http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Saturday, December 26, 2009
I wanted to start this column with a Mike Lange-ism — "You had to be here to believe it." — but I ran into a problem:
I was here, and I still don't believe it.
Russian hockey players Evgeni Malkin (left) and Alexander Ovechkin (right) at the NHL Entry Draft 2004.
You want to talk about defying ordinary? This decade of Penguins hockey might have been the most eventful decade any professional sports team has ever experienced — and it's not officially over 'til spring.
In a span of 9 1/2 seasons, this franchise has won a championship on a miraculous last-second play; lost a championship on a last-second miss; witnessed its greatest player — who happened to double as team owner — emerge from retirement after 3 1/2 years; traded the best player in the NHL; finished at the bottom of the league; drafted two players No. 1 overall, including the most highly publicized prospect in NHL history; fired a general manager already in the Hall of Fame; issued multiple threats of relocation; secured a new playing facility and girded itself to say goodbye to a fabled old playing facility.
Did I mention the international star who abandoned his Russian team in an airport and hid out in Finland before joining the Penguins?
Of course I didn't, because that's about the ninth-biggest story since October of 2000, when the Penguins waddled off to Tokyo to drop the puck on a new decade with a two-game series against the Nashville Predators.
Looking back on all that has transpired since, I cannot believe one franchise could be so lucky and unlucky in such a short span of time. As recently as 2004, the joke was that the Penguins were so bad they couldn't even win the draft lottery despite finishing last overall.
Poor saps.
Oh, but Evgeni Malkin dropped into their laps with the second pick that year, and a winning lottery ticket with Sidney Crosby's name on it came along the next.
Lucky devils.
So go ahead, try to make sense of this decade. I'm telling you, you'll wind up like former Pens defenseman Ian Moran on his first night back from Tokyo in 2000.
I remember asking Moran how the time-change adjustment went.
"I had a bowl of Golden Grahams, a bagel and two puddings and turned on Monday Night Football and woke up with drool all down the front of my T-shirt," he said. "I was wide awake from 1 til 4, fell back asleep at 8:30 and woke up again with one of my dogs in the bed and no idea where I was or what I was doing."
Go ahead, try.
And remember: The decade isn't over yet.
This column is part of the Trib's series on the Decade in Pittsburgh Sports.
More Columnist Joe Starkey headlines
Starkey: Electric football alive and well
Starkey: What a decade for Pitt men
Starkey: Steelers' decade -- win at Indy changed everything
Starkey: An act of insanity?
Starkey: McClendon's steal was legendary
Starkey: Steelers' integrity on the line
Starkey: Support pours in for Janocko
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