Greetings from the sports desk located somewhere below decks of the Good Pirate Ship RedState. Sammy the Shark and Karl the Kraken are eagerly awaiting their fresh new threads in which to be nattily attired and are happy to announce that you, too, can now dress to impress and show the world who’s boss! Seriously, pick up some RedState swag at the new Townhall online store. You won’t regret it.

Hope they will soon add a fish cracker-proof couch cover to the available products.

Anyway, much to the satisfaction of these two, the NHL season is underway. Both Sammy the Shark and Karl the Kraken are singing the blues after the St. Louis Blues spoiled their respective home and season openers, with the Blues coming back from a 2-0 deficit in Seattle on October 8 to top the Kraken 3-2. Next, on October 10, St. Louis roared back from a 4-1 deficit in San José to score three unanswered goals in the third period, the final one with less than a minute left in the contest, and capped the evening with an overtime winner to top the Sharks 5-4. There was at least one bright spot for Los Tiburones, as #1 draft pick Macklin Celebrini notched a goal on his first shot in a regular season game and later added an assist. As a lifetime Sharks fan, I can safely testify they pretty much always lose their home opener. So, while I have no great impetus to start saving for playoff tickets just yet, I’m not worried about this season being a carbon copy of the past five miserable seasons.

Quick note on the Kraken. No, your eyes are not deceiving you; they have an assistant coach behind the bench who’s different than that to which one has grown accustomed.

Elsewhere in the NHL world, while the headline of this post may be a bit inaccurate in that the Great Salt Lake in Utah has not actually frozen over, it does now have an area set aside for Sammy and Karl to visit whenever their respective favorite teams are in town. The Arizona Coyotes, plagued by atrocious ownership and clueless local politico blundered (as an A’s fan, I can relate), have migrated north to Utah. In the bitter irony department, the Delta Center where the as-yet-unnamed team now plays — for this season, it is going under the stirring monicker Utah Hockey Club, even though it’s a poorly kept secret that its name will be the Yetis once the legal naming rights paperwork’s ink dries — has the exact same problem the Coyotes faced when they first moved to Phoenix. Namely, cohabitation with an NBA franchise in an arena designed for basketball, thus producing such marvelous sight lines for hockey that you can’t see the goal nearest to you at that end of the arena. Unlike the Coyotes, the soon-to-be Yetis’ ownership would rather fix this by renovating the existing arena than building a new one, and are working on it. Plus, ownership is trying a new tack that’s so crazy it just might work. Namely, affordable concessions!

What will they think of next?

Brief look at baseball. In the National League, the Padres and Dodgers rumble (hopefully not literally, but I wouldn’t bet against it) in Los Angeles tonight, namely October 11, to see who gets to take on those thus-far Amazin’ Mets for the pennant. Meanwhile, the Indians Guardians and Tigers have a winner-takes-all bout in Cleveland on October 12 to see if either can stop the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. Given that New York dispensed with a talented Kansas City club in four games without so much as one home run or RBI from Aaron Judge or Juan Soto … eek.

Last but certainly not least, college football. Remember October 5, when we looked at the schedule with a collective yawn, thinking there’d be no drama? Oops. October 12 promises there will be possibly even more drama. Unsurprisingly, the Big Ten and the SEC are providing the scenarios. We start with the #3 Oregon Ducks nesting at home while waiting for a tilt with the #2 Ohio State Buckeyes.

How high-rolling is this game? Some numbers for you. Ohio State’s defense has given up 34 points total in five games. Oregon’s offense has scored 34 or more points in four straight games. The Buckeyes’ offense has scored no fewer than 35 points in each of its five games. The Ducks’ defense has given up no more than 14 points in four of its five games, the outlier being 34 scored against it by an excellent Boise State squad. Both teams want to make a statement that, at the bare minimum, they belong in the playoffs and preferably enter into them as the #1 seed. Strength on strength. This will be fun.

Elsewhere, #1 Texas and #18 Oklahoma review the Red River Rivalry, this being the first time as SEC teams. The stats say the Longhorns should win comfortably, if not with ease. However, when have stats mattered in an interstate blood feud matchup? Texas will likely start quarterback Quinn Ewers as he returns from an abdominal injury that has sidelined him for the past two-and-a-half games. Understandable, given that last year, he led the Longhorns to a 49-0 romp over the Sooners. However, should he not prove up to the task, Texas can roll out Arch Manning. What a nice problem for Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian to have. The other game between ranked teams keeps it goin’ southern style, as we find the #9 Ole Miss Rebels calling Baton Rouge to take on the #13 LSU Tigers.

Enjoy the weekend, everyone.

Editor's Note: This article was updated post-publication to note that the Ducks play at home this weekend.