeur, but Brodeur has been on top of the #1 spot with a gold medal on the Olympic Podium.  I think the debates will get even more fierce and prominent when November 22nd rolls around.

With the toughest offensive lineup in the league, the Detroit Red Wings are setting themselves up to make another Stanley Cup appearance.  The last time the cup was won twice in a row was 11 years ago by Detroit.  In fact, many experts think this season could be a replay of last year with a Pittsburgh/Detroit final.

The Penguins have to overcome the “Runner-up Curse.” While the Penns have lost Marian Hossa along with seven other players to free agency, they’ve managed to keep a very well rounded core and picked up Fedotenko, Satan and Cooke to compliment their offensive lineups.  Also, writing off a team with Sidney Crosby at the helm could be very foolish.  If anyone can break the curse, “Sid the Kid” will be the one.

Finally, as the pre-season has begun and our pools are chosen, watch out for those young rookies vying for a spot to play in the NHL.  They’ll make the pre-season full of surprises, hard hits and some great goals.

–Ryan Matwiy, RED Editorial Staff.