Barry Melrose Retiring After Being Diagnosed With Parkinson's Disease Is So Fuckin Sad

ESPN - Former NHL coach and player Barry Melrose, who has been an Emmy Award-winning hockey analyst for ESPN since 1996, has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and is retiring, he announced Tuesday.

"I've had over 50 extraordinary years playing, coaching and analyzing the world's greatest game, hockey. It's now time to hang up my skates and focus on my health, my family, including my supportive wife Cindy, and whatever comes next," Melrose, 67, said in a statement.

"I'm beyond grateful for my hockey career, and to have called ESPN home for almost 30 years. Thanks for the incredible memories and I'll now be cheering for you from the stands."

Before joining ESPN in 1996, Melrose served as coach of the Wayne Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings, taking them to the Stanley Cup Final in the first of his three seasons. He stepped away from the network in 2008 to return to the bench, this time as coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning for 16 games.

But it was his career as a studio analyst with ESPN where his witty personality, flashy suits and recognizable goatee, slicked-back hair and mullet endeared him to hockey fans worldwide.

"He's bigger than any team," Gretzky said in a video tribute for ESPN. "For decades, he's been suiting up -- and I mean suiting up -- for the game, for the sport, for hockey. ... You see, hockey is more than a game, it's a community -- a finely tuned orchestra -- and Barry was our conductor.

"Barry has given so much to the game. And now he needs our support, and all of us in hockey are here for him."

This news dropped last night on the NHL's opening night and was as wet of a blanket as you can get. 

As Gretzky said in the piece he so eloquently narrated, in a sport where personalities are identified by their team perhaps more than any other, Melrose was bigger than any one team. He's transcended the sport by demonstrating not just his knowledge and love for it, but by constantly displaying what a kind, fun-loving, and light-hearted guy he is. He is impossible not to like. 

The guy lives for the NHL. 

When ESPN idiotically dropped its NHL deal/coverage after the 2004-2005 N.H.L. lockout Melrose was a cast away on a desert island- the sole only hockey personality the network kept employed. They would trot him out around playoff time with Steve Levy to show 30-second highlights from games and offer his take. Even that lobotomized attempt to give the NHL Playoffs coverage by the mothership made Melrose's day. You could tell he enjoyed the hell out of it and his personality became bigger than Sportscenter. He developed into a household name.

Which is why this news sucks extra hard.

Parkinson's is a cruel, degenerative disease that attacks the brain and steals people's joy. I watched one of my best friend's fathers suffer from it for a couple years before succumbing to it. The fact its forcing Melrose to step away from the one thing he loves so much, talking to fans on TV about the sport every night is so sad. The fact it comes right after ESPN secured NHL rights again, and has gone all in on its coverage with the ESPN+ plus deal, is just cruel. 

Here's wishing Melrose good luck in his fight. He has everybody pulling for him. Hang in there, Barry.

p.s. - as great as Gretzky's tribute to Melrose was, his close friend and co-pilot Steve Levy's was even better