Im an American baseball and football fan, and I love cricket.There are those around the world who believe that I dont exist, and I may be the only one - based on my attempts at outreach on social media sites - but I do in fact exist.At the moment, I am bingeing on the Caribbean Premier League. I can stream the entire league for a few bucks, and I have taken full advantage of the offer.A little background. I grew up in upstate New York, and my introduction to sports was the New York Mets of Tom Seaver, Jon Matlack, Jerry Koosman and Buddy Harrelson. My earliest sports memory was Buddy getting into a fight with Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds at second base during the 1973 National League Championship Series, which the Mets won in five games. My mom, dad and grandmother had all followed the Brooklyn Dodgers until the Dodgers unceremoniously decamped to California, and the excitement in my house around the Mets improbable run to the pennant in 73 hooked me onto baseball. I went on to play Little League, Babe Ruth League, high school baseball and American Legion baseball until I stopped being able to make contact with the increasingly blurry fastballs thrown at me, and stopped being able to track the hard-hit line drives in the outfield. I am still a Mets fan 40-something years later. I thrilled to the great 1986 World Series championship team when I was in college, and suffered through all the missed opportunities since, including last season.I am also a huge NFL fan, and the New England Patriots have always been my team. I sign up for NFL Sunday Ticket every season, so I can watch all 16 of the Patriots regular season games. The Patriots have rewarded my fan investment handsomely these days with four Super Bowl titles and two other appearances in the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era, albeit with plenty of controversy.My insatiable appetite for sports has taken my in many other directions. Tiger Woods run in the PGA was an obsession, and Im a big fan of Michelle Wie in the LPGA. I check in with the English Premier League on weekend mornings, and I follow the USAs mens and womens national teams in international soccer tournaments. Ive tried and failed to follow the NHL and the NBA, but Ill still watch a hockey or basketball game if theres nothing else on.I had never considered cricket as a sport to follow until I started watching The Thick Of It online, where the shenanigans in the British government often took a back seat to whatever Test match was on the radio; and then, especially, the podcast The Bugle with ESPNcricinfos own Andy Zaltzman. On one episode, Andy was paying more attention to the Ashes than he was to whatever John Oliver was saying. After I heard that, I needed to see what was so engrossing.My first Ashes was the 2010-11 edition in Australia. It took about three matches to understand the rules and generally what was happening, but somewhere during the Perth match I became enthralled. Australia had dropped the second match badly, after a first-match draw, but battled back and destroyed England out west using local knowledge of the surface. I was intrigued that the results could be so drastically different in different locations, and felt compelled to tune in to see if England would rebound to win the series or if Australia could find a way to sweep the final two matches. I spent the Christmas holiday watching the fourth and fifth tests. I was now a full-on cricket fan.Since 2010, Ive watched two World Cups, two World T20s, three more Ashes series, and countless other matches that were available on WatchESPN. Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkars Cricket All-Stars came to Houston - where I live - last November and, of course, I was travelling that week and had to miss it. Finally, though, Im going to see a professional game live.I bought tickets to the Trinbago Knight Riders v St Kitts & Nevis Patriots game in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and I will be attending right before my wife and I go on a cruise. Ive been watching every game I can of the CPL T20 season to familiarise myself with the teams and players. I am looking forward to the constant drumming, costumes, dancing, Caribbean food and drink, and hard hits that I am seeing in the games so far. About the only regret I will have is that I didnt get tickets to the Jamaica Tallawahs game to watch #UniverseBoss himself, Chris Gayle. I watched his methodical destruction of Trinbago this week, and my respect for his batting ability is right up there with my respect for Tom Bradys quarterbacking and Yoenis Céspedes all-around play.I hope to keep watching the tournament and then write about my experience at the Florida match. Stay tuned.Want to be featured on Inbox? 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Raul Jimenez Jersey .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre. ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Anaheim Ducks signed holdout Hampus Lindholm to a six-year, $31.5 million contract through the 2021-22 season on Thursday, ending a stalemate with their talented Swedish defenseman.The 22-year-old Lindholm scored 92 points in 236 games over the past three seasons, developing into one of the NHLs top young blueliners with a fluid two-way game. The Swede missed training camp and the first eight regular-season games this fall while holding out.Im really happy to be back in Anaheim, Lindholm said in a phone interview from Sweden. Thats where Ive been all my career. This is the only time when we had time to sign me, and we could still keep some players. It was kind of perfect that way to keep the team that we had last year.General manager Bob Murray echoed Lindholms excitement about the deal, which allows the Ducks to preserve the four-time Pacific Division champions core. A dominant regular-season team, Anaheim has won only three playoff rounds in the past four seasons, never advancing past the Western Conference finals.Hes part of the future of this franchise, and we did everything we could to get him signed at a fair price, Murray said. I wanted to give this group another shot, and Im going to do everything in my power to keep it that way.The Ducks payroll is stretched to the limit, but owners Henry and Susan Samueli agreed with Murray about Lindholms importance, stretching the Ducks payroll to accommodate another large contract.They had my back the whole time, Murray said of the Ducks owners.Lindholm agreed to slightly less than the six-year, $32.4 million deal signed by Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen earlier this month. Winnipegs Jacob Trouba is the NHLs only remaining restricted free agent without a deal, and he has asked for a trade.I was hoping to get this done in the summer, of course, but thats just how it is, Lindholm said. I cant do too much about that.Lindhholm has been working out daily at home with a Swedish Elite League team, along with extra work at home.dddddddddddd He expects to be ready to step into Anaheims lineup after he gets his visa, although that process could take up to two weeks.Forward Rickard Rakell, Lindholms teammate and fellow Swede, ended his own holdout by agreeing to a six-year, $22.8 million deal with Anaheim on Oct. 14, but he didnt practice with the Ducks until Wednesday.Ive been practicing hard, Lindholm said. Its going to be exciting to come back and play some real hockey again.The Ducks squeezed Lindholms deal under the salary cap by putting defenseman Simon Despres and center Nate Thompson on long-term injured reserve. Anaheim likely will have to make another move when either player returns from injury, but that might not happen for months.It was good this way, because now I can play and they didnt have to move anyone, Lindholm said. We still have the same team, which is really good because I think we have a real strong back end. We have the guys left from the core group, so its going to be an exciting year.Lindholm repeatedly mentioned the importance of getting a deal that would allow the Ducks to keep their core together. The Ducks were widely expected to afford Lindholm by trading another defenseman -- most likely Cam Fowler, the U.S. Olympian and a regular on Anaheims defense for six years.Fowler is the Ducks second-leading scorer this season with three goals and four assists in eight games. He is also leading the Ducks in ice time, averaging nearly 24 1/2 minutes per game.Lindholms average annual salary will be $5.25 million. He makes $3 million this year, $6 million in 2017-18, $6.75 million in 2018-19, $5.25 million in 2019-20, $3.75 million in 2020-21 and $6.75 million in 2021-22. ' ' '