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Wednesday, October 17, 2001

By Seth Rorabaugh, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Much like the English of former Penguins coach Ivan Hlinka, the Penguins sweaters have undergone some mind-boggling modifications. Often times, the results have been simply hideous.

Before the 1992-93 season,, the skating penguin had been a constant. But that changed after the Penguins won the Stanley Cup for a second time, and then-owner Howard Baldwin introduced the current logo -- a triangle with a penguin head sticking out. Still, the skating penguin -- there when Rob Brown dated Alyssa Milano (late 1980s) -- remained popular with fans and made a comeback last season -- just missing Rob Brown's union with male pattern baldness (late 1990s).

If you want to know the entire lowdown on the Penguins sweaters, check out http://www.penguinsjersey.com/.

What's There: An entire breakdown of the origins of the skating penguin is available. And such juicy morsels of information as the club's original colors (white, navy blue and Columbia blue), and the logo creator (Carol McGregor, wife of former Pennsylvania state senator, Jack McGregor).

Also, there are season-by-season rosters, all-time uniform numbers, special patches which have appeared on the sweaters, the many designs of pucks used at the Mellon Arena (dating to its Civic Arena days) and a link to current news about the Penguins.

The most interesting section might be the marketplace. Here, anyone with a spare thousand dollars or two can get their hands on a game-worn Mario Lemieux ($7,500) or Jaromir Jagr ($5,500) jersey. If that is too expensive for your tastes, fear not, Maxim Galanov ($325) or Tuomas Gronman ($350). It is with a heavy heart, however, to bear the burden of bad news that Rod Buskas ($450) and Kip Miller ($350) are sold out. No word yet if a game-worn Regis Philbin-esque tie worn by Hlinka will be available.

One can also find replica sweaters, official NHL pucks, media guides and all kinds of other useless hockey-related items. Photos available include a very nice salon photo of every version of the Penguin jersey and a simply splendid 1998-99 University of Kentucky hockey calendar with Ashley Judd wearing only a Wildcats jersey. Why it is there remains a mystery.

Upon Further Review: The fact that $450 of American currency, or any country's currency for that matter, has been exchanged for a piece of clothing worn by Rod Buskas, simply is enough to curdle the blood. And who exactly needs or wants a 1974 Oakland Seals replica puck? Other than Bill Hicke.

Overall: We all have something in this world we have to do and do it well, no matter how mundane it may seem. Some of us write about off the wall web sites. Some of us try to direct a bunch of foreigners whose only common link is the English language without bothering to even learn that language. And some of us sell shirts full of Harry York's sweat ($300). This may not be the noblest calling in the world, but there's a market for it. And http://www.penguinsjersey.com/ does a first-class job.

Score: out of 5.

If you have any web sites that might be worth a look, e-mail Seth Rorabaugh at srorabaugh@post-gazette.com.