Thursday, December 21, 2006

Lemieux takes team off the market

In a statement released today, Mario Lemieux said that:
  1. The team is not for sale any longer.
  2. The Pens will begin looking at other cities.
  3. As soon as they are able, they'll begin talking with Pittsburgh about a viable arena plan.
Here's what I'm taking away from this -
  • He didn't mention the words "Plan B", while using the word "viable". That says all you need to know about the Pens opinion of Plan B.
  • It's good that the team is off the market, though I've always thought that anything is for sale, given the right price.
  • I hope the officials around here don't think that the statement about negotiating with other cities is an idle threat. I fully believe that the Pens will move if it suits their needs. I think Lemieux is tired of being yanked around by politicians. You know what? I'm tired of it too.

3 comments:

Eighty-Two said...

I think that if Pittsburgh's muckety-mucks are stupid enough to turn down a taxdollar-free arena plan, they should bear the economic brunt of the Penguins' departure.

I've been a Penguins fan for almost 20 years, but I applaud Mario's hardline stance. He has been jerked around for too long and I don't think him a villain for looking for a "viable" (there's that word again) arena.

Anonymous said...

pretty much says all you need to know about the PCGB's decision:

http://www.lcshockey.com/content/122106.asp

faux rumors said...

1) As expected the Pens owners(Lemieux) lashed out against the state.
2) As we mentioned in our blog after the silly decison that although things looked/sounded bleak, that hope was still strong that a deal WILL be worked out to keep the team in Pitt
3) We believe the worst thing would be for Jim Balsille to get the team. He had/has NO intention to keep the team in Pittsburgh