It's Just a Flesh Wound!!!!

Years ago in a Playboy interview, Bob Costas was asked what he hated to hear when he was watching a sports broadcast. I'll paraphrase his answer, because I don't feel like going into the basement, digging through boxes to find the issue and then using nail polish remover to unstick the pages. C'mon, lots of straight guys paint their nails while they masturbate. But I digress.
Costas's answer was that he hated hearing,-after an obviously serious on-field injury or off-field death of a player "This really puts it all in perspective."

He explained that the reason it bothered him was "what happened to the perspective we were supposed to have gained last time something like this occurred ?"

I've been bemoaning the Red Wings injury woes this season. A team that was already full of new faces skating on the top lines or defensive pairings and they haven't had a chance to jell, because someone is always in street clothes. Here's a partial list:
-Helm, shoulder
-Abdelkader, head
-Nyquist, groin
-Franzen, concussion
-Zetterberg, back,
-Dekeyser, shoulder
-Weiss, groin
-Howard, knee
-Datsyuk, concussion (though he was back to his old Bolshoi Ballet meets Skate Du Soleil self tonight).
Yes, injuries are part of the game, but the Wings have been hit hard this season in a year of personnel and geographic transition. And I might have bitched about it, though my friends find it hard to picture me as anything less than the epitome of emotional stability.

Anyway, I'm whining like David Lee Roth after he found a brown M&M stuck to the ass of his hooker when I catch this little tidbit off the NHL injury wire:
MINNESOTA WILD:

Josh Harding	IR	Dec 18
Comment: Harding was placed on injured reserve Wednesday due to a new change in the treatment protocol for his multiple sclerosis.

Josh Harding is the starting goaltender for the Minnesota Wild. He's 18-5-3, with a 1.51 goals against average. If you're not a hockey fan, first of all, unless you're from Turks and Caicos you're not forgiven, and second of all, that means he's having a season that is on par with some of the finest in history. That's far less than two goals a game on a team with one marquee defenseman, Ryan Suter and he's not even a classic stay-at-home guy.
And speaking of "stay at home", Harding is doing this in a league that is making him travel all over the continent, which while not being the cross country train rides full of influenza  they once were, still takes a physical toll on even the most finely conditioned athletes.
Harding already won the Masterton Trophy for perseverance and dedication to the game of hockey.
This year I hope he fucking wins the Vezina.