Optimism Approaching Pens-Wings, Game Two

The Penguins are down a game as they prepare for the second game of a television-twisted series that will award the Stanley Cup to Pittsburgh or Detroit, but they should not be daunted.

A year ago, Detroit dominated Pittsburgh in the series opener, establishing a tone that resonated throughout the Stanley Cup Finals. Last night, the Penguins played as well as did the Wings, and lost largely because Detroit was the beneficiary of several breaks -- strange bounces off Joe Louis Arena's idiosyncratic boards that led two pucks to carom behind the Penguins' goaltender, a blown call that deprived the Penguins of a penalty shot (under Rule 67.4) when Henrik Zetterberg smothered a puck located precariously on the back of his team's sprawled goaltender in the crease.

Pavel Datsyuk is reported to be unable to return to the Red Wings' lineup for tonight's game, Niklas Lindstrom appeared to be hobbled last night; the Penguins are the healthier and younger team, suited to a cramped series. The home advantage and a 1-0 lead give the Wings a slight edge, but I still like Pittsburgh's chances.

The Smart And The Dumb Protest Differently

When one has an intense opinion with which the majority (or the law) disagrees, the natural response is to protest.

Smart, sensible people protest one way.

Dumb, deranged people protest another way.

Pittsburgh v. Detroit

Null Space is occupied today, in part, by a brief discussion of Pittsburgh and Detroit, combatants on ice and cohorts in some civic respects.

Two points (an average game for Mario Lemieux, but not for any Red Wing):

(1) The relevant regions have shared the misfortune of the collapse of a foundational industry. Southwestern Pennsylvania (whose collapse occurred first, and whose recovery is further along) constitutes a mildly hopeful example to southeastern Michigan in this regard.

(2) The regions also share the misfortune of a failed core city. Detroit's downtown collapsed 20 years ago and has begun to revive; Pittsburgh's is still teetering, still declining. The lessons Pittsburgh (the city) and its region could draw from this are that downtowns can capsize and that the surrounding regions can survive such a collapse.

"Hey, Obama, My Man! . . . (He Loves Us)"

Over at Bram's place, somebody ridiculed the idea that Dan Rooney might have been responsible for attracting the G20 event to Pittsburgh, and this soft Post-Gazette article was mentioned. The apparent suggestion is that local elected officials -- and their relationship with President Obama -- are responsible for this news and perhaps goodies to come.

The shout-outs to President Obama in that P-G article remind me of the Animal House scene in which the road-tripping fraternity brothers happen upon a club whose marquee indicates Otis Day and the Knights -- the black musicians whom Delta House engages periodically to perform at parties -- are playing inside. "Holy Shit! Otis Day and the Knights! I can't believe it! Wait 'til Otis sees us . . . he loves us!" They rush into the club with their dates, at which point one of the pledges observes: "We are the only white people here," to which the rush chairman responds: "We are going to die." Undaunted, Boone, the original Otis fan, heads to the bar and screams at the stage, "Hey, Otis, my man!!" Otis turns and, frozen for a moment during a song, stares incredulously. After a momentary sneer, Otis returns to "Shama Lama Ding Dong." Boone responds with an oblivious, satisfied smile.

Instead of splitting their support during the Democratic presidential nomination race, ensuring a regional player in the winning campaign, southwestern Pennsylvania's two most prominent elected officials, Dan Onorato and Luke Ravenstahl, both endorsed Hillary Clinton. Onorato preferred Obama -- he had made no secret of that privately -- but succumbed to Ed Rendell when it came to a public endorsement. (I don't know whether Ravenstahl genuinely preferred Clinton, or did Rendell's bidding, or Onorato's.)

Dan Onorato may believe his "secret" support of Obama gave him a leg up when he hopped on the nominee's bandwagon. I believe he is wrong, and that the Obama camp considered him a spineless weasel.

Ravenstahl and Onorato compounded the problem by bolting from a campaign rally before Obama attempted to acknowledge their presence:




I believe Obama also noted the boos when he introduced Ravenstahl and Onorato at other campaign events.

After that performance, who are the Pittsburgh area's connections to the Obama White House? Dan Rooney, no doubt. Cliff Levine, no doubt. After that, I'm thinking Pamela's pancakes and Franco Harris.

So when the local pols talk up their relationship with Obama, I see Luke, Dan, Shawn Fox and Yarone Zober walking into the Dexter Lake Club, heading to the bar to order their Carlings Iron Citys, and Luke and Dan yelling in unison: "Hey, Obama . . . my man!!"

Chrysler In Your Future? Not In Mine

Years ago, I test-drove a Dodge, then spent 15 memorable minutes with a sales representative who, even after I explained that I had several other test-drives to complete and planned to purchase a vehicle in a month or so, continually veered back to the question: "What can I say that will make you say 'yes' today?"

At some point, my eyes wandered to the spine of a binder on his bookshelf: "'No' Is Not An Option: Make the Customer Say 'Yes' Today."

I then responded to his question: "Well, I've considered this carefully, and I honestly think the only way you could get me to say 'yes' today would be to give me a lobotomy as part of the deal."
He pondered my offer for a moment, and I wondered for a moment whether he was debating whether to hit me, but his furrowed brow yielded to a bright smile: "Sir, I'm pretty sure I can get this done for you, but I just need to check with my manager first."

I was out the door before he returned to the cubicle. For years, when we drove past that dealership, my children would sing "Lobotomy Dodge. Lobotomy Dodge. Let's All Go To Lobotomy Dodge."

I often tried to imagine the conversation between that salesman and his manager.

(not-too-smooth segue)

Smaller Chrysler dealers were pressed in recent months to expand inventories (improve manufacturer revenues). A number of those dealers agreed to sacrifice for the benefit of their supplier, and purchased unneeded vehicles in transactions funded by borrowed money.

I could have tolerated the lack of loyalty exhibited when Chrysler repaid the smaller dealers by terminating their franchises. Hard times force difficult choices.

I can not, however, tolerate Chrysler's refusal to repurchase the vehicles that inflated the dealers' inventories (and Chrysler's revenues).

I no longer would purchase a Chrysler vehicle even if they threw in that lobotomy.

Will G20 Event Be Good Or Bad For Pittsburgh? My Take: Ask Gust Avrakotos, Book Justin Sane

September's G-20 economic summit has been scheduled to be conducted in Pittsburgh.

The usual suspects are churning out press releases predicting an economic bonanza and a worldwide awakening to Pittsburgh's charms. Others are forecasting (in part because of the experiences of London and Seattle) a disruptive, expensive mess.

I find it difficult to sort out the competing factors -- revenue from G20ers, security costs, spending curtailed by business disruption, exposure (favorable and unfavorable), hype, substance -- and consequently refer to Aliquippa native Gust Avrakotos' lesson* from Charlie Wilson's War, in which Mr. Avrakatos skillfully invokes the serial observations of a Zen Master that the most apt prediction customarily is "we'll see."

Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, as usual, also provides words to live by in this context -- "when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." In this case, the unadulerated pro is Justin Sane, so I'm going to check on promoting an Anti-Flag show in Pittsburgh during late September.

Hail to Pitt: Messrs. Avrakatos and Sane are University of Pittsburgh graduates.

* Gust Avrakotos: There's a little boy and on his 14th birthday he gets a horse . . . and everybody in the village says, "how wonderful. the boy got a horse." And the Zen master says, "we'll see." Two years later the boy falls off the horse, breaks his leg, and everyone in the village says, "how terrible." And the Zen master says, "We'll see." Then, a war breaks out and all the young men have to go off and fight . . . except the boy can't, 'cause his leg's all messed up. and everybody in the village says, "How wonderful . . . "
Charlie Wilson: . . . now the Zen master says, "We'll see."

Memorial Day

Today's Americans stand on the shoulders of those who strove before them, beneficiaries of centuries of ingenuity, sacrifice, intrepidity, investment and effort throughout the world.

For most Americans, Memorial Day is a day of leisure earned by the sweat and blood of millions of other Americans.

More than one million persons have died in the military service of the United States. Some enlisted, some were conscripted. Some pursued danger, some had no choice other than to confront it. Some accomplished great missions, some were sent on fools' errands. Nearly all distinguished themselves, whatever their orders, by simply doing their duty. Some returned as heroes, some (including many heroes) returned to a society that treated them like dirt, some returned in caskets, some never returned.

All deserve a moment of reflection, a kind thought, a measure of gratitude.

Harvey Haddix's Masterpiece

No one too young to hold a college degree could believe this, but the Pittsburgh Pirates once were a proud organization, unsurpassed among National League clubs in tradition and glory.

Strangely, their success was built almost entirely on decade upon decade of hitting -- Hall of Famers two deep at most fielding positions, especially crowded in the outfield -- with barely a peep from the pitchers. The batting tradition in Pittsburgh was so rich that some of the great Pirates -- Max Carey, Arky Vaughan, Ginger Beaumont, Kiki Cuyler, Al Oliver -- are barely remembered, crowded out by all-time giants (Honus Wagner, Paul Waner) or more recent stars (Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell). Not yet mentioned: the likes of Pie Traynor, Lloyd Waner, Fred Clarke and Dave Parker. I doubt any club beats the Pirates in tradition at bat.

And yet the greatest single-game performance in Pirates' history was that of a pitcher, Harvey Haddix. The extraordinary events of May 26, 1959, recounted in today's Post-Gazette, likely featured the most remarkable one-game performance by a pitcher in the history of major league baseball.

Hats off to Harvey Haddix.

The Return Of PittGirl

PittGirl, a trailblazing local blogger who disappeared (before I read a word) after learning that her identity had been discovered (but not, apparently, widely publicized), has reappeared.

The obvious devotion of her followers ensures that I will check her work, but her chosen medium for re-emergence seems curious. She is contributing a column to Pittsburgh Magazine, which is the mouthpiece for WQED, which is the voice of the region's ossified establishment. I suppose it could be worse -- she could have emerged as the Official Blogger of the Allegheny Conference for Community Development.

If PittGirl breaks the Pittsburgh Magazine mold (breathless and mindless cheerleader for the region's slightly upper crust, a publication whose idea of hard-hitting journalism is something along the line of 'Why Doesn't The Good News About Pittsburgh Get More National Recognition?'), I will admire her. I therefore hope she's kidding about 'this is the year the Pirates' losing ends.'

Good luck, PittGirl. Welcome back.

The Region Ignores This At Its Peril

A half-day of violence, from the "breaking news" section of the Post-Gazette's website:

Pregnant 18-year-old killed; was IUP student . . . . . . . . 1:46 p.m.
Man shot to death in Aliquippa's Plan 11 Extension . . . 12:30 p.m.
Man critically wounded in Homewood shooting . . . . . . 12:21 a.m.
Two people shot in Duquesne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12:00 a.m.

Relative safety along the streets has been a saving grace in southwestern Pennsylvania. If that is lost, there won't be much left to recommend the area to those who possess a choice about their region of residence.

The region is in trouble; the City of Pittsburgh is dying. Decades of stagnant economy, dwindling opportunity for young people and poor government have consequences. These headlines reflect troublesome symptoms. It would be helpful if the region's leaders would recognize, or maybe acknowledge, or perhaps even address this.

A Memorial Day Menu Idea

This analysis (David Brooks, New York Times) provides food for thought that might inform a conversation among family and friends after the pulled pork, vegetables, and grilled pineapple have waned . . . but not, let us hope, before that keg kicks.

Free lunch? Oppression? A Commuter Tax? Dream On, City Officials (And Overlords)

The Mayor of Pittsburgh has surveyed his insolvent, dilapidated, dying city and concluded that the place needs to be spruced up a bit . . . so long as city residents skate on most of the bill. A mixture of increased commuter tax, reprieve from the state-mandated parking tax reduction, and payroll tax on tax-exempt organizations would be just the tonic, the mayor has asserted.

Th "plan" received the standard reception in Harrisburg, whence authority to impose such measures must issue; State Senator Jane Orie labeled the mayor "delusional." State Representative Don Walko declared the commuter tax proposal "dead on arrival." The most sympathetic opinion was issued by State Senator Wayne Fontana, who observed that the maintenance of current parking tax rates "is probably the easier one."

State officials had no comment on the mayor's proposals to increase city property or wage taxes or to place some of the financial burden on city employees -- because there were no such proposals.

The mayor's inspiration was a "recovery plan" issued -- "floated" was the term used by the Post-Gazette, an apt choice because things that float tend to be relatively substanceless, such as feathers, ashes and prospects of a commuter tax-financed city bailout -- by the Act 47 resuscitation team. The Act 47 team's inspiration was . . . well, it's difficult to imagine, but the first guess is one of those Married With Children episodes in which Al (or Peg) pursues a lame-brained get-rich-quick scheme.

Everyone associated with the City of Pittsburgh's finances has been daft for decades, so the chatter on that front is in character, but it is unexpectedly difficult to gauge the Comet's take on these developments. The Comet's reference to outsiders "oppressing" the city and enjoying a "free lunch" at city expense, and cheers for "commuter tax now," must be sarcastic . . . right?

The Boy Mayor's Off-The-Hook Jab At Dr. Dowd

I am reliably informed that Luke Ravenstahl refused to accept Patrick Dowd's concession call on Tuesday evening. I plan to address at another time the practical issues associated with the confluence of an uncompliant supermajority on council and the ineptitude of the mayor and his staff, but here are two preliminary points:

(1) no class

(2) Dr. Dowd seems to be better positioned to be a thorn to Mr. Ravenstahl than vice versa.

In other words, this was about as smart as provoking a police officer at Heinz Field on gameday.

A Fine Night In Pittsburgh

The filly beat a couple of mudders in District 4 and an independent voice discarded a marionette in District 6, ensuring that Mayor Ravenstahl and his boy-band administration will have a bit more adult supervision. Democrats nominated just one unqualified candidate for county judge (note to the stunned: magisterial district justices could call themselves Exalted Intergalactical Jurisprudential Omnipotences if they wished, and I still would not consider them "judges," so I am not referring to Jim Motznik here). Perhaps more striking, they nominated the best candidate in the field and refrained from nominating the worst. What were the odds on that? (Actually, they were listed in the righmost column.)

The evening's biggest source of optimism -- and realism, and morality, and insight, and beauty, and joy, and all-round earthquaking, Burgh-shaking, history-making, heart-stopping, pants-dropping rock-and-roll redemption -- was the revival show conducted by Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band at the Promised Land into which the arena was transformed tonight.

Thunder Road, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, Good Lovin', Youngstown, Candy's Room, I'm On Fire, Jackson Cage and the first-ever E Street edition of Like A Rolling Stone were the rare treats for Pittsburgh. Two Grusheckys were aboard for two songs (check those tickets), Glory Days and Mony Mony. Bruce damn near played Lost In The Flood, too, lingering over a sign before choosing Darkness On The Edge Of Town.

Far too many tours ignore Western Pennsylvania these days, but Bruce never overlooks us. If you enjoyed the show, why not sent 20 bucks to Just Harvest or Rainbow Kitchen? Bruce has been walking the walk and talking the talk on hunger in our region for 25 years, and he has been maintaining relatively low ticket prices, too.

Even The Union Has Given Up On Iron City

A timely update on the Luke-and-beer story from the Trib, which gets credit for raising the issue but misses the story.

I suppose the headline ("Iron City Brewing Co. may find home in Latrobe") is accurate, in the "monkeys might fly out of my butt" sense (skip to 1:30), but the Trib's "story" is vapor fashioned from the desperate hopes of a union that has been the football in a politicians-as-Charlie-Brown, management-as-Lucy charade for years.

The real news is that even the union has apparently acknowledged "last call" for brewing on Liberty Avenue. The city gave millions in public dollars to questionable Iron City management recently, and the state put at least a half-million into the Latrobe facility, but the cold truth is that neither facility is likely to be producing beer next year.

When is someone going to ask the mayor, his chief of staff and the water authority to explain their conduct with respect to Iron City Brewing? Is the city going to pursue repayment of Iron City subsidies that were conditioned on maintaining or increasing employment? Is the state going to hold the owners in Latrobe accountable?

The questions are rhetorical; don't expect to see any of them on the Propositions Board, because taking bets on sure things is something only elected officials would do.

P.S. The photographs depict suggestions for anyone desiring a beer brewed in Pittsburgh. If you want a photograph of beer from Rochester, call the mayor's office.