AP Wire | 04/18/2006 | Casino groups pitch plans for Pittsburgh

Here is a mixed message:

AP Wire | 04/18/2006 | Casino groups pitch plans for Pittsburgh 'We now have the opportunity to demolish an arena and rebuild a community,' said The Rev. James Simms, chairman of the board of advisers for Pittsburgh First, a coalition formed in large part by the Penguins, Isle of Capri and Hill District community groups.

If you want to build, you build. If you want to tear down, you tear down.

To rebuild community -- with gambling -- is a joke.

The community building within the Isle of Capri plans are "if marketplace conditions prevail." The community is a wish -- a hope -- a promise -- and the groundwork for a l-i-e. If the community was real, then we'd have another story. But, the community plans with the Simms associated plan is but a pipe dream.

Likewise, the community with the Station Square plan is not a sure thing either.

Both of these plans are built on, in part, false hope.

This quote by Ken Sawyer of the Penguins, was a whopper. "I guess unfortunately for you people, you may be deciding the fate of the Penguins," Sawyer told the board. The fate of the Penguins is put on the backs of the gambling board -- by the owners of the Penguins.

The Penguins owners can't even pull their own weight nor make their own decision. They willingly want to pass the buck. No wonder they are in last place.

Leadership that is with such a defeated attitude is sure to guide the competitive team right into last place.