So Brilliant, I Wish I'd Thought of It

This might sound crazy, but hear me out. I think Gary Bettman's very quietly planning one of the most fiendishly clever marketing ploys in the history of professional sports. He, like all adult males in the Northern Hemisphere, understands that regular season NHL hockey is only slightly more interesting than watching a 'Murder She Wrote' marathon on the Oxygen network. He also understands that playoff NHL hockey, and more specifically overtime playoff hockey, is one of the most thrilling spectator events known to man.

So, be not surprised when Bettman announces (at halftime of the Kobe/Shaq Xmas afternoon tilt - I cannot believe T.J. hasn't mentioned this yet) that the NHL will in fact return this season, only in the form of a 16-team, overtime-only, best-of-7 tournament. Everybody wins - the league, because they get to market the only good thing they've got going; the players, because they get to stop shaving again for a few weeks; the fans, because, well, because it's overtime playoff hockey, dammit; and Gary Thorne, Bill Clement, Barry Melrose, and the Moose Jaw Mullet Factory because they get to be gainfully employed for at least a few weeks.

Genius, I'm telling you. Now if I could only get those morons at the BCS to return my calls.