One of the really strange things that's started happening lately due to this blog is an incredible interest from P.R. and marketing firms in what gets posted here. I'm getting offers, every week, to write about hockey books, videos, tickets, events, MP3 players, etc., just for having this site.

Last week, a company called Nike Communications in New York mailed me four eight ounce bottles of cherry juice in a great big cardboard box.

It's called CherryPharm, and apparently it's caught on in the hockey world.

The press release says: "The New York Rangers were the first professional athletes to start drinking a new tart cherry juice as part of their daily training regimen. Thanks to a growing body of literature providing indirect evidence on the beneficial effects of cherries for various inflammatory conditions, the team's medical staff hoped that it could help with the rigors of the NHL season — and they have been pleased with the results."

Jim Ramsay, the head trainer for the Rangers, has a good P.R. quote in there, too: "The New York Rangers have integrated the proven benefits of CherryPharm's all-natural juice into the lives of our players — we feel less sore, sleep better and recover faster."

I heard that Wolverine drinks it, too.

The "Trainer's Tip of the Week" feature ran only once on the Rangers' website, and it, too, espoused the benefits of the magic juice.

I'm not much of a food critic, so here's the good and the bad:

The Good: It's pretty tasty and definitely healthy. I imagine it is actually probably one of the best things out there to drink in terms of good-for-you-ness.

The Bad: As you can imagine, this stuff is expensive. Unless they're airmailing it to you to write about on your blog, the $11 a litre price tag is likely to throw you off. The eight ounce bottles I was sent are selling for roughly $2.50 apiece on their website.

The Verdict: Welch's grape juice is terrific for you at a quarter of the price and, unlike a lot of juices out there, has zero added sugar. I drink it everyday.

Then again, I'm not 10-3-1.