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Sunday, March 09, 2003

It has become popular to feel sorry for Mario Lemieux. You know the story. After all he has done for the Penguins and Pittsburgh, he deserves better than to have to finish his career on a no-chance team that's filled with kids, has-beens, never-weres and never-will-bes. Certainly, he deserves better than to have to own this mess of a hockey club, which is fighting desperately to survive until a new NHL labor agreement can be struck in 2004 and a new arena can be built a few years after.

It's no wonder Lemieux threw a wicked check into the Ottawa Senators' Peter Schaefer early in what became yet another lopsided Penguins loss last night, 5-1. The surprise is that he didn't knock Schaefer all the way through the Mellon Arena boards.

But it didn't have to be this way for Lemieux. He has to take a lot of responsibility for his predicament. If he could do a few things again, he probably would. But, sadly, there are no do-overs in life, not even for sports legends.

This goes back to the 1990s, when Lemieux foolishly agreed to defer much of his salary. It's easy to ridicule his heavyweight agent, Tom Reich, for allowing him to do it because Reich had to know then-Penguins owner Howard Baldwin was living in a house of cards. Baldwin had to do a horrible arena lease with Spectacor Management Group just to buy the team in '91, then spent the rest of his tenure here making one bad deal after another to stay a step ahead of the banks.

But blaming only Reich would allow Lemieux off the hook. He doesn't deserve that. He's always been his own man and made his own decisions. Saying yes to Baldwin each time he was asked to take less now for more later wasn't too bright. Later never came. By the time the Penguins filed for bankruptcy in '98, Lemieux was the biggest creditor and was owed $32.5 million.

Even then, Lemieux could have saved himself. His pride was understandably stung when Roger Marino, who had taken over as the controlling owner, refused to pay him. Instead of trying hard for a settlement, Lemieux dug in for a fight. Even if he had taken 50 cents on the dollar, he could have walked away with a cool $16 million-and-change. Then, if he still wanted to play again, he could have gone to another team, made $15 million per season and been retired to the easy life by now.

Instead, Lemieux chose to take over a failing team in a failing league. Maybe his advisers -- Doug Campbell, Leonard LoBiondo, Chuck Greenberg -- told him he could turn the investment into a huge profit with a new arena. Or maybe he reached that conclusion himself. What we know is he took $5 million in cash and a $20 million cut of the franchise.

It is a shame how it has worked out for Lemieux. He was so excited the day he became owner in '99, saying he would lower ticket prices, raise the payroll and keep Jaromir Jagr and Alexei Kovalev for the long haul. "I really believe we're not that far away," he said.

The Penguins did go to the Eastern Conference final in 2000-01, the year Lemieux made his comeback as a player. And who knows? Maybe he would be sitting on a gold mine if not for 9/11. As it is, though, the team is not that far away from being the worst in the NHL and looks like a dying franchise.

Lemieux has never changed his story when asked about his strategy.

"I have no regrets," he has said. "I would have liked to have been paid, but they didn't have the money. They were giving it all in rent to SMG ...

"For me, it was either leave town or defer the money. And I wasn't going to leave town. I'm a Pittsburgher."

Lemieux has proved that time and again, most recently when he brought the Penguins out of bankruptcy. The team would have been liquidated or moved if he hadn't.

That's one of the many reasons Lemieux is an icon here. But it doesn't change the fact he has made some rotten decisions for himself.

Now, even if Lemieux wanted to retire -- and how could he not with that appalling cast of teammates? -- he can't because his presence is the only thing that will sell tickets for his team next season. Even with him in the hunt for another scoring title, attendance is down and television and radio ratings are worse. Things are so bad the Penguins will try to bribe viewers and listeners for their game in Ottawa tonight by giving away prizes. That's the type of carnival act teams do when they've lost eight in a row and won't make the playoffs for the second consecutive year.

As for the long term, that new arena seems less likely each day. Before the fight is over, Lemieux will find himself in the unusual role of a heavy by having to threaten to sell the team. He'll love that. With war getting closer and the economy worsening, not even that figures to be enough.

Here's a tip for Schaefer and the other Senators when Lemieux is on the ice tonight:

Keep your head up, boys.