Dish Network Should Pay the Penguins a Commission

Back in the 2000-2001 season, the Penguins gave in to eight years' worth of fan complaints and brought back the familiar skating penguin logo shown to the left. The bad news to this good news was that the team replaced the taxicab yellow that Pittsburgh sports teams have long worn with a glittery hue they call "Vegas gold." Of course, I always figured this was a description, and not a prediction.

I've been following the Pittsburgh Penguins on a consistent basis for half my life now-- since 1989-- and some expectation of (1) impending financial ruin, (2) relocation, or (3) farce is part of being a fan of the team. In 1975 the team filed for bankruptcy to get breathing room from creditors and the players and coaches were padlocked out of their practice facility. The team's then-GM nakedly tanked the second half of the 1983-1984 season to set them up to draft Mario Lemieux. Just eight years ago, the team hired the greatest Czech hockey coach to lead the team despite the guy not knowing English, only to fire him after he disobeyed an off-season order to learn the language.

Still, though, the current situation might beat all of those. Last night fans kept one eye on the home game against the Devils and one eye on the impromptu meeting in Philadelphia between the team's owners and the state and local officials who are controlling the purse strings over the unbuilt arena. Lingering over all this is the ubiquitous file photo of the half-completed arena in Kansas City, a chandelier-like structure that's giving the team a come hither look.

At the same time, the on-the-ice outlook couldn't be brighter. After trading Jaromir Jagr in 2001, the team spent four seasons bottom-feeding for lottery picks, and that failure has paid off. The team's solidly positioned to make the playoffs this year, and the fans have responded with standing room-only sellouts. Even after last week's deadline deal for a 30 year-old and a 40 year-old, the Penguins possess one of the more unique distributions of scoring by age group, with four forwards scoring more than twenty goals and the ages of those players being 18, 19, 20 and 39. There's a literal generation gap in scoring prowess, not to mention the decided deficit in playoff experience that was made a bit better with the acquisition of Gary Roberts and Georges Laracque. Still, the young talent is routinely drawing comparisons to the early '80s Gretzky-Messier-Kurri-Coffey Edmonton Oilers. And the youth of the players has helped to stir the enthusiasm of that other demographic particularly immune to Pittsburgh's charms-- the 18-35 set who comes to Pittsburgh to go to school, then leaves to find employment elsewhere.

We knew Crosby was great, but he's matured into the team's de facto captain and will win the Art Ross trophy, at least, this year. We knew Evgeni Malkin was going to be great, but his 30 goals have exceeded even those expectations. Jordan Staal wasn't expected to make the team right out of being drafted in the first round, but he has not only been a fierce penalty-killer, he's also showing way too much offensive skill to be saddled with less than fifteen minutes a game of ice time spent mostly in penalty-killing and checking-line duties. He's got a 26% shooting percentage, and is one of only five players in the league who has scored more than twenty goals with a shooting percentage of 20% or better.

So where does that leave me? We moved into our current house two years and two weeks ago, and since that time we've been without cable TV. I could probably have gone on indefinitely with rabbit ears and Netflix, but the 14-0-2 run by the Penguins which ended two weeks ago pretty much cinched the decision to get some sort of pay TV. I mean, watching highlights on the internet or the local news and catching the occasional game in person or at a bar is one thing, but the team actually making the playoffs and me not watching is something else entirely.

The Dish Network guy comes on Tuesday, a few hours before the Penguins-Sabres game.