Like James Neal at the 4 minute mark of this post-game coverage.

Top to bottom, fade from brown to orange to yellow.

The second best part, right after his face, is how much James hates doing this interview. He doesn’t get sassy, drones through cliches like I nap through episodes of Boardwalk Empire and says nothing. Repeatedly.

He’s basically ombre.

It’s almost as if he’s testing to see if they’ll keep asking questions we’ll keep watching.

Please. I paused it to make popcorn and come back.

Damn, he was trying to start a new trend.

The Pens’ only counter to this rakish hair-times-gingerbeard-equals-destruction is to mess with Neal’s car on their recent trip to Nashville. [In the Ropm: S4, E2]

Don’t leave Flower, Letang and Geno unsupervised.

It’s funny, of course, but we all know you tease the one you like the most.

The Preds have a new episode of Beneath the Ice up, in which James was apparently learning to cook.  Rich Clune, humanitarian.  Before Clune’s waivers/AHL assignment, hopefully James learned a few survival skills – like that Lamborghini is ridiculous and I will always make fun of it. (Correction from Alison: It’s a Ferrari. Apparently I never recovered from Mike Green’s white Lambo and confused the sleeve-tattooed, bearded drivers and their white chariots of overcompensation.)

My car has no backseat! Wait a minute…

In the next episode, James gets the A.  From Peter Laviolette.  Maybe we should have seen it coming?  Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy hated each other basically right up until it started raining.

Pants, that is so 2012.

James is leading Nashville with 9 G, and tied for second with 14 points.  The Preds are second in their division, one point behind St. Louis, and third overall in the West.  They play tonight in Toronto, where you know all the Ontario boys love to show off in front of their family and friends.

Even Puck Daddy has a piece about Neal & Clune today – “James Neal in Nashville: Happy, dumb and dumber.”  In a good way, of course.  Remember “Dumb and Dumber” once referred to Neal and Malkin, but this is a different level.

And this gem of an outtake from yesterday’s post: Beneath the Ice.

Clune was drafted in the third round in 2005 (71st overall), but didn’t make his NHL debut until 2009-’10, when he played just 14 games for the Kings.  He wouldn’t see NHL ice again until 2012, after he was waived by the Kings post-lockout and picked up by the Predators.

During that time, and for a long time leading up to it, Clune battled alcoholism.  He spoke about it with ESPN in March 2013.  Reading the story, Rich sounds like a much older guy telling the story of a troubled youth.  Perhaps that life-change is why he’s still in the League today.

It could also be why he’s so open.  His secrets are out, he’s a 4th line guy, what are people going to say about him?  He wants, both desperately and to the point of comedy, to stay and play.  In July, Rich published a 30-minute online radio program about his recovery.  He called it the “debut show,” but so far it’s the only one.  Over the summer, Clune spoke to Puck Daddy about being a reluctant role model.

For a guy with such a serious side, Clune certainly rebounds with energy.  When James Neal was traded to Nashville, he moved in with Clune – they were drafted the same year, by the same team.  The budding bromance puts a lot of pressure on the Preds web content folks to deliver! (Cliff notes: Dude Perfect.)

Rich uses social media the way it should be used: often, if you’re funny.  Contract negotiations?  He has a few ideas.

Soccer?  No thanks.

Don’t let the arms distract you from this outfit, a color and pattern combination worthy of Mr. Pants and thus my heart.

Rich plays the guitar (shirtless, of course), hosts taco night because he probably read online Neal can’t feed himself and did the ice bucket challenge in possibly the #2 outfit of all time (behind Toews’ Spanx).  He has a lot of tattoos, since some of you are into that, and almost as many pictures of his feet in Summer Skates flip-flops.

Clune’s NHL career includes 120 games, 11 points and 305 PIMs.  He has 32 regular season fights in just three regular seasons.

We love a good redemption story, and Rich Clune has survived with style and humor. He’s proven he can take care of himself – we appreciate him looking out for Nealer too. As for the Predators, atop their division and with a host of Foxy Fridays on their roster, well they are taking care of business.

Follow Rich on the webs: @richcluneshow, instagram.com/richcluneshow 

(PS: Sorry I still can’t center photos!)

So naturally, it was time James Neal did the challenge.  He’s a proud member of Team Tank Top – or, if you shop at Old Navy, Team “Tami” because that thing is so long I can’t tell where the shirt ends and his shorts start.

(I can’t help noticing this dock was dry when Melanie did the challenge.  Which probably means James made her go first. )

How does one dress to match a sleeve tattoo?  The answer: you don’t.  Of course James is wearing a hat – you knew he wasn’t going to give us anything that good.  And it’s not like any of his teammates went shirtless… oh wait.  James plays for the Predators now.

Rich Clune Ice Bucket Challenge

I always wondered what “apple bottom jeans” meant.

Neal’s going to have to stop up his game if he wants to get noticed in Nashville.  At least he doesn’t have to compete with soccer players:

(Thanks to Alison, our top futbol correspondent.)

PK Subban went for the hockey version of this look: jockstrap over the shorts.  The NHL’s Best Dressed Man strikes again.  It seems unfair that he, in turn, nominated the Worst Dressed: Phil Kessel.  We can only hope Phil has spent his summer reading our blog posts about John Tavares’ pants.

Meanwhile, Gary Roberts wants all these pretty boys to know he could kick their asses, make a kale smoothie, check his email and DVR American Ninja Warrior before they even got up off the floor.

I feel like Robs can see the bacon, egg & cheese I’m eating right now.  Bye internet.