But the truth is, growing up in California, we knew nothing about hockey.

Then I went to UCLA - so of course I became a huge Bruin basketball fan... and later came to football.

Now some alien force seems to have come and captured the Dodgers. I don't know what happened to my Dodgers.

It is soooooo necessary to get the basic skills, because by the time you graduate, undergraduate or graduate, that field would have totally changed from your first day of school.

I love the values football can teach. It gives young people a sense of how to defer present gratification for future success, it teaches self-discipline, it teaches teamwork, it gives them a bonding experience that can be hard to find somewhere else, it teaches the ability to process large amounts of information and apply it in real time.

Whatever fighting words you hear from the bargaining table, the reality is that with the new TV contract about to take effect and the incredibly lucrative ancillary revenue streams, both sides know we are on the verge of ushering in the most lucrative payday in the history of professional sports. The history of professional football is that nothing happens until the very last moment.

But the truth is, growing up in California, we knew nothing about hockey.