The NHL is alone among professional sports in having a trade deadline that guarantees excitement and action. In the NFL, trades are rarely exciting, in the NBA they happen all the time and in baseball they are smaller in numbers and nature. Trade deadline day is something that actually gets marketed with success now.

With less than a week until the deadline, I figured I would go through some of the rumored names and look at what impact their absences would have on their teams. It's far too difficult right now to forecast which players might be traded to which team for what, but it is becoming increasingly obvious which players are likely packing their bags. This way you can have your finger on the button whenever a deal goes down. In competitive leagues, you may even want to pick up some of my suggestions ahead of time.

Broadcast crews get the chills for conference title games

Living in perhaps the best climate in the world, it's hard for people in Southern California to realize it actually is winter in other parts of the world.That fact should be dramatically driven home Sunday as the Chargers travel to Foxborough, Mass., for the AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots while the New York Giants visit northern Wisconsin to play the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game.Sunday's weather forecast in Foxborough calls for highs in the low 20s and lows in the single digits. There is only a 10 percent chance of snow, but the forecast calls for winds above 20 mph.And while the players will be uncomfortable, the announcers, cameramen and technicians who bring us the telecasts will be equally uncomfortable, perhaps even more so."Our crews are experienced in cold weather," said Lance Barrow, the game producer for CBS' coverage of Sunday's Chargers-Patriots game.

Carlson Hotels Worldwide Adds Six Properties to Its Global Portfolio ...

MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Carlson Hotels Worldwide today announced the addition of six locations to its global portfolio during January and early February of 2008. The new hotels include three Radisson properties and two Country Inn & Suites By Carlson(sm) hotels in the United States; and one Park Inn(R) hotel in the United Kingdom. Carlson's worldwide portfolio now totals 972 hotels with 147,396 rooms in 70 countries. Carlson hotel brands also include Regent Hotels & Resorts and Park Plaza(R) Hotels & Resorts.

"The momentum of growth for our brands is continuing at a strong pace in 2008," said Jay Witzel, president and CEO of Carlson Hotels Worldwide. "In addition to the six hotels we've added, we have more than 270 properties under various phases of development in major travel destinations worldwide.

Grandkid to the Gangster

Thirteen is a difficult age for anyone. But imagine if your beloved dad drops dead in your arms, leaving you at the mercy of your abusive mother. Then, a few months later, you learn from a phone conversation with your father's best friend that Dad was the son of Al Capone.

For two decades, the lifelong New Jersey resident wondered whether the tale of his lineage was true -- essentially that Capone had fathered Bill Knight with a woman other than his wife, then somehow hid his identity and had others bring him up.

ROAD WARRIOR: Can you tell roads need fixing?

Tuesday for widening work on the overpass, the Clark County Public Works Department announced. Motorists are encouraged to use an alternate route, for instance the Jones Boulevard interchange with the Beltway.

Motorists should expect Fourth Street, from Coolidge Avenue to the Fremont Street Experience, to be completely shut down from 9 a.m. to about 2 p.m. Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. parade, the Las Vegas Public Works Department announced.

Construction of an overpass over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks at Craig Road near Interstate 15 is under way. The Nevada Department of Transportation expects the $34 million project to be completed in 2009. Motorists should watch for lane reductions and work zones, especially after 9 p.m.
REVIEW-JOURNAL .

Cedar Creek Arena Means USHL Hockey Expansion

It's easy to steal a line from Field of Dreams. If you buld it, they will come. United States Hockey League President Gino Gasparini tells Newsline 9 Sports if the proposed 4,000 seat arena in Cedar Creek is built as planned, then the league would field a team in 2009. Gasparini: "This is a fan-based driven league. For it to be successful you got to have a good corporate base and good potential for a fan base. We think all of those things are located in that vicinity." In a phone interview, Gasparini tells Sports Director Bryon Graff it would be a start-up expansion team. The league looks for a combination of venue, fan and corporate support. And the Wausau area fits the bill. The USHL considers itself the number one developmental league in America. It produces players for the Division I college level and the NHL Draft.