On the Arena Bit


I love hockey. I love politics, too. But I don’t like when hockey and politics mix at all. Politics is about The West Wing and idealistic notions (that are too often delusions or at the very least illusive illusions) about making a difference in real issues. As for hockey, well, hockey is where I can see beauty and skill and talent, and hockey is pure, unbridled, passionate, pleasure and joy.

Anyhow, a man who has previously talked about moving the franchise to Kansas City has signed a letter of intent to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins. I will feel much better about the Pittsburgh Penguins keeping that name when plans for a new arena are actually solidly in place, you know, when, plans are set in stone, and it’s clear there will be an arena built in Pittsburgh and the team will stay.

That hasn’t happened yet. I’ll continue to follow my team—the Pittsburgh Penguins—throughout the upcoming season. Truthfully, I’m far more interested in seeing how individual young players develop, grow, and blossom than I am in reading about the minutia of economic and city planning details. Sure, I love politics, but I prefer to keep my politics (a practical enjoyment) separate from my hockey (a pure enjoyment).

Still, in the 2006-07 season, nothing will make me cheer harder and louder than actually finalizing plans for building a new arena in Pittsburgh (and by that, I mean planning and building gets started, like, immediately). Unless, of course, Crosby’s young Penguins manage to pull off a miracle and bring the Cup home to Pittsburgh.

But what I really want to see—and it shouldn’t be a miracle—is construction workers starting to build a new arena in Pittsburgh before the end of the 2006-07 hockey season.
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