Mark Madden: From Evgeni Malkin to Heinz Field, fans’ priorities are out of whack

The priorities of Pittsburgh sports fans are way out of whack.

A Twitter poll with over 10,000 responding showed that over 30% voting would rather see Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin retire as Penguins than have the team win another Stanley Cup.

You can always pick another favorite player. You can always get a different jersey with somebody else’s name and number on the back.

Mario Lemieux retired. But the team kept playing. Stanley Cups are forever.

The great unwashed wants Malkin to get what he wants. If Malkin stays, the familiar gripe of his wingers not being good enough will resume. It’s like comfort food. (If the Penguins sign Malkin, they can’t afford better wingers.)

But another so-called controversy has jumped above Malkin’s contract status to the top of the Yinzer totem pole: Heinz reportedly no longer holds naming rights to the Steelers’ stadium. It will be called Acrisure Stadium.

This has mightily troubled the waters of our three rivers. Locals swear that they will never call the stadium anything besides Heinz Field.

This confirms that Heinz did the right thing pulling out of the deal.

The stadium opened in 2001. Heinz paid $57 million (Heinz 57, GET IT?) to hold naming rights for 20 years.

The stadium will no longer carry Heinz signage. But a great percentage of the citizens will continue calling it Heinz Field by reflex if not via outrage.

That’s for free. Well played, Heinz.

More Mark Madden columns:

• Mark Madden’s Hot Take: A 3-year deal for Evgeni Malkin makes perfect sense• Mark Madden: With Kris Letang re-signed in win-now move, Penguins might as well keep Evgeni Malkin, too• Madden Monday: Kris Letang’s contract a good one for Penguins, but there are flaws in team’s big-picture plan• Mark Madden: PNC Park is great but doesn’t compare to Forbes Field

This is no betrayal of a local firm, BTW. Heinz still has corporate offices in Pittsburgh but has mostly moved since merging with Kraft in 2015. Heinz doesn’t even make ketchup in Pittsburgh anymore.

Heinz is no more a local firm than Styx is a local band. The jig is up, the news is out…

The Steelers will get a lot more money from Acrisure, an insurance brokerage firm from Michigan. SoFi pays $20 million per year for naming rights to Los Angeles’ football stadium. The Steelers won’t get that, but Heinz paid chump change.

The Yinzer rebellion against the name change is pathetic. The Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in five years, but the stadium’s name is what concerns you.

You won’t stop going. You won’t stop passing out in the parking lot, or urinating in public, or missing kickoff because you’re drunkenly tailgating.

This is just a chance to get mad for a few days. But your anger has no fangs. (Here’s suspecting that’s almost always the case.)

The issue is obviously important enough to write a column about, though. It’s also important enough to talk about on the radio. (It can be a long three hours.)

Considering alternate names could eat up an hour. How about Stillers Field N’at? Or Forbes Field at Three Rivers Stadium. Was Pornhub Stadium a possibility?

Many the Penguins could sell naming rights to Malkin. Drum up some extra cash, then use it to pay him. Try calling him “Leon Draisaitl.”

Here’s betting Malkin stays. GM Ron Hextall offers a four-year deal. Crosby wants that to happen, and so do others with stroke. So, it will.

Part of the constant weirdness surrounding Malkin is because the Penguins have always presented Crosby and Malkin as equals. As a matched set.

They’re not equals, or even close. Crosby is one of hockey’s top five players ever. Malkin wasn’t even named to the NHL’s all-time Top 100 as announced by the league for its centennial in 2017. (Malkin should have been, but that highlights the disparity.)

Because of that presentation, Malkin fans want him to get the same level of respect accorded Crosby. But he’s not Crosby. Right now, Malkin isn’t even equal to Letang. As confirmed contractually.

The Malkin situation isn’t about disrespect. No more than renaming the Steelers’ stadium violates Pittsburgh tradition.

Call it Yinzer Field. After all, you paid for it.