Jagr will hear the boos in Pittsburgh

Arthur Staple

12:30 PM EDT, April 25, 2008

It's a given that Jaromir Jagr will be booed Friday night when the Rangers step on the ice at Mellon Arena.

And it's a shame, really. Penguins fans, like a lot of fans these days, seem to prefer the bad memories to the good ones. Jagr was part of the greatest era of Pittsburgh hockey in the early 1990s, back-to-back Stanley Cups in his first two NHL seasons.

Who can forget that ridiculous mullet flying out the back of his helmet as he rode shotgun to Mario Lemieux, Kevin Stevens, Ron Francis and some old guy named Trottier, out for one last championship spin? Jagr became a star in Pittsburgh; he carried the team when Lemieux's back, and then cancer, kept him out.

No one's asking the Pens fans to cheer for Jagr. This is the playoffs, and you need the home-ice edge of your fans. But the relentless booing every time he touches the puck, every time he's stepped in the arena since 2001? Come on, Pittsbugh. I hope you think you're better than that.

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I hear the excuses for such things a lot -- Pittsburgh is a working-class town, it appreciates athletes who are loyal -- but that goes for fans everywhere, and it's a lost cause in this day. In 2001, Jagr pushed for a trade because, even when Lemieux returned from three years away, the Penguins were a franchise going nowhere except maybe out of town because the city wouldn't build a new arena and the previous owners left Lemieux to prop up the team so he could get the millions he was owed.

Not exactly an ideal situation. Jagr has had plenty of moments throughout his career and is criticized and scrutinized and psychologically analyzed more than any 36-year-old pro athlete around, it seems, and none of it comes out making him look good, or loyal.

His time in Washington was a bust. As a Ranger, he's bought into a system for three seasons, all playoff seasons, but he cracks wise and sounds off a lot about it not being the way he wants to play.

Fans are hard to categorize, really. They love their athletes when they perform well and keep their traps shut, but the guys who make the most noise get even greater love - witness the affection here for Sean Avery, an idiot-savant minus the savant most nights. There's also much love for Jarkko Ruutu in Pittsburgh, who rides shotgun with Avery on the NHL's dirtiest list.

Lemieux is the icon in Pittsburgh, having made the city his home and embraced all things Penguins. Even if he'd moved the team to Kansas City a few years ago, I doubt Penguins fans would have mustered up the negative energy against him.

But Jagr is different, just as he has always been a different sort of guy. He cracks jokes rather than give straightforward quotes, he wants to have fun when he plays, not dull his game down, even for victories.

Those are qualities you want in a person - creativity, thoughtfulness - but in an athlete? "Boooooo!"

So, Penguins fans, do what you will and boo the guy who helped put your team on the map. His old coach, Eddie Johnston, told the Tribune-Review the other day that Jagr's No. 68 "absolutely belongs in the rafters with Mario's (No. 66)."

Agreed. And Jagr might be the first-ever player so honored with boos.