Never Thought We'd Find Common Ground With Some Flightless Birds: Habs - Pens Preview and Open Thread

(Forgive me for re-hashing this, but a) I've been out of town for a week and b) it's really all I can think about anymore when I think about hockey...)

So it's really tough to get pumped up for afternoon games, like, ever, for me. And, to be honest, the cloud to which HF29 referred yesterday is still hanging over my head.  As I said to GG when we were discussing what kind of picture to put with today's preview, my heart just ain't in it right now.*

I don't know how I feel about the NHL anymore. I won't go so far as to abandon my tickets (although, I can't bring myself to sign my playoff renewal right now... even though the deadline is this Wednesday).  I love this team, but I am really starting to loathe the league in which my team plays.  The fact that Fuckface Bettman will continue to destroy the game I love for another five years fills me with so much loathing, it's hard to put it into words.  Are we condemned to watch the game continue to die right before our eyes until there's nothing left?

The problem is that I feel kind of powerless to do anything.  Not showing up to the games would be an exercise in futility. Wearing a paper bag on my head to the next game I attend? Won't send a message if only a handful of people do it.  The fans have no real power and it's clear that Fuckface Bettman doesn't give a shit if he loses major Canadian sponsors because, oh that's right, the real money is in fucking Arizona.

The one group that isn't powerless in this situation?  The players. The Habs and the Penguins are the teams who (along with the Blues, especially given the latest news about David Perron) have been among the hardest hit by the NHL's Caveman attitude and jocular attitude towards violence in this sport we all love.

Hey there, boys.  Your Association won't protect you worth shit.   So here's an idea: Protect each other.

If I see any dirty crap during today's game, I may lose my mind.  They know the danger that exists out there on the ice.  It's time they fucking started to act like it. Starting today at 2:00 (on RDS and CBC - but avoid the CBC if you can 'cause you know Don Cherry is going to call us all a bunch of pussies).

To quote the great Ken Dryden in his SUPERB piece in the Globe and Mail: "The voices of the future will not be kind to us about how we understood and dealt with head injuries in sports. They will ask: How is it possible we didn't know, or chose not to know?"

The end of stupidity needs to begin with the players.  Otherwise, they can talk a good game about being horrified and outraged about the current situation, but it's only going to be lip service.  And my very real outrage, horror and disgust will continue to grow.

UPDATE: Go read this article RIGHT NOW by Andrew Cohen of the Atlantic (yes, it's still about PatCHes and the fallout from the hit).  Many thanks to HI/O for posting the link to this brilliant analysis. The only way Fuckface Bettman will actually get a clue is if we continue this relentless chorus to help save the sport we love.

Comments? Thoughts? Sick of talking about this, already? Unable to think of anything else? Let's hear about it in the comments...

*(This is made worse by the fact that I still set my alarm in spite of my hangover/lack of sleep from my night of scotch-filled debauchery in which I only crawled into bed at 4:00 am, but I digress...)