To all avid Favre Dollar Footlong readers out there; sorry for the hiatus.  It wasn't that I didn't want to write or had other important things to do, it was actually that was gone from last Thursday until Wednesday.

Favre Dollar Footlongs is moving!  Wait, what, where, who.  Don't get all worried yet, the site is staying, while I am relocating.  In exactly one month from today I will be living in Hartford, CT.  New job, new opportunities.

While I was in Hartford over the weekend, apartment hunting and having my LDP day at Aetna, I got to meet up with my friend Aaron Torres from Aaron Torres Sports.  He picked me up from my hotel and we went over to his friends place to watch the Cavs/Celtics game and the Mosley/Mayweather fight.  You can't really ask for much more with two great sporting events on one night.

We get to the apartment about 8:00pm, right when the basketball game was starting.  There were a few people outside and a couple inside.  We were really the only ones watching the game.  About an hour later a few people started to join us.  Of course being sports writers, Aaron and I analyze everything and  think we know everything.  We also understand we're opinionated, but we still feel like we're unbiased.

This was my first time up in the North East.  I knew I'd have a lot of Celtics fans around me, actually I thought I'd be the only Cavs fan.  I was prepared though.  Every sports fan has their arsenal of arguments in the back of their brain ready to unload on anyone who goes against them.  The few people who joined us originally were pretty cool to talk with.  There were the typical arguments that LeBron James isn't the best player in the game that I had to shoot down quickly, but other then that they knew their stuff.  About thirty minutes later things changed a little.

The second half of the game came around and the entire couch was full.  The Celtics were winning and I started to hear the chit chat about how this Celtics team was better then the Cavaliers and that the Cleveland was overrated.  Pretty much all your typical arguments.  I never realized how much hating went on just by traveling to a new area.

Hating is a part of sports though.  No matter how much I think that we shouldn't hate, I then think about it and realize it's a good thing.  Hate brings debate and argument; things that sports are all about.  It's our competitive nature to debate about sports and hating just makes it feel much more important.

After seeing what I was getting myself into, I also started to realize that I probably gave off the some aura.  If any of Aaron's friends thought that then they were probably right, but I don't care.  It's kind of in my nature as a sports fanatic to believe that I know more or better than most people about sports and that my opinion is more correct.  I guess I'm not just hating on teams, but hating on others too.

I'm moving to start a new career in exactly one month and at least I know what to expect now.  I'll be the fan who is cheering for the Steelers, Penn State, Penguins, or Duke that everyone will disagree with and give the awkward eye to at the bar.  Then again, I'll be returning the favor and defending every bit of cheering that comes out of me.

I love that about sports.  I may hate what you're saying, but if you can back it up, then I'll respect you.

If you missed game 7 between the Washington Capitals and the Montreal Canadians last night, then you missed the greatest upset in hockey history.  I'm not exaggerating the magnitude of the upset either; it was definitively the biggest upset ever.

Until yesterday only seven #8 seeds have upset the #1 seed in the first round the NHL playoffs.  Of those seven times, the greatest seed difference amongst the sixteen playoff teams each year was the 1st overall team losing to the 15th overall team.  The greatest overall point difference was 29 points when the Edmonton Oilers upset the Detroit Red Wings in 2006.  This upset captured both those records.

What the Montreal Canadians did last night was to become the first ever #16 seed overall to beat a #1 seed.  They were also the first ever #8 seed to come back from a 3-1 series deficit.  Their point difference at the end of the regular season was 33 points (121-88), which is also the largest point difference ever.  It still ceases to amaze me that hockey is still not on the radar enough that most people would not have known these things and the missed out on the experience to see something that may never happen again.

Hockeys had its ups and downs, no question about that, but any sporting event that has the chance to be historic should be presented to all of us for the chance to view it.  Now this isn't saying that every outlet did a poor job of doing so.  ESPN had it on the front page and displayed it prominently to make it known that it was the biggest game of the night, if not ever in hockey upset history.  Radio shows, other networks, and most sports blog web sites didn't mention it.  This was a series that had one of the most popular players with Alex Ovechkin and the hype just wasn't there.  Maybe I'm at fault too; I didn't say one word about it.  I knew about it, was excited about it especially being a Penguins fan and wanting Washington to lose, but I didn't write anything about it.  Rarely do I even write about hockey.  I'd like to write more, but it just seems to be a tough sport to cover in my eyes and in others.  I don't know who is really to blame, but I think the Penn State Women's volleyball championship match got more publicity than this did.  Is that a good or a bad thing?  You be the judge.

I guess what surprises me the most about this is the fact that everyone claims to love the hockey playoffs, but we still hardly hear about them. I'm guessing you go up to 10 people on the street and ask them to name you all four second round match ups for the NHL playoffs and you'll be lucky if one gets it right.  People claim that overtime playoff hockey is the most exciting overtime in all of sports and we've seen a good amount already during these playoffs and it still doesn't receive much hype.

The NHL playoffs have been great.  There is no other sport that would ever give us the unpredictability that the #1, #2, and #3 seeds in one of the conferences could actually all lose in the same year.  Maybe people just want the best teams to be there at the end.  I'll take it this way; I'd rather have the upset excitement.

We're a nation of sports fans that love upsets and the NHL playoffs have given us that.  Maybe you missed the greatest upset in NHL history yesterday, but at least I can try to do my part to try and get you to watch now.  So far from what I've seen, you're in for a treat even if you just start watching now.

Illegal immigration is a topic of hot discussion lately.  With the signing of the Arizona Immigration Bill, people have come out of the woodwork to either defend or persecute the existence of the bill.  I understand the debate about the morality and social nature of the bill, but the problem people are failing to see is the actual problem, illegal immigration.

In my opinion illegal immigration is the most serious problem in our country today.  Many of our other problems, including economy, crime, jobs, healthcare, social security, taxes and education are intertwined with the major problem of illegal immigration.  It's not a race issue.  I want people from every race and every country to have the same chances that so many other people before them had, but I want it to happen legally.  Is it really wrong to feel that people who broke the law should be punished?

We've been through some of these social and moral issues before in the game of baseball.  In the early oughts when home runs became the focus of the game everyone turned a blind eye.  Fans, players, and execs only cared about how great things were going.  There was an increased focus on the game then there had been for awhile.  Larger attendance, more revenue, exciting games; all these things were created by players on performance enhancing drugs, but all these things were also created under a false pretense.  Once the problem became much more apparent and stories and information started to come out, then baseball dealt with the issue.  How they dealt with it is where the parallel between immigration and steroids differs.

Many of the positive things our country had going for us were also created under a false pretense thanks to illegal immigration.  Small businesses were thriving thanks to work done for cheap by illegal immigrants.  The economy prospered and therefore jobs were created because the country kept getting built up and built up into something it wasn't, just like the game of baseball.  We blatantly have known there has been a problem with illegal immigration for decades, but people turned a blind eye towards it too because everything was going so great at the time.  People didn't care if the illegal immigrants were paying taxes or if the rest of the taxpayers in the country had to spend their tax paying dollars on education for children of illegal immigrants or health benefits for some illegal immigrants.  I guess this is just how we look at most things. If it looks too good to be true now then we'll worry about it later.

The benefits of immigration and steroids finally collapsed.

Baseball took a turn for the worse after the emergence of steroids.  Millions of fans wanted all records for all players in the era to be excluded from any record book.  The integrity of the game was shot for nearly a decade and everywhere we looked a new player materialized in the news that had tested positive or was found to have taken a performance enhancing drug in the past.  The game of baseball has forever changed since this time period.  There's no more just appreciating great players and marveling at an impressive home run shot that flies far over the outfield wall.  Now we must try to determine if that player is doing something illegal.  There isn't the integrity in the game there once was and we will forever worry that the game will never be truly played on a fair playing field.  This is the type of situation that happens when something illegal has taken over and the problem wasn't contained immediately.

Baseball tried to subdue the steroid problem by taking baby steps.  The first steroid policy was in place in 2002.  During that time a first time offender would not be named and they would just have to receive treatment.  From 2002 to 2004 there were no players suspended. In 2005, the new policy took over.  With the new rules a first time user of any performance enhancing drug would be suspended 10 games, 30 games for the second offense, 60 games for a third offense, and banned from baseball for a fourth offense.  Less than a year later the penalties increased to 50 games, 100 games, and banned from baseball for being a first, second, or third offense.  In 2006, Major League Baseball conducted an investigation known as The Mitchell Report to try and determine the severity of the alleged steroid use.

The economy of America had its own collapse thanks to an abundance of different problems.  It definitely wasn't solely based on illegal immigration whatsoever, but just like in baseball and steroids, all the benefits that we saw from using illegal immigrants in our work force were taken away during this time and the problems became apparent.  Small businesses couldn't thrive in the economy and even the illegal immigrants jobs were being taken away.  We saw big businesses having to create major cutbacks on jobs and growth because they were recklessly spending due to the false nature of our economy.  The job market was great before the recession, which made people place money into the stock market and housing market.  These things were gone in a matter of months after the collapse.

Now America has to rebuild.

Baseball had to rebuild its integrity by being truthful about the problems and dealing with them.  We have to be truthful about illegal immigration as well.  All these jobs that illegal immigrants obtain are jobs that are not being taxed and are being done by people who do not pay taxes.  We need a society that doesn't work this way.  Without illegals occupying these positions, the businesses must go out and hire citizens or legal immigrants that do not have jobs and enter them in the workforce.  The increase in workforce helps the country, the increase in taxpayers helps the country, and most importantly, the increase in the integrity of our businesses helps the country.  Hiring illegal immigrants seems great at the time, but just like in baseball it's a cheap thrill that eventually causes many more problems to the country or game then we ever thought possible.

Baseball combated the problem of steroids slowly.  Each day it felt like a new player entered into the realm of disingenuous person.  The first policy was put in place in 2002 and nothing changed with the culture of steroids in baseball.  Even when the penalties got more and more strict, stars like Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, and David Ortiz emerged on the steroid scene.  It's been eight years since the first policy was in place and I still don't feel the problem has been resolved. Then again no matter what they do it probably won't ever be resolved.  There is definitely a deterrent for being caught doing steroids now.  The one thing baseball and other sports have going for them is that when these illegal users are caught doing something then they are under the public eye and this alone is a punishment.  Illegal immigration doesn't have that same luxury as a deterrent.

What the Arizona Immigration Bill basically did was take a stand early and defiantly against the problem of illegal immigration.  Illegal immigration has been a problem that has been around for years and the only thing the federal government did was put up borders and have extra border patrol surround the area.  That would be like Major League Baseball putting up taller outfield walls and adding a couple outfielders behind them that were able to catch the home runs that actually made it over the new wall to try and dilute the problem.  

The bill is a severe measure, but one that needs to be taken.  It would be like baseball back in 2002 creating a policy that banned any PED user after their first offense.  Would it have caused uproar like we've seen with the immigration bill?  Yes, but would it also have changed the culture of baseball immediately and deterred users who kept on using to straighten up immediately?  Definitely.

Steroids in baseball and illegal immigration have many parallels in their situations.  The way they were dealt with is how they differ the most.  How they are looked at in society is a major difference as well.

With baseball society focuses on the problem and then tries to deal a solution, with immigration society focuses on the solution and then tries to deal with the problem.

Last Thursday I couldn't wait for the workday to end knowing that the NFL draft was going to be on that night.

Most NFL fans have been anticipating this day since the post-game Super Bowl press conferences.  We've seen thousands of mock drafts, multiple combine viewings, and more than enough bitch fighting between McShay and Kiper to have us overly ready for every possible outcome of each round.

7:00pm came quick.

I had a major dilemma as two of my favorite teams, the Cavs and the Pens, both had a playoff game that began at this time, plus the draft was going to begin in thirty minutes.  To makes things even more complicated I came up with the genius idea that I was going to live blog about all three events, thinking that it would be easy to flip through three games, while also continually updating my web page.

The live blogging lasted a solid thirty five minutes.  I put down the keyboard and grabbed the remote; totally focusing all my attention on the television.  Cleveland looked horrible from the start and the Pens were losing 2-1 after the first period.  The only thing that I had positive going for me was seeing Jimmy Clausen fall down the draft and getting to witness Mel Kiper Jr. repeatedly try to defend Jimmy Clausen as #4 on his big board.

As the draft continued on I seemed to like it less and less.  A major reason for my distaste was ESPN's coverage.  We definitely don't need a five man team to discuss every single pick and have everyone talk over everyone else.  The worst part of the coverage is that we never get to see the commissioner actually state the pick.  It was so annoying to be sitting there waiting and the next pick's clock was started and we still didn't know the previous pick.

The Cavs game became competitive again.

I'm feverishly flipping channels between the three programs and the fourth quarter was coming to a close with Cleveland making a last ditch effort.  They cut it down to one with four seconds left.  After one made and one missed free throw, Anthony Parker had an identical looking half court heave as Gordon Heyward did in the NCAA title game that missed.  A very disappointing ending, but one event off my slate.

I go back to the draft and witness the remaining picks.  I can't remember if the Tebow pick was before or after the Cavs/Bulls conclusion, but that caused an uproar throughout the set. The first round of the draft commenced and there was no Jimmy Clausen pick.  No Colt McCoy, no Sergio Kindle, no Arrelious Benn or Taylor Mays; I was eager to see where all these potential first rounders would fall.

I then remembered that we only got to witness a single round.  I now transitioned over to the Pens game already disappointed that I only got to see 32 picks and then I had to endure another disheartening loss in triple OT.  Maybe it just wasn't my night.

Maybe it was the combination of the Cavs and Pens both losing that made me hate the Thursday prime time single round spectacle, but I was not a fan of it.  I'm used to waking up on Saturday morning and getting some unneeded draft coverage in before the real thing begins and then getting to witness the first few rounds.  I don't want to have to partition off three separate blocks of time on three separate days to watch all of the draft.

I was fine with the old way.  I guess the new format brought more viewers, but were there really millions of more people watching rounds 2-7 then the amounts that normally watch it.  I just can't see tons of people wanting to skip out on their Friday night to sit at home and watch rounds two and three.

Give me the draft how we had it.  With the NHL and NBA playoffs going on we already have enough great sporting events going on that I don't want to miss.  I want to see the first three rounds together; I don't really care if teams have a full day to trade picks and strategize.  Did we really get that much more excitement out of it?

For people who typically don't watch the draft then you were probably entertained by the event, but for the diehards who normally watch rounds 1 through 7 like me, then we'll watch it any day of the week at any time of the day.  I'd just rather see it less disconnected.

So sorry Roger Goodell, for once I'm not impressed by one of your new ideas to try and improve the NFL.  What's next? Each round of the draft on a single day of the week or changing Super Bowl Sunday to Super Bowl Saturday?

Oh wait, Super Bowl Saturday would actually be the greatest idea.