It may be the season to be jolly, but for those of you in and around Pittsburgh, it is the season to be angry.

No, do not be angry at Mario Lemieux. He has been Superman for the Penguins in the last two decades. If not for Super Mario's dedication, the Penguins would have been in Portland by the late 1990s. Lemieux has forsaken the money due to him in order to keep the franchise in Pittsburgh more than once, so when he says the team may be forced to move, understand he has exhausted every opportunity.

Do not be angry at the National Hockey League. The NHL desperately wants the Penguins to stay in Pittsburgh.

Do not be angry at your fellow fans. Pittsburgh faithful have repeatedly filled the Igloo night after night.

The frustration should be directed towards the political system that has put the Penguins in this mess. The Pennsylvania state government had a chance to pull the Penguins out of this situation by granting a slot license to Isle of Capri, the organization that pledged to build a $300 million arena for the Pens and the city of Pittsburgh.

Certainly, there are more factors that went into the awarding of the slots license for downtown Pittsburgh, but none of the other bids seemed to do as much good for the city as the Isle of Capri. A $300 million arena for free -- those words bear repeating. No taxpayer money. No team money. No PSLs or increases in ticket prices needed to pay for the new rink.

A $300 million arena to save the NHL's most exciting young franchise. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, and Marc-Andre Fleury are the league's stars of the future. No, scratch that. They are the league's young stars of today. Crosby and Staal are still eligible for this year's World Junior tournament, but instead, they are tearing up the NHL.

The future could not be brighter on the ice, yet there is nothing but doom and gloom in Steeltown this Christmas. The Penguins have been a part of the city's fabric for 40 years, but that may come to an end in spring. The lease at Mellon Arena is up and there is virtually no chance the Pens will stay at the aging facility for any length of time.

When Lemieux admits the team might have to leave Pittsburgh, the city's biggest booster is essentially throwing in the towel. Where the Penguins would go is anyone's guess at this point. Kansas City is a leading candidate -- it is not a traditional hockey market like Pittsburgh, but it does have a new arena. Houston and Winnipeg are not out of the question, although expansion would likely be required on the latter's arena.

The frustrating thing for Pittsburgh residents is none of this had to happen. The ideal solution had been found -- the Isle of Capri was the team's savior.

In a complicating twist, the slots license was awarded by the state and not the city. Pittsburgh lies on the far western side of Pennsylvania, while the majority of the state's population is in Eastern Pennsylvania. Hence, the majority of the state's political power lies far from Pittsburgh.

Nobody is saying things would have definitely worked out different had the decision makers been primarily from the Pittsburgh area, but you have to wonder. Surely Pittsburgh natives would understand how important this issue was to the city, wouldn't they?

We will never know. The decision was made and the Pens have to live with the aftermath. A privately-funded arena is virtually out of the question, as the complicating issue is the fact the Penguins have been for sale for some time. No owner is going to pay $100-200 million for a team and then spend $300 million on a new arena -- it is financial suicide. For that matter, so is staying in the Igloo.

Lemieux said Thursday the team is off the market, an interesting development to the story. Without a doubt, Lemieux will continue to exhaust every possible angle to keep the team in Pittsburgh -- but he has already been doing that for years. Perhaps the dire situation will open up some funding, but that seems like a long shot at this point.

One thing is for sure -- if the Pens leave Pennsylvania, it will not be for lack of effort from Lemieux. As far as the state government goes, well, that is another story.

Pittsburgh may be near coal mining country, but the fans did not expect -- or deserve -- this lump of coal in their stockings.