Goodell Drops the Ball on Favre

Yesterday was a new low point for the NFL and its dictatorial commissioner Roger Goodell. In a season that has given us ample reason to question his abilities as commissioner, Goodell’s pathetically impotent slap on the wrist punishment of Brett Favre was his ultimate failure leadership.

Here’s a question commissioner, does the term “cop-out” mean anything to you? Does it feel good to selectively mediate justice depending on how much angst there is on TMZSPN?

If I understand King Roger correctly, Favre was not suspended because the league did not have sufficient evidence to prove he sent the now infamous “illicit” text messages to a female NY Jets employee. Which I find kind of funny since four months ago Goodell felt perfectly comfortable suspending Ben Roethlisberger for 25% of his season with likely less evidence than he had on Favre. Good luck explaining this one commissioner.

Let me start of by clarifying two things.

First, I am not a member of the group that rips Favre for his annual off season retirement waffling. It’s his option to play football as long as somebody out there is willing to give him a job and there is no requirement that he make a definitive decision before training camp starts. The NFL is a more interesting league with Favre in it and I give the man his full props for an all time great career.

My honest feeling notwithstanding is that Favre did not want to play this year but the Vikings talked him in to returning. That’s two straight years that the now unemployed Brad Childress begged Favre to play. That plus $20 Million in cash can be pretty compelling to one’s ego.

Second, I have resisted the anti Steeler conspiracy talk that is being shouted throughout the Steeler nation. I do not believe the commissioner of the NFL has it out for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The league clearly is trying to legislate a certain level of physicality out of the game and the Steelers are one of the most physical teams in the NFL. So they are going to bare a larger portion of the burden.

That is not to say I’m happy with the league’s witch hunt of James Harrison or its blatant failure to protect Big Ben on the field. There have clearly been some highly questionable calls and even more so non calls in Steeler games this year. All of which is a topic for another blog.

That said, there is little doubt in my mind that Goodell caved to the monster that is Favre’s reputation in this pathetically juvenile incident. The fact that he did not have the guts (not the word I would prefer) to suspend a retiring QB on a bad team is shocking in both its impotency and hypocrisy.

First off, this is not going to turn in to a defense attorney’s brief on Big Ben. I have covered that topic ad naseum in previous blogs. My opinion on Ben has never changed. He acted like an ignorant jerk but that’s not illegal in this country. In a he said/she said situation, I default to the police and a motivated district attorney saying there is not sufficient evidence to even consider a charge. They also mentioned, “we prosecute crimes, not morality.”

Based on that I concluded that Ben should continue as the QB of the Pittsburgh Steelers and should not be suspended. It’s a scary world we live in when a person’s livelihood can be taken away over unsubstantiated accusations. That said I reluctantly accepted the suspension for two reasons; I felt there was probably more to the story than we knew and that it would be the slap in the face Ben needed to turn his life around.

So be it.

Clearly Goodell felt in Ben’s case he COULD legislate morality. He was clear to point out that his powers as commissioner are not reliant on criminal findings. I agree with him to a point. I can be suspended or fired from my job for detrimental conduct even if that conduct is not illegal. I just found the punishment inconsistent given numerous other players who committed crimes and are still on the field, including one other player with a pending rape charge.

With the Favre situation you can scrap the term “inconsistent” above and replace it with “hypocritical and self serving.”

Let’s be clear on this. Favre deserves the same benefit of the doubt that we demanded for Ben. You are innocent until proven guilty in this country. And just like Ben he got it. He’s not going to jail. That’s the extent of innocent until proven guilty; you do not have your personal freedom taken away through incarceration without definitive proof of a crime.

Let’s be just as clear on this. Many people made and continue to make conclusions on Ben based on nothing more than the inconsistent testimony of two drunk college girls. This includes media people with tremendous ability to influence public opinion; some of whom never let facts stand in the way of a good story. In Favre’s case, there is far more compelling electronic and pictorial evidence of what he did that’s being swept under the table.

There is some pretty significant circumstantial evidence here that makes any reasonably intelligent person believe Favre sent those texts. His refusal to publically defend himself is at the top of the list. If I were faced with similar accusations, I would go to every possible length to publically clear my name. There is no way I would allow my reputation to be annihilated like this without defending myself. And Brett Favre is about 10 Million times more famous than I am. His silence on this issue is deafening.

Add to that the fact that he has apparently obstructed the investigation at every turn and I think we can draw our own conclusions.

I agree that nobody can prove that Favre sent those pictures and I agree that if this were about whether or not he should go to jail, that would be the end of the story. It’s not. The issue here is whether Favre should be allowed to play QB in the NFL which is a privilege not a right. Simply put, if Big Ben can be suspended four to six games based on unsubstantiated accusations, Favre absolutely should be suspended one game for blatant and juvenile sexual harassment.

Remember, it’s Goodell who set the precedent by suspending Ben without evidence or charges. Once he did that the door was open for him to suspend Favre. There are plenty of situations where a reasonable person can make conclusions that would not be acceptable in a legal setting and this is one of them. If it turns out he’s wrong, what was the ultimate cost to Favre? He would lose one NFL game in 20 years, a game he should not be playing in anyway.

Instead Favre pays a fine which is, to quote Eddie Murphy in Coming to America, pocket change.

So why did Goodell and his cronies back down? For my money, two reasons. First, they don’t want to tangle with Favre and his legendary reputation. I don’t know why but they continue to cow tail to this guy even now that he’s been exposed to some degree as a media fraud. It’s no different than the high soccer school coach who suspends some poor bench warmer for drinking but looks the other way when a star player does the same thing (purely hypothetical of course).

Second, I believe that Goodell’s over reaction in Ben’s case had a lot to do with the immense media scrutiny that resulted from it. For reasons I dare only speculate, the talking heads at TMZSPN did not make nearly as big a deal of the Favre story as they did with Big Ben. Apparently the ENTERTAINMENT and sports network would rather run “BREAKING NEWS” alerts on whether Favre is going to start a meaningless game for a bad team rather than call him out for ignorant behavior. It’s interesting that they did not show such restraint for Big Ben, who lets face it, was never a media darling.

Look, there are worse things in this world than what Favre is accused of. If Ben actually did what he were accused of, it would be far worse. And I’m sure Favre is not being well received on the home front for this. In the end, one dumb text message may cost him millions of dollars (see Woods, Tiger).

And I’m not asking for the law to lock Favre up and throw away the key. I’m just asking the commissioner to be consistent with his punishments. I’m asking him to take the same proactive and dictatorial stance on a beloved media icon that he took on a player who did not always conduct himself admirably the last few years. I’m asking him to stop running his league at the behest of ESPN.

Apparently I’m asking too much.

Why’s Everybody Always Picking on Donovan?

As a general rule, I do not waste time or sympathy on million dollar celebrity athletes. They neither want nor need it from me, or anyone else for that matter.

Once in awhile I consider an exception.

I have little in depth knowledge about Donovan McNabb. Since he spent most of his career playing for one of my least favorite NFL teams, I’ve generally been vested in his failure. Given that, I can not claim to have the educated perspective on him that I try to maintain for Pittsburgh athletes.

Maybe he is a horrible person, or a bad teammate, or a spoiled entitled athlete who gets by on talent alone. Or maybe he’s a genuinely decent person and just about the unluckiest guy to ever put on a uniform.

Usually the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Honestly, I suspect with McNabb it is closer to the latter. Everything I have ever seen suggests that along with being a pretty good football player, McNabb is also a pretty decent guy.

So I’m at a loss to explain why he has been such a lightening rod for criticism and controversy throughout his career, most of which seems not of his own making.

Back in October, I posted a blog regarding the moronic decision by Washington coach Mike Shanahan to bench McNabb with two minutes left in a winnable game…FOR REX GROSSMAN. If you recall, Shanahan initially suggested that he felt in that situation, Grossman gave him the best chance to win. Let me repeat what I wrote at that time; they have not yet invented a situation in football where Rex Grossman gives you the best chance to win.

Honestly, the entire thing was insulting to McNabb and unfair to Grossman. If Shanahan really believes what he said, and I seriously doubt that, he should have been fired on the spot for rank incompetence. If the ultimate intent was to send a message to McNabb, through whatever means necessary, it was a classless way to do so. Not to mention he cost his team a football game. The minute Rex Grossman walked on that field, the Redskins were over and done.

I wonder if it’s a coincidence that the Skins season fell apart about that time.

Either way I thought the situation had been rectified when the Skins gave McNabb a $78 Million extension. In reality, it was simply a $3.5 Million severance payment. That became apparent when Shanahan benched McNabb for the last three games so he could, “get a look at Grossman and John Beck.”

Let me be absolutely clear on this point. NFL coaches do not need to look at Rex Grossman and John Beck. In fact, most coaches hope to see as little as possible of either one of them. The actual English translation of his comments is, “McNabb is done in Washington.”

Look, McNabb is not the first veteran player to lose his fastball or at least end up in the wrong situation. Forgetting the abomination that is his 2010 season, think of 2009 Brett Favre in Minnesota versus 2008 Brett Favre in New York. Maybe McNabb is washed up. Maybe he’s not willing to become a better QB now that his athletic ability is fading with age. Or maybe he’s just stuck playing for a perfectionist coach and his prodigal son offensive coordinator who are both hoping to rediscover John Elway.

Any of those things are possible. What is not possible is that Mike Shanahan really thinks Rex Grossman is his answer at QB.

Still, could he not have treated McNabb with a little professional class? Is that so much to ask? Which leads me back to my original question. Do these things just happen to McNabb or is he really a bad guy? You know the old saying, “where there is smoke there is fire?” How many seemingly bad things can happen to one guy and still be a coincidence?

I’ll confess I thought McNabb was overrated coming out of college. I came to that impression after watching him implode in the Orange Bowl against a really good Florida team. Regardless, NFL scouts thought he was one of the top five players in the draft. McNabb’s reward for this was to be drafted by Philadelphia and jeered mercilessly on draft day. You remember why; they wanted Ricky “the stoner” Williams who was not even the first back picked in the draft.

To my surprise, McNabb developed in to an All Pro caliber QB in Philly, in spite of mediocre offensive talent around him. He carried the Eagles to three straight NFC Championship games, but came up short each time. His reward for this was to have Rush Limbaugh suggest on national TV that he was overrated and overhyped only because of his skin color.

I remember when that happened. At first the TMZSPN commentators had little to say on the subject. I think they were prepared to let it pass until the rest of the media came crashing down on them. At that point there was suddenly a flood of what seemed like forced righteous indignation from Tom Jackson and Michael Irvin. Frankly it seemed more like protecting their territory then defending McNabb.

And just so we are clear, Limbaugh’s comments were asinine stupidity and should have been shot down on site.

So then Philly goes out and gets an All Pro receiver in Terrell Owens. And we know what happened. Somewhere along the way there was a falling out between the two. After that Owens spent the rest of his time in Philly bad mouthing and mocking his QB. At times it got truly ugly, even when they finally made it to the Super Bowl in 2004.

I have zero respect for Terrell Owens. He has been a loud mouth, locker room killing malcontent for most of his career. You would have to make an awfully compelling case for me to take T.O.’s side over McNabb in this case. It further supports my belief that McNabb is a good guy who ends up on the wrong side of issues.

Since that point, McNabb has been mocked for apparently running out of gas in the Super Bowl and mocked for losing four NFC championship games. He’s suffered the indignity of being traded within his own division and had his physical conditioning questioned by his current coach and former teammates. Oh and Philly replaced him with a convicted criminal who seems to be more beloved than McNabb ever was in that city. It’s unreal.

Seriously, what exactly did this guy do to cause so much strife?

My honest feeling about McNabb is he is actually too classy a guy. That was my take on the Owens situation. McNabb wants to be the better man and take the high road which is great. Unfortunately T.O. is a bully. He attacks anyone he perceives as a threat to him and does not respect anything but having it put right back in his face. McNabb may indeed have taken the high road but he paid for it.

Beyond that, I think he’s taken heat for never being quite as good as he was expected to be. He ultimately suffered for being a very talented, very good quarterback who never quite became a true franchise superstar. Philly fans could not forgive all those championship game losses; and McNabb became the on the field face of that pain.

That’s a laymen’s opinion of course. And I admit I could be flat out wrong.

As for his troubles in Washington, I can only speculate. And since it’s my blog, I will.

I read a great interview with former Denver QB Jake Plummer (aka Grizzly Adams Jr.) on Yahoo sports after my last Shanahan/McNabb blog. In the article, Plummer said basically that he hated playing for Shanahan. He called Shanahan an over the top perfectionist and said that he was desperately seeking another John Elway. That’s not hard to believe considering Shanahan’s mediocre coaching record without Elway.

My guess is that’s what happened in Washington. Shanahan was hoping McNabb would finally give him his Elway type QB. Instead, McNabb either did not or could not play the game the way Shanahan wanted. It would not shock me if the rumors about McNabb not getting along with Shanahan’s kid were true as well. Again, I’m siding with McNabb. Nothing good ever comes out of nepotism in sports. Parents can not hide their blind spots for their kids, even when millions of dollars are at stake.

And yet even if I’m right, how does this keep happening to one guy? Honestly, I just do not know.

Truth be told, McNabb is better off leaving Washington, as dysfunctional a franchise as there is in the NFL. He will get another opportunity in some other quarterback desperate city. He has already requested his release but I'm guessing that the Skins will not give it to him. Might as well grab some draft choices for that $3.5 Million severance payment.

Here's hoping the drama ends at his next destination. Here's guessing it does not.

Steelers Display the Heart of a Champion

There are moments when champions define and separate themselves from their competitors. Sunday night in Baltimore was such a moment for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

On a night when the Steelers had every conceivable excuse to quit, they battled to the very end. With injuries, officials, and their toughest rivals stacked against them, the Steelers refused to succumb to defeat. In the most critical of moments, under the most intense pressure, the Steelers prevailed, against all odds.

I can not possibly overstate the importance of this victory. Physically, emotionally, and in the standings, it was the game of the year. We’ve known that since the hard fought last second loss in Pittsburgh in early October. This was an absolute must win game.

I will never give up the Steelers; I learned that lesson in 2005. At the same time, let’s be honest. Going the wild card route to a Super Bowl is tenuous under the best of circumstances. For a team as beat up as the Steelers, in a year with so much parity in the AFC, a first round bye would be an enormous advantage.

If the Steelers lost tonight, they were stuck going the wild card route. Now the division and a first round bye is a very real expectation.

That’s certainly a critical part of it. The other part was that the Steelers needed to step up with a signature victory in a significant game. To do so with a dramatic late game victory, spurred on by their defense was a potential season changing moment. To do it on the road, against their biggest and most physical rival…well that’s how championship teams come together.

Yes, this was a sloppy, ugly victory. I could write a 5,000 word blog on all the errors, physical and mental, that were made in this game. The Steelers made some ugly mistakes including three different brainless special teams’ gaffes. The offense struggled for 60 minutes to string together successful drives.

In other words, it was just another Steelers/Ravens battle, especially in Baltimore.

Prior to kickoff tonight I reminded Emily of what she already knows; what all Steeler fans know. Steelers/Ravens games are low scoring, incredibly physical affairs that come down to the last moments. It happens every game between these brutally physical rivals. There has not been a more violent and physical rivalry in the NFL since the Steelers and Oakland in the 70s.

And as is so often the case, when it really mattered, the Steelers showed more heart and character than their loud mouthed division rivals to the south.

There are certain things in sports that can not adequately be measured. Heart and character are at the top of that list. The Steelers consistently display championship heart. I will take that in a second over Peyton Manning’s arm or Adrian Peterson’s legs. No team in sports has consistently displayed more heart and character than the black and gold over the last 20 years.

I’m sure the critics will be all over Bruce Arians tomorrow for the offensive struggles. So be it. I’m sure Steeler fans will be up in arms about another 60 minute miscarriage of officiating justice. It is what it is.

Once again the Steelers proved what I always say about great teams in sports. Champions simply find a way to win. I’ve said it in many forms but the quote, “winners win, losers blame the ref” seems especially apropos these days.

The Steelers offensive line, a weak unit to begin with is continually devastated by injuries. They lost their punter. Their quarterback has a broken foot and suffered a broken nose. The officials flat out whiffed on two horrific personal foul calls, one of which cost the Steelers a critical player in Heath Miller. The opponent is the most devastatingly physical and impressive defensive team’s in football, except for the Steelers of course.

And the Steelers won. Champions find a way.

Honestly, this is the most impressed I’ve been with a Pittsburgh team since the Penguins beat Detroit in games 6 and 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. Those were ugly games as well. Like those games, tonight was not about making pretty or stylish plays. It was about the willingness to battle non stop until the final whistle. A willingness to endure pain and injustice for 60 brutal minutes and persevere to victory. A willingness to go beyond the limits of human endurance, simply to win a football game.

It may seem trite to non football fans. To the Steeler Nation, it’s a thing of beauty.

This game was the ultimate embodiment of Pittsburgh Steeler football. A victory only true members of the Steeler nation can understand and enjoy. Let the critics bash the coaches and the refs if they want. Let Trent Dilfer mock the game as a comedy of errors on TMZSPN. Let New England and New Orleans call it ugly football.

I call it Pittsburgh Steeler football, at its best. I call it the heart of a champion. Criticize Mike Tomlin if you want but I continue to believe he is a leader of men. He sets the tone for his team. No excuses, find a way to win. It’s what separates the Steelers from so many other franchises. The goal of every game is to win at all costs, under any circumstances.

I can not overstate my pride in this performance, ugly as it was. When Joe Flacco’s final pass hit the turf, I round myself stomping around my condo, screaming with pride. I have not been this fired up about the Steelers since Santonio’s catch in the end zone in Tampa. All I could think, just as it appears on this paper was, HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO !!!

Kudos to Big Ben. For those who continue to worship one dimensional fantasy football QBs that put up stats when they don’t matter, Ben once again showed what QB play is all about. I don’t care what people think about Ben as a person; on the field he is a leader of men. If a 300 pound man punched me in the face and broke my nose, I would leave work for a week. And of course I would not be there to start with given a broken foot. That we tend to take this for granted shows how spoiled we’ve become by our QB.

Keep in mind that when plays had to be made, Ben made them. And as is so often the case in this rivalry, the overrated Flacco did not. Give me Peyton Manning in the first quarter in October; give me Big Ben in the 4th quarter in December.

Kudos to Issac Redman for not being denied. There are times when the only acceptable result is the end zone. Redman absolutely should have been tacked on the five yard line. He simply wanted it more than the Ravens.

Kudos to the defense. This was the signature performance that was so often missing last season. It was without question their best game since Tennessee. It was a statement performance by a group of men tired of being pushed around by the hypocritical NFL stance on physical football. Kudos to James Harrison for ignoring the six figure hit to his pocketbook and playing dominant physical football. Kudos to Troy Polamalu for once again showing that he is the best game changing defender in the NFL.

Kudos to Shaun Suisham. Instead of a fat tub of goo kicker that whines about his contract and the grass, we now have a man who makes kicks without excuses. Suisham’s job punting tonight should be remembered as one of the critical performances of this season. If not for the two aforementioned brainless plays on special teams, he would have twice pinned the Ravens inside the five. Welcome to the Steeler Nation Shaun.

Most important, kudos to a team that has been persecuted by the league and the officials for weeks, overcoming two horrific officiating mistakes. There is not a sane football fan on earth who can explain the personal foul calls against Harrison the last two weeks and explain missing the helmet to helmet shot on Heath Miller. And if Tom Brady were punched in the face by a 300 pound linemen, the NFL would call in a SWAT team and the Navy Seals.

I’m angry, you’re angry, the entire Steeler Nation is angry. The players and coaches are angry. And behind the leader of men that is Mike Tomlin, they overcome and win. I spent most of the game lamenting key mistakes that should have cost the Steelers the game. In the end, all I can remember is this phenomenal display of the heart of a champion.

I don’t know if the Steelers will win the Super Bowl, but they are champions at heart. Tonight was yet another reminder of why I’m so proud to be a lifelong, card carrying member of the Steeler Nation. There is simply nothing on earth like the black and gold.

Every game against Baltimore is the ultimate battle of attrition. They are games that most players and most teams simply could not handle. Somehow, someway the Steelers find a way, time after time to be the better team. I can’t explain it or quantify it, but I can define it. Simply put, it’s the heart of a champion.

Saying Hello to the New Igloo

For better or for worse, I spent the last hockey season waxing poetic about the demise of the Civic Arena, aka the old Igloo. I penned not one but two blogs delineating the lifetime of memories that I and all Penguin fans acquired in that unique but antiquated building.

And so it is only appropriate that I blog the same appreciation for the new Consol energy Center in the Burgh.

This magnificent new building is as far superior to its predecessor as the current Penguins are to the hopeless, pre Mario teams of the mid 80s. I have attended games in a dozen arenas throughout the United States and Canada and I can say this with some degree of confidence; the Consol Energy Center ranks with or above any and all of them. It is the kind of first class facility that both the Penguins and the city of Pittsburgh richly deserve.

I’m not here to trample on the Igloo’s grave. I freely admit that as Emily and I walked up the hill towards the new facility, I felt a tinge of sadness taking in the now empty Civic Arena. A rush of memories flooded my brain, just as they did last March on my final visit. As I noted at the time, it might be a dump, but its our dump.

The Igloo was distinctly Pittsburgh and the physical embodiment of the Penguin’s franchise. It was also the last truly unique structure standing in the National Hockey League. To some degree its unfortunate that it never got the same respect as the “vintage” old buildings in Chicago, Boston, Toronto or Montreal.

None of which should obscure the reality that its time had long since past.

To be honest, I always felt that the Igloo gave the Penguins a bit of a bush league feel around the National Hockey League. The Penguins have a history that ranks with any team outside of the original six (and maybe some of them). That history demands a certain level of respect in the hockey world. I can’t help but think that more than a few hockey folk, especially from north of the boarder, refused to give it to a team playing essentially in a minor league facility.

Rest assured, that will no longer be the case.

I remember my first visit to the United Center in Chicago. It was 1996 and to that point in my life I had seen only the Igloo and the horrific and lifeless Mausoleum on Long Island. I was absolutely shocked when I entered the UC. I could not believe the large, open, well lit concourses, the nearly perfect sightlines, or the flat out enormity of the building. I remarked at the time that the Igloo could easily fit inside the UC.

Little did I know then that the UC was not an aberration, the Igloo was. Chicago’s new edifice is bigger than most arenas but almost all the new buildings share its basic constructs. I noted this in Los Angeles, San Jose, Minnesota, Toronto, Carolina, Tampa and St’Louis. Quite honestly, I never looked at our quaint little dome in Pittsburgh the same way again. From that day forward I recognized the desperate need to upgrade the Penguin’s home.

The Consol Energy Center is a monumental upgrade to say the least.

Over the succeeding 15 years I could no longer overlook the glaring deficiencies of the Igloo. The cramped concourses and seating areas. The poor views, especially in the covered ends. The back-up goaltenders sitting in the runway on a folding chair, the coaches sliding across the ice, etc, etc. There was a time when this was the typical experience in the NHL but that time had long since passed.

And that covers the areas we could see. It was pretty common knowledge that the Igloo’s locker rooms and training areas were not exactly state of the art. I can’t help but picture the disgusted looks on the faces of visiting players, who were changing in locker rooms equivalent to those from my high school soccer days (though picturing that look on Alex Ovechkin’s face does bring a sly smile).

Anyway, enough about the past, this is about the present and the future.

Let me start by saying that there does not appear to be a bad seat in the new building. I can say this because we sat in pretty much the worst seats in the place for two straight days. We were directly behind the net in the top five rows of the upper deck. And we had brilliant, unobstructed views of the entire ice. The height of the upper deck is solid, although it might freak out those who knew only the old E and F balconies across the street.

The New Igloo is lined with glass providing some terrific (though in some cases obstructed) views of downtown Pittsburgh. You take this in as you ride escalaters, yes escalaters to the upper balconies. No more sprinting up long runways or narrow stairwells. I’ll take it on faith or from Dan Potash that these locker rooms and training areas are indeed state of the art.

Perhaps most impressive, the building pays homage to the great history of the Penguins. For all of the non stop blathering about the original six, I will argue that few franchises can match the accomplishments of the Penguins, at least since they were raised to prominence by a quiet French Canadian simply known as “Le Magnifique.”

Emily and I spent a good half hour after Friday’s game watching video highlights of all time Penguin greats (she insisted that we first check out Tom Barrasso and who am I to argue with that?). We also watched videos of great moments in Penguin’s history (Petr Nedved in the 4th overtime) and used a spectacular program to get up close and personal looks at the Stanley Cup.

Between these features, murals of current and past players, and the numerous banners hanging in the rafters, the building is a living, breathing monument to its primary tenant. It is not some lifeless edifice like in St’Louis or Carolina. Just as I saw murals of Gordie Howe and Terry Sawchuck in Detroit, I saw murals of Rick Kehoe, Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr in Pittsburgh.

And unlike Detroit, we can now get in and out of the men’s room with out missing half a period of action.

The New Igloo, even with its glass exterior, does lack the unique exterior charm of its predecessor and sadly is not located on prime viewing real estate. So be it. This is a miniscule price to pay for a thousand fold improvement in quality. Take this from a Chicago resident who deals with the brilliant new interior of Soldier Field obscured by an alien abomination of site on the outside.

The building was a bit quiet at times but I will chalk that up to holiday afternoon games and not playing prime rivals. It got awfully loud when Marc Andre Fleury robbed Ottawa on Friday and/or Sidney Crosby finished off his third consecutive thanksgiving Saturday hat trick against Calgary.

Of course the one place the new Igloo is completely deficient is in history and memories. You can’t buy or rush those in to being. It will take time for the Pens to turn their new house in to a home. The visions of Mario’s criminal dissection of Shawn Chambers and John Casey or Ron Francis’ 95 foot slap shot through Mike Richter will always be across the street. We will never know Gary Roberts taunting all of Ottawa at the new barn.

That being said, I anxiously await the creation of those new memories. I took in two this weekend which is a tremendous start. With this young and brilliantly talented Penguin team, I expect many more in short order. The new generation of Penguins can build on their championship legacy, while working in a first class environment. Honestly, I had to pinch myself repeatedly to make sure I was not dreaming the experience.

We should not forget that work that Lemieux put in to making this happen. I understand that his motivations were not entirely altruistic but let us never forget that Big 66 ultimately saved the franchise one final time. He could have taken the money and run to Kansas City or Las Vegas but he did his best to keep the Penguins in the Burgh. It is truly mind boggling to consider where the Penguins sit today when you consider how bleak things looked at the turn of the century.

The Old Igloo now awaits its date with the wrecking ball (even as the new one has already hosted the ageless Recchin ball). It will be a truly sad day for me when that occurs. I’m sure I’ll deal with and perhaps blog about a wealth of emotions when that happens.

Alas it is time to move forward. As a great fictional ship captain once said, “it should be noted that this death takes place in the shadow of new life.” For the Penguins and their fans, the death of the igloo is the genesis of new life at the Con. The new building is the future; a future the Penguins truly deserve.

In fitting tribute to our old friend Badger Bob, every day now truly is, “A great day for hockey,” at least in the Burgh.

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY PENGUIN, BLESSED BE THE PENGUIN…FOR IT IS GOOD.