Done Deal

WOOOO HAAAAAA! Pens staying in PENSylvania!

Give me a muther fuckin’ dancing monkey baby!!!

Penguins fans can breathe a sigh of relief, a deal has been made with the state to keep the Pens in Pittsburgh for a very long time.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have reached an agreement with state and local officials for construction of a new arena that will keep the team here under a 30-year lease. The basics of the agreement were reached in a make-or-break meeting last week in Philadelphia, where both sides reported that significant progress was made.

If you like numbers and details they can be found in all their glory here. Suffice it to say, the arena will cost $290 million and will be financed in part by the Penguins, the state, Pittsburgh casino licensee Don Barden, and from a gambling-financed state economic development fund. In the end, it’s a good day for long-time Pens fans (me included) because we no longer have to think about the possibility of losing our team any time soon.

Lost in all this is the fact that the Pens are positioned to be a powerhouse for several years. Pretty much everyone remotely familiar with Hockey knows who Sidney Crosby is but Sid along with Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal create a very solid foundation for this team for years to come. Numbers? Sure we have numbers: all three will be 30-goal scorers before the season ends and all three are 20 years old or younger; there’s a lot of miles left on those young legs. Throw in 22 year old up and coming goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and it’s easy to see this team is in good shape.

As critical of Ed Rendell as I’ve been, I must give credit where credit is due – it really appeared that Kansas City had pulled out all the stops, but Slick Ed came through when push came to shove. Now we can get back to worrying about our hated interstate rival Flyers instead of gambling licenses and tax payer funded arenas – life is good (and the Flyers still suck).