Consoled by Consol

On Saturday, DB~ and I went with our friends (and their 18 month old) to tour the new Consol Energy Center, the soon-to-be home to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I'm not really sure how to say this properly, so....it was kind of bland. I found the color scheme to be very laid back and soothing in the concourses, with a lot of pale yellows and beiges. I loved the fact that you can walk around the entire circumference of the concourse and be able to see the ice at all times (especially in the top section).

But there were a lot of things that I wasn't sure about. Can anyone explain the pattern of the gold-backed seats to me? At first I thought it might be a Fibonacci sequence of every 1, 2, then 3, then 5 rows, but that didn't work out. DB~ thought it may have something to do with handicapped access or special seating, but uh-uh.

I found it somewhat interesting that the Consol is saturated with pictures of Sidney Crosby, but very, very few of Geno Malkin. I found his absence very telling as to who will be here long-term.

And the Kids Zone? It was full of hard surfaces and sterile colors. And as our friends pointed out...good idea to give a bunch of rowdy kids access to hockey sticks. It had Wii Sports set up. Good to see we can get the kids out of the house for a night so they can be addicted to gaming consoles somewhere different. /end cranky mid-30's man rant/

The California University Conference Center was very bland and utilitarian. Who needs to come downtown to get a lights-on Powerpoint projector and a conference table? Do people not have these? And not have to fight traffic and pay for parking?

In the Lexus Club, you can survey the city out of the wall of glass windows and stare at the sad remains of the Mellon Arena. Sort of like looking at your wife's grave as you blow through the cemetery in a convertible with your new blond trophy wife. The luxury suites, at least the ones open to the public or visible from the First Niagara Zone/Captain Morgan Lounge were nothing special. Certainly not as nice as the ones at PNC Park, which I had the pleasure of being in twice through no merit of my own.

Overall it will be a fun place to watch Sidney Crosby and the boys bring home another Stanley Cup, but just don't go expecting the Taj Mahal.

Compare and Contrast - Being a Pirate fan to being a Pens fan

This may sound strange coming from a guy who is so in tune with the minor leagues of baseball and passionate about the inner workings of MLB, but my favorite pro sport to watch is hockey. Specifically, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It's a weird dichotomy being both a Pirates fan and a Pens fan. Right now, they are on completely opposite sides of the competition spectrum.

Last night, the Pens made their second trade deadline deal in as many days, this time getting Ponikarovsky from TOR for minor leaguer Luca Caputi and spare part defenseman Martin Skoula. It is clear that Ray Shero (top 5 GM in hockey) has set the Pens up for another hopefully-protracted march to the Stanley Cup.

But think about it from Toronto's perspective. They traded a soon-to-be-free agent for a bench player and a prospect. Wow, in this case the Toronto Maple Leafs are the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Leafs are trading anything not bolted down to the Air Canada Centre for draft picks and young players. They are building the farm, the same way the Pirates are trying to build theirs.

As a Pens fan, they can burn the whole farm system down and trade as many draft picks as they want...Flags Fly Forever. It's weird being on the other side of the argument in this sport. Here, the Pens are pretty much like the Yankees or Red Sox. Perennial contender, talent envied (and at the same despised) by the rest of the league, wealthy owner, soon a new arena, and willing to empty the farm to make a run at a title. By getting players from the have-nots of the league.

Recently, I found the site HockeyFutures.com. It's like the Baseball America for hockey. At the beginning of this season, they ranked the Pens' farm 28th out of 30. And I don't care. I look at our prospects and think "That guy can fill a role on the 3rd line. That defenseman can be our 4th, 5th, or 6th d-man." It's because we don't NEED our farm to produce stars. The stars are already on the roster and locked up for good cap numbers for long times. We just need to fill the supporting cast around them for the next 3-4 years. And that's all our farm needs to do.

I hope that in the coming days, perhaps in 2011, the Pirates can stop being like the Maple Leafs and start being like the Pens. Use our farm to obtain the missing pieces we need to make a run at a division title or a championship.

Maybe then my "sports brain" won't be so schizophrenic.