Unity of Rings

An article in TSN this morning talks about the possibility of the Pittsburgh Penguins moving to Hartford, CT.

Personally? I hope that doesn't happen. I hope the Pens manage to stay in Pittsburgh despite the worst efforts of PA Governor Rendell, who is sounding more and more to me like CT Governor John Rowland during the waning days of the Whalers' tenure in Hartford. Should I just write a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons and ask them to reserve Rendell's federal inmate number now?

On the other hand, if it does happen it'll be strangely karmic in a way--Pittsburgh stole Hartford's best player back in 1991 (with the help of then-GM Eddie Johnson, who immediately jumped ship to the Pens as soon as the Whalers' season was over--gee, collusion much?), so Hartford's taking their team. That would just blow my mind.

This whole scenario is whack on so many levels--from Ed Rendell's attempts to scuttle the slots bid that the Pens are contractually tied to (Isle of Capri) in favor of a deal that he (Rendell) has personal ties to, to the prospective buyer's open pondering of moving the team to Hartford, to the whole feeling of "deja vu" that I'm getting for some odd reason.

What's next--Rendell's going to effectively say "fuck the Pens" and mortgage the entire state treasury in a futile attempt to bribe the New England Patriots to move to Harrisburg? Crocodile tears at a farewell press conference? Four years of inter-fanbase holy wars?

Wow. Just....wow. If I'm the Lemieux group, I'm planning to wage a big PR war to show how the plan that I favor is better than Gov. Rendell's "Plan B", and doing my damndest to come off looking like one of the "good guys" in case circumstances force the team to move. But that could just be me.