I'd meant to ruminate on this one for a while, or perhaps do a bit more research, and then I forgot to publish it over the break. So I'm publishing it now, but it was written 28 December 2006.
New stuff: given the news out of KC, I'm even more disappointed in Mario. It seems clear to me that the Balsillie bid wasn't really being taken seriously, and it seems that the Pens ownership are just trying to leverage free arenas. Bully for them if they can get it, but the language Lemieux used here goes beyond the pale, IMO.
Old stuff:
I'm shocked and disappointed that Mario Lemieux would take this approach. (I don't need to be offended, I'm sure Jim Ballsillie can be offended enough on his own behalf.) Unless "sources" are very wrong, the NHL placed some last-minute conditions on the sale, and Ballsillie had initially said he may come at it again. Well, I guess he won't be now, and I expect he'll be requesting his deposit back too.
Hey Mario, if you want to see what being jerked around is like, you could look to Edmonton for an example. (I went looking for stories on the dude who was allegedly a millionaire that came out of nowhere and put in a bid on the Oilers, but turned out to be a con man. I couldn't find them. Pretend there's a link to one of them there, I didn't feel like busting out Lexis Nexis tonight.)