(Getty)

The first ever all-German Champions League final is upon us and that means it's time for the third annuel DT Champions League final viewing companion. Wembley will host the match and though excitement in London has been dampened by the fact that all the English clubs in contention were eliminated long ago, the visiting Germans bring all the passion and leather pants necessary for a memorable game.

Of course, since Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich both play in the same domestic league, this is far from the first time they've met this season. Dominant Bayern won the Bundesliga with astounding ease, finishing 25 points ahead of second-place Dortmund in the table. But head to head, they've been much closer, with each of their league matches ending 1-1 — including their most recent earlier this month, which included Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp and Bayern sporting director Matthias Sammer going nose to nose (or, more accurately, chin to nose). Bayern did, however, beat Dortmund 1-0 in the DFB Pokal quarterfinals and 2-1 in the German Super Cup match way back in August.

Anyway, you can find serious business previews and primers for this match pretty much everywhere else online and in print. So here we'll do it the Dirty Tackle way.

GettyThe Chicago Blackhawks’ history-making season is slipping into the same abyss that swallowed up other Presidents Trophy winners who couldn’t fulfill the promise of their regular-season success.

The Detroit Red Wings won Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals, 2-0, to take a 3-1 lead and push the Hawks to an elimination game back in Chicago on Saturday.

The unraveling of the Blackhawks continued in Game 4.

(Getty)

Throughout the week you can send us your best questions, jokes, rants and just plain miscellaneous thoughts to happyhourmailbag@yahoo.com or @NickBromberg. We'll post them here, have a good time and everyone's happy. Right? Oh who are we kidding, this is NASCAR. No one is ever happy.

Saturday's All-Star race was the most popular (non-NRA division) topic in my email inbox this week. Let's start with the format suggestions first.

After last night's snoozefest of an All Star Race, I decided to try and fix it with a new format. I know the race is suppose to be no points, no pressure, just pure fun but why not make each segment be worth a few points. It would put an emphasis on winning a race during the calendar year to be automatically locked into the event and it would make the showdown even more important to get one of those top two spots.

Showdown- Top 2 Advance. No Fan Vote
All Star Race:
- Segments 1-4 would be 20 laps long with 2 bonus points awarded to the winner.
- Average finish

Boston Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask was humming along in the second period toward what was looking like his first shutout of the playoffs during Game 4 against the New York Rangers. But just 58 seconds after Torey Krug gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead, Rask tripped over himself after a Carl Hagelin shot was blocked by Johnny Boychuk's stick. The rest is for the blooper reel:

That must have been some lonely feeling for Rask as he watched that puck glide by him in the crease and into the net.

Afteward, Rask explained: "I just took a step to the side in what I think probably was a skate mark or something. My skate dug in, that's what it felt like. I lost my balance and the rest is history.

"It happens to me twice a year in practice, maybe. [I've] got to me more focused, I think. Just a tough mistake, it looks pretty bad on TV, I guess."

The final 11:21 of the second period went uneventful for Rask, despite the goal inspiring the Rangers' play a bit. With Rask being known as a guy with a bit of a temper, it was nice to see nothing was harmed in the aftermath of that blunder. Though, with the Rangers coming out on top 4-3 in overtime thanks to a Chris Kreider goal, we don't know what kind of damage was done in the locker room.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

NBA coaching legend Phil Jackson is something of an authority on what it takes to win championships, but he typically hasn't weighed in on the more contentious basketball topics about which players are best or give their teams the best chance to win. In promoting his new book "Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success," Jackson has switched up his approach and made some stronger statements on these debates. For instance, he's directly compared Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant for the first time ever, adding to an argument that probably won't stop even after science allows us to pit their clones against each other in hand-to-hand combat.

However, that does not mean Jackson believes that Jordan is the best player ever to serve as the centerpiece of a championship team. In a new interview with Time.com, Jackson gives that edge to Boston Celtics great Bill Russell. As transcribed by Ben Golliver of The Point Forward:

Denny Hamlin will start first Sunday night. (Getty)

Denny Hamlin knocked Kurt Busch off the provisional pole and will lead the field to green in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

It was looking like it'd be Busch's third straight pole after he won the pole at Darlington and for the All-Star Race on Saturday, but Hamlin bested Busch and broke Busch's then-new track record with a lap of 195.624 MPH.

The 600 will be Hamlin's second points race since returning from a back injury that sidelined him for five races.

Hamlin's teammate Matt Kenseth starts third, Mark Martin is fourth and Clint Bowyer starts fifth, meaning that Toyotas have four of the top five spots. Kyle Busch, the driver of the other Joe Gibbs Racing car, was no slacker himself, qualifying eighth. .

Jimmie Johnson, winner of the All-Star Race, starts 12th. Mike Bliss was the only driver to fail to qualify.

Justin Veltung can go horizontal, but that's not his best thing. (AP)

The news release from the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday, announcing the signing of undrafted free agent receiver Justin Veltung, was about as vanilla as you're going to get:

The Seattle Seahawks have signed wide receiver Justin Veltung, the team announced today.

Veltung, from nearby Puyallup, played 43 career games at the University of Idaho and collected 62 receptions for 901 yards with eight touchdowns and returned 80 kickoffs for 1,743 yards with two touchdowns in his career. He left Idaho as its all-time kickoff return leader (78) and kickoff return yardage leader (1,743), and 11th on its all-time all-purpose yardage list with 2,972 yards.

Veltung attended Seattle's rookie minicamp on a tryout basis from May 10-12.

So ... yeah. That's not why Veltung made Shutdown Corner today. He made Shutdown Corner today because he can rock a 56-inch (4-foot-8) standing box jump at 5-foot-11. To put that in perspective, NBA draft prospect DJ Stephens recently got a lot of attention for a 46-inch vertical leap while working out for the Brooklyn Nets. Box jumps and verticals are different, but still ... wow.

You can view Veltung's super-jump below:

(@BiertempfelTrib)

Brandon Inge arrived in the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse on Thursday on roller blades, wearing a Mario Lemieux jersey, a hockey helmet and big, thick pads on his legs.

No, he didn't wake up with sports amnesia and think he was a hockey player. He decided to dress like one to support the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are currently playing in the NHL Playoffs and hope to, on Friday, close out a best-of-seven series with the Ottawa Senators. The Penguins — led on the ice these days by Sidney Crosby rather than Lemieux, who is the owner — are ahead of the Senators 3-1.

The Pirates beat the Cubs 4-2 on Thursday and had planned to wear Penguins jerseys when they traveled to Milwaukee after the game. Inge, apparently, wanted to take things a bit further.

He explained himself to USA Today: