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11/8/2009 3:32 AM

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Back in November, 1984 - when Mario Lemieux was in the first month of his NHL career and a month beyond his 19th birthday, could barely speak English and was playing in front of crowds of less than 10,000 at the Civic Arena - I had planned to predict that, 25 years later, he would still be living in Pittsburgh, be the owner of the defending Stanley Cup champions and watching his team play in front of sellout crowds every night.

But I forgot.

Yep, the Mario Lemieux story is going into its second quarter-century and, because it has been such a long process with so many twists and turns and ups and downs, maybe we forget how unique and amazing it is.

The story began with Lemieux refusing to put on the Penguins sweater on draft day and holding out. Looking back on it now, we shouldn't have been surprised when Lemieux became a tough negotiator when he needed a new arena.

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Where else in sports has there been a story like this?

Can you imagine Terry Bradshaw buying the Steelers and presiding over a Super Bowl championship?

Remember, too, that Lemieux started out with a language barrier and he began his pro career at the same age that Dan Marino started his college career at Pitt. He was 18.

Wayne Gretzky failed as an owner.

So did Michael Jordan.

Is there another former player with a profile like Lemieux's who has bought the team he played his entire career with and won a championship?

Is there another player in any sport who has literally grown up in front of his fans the way Lemiuex has?

Is there another Pittsburgh superstar of the last 10 or 15 years who has chosen to live in Western Pennsylvania after his career was over? Lemieux made the choice to do that long before he had any idea that he would someday be the owner of the Penguins.

How long did Jerome Bettis stick around?

He put his name on a restaurant and headed for Atlanta and only comes to Pittsburgh when there is money to be made.

Lemieux turned 44 last month and he's working on a new career: Hockey coach.

He's the head coach of his son, Austin's, Junior Penguins bantam (birth year 1996) team in the Empire West Amateur Hockey League. He's no figurehead coach. If there's a schedule conflict with the Big Penguins, he coaches the Junior Penguins.

That's what he did last April when the Penguins were playing the series-clinching sixth game against the Flyers in the first round of the playoffs. He was in Chicago coaching his son's team and getting text message updates on the playoff game.

Lemieux has done all of this the way he tries to do everything else - under the radar.

Bucky Gleason, a writer for the Buffalo News, whose son plays in the same league, wrote about it last week. He pointed out that Lemieux was just like the other coaches, friendly and talkative with all the players, but he turned down all interview requests.

Gleason wasn't upset. He wrote, "For once, my respect for a sports figure soared because he blew me off. His silence showed his heart was in the right place. That he was coaching for the right reasons while rediscovering the purity of the game. In this me-me world, you have to admire a guy who is the polar opposite."

When he's into his third quarter-century, he'll probably still be living in Pittsburgh and coaching his grandson.

n Why do NFL owners have such a tough time pulling the plug on a bad head coach?

Is it just about the money?

Jim Zorn is a dead-coach-walking in Washington. Everybody knows that he's going to be fired 10 minutes after the Redskins' last game. Same thing for Dick Jauron in Buffalo.

The Bills, who should have stuck with general manager Tom Donahoe, gave Jauron a $9 million contract extension after last season and the owner, Ralph Wilson, has never been known as a big spender. So that could be an issue.

But Dan Snyder in Washington has been an idiot with his money since he took control of the team. Wouldn't a new coach have a better chance of succeeding if he got a first-hand look at his new team for half a season?

Why wait until February and make the new guy rely solely on video?

A new head coach is going to want to bring in his own assistants, but he might find some coaches he likes on the current staff if he gets a chance to work with them for half a season.

There could be contractual issues and league rules preventing teams from making the switch but, if an owner has a guy in mind (Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden) who could be available right away, why wait?

John Steigerwald writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.

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