Multiply 365 Day 45 - Bizzaro World

I think that there are days where I blog too early.  Like yesterday when I got up, was feeling ever so productive and banged out my blog entry before noon.  That usually doesn't happen just because at noon I am at work most days, and on the one day where I could do it, it turns out I probably should have waited.

There is an old sporting joke that has been used before, the "I went to a fight and a (insert sport here) broke out" and that is pretty much what happened Friday night when the Penguins played the New York Islanders.  The teams combined for over 60 penalties, 346 penalty minutes, 10 ejections, 3 subsequent suspensions and 3 players and one team being fined by the NHL.  Sunday afternoon Penguins owner Mario Lemieux released the following statement;

“Hockey is a tough, physical game, and it always should be. But what happened Friday night on Long Island wasn’t hockey. It was a travesty. It was painful to watch the game I love turn into a sideshow like that.

“The NHL had a chance to send a clear and strong message that those kinds of actions are unacceptable and embarrassing to the sport. It failed.

“We, as a league, must do a better job of protecting the integrity of the game and the safety of our players. We must make it clear that those kinds of actions will not be tolerated and will be met with meaningful disciplinary action.

“If the events relating to Friday night reflect the state of the league, I need to re-think whether I want to be a part of it.”

Now don't get me wrong, Lemieux has done plenty that garners my admiration.  He was one of the best players I ever had the chance of seeing play in my lifetime, Gretzky may have been better, but that is neither here nor there.  His courage while fighting Hodgkin's disease was amazing and what he did in somehow taking a franchise that was on the verge of at best relocating and at worst disappearing altogether and making it not only a viable hockey team but one that has been recognized as one of the best run in all of professional sports.  I take none of that lightly.  Still, when he calls out the NHL for how it handled the situation Friday night it is a little disingenuous.  It was in this very blog about a year ago that I question the hit Matt Cooke, one of Lemieux's employees, delivered to Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins.  And it is the Pittsburgh Penguins who lead the entire NHL this year in fighting majors, so it isn't like this problem just surfaced.  One of the events that brought about the brawls that took place Friday was the last game played between the Islanders and the Penguins, where a number of questionable hits were delivered by both teams and the end of the game saw the two goalies square off only to see the Islanders netminder Rick DiPietro end up with broken bones in his face.  So it is hard to have Lemieux complain about the over agressiveness in the game when some of the guilty parties can be found on his very own payroll.

Not that we are done revisiting the past, another gem from last year was the massive snowfall that shut the city down.  One of the problems that resulted from that snowfall and the city's ineffectiveness in cleaning the streets in a timely fashion was that Curtis Mitchell of Hazelwood died, when he called 911 saying that he felt ill but the paramedics couldn't reach him.  Part of that problem was a paramedic Josie Dimon, wanted Mitchell to walk down the hill to the paramedic unit, something Mr. Mitchell said he couldn't do in his condition.  Dimon was then heard on the 911 recording saying to a coworker "He ain't (expletive) comin' down, and I ain't waitin' all day for him. I mean, what the (expletive), this ain't no cab service."  Dimon was subsequently removed of her duties as a paramedic.   Why am I revisiting ancient history you ask?  Because an arbitrator determined today that Ms. Dimon should be reinstated to her old job with back pay.  Dying in Pittsburgh just got a little easier, all you have to do is dial 911.