Thought I'd share a couple blurbs with you as praise for the NHL's Winter Classic continues to ripple through the sports pages. Monday Morning QB Peter King of SI.com had good things to say about it, after explaining that he couldn't care less about this year's less-than-compelling bowl games:

I did, however, care about the New Year's Day hockey game in Buffalo. Fantastic visuals, fun event, tremendous game capped by the best player in hockey scoring the winning goal in the last round of a shootout, with 71,000 riveted fans in the stadium. This was the best new sports-event idea I've seen in years, and I don't say that because I draw a paycheck from NBC.

Would love Canadiens-Bruins at Fenway next year. Or Canadiens-Maple Leafs somewhere up north. Or the Flyers-Penguins at Heinz Field or the Linc. Or the Wings-Penguins at Comerica. Or -- what about this one -- the Stanley Cup champ against Sidney Crosby and the Penguins, either in Pittsburgh or in the biggest outdoor stadium in Canada? Whatever, NBC's got to keep this going.

While the NHL works hard to think up new ways to expand and improve its game -- like the spectacular outdoor match in Buffalo on New Year's Day -- the NFL has been busy inventing more and more twisted ways for the game's leaders to go back on their word.