Thursday, March 8, 2012

Le Magnifique

In Pittsburgh, yesterday, the Penguins organization unveiled a 10-foot statue of their owner/Hall of Fame captain/2-time* Stanley Cup winner/3-time Savior, Mario Lemieux.  The statue is located outside their new arena, the Consol Energy Center.  (* As a player.  Mario won a third Cup, as an Owner.)

You have to give it to Pittsburgh… they know statues and they do them right.  Downtown is practically littered with giant bronze statues of hometown icons.  You’ll find 4 statues of former Pittsburgh Pirates outside PNC Park: Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Bill Mazeroski.  Outside the Steelers’ Heinz Field, you’ll see a statue of founder Art Rooney Sr., sitting on a bench, smoking a fat cigar.  Heck, even Mister Rogers has a statue in Pittsburgh.

Baltimore is just catching on to the statue thing.  There’s a statue of Johnny Unitas outside the Raven’s stadium and one of Babe Ruth outside Camden Yards, but that’s it.  I took them to task last summer for commemorating their baseball players thusly:
This “tribute” has all the warmth and humanity of Morse Code.

But by the end of the baseball season last year, they finally unveiled a statue for Orioles 3rd baseman Brooks Robinson.  Later, I read that they have plans to likewise celebrate their other Hall of Famers.  Presumably, they will have the “numbers” retired.

I would like to have been there for the unveiling of Mario’s statue, but of course, I have a life and it’s not in Pittsburgh, so I had to wait for the reports to filter onto the Internet.  So let’s have a look:
Entitled “Le Magnifique,” the statue captures a moment from a 1988 game against the NY Islanders, where Mario took a pass at the blue line, split 2 defenders (who ran into each other) and skated in to bury a shot behind the goalie.

The Pensblog, reacting to some behind-the-scenes tweets, had video up on this goal before the statue was even uncovered.


I love the fact that this statue has the 2 “other” dudes in it, Jeff Norton and Rich Pilon, who basically function as pylons.  Right after I saw it, I wondered what those guys thought of being sculpted into the scene.  At least one of them, Pilon, took it in stride, saying, “If you’re going to get beat on a play and it’s there for everyone to see forever, it might as well be Mario.  He did that to a lot of defensemen.”

As with the other statues in town, (not including Mister Rogers, whose likeness is more “impressionistic”), the detail was impressive.
Yep, that’s Mario.

If you’re reading this from Pittsburgh or are a big Penguins fan, you already know all about Mario, so you’re forgiven if you skip to the end.  But if you don’t know anything about him, let me try to explain why this guy from Montreal merits a statue in Pittsburgh.

At the end of the 1983-84 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins were atrocious, winning only 16 games all season.  Their horrid record earned them the right to pick first in the next draft and they selected the can’t-miss 18-year old French-Canadian kid.  The Penguins were on shaky ground and desperately needed something or someone to draw butts to the rink.  When Mario came to town, he was not fluent in English.  Nevertheless, he took the town by storm.  He scored a goal in his first game, on his first shift, and never looked back.  The kid was a human highlight reel.  Rejuvenating the city’s passion for hockey was the first time he saved the team.  Even his name was perfect, as the literal French translation for “Lemieux” is: The Best.

He was big, for a goal-scorer, standing 6’4” and going about 230 lbs.  He had speed, power, quick feet and brilliant hands.  The guy made 50-goal scorers out of a series of average players around him.  All they had to do was keep their stick on the ice and he would find it with a precision, tape-to-tape pass.

He led the Pens to their first Stanley Cup in 1991; their second in 1992.  They had a line on Number 3 the next year but were upset in the 2nd round by the Islanders.

It’s not a stretch to name Mario and Wayne Gretzky as the two greatest hockey players ever.  Gretzky put up far better total numbers, but he had two things in his favor: he played most of his career with far more talented teammates than Mario did for his first 5-6 years in the league.  Also, Mario’s career was plagued with injury and illness.

He had chronic back problems, which turned into a herniated disk that kept him from being able to lace up his own skates on many nights.  Then late in that ill-fated Cup run of ’93, he announced that he had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  He then endured 2 months of energy-draining radiation treatments, which beat the cancer into remission.

On the day he took his last radiation treatment, he flew to Philadelphia to play in a game against the Flyers.  Even the rabid Philly fans had to give him a standing O for that kind of toughness.  With Mario back the Penguins reeled off 17 straight wins and Mario won the league scoring title.

By the end of the 1996-97 season, with his back taking a toll and as the league’s inability to eliminate the clutching and grabbing sapped the game of its excitement, Mario announced that he was retiring from hockey.  He was the first (and only) player to retire while averaging over 2 points per game for his career. (A “point” is either a goal or an assist.)

During his retirement, the Penguins teetered on the edge of financial disaster.  Several poor business decisions by ownership resulted in the team having to file for bankruptcy.  That meant players like Lemieux that had “deferred” their salaries in order to help the team stay competitive, were not going to get paid.  The Penguins owed Mario over $30 million.

Mario sought to recover his money by forming an ownership group of his own and converting his $30 mil into an ownership stake, and with that, he bought the team (which was the 2nd time he saved hockey in Pittsburgh.)  With his ownership team, they formed a plan not just to make the team solvent again, but to pay back everyone to whom they owed money.  By 2005, all bankruptcy debts were paid off.

He came out of retirement in 2000 to play for the Penguins again.  He still had the skills and the hands, but his back was a recurring problem.  Regardless, it was great to see him on the ice again, making dazzling moves, setting up his awe-struck teammates and even throwing his body around when the need arose.

Remember, Mario was a big guy.  When he wanted to hit someone, he made it count.  I’ll never forget those games where you could see that he’d had enough, either with the opponent taking liberties, or the lack of effort from his own squad.  You’d see his eyes narrow and turn into icy blue chips, then the next thing you know, [BANG] there’s The Captain, mashing some guy into the glass.  Then [BAM], he’s knocking some other defenseman flying.  That never failed to jump-start his teammates (and the crowd).

In January of 2006, the year after the NHL lockout, the year after the lockout, Mario announced his final retirement.  By then he was also experiencing atrial fibrillation that caused an irregular heartbeat.  Between that, the faster pace of the league, and his being, you know… 40 years old, it was time to hang’em up.

The Penguins were still in trouble though.  Mellon Arena, their home ice, was the oldest rink in the league.  Without the revenues that a new arena would bring, the Penguins would be unable to stay financially competitive.  With the team for sale, there was a very real chance that the Pens would be sold and moved out of state.  In fact, they were close to being moved to Kansas City, who had a state of the art arena just waiting for a team to occupy it.

It took some real doing, but the city, state and team eventually came together to produce the finance package it took to build the Consol Energy Center and keep the Pens in the ‘Burgh.  In March of 2007, they announced that the deal was done and the team would stay put.  I practically passed out from the news.  I was a nervous wreck at the prospect of their being no more Penguins hockey.  (Chalk up the 3rd time Mario saved hockey in Pittsburgh.)

It’s really tough to encapsulate this guy in just a few pages.  Heaven knows there are dozens more storylines and highlights I could write about… the amazing goals, the Canada Cup, the Olympic gold medal and the Stanley Cups… but you can find all that on Wikipedia.  Or look up some Mario highlights on YouTube.  Sometimes I get lost for hours, watching Mario highlights.

To me, the biggest one was always that last game in Pittsburgh before his first retirement.  They were playing the Flyers in the first round of the playoffs.  Mario had already announced his retirement and the Flyers were having their way with the Pens in that series.  With the Flyers up 3-0, they played Game 4 in Pittsburgh.  Everyone knew that barring a miracle, this would be Mario’s last home game.  I remember watching the game by myself, in my apartment in Albany NY.  (It was about 6 months before I’d move to Baltimore.) 

The Pens were winning this one but it was unlikely that they were going to win in Philly.  Late in the game, Mario took a pass at the red line and began chugging up the left-side boards, leaving everyone on the other team behind him.  You could hear the crowd going insane; or maybe that was just me.

Gary Thorne, the network announcer was right on it, his voice rising with anticipation… “Here he comes… here he comes… Mario Lemieux… hang on… HE SCORES!  Ya gotta love it!”

Mario had cut into the middle and ripped a wrist shot past the goalie and into the net.  The Igloo proceeded to go berserk.  This was like Cal Ripken homering in the game where he tied Lou Gehrig, or in his last All Star game.  It was the perfect moment for the history books, as Mario skated around to the boards, arms outstretched to the crowd.

I tell you, I still get chills just thinking about that goal.  I know I had tears welling in my eyes up in Albany.  The Big Guy came through again.

Mario went on to found the Mario Lemieux Foundation, which raise money to fight cancer and also funds “Austin’s Playroom,” which sets up play areas and gaming units in children’s hospitals around town.

So now, the next time I visit the ‘Burgh, I’m going to have to find time to go and see Mario’s statue.  There, he will remain for all time, as simply: The Best.

14 comments:

Mrs. Bachelor Girl said...

YAY for statues of guys with French names! We're quite fond of those here in Louisiana.

Jessica R. said...

Mister Rogers has a statue in Pittsburgh? I know where I'm making Cassie take me when I visit.

I like the statue. We have a few here including one of Elvis Presley and Huey "Lead Belly" Ledbetter. There are also some very ugly "artistically decorated" catfish statues scattered around town.

sherry stanfa-stanley said...

I have a thing for statues--especially at stadiums. The Mudhens actually have a couple nice ones, as do the Indians.

Milwaukee has a Fonzie one. I think it was erected before he jumped the shark.

bluzdude said...

Right... Mario comes from the "original" cajuns. Sacre bleu!

bluzdude said...

I'm not crazy about the Mr. Rogers statue... it looks like it was made out of shingles.

Baltimore has done similar things with the decorated sculptures around town. First the did fish, which artists decorated using various themes. Then a few years later, they did the same thing with crabs.

bluzdude said...

I'm just wondering who the Mud Hens would have a statue OF? Jamie Farr? Tony Packo?

A Beer for the Shower said...

There are so few "greats" in hockey, but Mario is certainly among their ranks. When I was growing up, I loved the Pens purely because of Lemieux, and I still stand by that. As for Mr. Rogers...I've heard stories that he was an ex-special forces guy, who had all sorts of confirmed kills or something. Respect for the sweater.

Mary Ann said...

"I Like Mario," said his Mom to end an interview. "Cajun" indeed. Tough people, also known for their dry wit and resilient strength.
As for Mario, "SIMPLY the BEST"..

Facie said...

I did not know that Lemieux means "the best" so glad I did not skip ahead.

I love Mario for saving the Pens, in several different ways. I cannot imagine what it would be like if the team were no longer here. I did have to chuckle when during his statue speech, Mario said something like he appreciated that the fans left him alone as he lived his life here (they would say hi maybe, but move on). That surprised me, considering how rabid fans around here can be. Of course one would imagine that Mario is not hanging out at Denny's or the mall...

And for the uninformed, what do the 22 and 8 represent?

bluzdude said...

Mario was one of a kind. You just don’t see people his size that have that particular skill set. What I wouldn’t have given to see Mario play without the chronic injuries, with today’s rules that crack down on obstruction. He would be absolutely unstoppable.

Sorry to have to burst your bubble, but those stories about Mister Rogers being a Special Forces guy are an urban legend. He was never anything but a mild-mannered Presbyterian minister and child advocate. I would provide the link for the Snopes post on it, but I’m too lazy.

bluzdude said...

I know they used to use Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” whenever there was a Mario Event, but I never knew how literally applicable it was.

bluzdude said...

I didn’t know about “The Best” either, until the press for this statue began to circulate.

I’m glad that the players find Pittsburgh a peaceful place to go about their business. I suspect that most residents would consider it rude to get all up in stars’ faces when they’re out in public.

The 22 and 8 from the first picture are the Orioles jersey numbers of Jim Palmer and Cal Ripken. The courtyard also features the numbers of the other Orioles in the Hall of Fame, like Earl Weaver, Brooks Robinson, Eddie Murray and Frank Robinson. See that’s my point. The Orioles chose rather antiseptic sculptures of numbers, rather than actual people. But that will change over the next few years, thank goodness.

Anonymous said...

I think it's kind of odd how they decided to use that play (complete with helpless Islander defensemen) to immortalize Mario. I guess the Cup raising pose is a bit cliche, but what about something from his comeback game? Idk...splitting hairs, I guess.

The thing that makes Lemieux unique is his perseverance (and his unbreakable ties to the Pens franchise in Pittsburgh) but when you see the stats and you think about how many points per game he averaged, then multiply it by the man games he missed over his career (not counting the year and a half lost to the lockouts) one thing becomes abundantly clear: Lemieux is actually *better* than Wayne Gretzky.

'The Best' indeed.

bluzdude said...

That's what I think... head to head, I'd take Mario. Same skills, bigger body. Wayne was great, but his was a completely "finesse" game. Mario was a perfect blend of power and skill with a dazzling grace in both his hands and feet.

In picking that pose for the statue, they wanted a pose where he was splitting the defensemen (which he did frequently) to demonstrate his perseverance both on and off the ice.