Talkin' Bout My Generation

Every generation, no matter which one you're from, always thinks it's better than all the rest. It's human nature. We point to problems and find faults with older and newer generations, while claiming how fun we had it, especially growing up as kids. While our parents had "kick-the-can, hide-and-seek and tag," how can that compare to electric football, rod hockey or baseball cards? With today's generation, Playstation and Xbox are mind numbing and breeding a generation of couch potatos.

But thanks to the wonderful world of Ebay, it's now possible to search for your lost treasures that were either broken or thrown out by your mother. When I first joined Ebay, I started with the basics: old comic books, football magazines, old movies and board games. Then I tried something harder, NFL player stamps that were given out by Sunoco gas stations in 1972. Each NFL team had 24 players and you pasted them in an album the way your mother did when she got stamps from the grocery store. Ebay had them. Next were missing electric football men. Ebay had them. It was time to try the big one. In 1971, my parents had gotten me the "greatest Christmas present of all-time," a Brad Park endorsed New York Rangers rod hockey table, made by Coleco. My friends, family and I played that game so much, the life expectancy probably was a 1/4 of what it was supposed to be. It took a long time, but I finally found that exact game a few years ago.

After fixing it up, there was a letdown, because now I had no-one to play against. My kids tried, but it was too BORING for them. Of course it was. No explosions or killings. Plus, they couldn't control or spin the rods, since Xbox controllers only allow teens to use their thumb and pointer finger. So, by chance, I brought it in to work. I found out there were plenty of friends, around my age, who had played it as kids and we started playing games during lunch. My fellow contributor to this blog, Hockeyman96 and I even custom-made Ranger and Islander "all-star" teams to go against one another. My Ranger team: Tikkanen, Messier, Duguay, Leetch, Park and Giacomin has taken his Islander team: Bossy, Trottier, LaFontaine, Potvin, Jonsson and DiPietro a few times, but when he subs-in goalie Kelly Hrudey, it's a whole different story.

If I was born 30 years prior, maybe kick-the-can would be the greatest thing or if I was born 30 years later, killing 200 warriors in WarCraft the ultimate. But I'm satisfied with my time period in history and now concentrate on all the stuff I STILL have to find on Ebay.

It's human nature.

I want my M...T....Versus

I've been debating and debating for the longest time, should I splurge and upgrade my cablevision package to finally get the Versus channel or should I stand firm on my stance of not giving James Dolan and Cablevision one more nickel. What should I do?

When the NHL came back from the lockout in ’05, they didn't re-up with ESPN, instead taking a few more dollars from the inconspicuous OLN network, now known as Versus. For a lot of hockey fans across America, Versus was not even available on most cablevision systems and fans screamed about losing the little hockey they had. First- and second-round playoff games in ’05 and ’06 were divied-up between Versus and NBC, and if you didn't have Versus, you missed those games.

For the past 2 seasons, I've put up with the few, couple of games that I couldn't get when my team was playing on Versus, but it was extremely hard once the playoffs started. I grew solice in the fact that other fans across the country were in the same predicament, but started to open up a little about upgrading my TV package.

I have had the lowest cable package (basic family) for the rough cost of $47 a month, for the last 18 years. Since I still used an old, analog box, I was told that to finally get Versus, I had to upgrade to their “IO” digital package and would cost an extra $9.95 a month. I have always gotten ESPN and ESPN2 as part of that package, but within the last 5 years thru numerous lawsuits and rulings, Cablevision has added MSG, YES, FSN and SNY to the basic family package AT NO CHARGE and with NO CONVERSION to “IO.” Why are they now charging me to get a few hockey games during the year and a handful of playoff games. MSG, YES, FSN and SNY give me Ranger, Knick, Yankee, Islander, Devil, Net and Met games all year-round at NO EXTRA CHARGE, but Cablevision wants me to pony up $10 a month to watch a few hockey games in a 2 or 3 month span!

I know Cablevision wants everyone to eventually go to “IO”, but if I have major league networks already, charging me extra for a MINOR league network is not enough incentive to make the switch. I'm not interested in all the OTHER CHANNELS I would get if I switched. Again, if you gave me MSG and YES for free, why can't I have rinky-dink Versus for free?

My common sense says that it's not worth it, but everytime an Islander/Ranger game is broadcast on Versus, it starts the debate all over again. I know I'll miss some good games, but it's the principle that counts, right?

What should I do?