I’ve covered every Winter Classic and I have to say the buildup for HBO’s 24/7 preview last night was huge. Everybody wanted to watch the 12-minute trailer. Here is a sample of that here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAl66_f40RA

The Flyers and Rangers have a storied rivalry. When I was growing up I looked forward to those games. The players looked forward to those games too, now add a camera, two passionate fan bases and you have what I believe the makings of the greatest Winter Classic matchup to date.

“I joked around with my buddies over the summer that I have to change my personality drastically to make the show,” said Flyers defenseman Matt Carle. “It’s not like the playoffs where you are really trying to “conceal” things. Any game in the season is important and this obviously a huge game because there are so many eyes on you.”

The Rangers are used to having a large media contingent but not like this. With this show you are literally letting millions of people into the locker room.

“To see the finished product last year and see what a great job they did. We’re not worried about it at all. It was pretty cool...let’s do it again. If it were a bad product then you would have been worried about it,” said Rangers forward Brad Richards. “We’re all on board.”

A lot of the players stoked the fire in this preview and HBO and the NHL have to be thrilled about will come down the pike. I will try and keep readers informed about everything going on behind the scenes.

Here is a schedule of the show for the upcoming season:
http://www.sportsology.info/HBO-247-Television-Schedule

And here are the rosters announced for the Alumni game:
http://www.sportsology.info/node/15831

Media members all poured over the alumni rosters yesterday. Players care as well. James van Riemsdyk grew up a Ranger fan and now he plays for the Flyers so he can’t wait for this game as long as his schedule allows him to watch it.

“I plan on taking in as much as the whole event as I can,” JVR said.

photo by del Tufo.