The Atmosphere

Yeah, I know, Mellon Arena is old. The lights have gone out this season. The building needs to be replaced.

And yet, last Saturday, can I tell you how much I just didn’t care? Can I tell you how much fun it was to be in that old building? How much fun it was to be around fans who knew hockey? Who clapped and cheered loudly when penalties were killed? Who knew how to applaud simple, good plays? Who cheered for saves and initiated cheers on their own?

Pittsburgh fans know hockey. Fans of my generation learned hockey from watching Mario Lemieux, Paul Coffey, Larry Murphy, Ron Francis, and Jaromir Jagr, and what those players will one day share is HHOF membership. We know hockey, and we love lockey.

So, to the politicians and everyone else—please, get a new arena built. Because hockey is too much fun not to have around, because the banners that now hang from the Mellon Arena ceiling mean that our team has a history—a history that I really don’t want to see transported to any other city.