I'm aware this is supposed to be a New York sports blog. However, I've found it kind of tough to talk about the New York sports teams recently- as Conor and I have drilled home, the Knicks are unwatchable,the Yankees and Mets have been talked about to the point of vomit, and the Jets and Giants still have over half a year to go until their seasons start. Things are dead.

Of course, once things liven up a little bit next month with the Mets and Yankees (almost) getting underway we'll fully cover that, but until then, let's broaden things up and briefly distract ourselves from the fairly depressing New York sports scene.

I figured I'd touch on Olympic hockey briefly.I've never been much of a hockey guy, but after going to a hockey school and watching these Olympics, I've been gradually enjoying and appreciating hockey more and more. So without further ado, here are three small things I've taken away from watching Olympic hockey the past ten days:

1) Patrick Kane is awesome.

Coming into the Olympics, all I knew about Kane was that he beat the crap out of some cab driver last off-season. But I've learned that there's more to Kane beyond being a thrifty drunk. He's become my favorite player on Team USA.

He's really fun to watch (check out this goal); just like when the cleanup hitter comes to bat or a running back is in the open field, I get excited when Kane has the puck. You don't quite know what's going to happen; you just know it's going to be good. He's kind of flashy, he's young, and he's the most skilled player on Team USA by a mile.

2) I don't ever want to hear the term 'active sticks' again, NBC.

I get it. USA hockey plays hard. No need to verbally masturbate to Zach Parise and Chris Drury's stick-flinging skills every 20 seconds.

3) Olympic hockey is more fun to watch than the NHL.

Big-time hockey fans reading this probably just went "duh". But this statement is for the rest of you fellow passive hockey fans.

No commercials during the periods? Constant back-and-forth action? Players wearing their hearts on their sleeves? Reminds me of a certain world's most popular sport...

I kid, I kid. But seriously. Hockey is unquestionably exciting, but I've (and about 95% of the world) always had trouble connecting with the sport because it's so different from the other sports I (we) grew up with. But I've found the Olympic format to be a more exciting, and more importantly, more meaningful angle of hockey with different aspects everybody can much more easily connect with. I'm not cheering for some random team I've never cared about, I'm cheering for my country. There's far more action (less commercials and added player passion). Though I've never been much more than a passive hockey guy, I've really enjoyed watching Olympic hockey the past couple weeks, and if you've never cared about hockey and utterly refuse to watch it (I'm not singling you out, Mom and Dad), I urge you to watch today's USA-Canada game.

For you hockey fans who learned absolutely nothing from my lack of  analysis, let's just unite around this clip from D2: The Mighty Ducks.