NHL Winter Classic 2012: Odd Start Time Cripples NHL's Chance to Shine

What is the NHL thinking?

Why in the world do they want to have their premier game of the year at 3:00 p.m. EST on a Monday?

That's the case with this year's Winter Classic at Citizen Bank Park between the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers.

The hype machine that is HBO's 24/7 series has gotten thousands of non-NHL fans excited for the unique outdoor event that is played once a year. Too bad they'll all be at work during the game. The original start time of 1:00 p.m. was pushed back due to the weather conditions expected for today.

I understand that they can't play the game on an NFL Sunday, but why does it have to go up against three college football bowl games including the ultra popular Rose Bowl?

The game typically is played on New Year's Day, but since it fell on a Sunday, the NHL didn't want to mess with the NFL (which is smart), but why not push it back to next weekend?

While January 2 is a recognized work holiday, there will still be a good number of Americans that will have to work. I highly doubt they'll be able to skip work for this holiday. 

Why not push it back to next Saturday before the NFL playoffs begin? Why not be the only main event for sports fans to watch? Is it really going to kill the tradition of a game that's only been played a handful of times ever?

In this day and age sports fans are drawn to certain events based on the number of tweets on their timeline mentioning it. Today your Twitter timeline is going to be flooded with information about the Capital One Bowl and the Rose Bowl.

The NHL is once again lost in the shuffle and it's just another example of why the league is a distant fourth in popularity in America. When you can't capitalize on your biggest event of the year, there is a serious problem and the league needs to reevaluate why they play this special event in the first place.

So unless you have Monday's off, DVR is the only way to catch the most memorable moment of the NHL's regular season.

Something is seriously wrong with that.