from Mark Whicker of the LA Daily News,

This will not involve Golf Channel broadcasters or Golf Channel style: “Couture is looking closely at this 20-foot wrister … I don’t think it’s going to do too much until it gets to the net, where it might break a little right …”...

David Duval will not say that the Sharks’ 8-1 win on Monday night was just a matter of a bounce or two and that the media, as usual, are being too negative.

No, it’s because NBC owns the Golf Channel and, in order to get all the games televised, it needs the platform.

However, some theorize that the network is perversely punishing NHL commissioner Gary Bettman for depriving the network of real Olympic hockey.

In any event, the Ducks are one game away from fairways and greens. They looked range-ready on Monday. They are on the verge of their most wretched playoff performance in their history.

They have not been swept since Detroit in 1999. That was pre-salary cap, and a spending mismatch between Mike Illitch and Disney. The Ducks had done well to even make the playoffs. This is alarmingly different. The Ducks finished ahead of San Jose in the standings. They have crudely validated General Manager Bob Murray’s belief that playoff slotting means nothing. They have scored three goals in three games, two by Hampus Lindholm and Rakell on two of the very few passes that have been directed to the heart of the stick and not the skates.

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