I agree with you 100% on the title of this thread (can they somehow eliminate each other? that'd be nice!!)... but I completely disagree that the Penguins should be involved with the next Winter Classic, should there be one. The main reason I feel that way is that I think with this being a fairly rare event, I think it would be nice to spread the wealth a bit. As you mentioned, the one this year was a good opportunity for the Sabres and Penguins to showcase their talents... but not only that, it was a great opportunity for the fans of both teams, and of hockey in general, to experience ice hockey when played in its natural environment, outdoors. It could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see something of this nature, especially to this scale, so let fans of teams in different geographical regions have this experience as well. Being a Sabres fan, I wouldn't protest if they held it in Buffalo again next year, but fans of other teams definitely should. It would actually make sense to me for the next one to go a little further away from Buffalo than NYC, maybe like mid-western to western US/Canada.
Also, in my opinion seeing some of the... ummmm... "not as overly-publicized" talents around the league on display for this type of event wouldn't be a horrible thing either; i feel unless the powers-that-be really screw the pooch on putting this thing together, an outdoor NHL game in the middle of winter really should sell itself and shouldn't really need a push from "the face of hockey" to be successful. I, for one, don't want the Winter Classic to go in the direction of an annual tour of Crosby, Malkin and Company. There are plenty of other players/rivalries that are very capable of making the Ice Bowl an exciting event for die-hard fans, as well as maybe open the eyes of some non-fans or marginal fans to what a great game hockey really is.
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