I have to admit I got a kick out of seeing several of the Steelers arrive in Detroit wearing Jerome Bettis'  No. 6 Notre Dame jersey.  Of course, I saw Hines Ward in one and thought, "Oh, if only..." but then realized, knowing how ND managed talent at the time, we probably would have tried to turn him into an option quarterback.  Oh well.

But the best line goes to my husband, who upon seeing his team in the green jerseys on ESPN, yelled, "Those damn green jerseys better not jinx us!"

My husband has played in a local hockey league for a few years.  Now this is not the best hockey you have ever seen played - frankly, the Mighty Mites at Caps' intermissions skate better than half the guys in the league -- but the games are probably the most entertaining I have seen in a long time.  It's not good hockey, but it's hockey, and during last year's NHL lockout I grew to love it.

Unfortunately, I've been largely absent as a spectator this season due to scheduling that tends to put them on the ice at midnight on Sundays.  I admit it; I like to sleep more than I like to watch 30-year-old guys skate around an old rink in suburban Virginia.  However, last weekend the scheduling gods smiled at us and gave him a 5 p.m. game so I tagged along.  About five minutes after I arrived I knew we were in for an interesting night.

See, the league pretty much revolves around beer.  Win, lose or tie, as long as there is beer available after the game, the guys seem happy to knock off the dust, work out the kinks and play.  So that's why I was shocked that, as important as beer is, the team somehow forgot to bring some.  I mean, priorities fellas!  Somehow (by virtue of being the only wife in attendance without small children to herd) I won the lottery and got to make the beer run while the teams warmed up.  Nothing like rolling up to 7-Eleven on a Sunday evening and cleaning them out of Miller Lite.  I looked like I was either throwing a raging party or had a serious problem.  To add insult to injury, I have to fight with every convenience store clerk about the validity of my ID due to the fact that even though I turn 28 next week my 20-year-old sister and I can pass ourselves off as twins.  Already the night was off to an auspicious start. 

The first period was uneventful, but things really got heated up in the second as the penalties started flying.  My husband's team had already racked up four or five penalties mid-way through the period, keep in mind this is a non-checking league.  Yet somehow, thanks to outstanding goaltending and a shorthanded goal by my husband, they managed to be down only a goal. 

Things were looking up and then all hell broke lose.  In the course of five minutes, one of their four defensemen got tossed for amassing four penalties (actually, he got called for a double minor on the last one so managed to get five, one beyond the league's official limit), the coach was ejected for yelling at the refs, and the captain sent off after a game misconduct for fighting.  Suddenly, down a defenseman, a coach and the captain the team also lost the ability to count and put the correct number of men on the ice.  Instead of having a five on three, the other team got a couple of five on two chances before someone realized another man could be out there. 

Miraculously, the team went into the third period tied after scoring another shorthanded goal.  Unfortunately, due to the fact that they amassed a total of 15 penalties resulting in them playing more than half the game at least a man down, they gave up a goal late in the third and lost 3-2.

As the guys came off the ice, they looked deflated.  They knew they should have beaten the other team handedly, and they now faced the suspension of their captain for at least a game.  However, after a few minutes of grumbling the pads came off, and with them, their anger.  After all, there was beer to be had and all seemed right with the world.  You gotta love beer league hockey.

I just clicked on FoxSports.com and saw this headline:

Redskins' Taylor faces 46 years in prison

Unfortunately, this has become commonplace.  In the last few years, it has been difficult to open the Sports page of the Washington Post without seeing that some Redskin or Raven is facing charges for an assault, robbery or drug-related incident.

I understand that many of these guys come from rough beginnings, and that it is difficult to leave your past behind - and even if you try, it sometimes comes looking for you - but the proliferation of arrests in sports has more to do with the fact that athletes are treated as if they live by a different moral code than the rest of us than where they are coming from.  The rules for athletes are simply different, and they are taught that from the moment their athletic talent is identified.

Very few teams, at the professional and collegiate level, are willing to come down on a superstar for any infraction, unless it is so egregious that it cannot be ignored, meaning there will be a public outcry.  But what does that say?  The message it sends is that it's okay to do anything, as long as it won't cause a backlash that could hurt our ticket sales.

What's really sad is the scale of an infraction has to be pretty damn large to generate a public outcry. 

St. Louis Rams defensive end Leonard Little killed a woman while driving under the influence of alcohol.  He served three months in jail and was suspended for half a season.  He has since been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after failing a field sobriety test.  He admitted he'd had a few beers, but did not take a breathalyzer test, and a jury exonerated him.  I understand that accidents happen, but a woman is dead as a direct result of his behavior, and events demonstrate that behavior may be continuing.  Yet the league and the team do nothing to alter that behavior. 

And neither have the fans.  There was more outcry and airtime give to Kurt Warner's wife being pushy.

Fans can talk with their wallets.  Unfortunately, most fans are willing to put up with anything to see their team win and elect to ignore outlandish behavior from professional athletes as long as they keep winning.  Kind of demonstrates the state of our morals as a society.

An era will come to an end in Pittsburgh today.  Penguins center Mario Lemieux is expected to announce his retirement at a press conference this afternoon.

Lemieux, who led the Pens to two Stanley Cups in the 1990s, has been off the ice since the middle of December after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat.  He had continued to work out and on Saturday told NHL on NBC announcers that he was hoping to rejoin the team soon.  However, he appears to have changed his mind.

Lemieux's retirement marks the latest blow for the Penguins.  Last week Lemieux, who bought the team in 1999, announced he was stepping down as CEO.  The team is currently for sale.  Finding a new owner who will keep the team in Pittsburgh appears to be contingent on a new stadium deal.  While Lemieux expressed hope last Saturday during the NBC broadcast that an agreement that would allow the team to stay put is possible, ownership groups in other cities, including Las Vegas and Kansas City, have expressed interest in the team.  The Penguins, who fired Head Coach Eddie Olcyzk earlier this season after a lackluster start, have remained at the bottom of the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division.  They are currently on a 10-game losing streak.

While Lemieux's retirement will not likely affect the Penguins' already dismal on-ice performance, it marks a serious change in direction for the organization.  Lemieux has been the franchise for two decades.  Arriving as a French-Canadian kid who spoke little English, Lemieux grew to become a symbol of the Iron City, one of the few non-football playing athletes who could rival the city's storied gridiron heroes, dazzling fans across the league with his deft scoring touch.

But Lemieux is now the Penguins' past and Sidney Crosby its future.  On a team stacked with aging all stars, Crosby, along with goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, will determine the direction of the franchise.  Coach Michel Therrien recently slapped the "A" on Crosby, and it is now his time to make a leadership statement and claim the team as his own.  Heavy work for an eighteen-year-old playing with men who've been in the league almost as long as he's been on skates. 

However, if the Penguins think symbolically passing the leadership torch to Crosby will solve their problems, the team is in deeper trouble than I thought.  The front office should take advantage of the upcoming trade deadline to unload some of those aging all stars for younger talent that can be developed to complement Crosby and Fleury.  Solid prospects can be had for John LeClair, Mark Recchi or Sergei Gonchar and teams looking to make a playoff run would welcome a battle-tested veteran.  There's no question the Penguins need to clean house to rebuild.  With an unsalvageable season and the loss of Lemieux, why wait to start the process?