Brief Roundup

1. JD's getting inducted into the Hall of Fame, winning the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award (the one Doc Emrick got last year). This is great. Though near the end of his broadcast career, JD got a little excuse-the-NHL happy, overall he was a Ranger icon, both in goal and in the booth, and I'm pleased to see him in the hall, where he no doubt belongs. Oh, Baby! Also, Leetch is officially eligible now. So watch as that story develops.

2. Sports Illustrated ranked the 5 best and 5 worst owners in each major sport. While Dolan managed to miss the NHL list (thanks, Chuck Wang), he made it to second worst on the NBA list, in a passage that we do not escape: "Subterfuging two of the most storied franchises in pro sports at once takes hard work, but Dolan has managed both. The business tycoon took a controlling stake in Cablevision in 1999, and immediately both of his marquee sports properties -- the Knicks and the NHL's Rangers -- tailspun into the most futile eras of their respective histories." Oof. Can not disagree.

3. Speaking of tail spins, is anybody still watching hockey? Pro tip: Canadians aren't. And is it any wonder, given the kind of tail spin Bettman's "model franchise" went through Saturday night? Talk about a complete breakdown, the kind that can only scream "but this was supposed to be us!!" And it wasn't even led by Crosbaby. Hell, it was barely Sid at all. But super-wow did Malkin ever get the "you're special, the rules don't apply to you" message Campbell handed down. And super-wow, was he ever not the only one. Forget Detroit, or even general NHL, reactions - let's go straight to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "It almost seems comical now that some of the Penguins believed the Red Wings were in a state of disarray in Game 4...Shamefully, the Penguins lost their cool to the point that they took 12 penalties, including three by Evgeni Malkin and 10-minute misconducts by Craig Adams, Max Talbot and Matt Cooke. For a minute there, I thought I was watching the cheap-shot Philadelphia Flyers...I wonder what Bylsma would have said if a Detroit player had slashed, say, Sidney Crosby the way Talbot slashed Detroit star Pavel Datsyuk at the end of the second period." Yeah, exactly. Shameful. And speaking of shameful, NBC cut to Bettman's face in the third. Man, I wish I had found a picture of it online, but you'll have to settle for the Red Wings forums talking about it. Suffice it to say that no one is questioning that he's biased. Oh, and does he wanna tell me he's pouting because the kind of goonery he saw was ruining his sport? You chose this, Gary! This is the team you appointed to be the face of your franchise! YOU picked these guys! Next time, let the sport speak for itself, you hockey-ruining dipshit! YOU MADE CANADA STOP WATCHING HOCKEY! FUCK YOU!

Well, I...don't feel better. How about you?