Commentary
Mario may be done with Pens but not as a hockey player PITTSBURGH-What if Mario Lemieux is done with the Penguins but isn’t finished as a hockey player?
It may not be the most likely scenario but it’s out there and Lemieux has not dismissed it out of hand when it’s been raised.
Every indication is that Lemieux will not play for the Penguins again. He treated Wednesday’s home game against Carolina like it was his last and was surprisingly candid about what an awkward fit a Hall of Fame legend who is also an owner can be in a locker room populated by much younger players.
If the Penguins are sincere about rebuilding, Lemieux doesn’t fit. If the plan works, he would be long gone by the time the Penguins were ready to contend.
But Lemieux could still be an incredible asset to a contending team. That would give him a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup again and also give him the opportunity to be paid an amount commensurate with his talent and box office power – at least $10 million and probably closer to $15 million.
Lemieux would have to relinquish his ownership stake in the Penguins to play for another team. That’s difficult but not impossible.
How would Pittsburgh react to seeing its icon playing for, say, the Detroit Red Wings? That would be interesting.
It’s far more likely Lemieux will simply retire and plunge himself into an executive role to try to rescue the Penguins from their current circumstances and to protect his investment.
But he might consider playing again for a contender. He has a flair for the unexpected.
After all, who expected him to come back in 2000 after three and a half years away from the game?
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Seemed like Ben Howland was hanging photos in his UCLA office before he officially told anyone at Pitt that he was leaving.
Meanwhile, it’s a little disconcerting to see institutions of higher learning getting cozy with sneaker companies to land a basketball coach.
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There was a great moment of unintentional truth after the Pirates beat up on Jimmy Anderson in Cincinnati the other day.
Reggie Sanders allowed that he had gone to Jason Kendall to get a scouting report on Anderson.
Sanders reported that Kendall told him Anderson doesn’t throw many strikes but the ones he does throw are usually right over the middle of the plate.
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You have to hope Penguins president Ken Sawyer has more business savvy than he displayed last week when he dumped plans for a new alternate jersey that was to be introduced in June.
The Penguins were ready to unveil a new/old look, the blue jersey the team wore from 1968 until 1980, when black and gold were adopted as the new colors.
The jersey even laced at the neck to replicate the style that was popular then.
“We want to focus on the future,” Sawyer told the Tribune-Review’s Joe Starkey. “We have a nucleus of young players and this was a retro, back to even before Mario’s days. I would suspect most of our young fans weren’t even born at that time.”
Earth to Ken: That’s called “vintage” and it’s the biggest thing in sports apparel these days. People are paying close to $300 for reproductions of jerseys that were popular in the 1970s and earlier. The NBA is pushing a line called Hardwood Classics.
The old look being bought by people who weren’t even born when the San Diego Padres were sporting the brown and gold taco combination that retailers suddenly can’t keep in stock.
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If Pirates tickets aren’t selling, it’s not because people haven’t been made aware of their availability on the team’s broadcasts.
Manny Sanguillen, the subject of Wednesday’s bobblehead giveaway, has gotten as many mentions as any of the players actually in the games.
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There’s a commercial running on the Pirates’ radio broadcasts that is must listening for serious students of pop culture.
The “Joy of Pepsi” song is done by Shikira, whose vocal sounds like a cross between Alicia (“I Love The Nightlife”) Bridges and Mr. Haney from “Green Acres.”
John Mehno can be reached on line at johnmehno@lycos.com.