Steel City Shenanigans?

Many images of this man and statements regarding his club have filled our sports pages and Web sites for the last two and-a-half months. And that's being generous. Of course, we don't want to drag anyone through the mud; we all love the guy not known as Super Luigi. What's not to love?

We're just a little leary of the manner in which his beloved franchise took the citizens of Kansas City, Seattle, and Las Vegas (just to name a few) on a soap-operaish roller coaster ride for the better part of this past winter. But it now appears to be all over. The Pens, currently in second place in the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division, are staying in Pittsburgh. Trust me when I say that your esteemed HoG writers couldn't be happier. And by happier, I mean baffled.

Pennsylvania government officials have acted like flippin' crackheads throughout the non-development of this ordeal, ultimately giving Mario and company the finger more times than Janet Jackson didn't blame Justin Timberlake for her Super Bowl tittie exposure. You would think #66 would've taken the hint after the city of Pittsburgh constructed new digs for both the Pirates and the Steelers and told the second-greatest player of all time to take a nap in Janet's brother's bed. Ah, sweet persistence.

But, hey. To Lemieux's credit, he took one for the team (he kinda had to since they still owe him more loot than a Dr. Evil ransom demand and they can't afford to pay him), and then another, and another, and still, another. Alas, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the rest of this stacked roster see the day on their calendar when they will unlace in antiquated Mellon Arena for the last time and skate onto brand spankin' new ice. It'll cost the beloved tax payers of the steel city but what new arena doesn't these days?

Oh. Right. The under-construction Kansas City Sprint Center. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, along with Lemieux and a handful of other NHL figures, stated early on that they wanted the Pens to stay in Pittsburgh. They got their wish. Finally. Mario and crew passed up on Anschutz Entertainment Group's free-rent/share-of-the-proceeds deal and used interested cities as leverage for getting a deal for a new arena inked.

No one in the hockey world wanted the Pens to leave Pittsburgh. It sure would've been nice, however, if the Pennsylvania government wouldn't have acted like post-partum bitches and dragged this thing out longer than a Muhammed Ali speech. No fear. NHL conferences and divisions won't have to think about re-shuffling. At least not until next year when the Nashville Predators find themselves in the same boat and treat interested cities like strippers do their clientele. Game on.