Drop the puck

MORTON GROVE, Ill. -- You knew the boycott would not last long.

I know ... I swore up and down on a stack that when the NHL came back after the lockout, they would do so without me.

So what am I doing? Sitting in a new newsroom, a 13-inch television on my right hooked up to DirectTV with the Penguins-Devils game on.

If I am bored with watching the Sid & Marty Show, I can move on to the Red Wings-Blues game -- just in time for Pavel Datsyuk to light the lamp for the first time this season.

'Canes-Bolts. Caps-Jackets. Isles-Sabres. And anyone who knows me understand I will be watching the Edmontons, Vancouvers and Calgarys of the hockey world with much interest.

They're all back.

Yes, the 301-day lockout angered me, infuriated me because it took away one of the few things I actually care about.

But having it back, well, you know what they say ... bygones will be bygones. And it's a fairly safe bet that I will be going to games around the country -- San Jose almost certainly, maybe Denver and Edmonton as well. Living in Chicago now, there is almost no way I could say no to Detroit and St. Louis, too.

Welcome back, Hockey. Don't do this again.