Mario Lemieux is the most influential athlete in Pittsburgh history. Without Lemieux, there… Mario Lemieux is the most influential athlete in Pittsburgh history. Without Lemieux, there would not be a hockey team in this city. We would probably be watching the Portland Penguins instead.

Lemieux gave more to this city than most of the people born here have. In 1984, the year he came to town, the Pens were a financial mess. Statistically the worst team in the NHL, Lemieux had to single-handedly put people in the stands. Any money the team made was because the fans came to watch him play.

Since then, he has been linked to all of the success the Penguins have ever experienced. Sure, other players helped along the way, but it was Lemieux who brought them here. He made this team respectable and convinced other talent to actually come play for Pittsburgh. They knew that with Lemieux in the lineup, they could win.

Do you think Jaromir Jagr would have made it as long as he did with the Penguins if Lemieux wasn’t his line mate? No, he would have run off to “sunshine and girls” the second he got good. Lemieux united those teams and led them to two consecutive Stanley Cups. Before he retired in 1997, he transformed the laughing stock of the league into the most feared offensive power of the 1990s.

Entering a new decade, he would continue to write new pages into his Penguin legacy. After his departure from the game, the team fell into bankruptcy. Lemieux purchased the up-for-sale club and vowed to never let the Pens leave Pittsburgh. Last season, he came out of retirement to lead his crew to one of its most exciting playoff runs. This array of selfless moves won the hearts of every true hockey fan in town. Many people simply refer to Lemieux as “Mario,” as if he were an old friend.

So cut your buddy some slack. I can’t believe that anyone in their right mind can call Lemieux “selfish” for playing in the Olympics. This team is built on his unselfishness. He sacrificed his health for the Penguins. Playing through back spasms, cancer and a broken wrist, Lemieux always wanted to see his adopted city succeed. Because of his passion, we did. Arguably, we should call the team the Pittsburgh Lemieux because without him, they would only resemble slow, flightless Penguins waddling around on the ice.

At age 36, Lemieux is, in hockey years, an old geezer. His playing days are very much numbered and he is trying to accomplish as much as possible in his final seasons. That is why he wants to play in the 2002 Olympics. It is one of the few challenges he has yet to undertake. With the NHL being so accommodating to the games, he, like many other players, wants to represent his country. He is from Canada, where hockey is religion. Representing the country in the Olympics is a spiritual quest and the gold medal is the Holy Grail.

Lemieux, who spent the majority of his professional career playing in America, wants to show his homeland that he can thrill them as well. He has already provided Pittsburghers with countless memories and deserves the chance to provide Canada with a few. Who are we, the benefactors of a lifetime of highlight reel plays, to stand in the way of the rest of the world getting to experience his magnificence? We shouldn’t greedily demand that he continue to spend every second of his waning career here.

If Lemieux needs a few days off during the regular season to rest up for Salt Lake City, let him. If he wants to take next year off to open a Mexican restaurant chain, let him. Lemieux already rung up a bill this city can never repay. Unlike 99 percent of athletes, he still cares about the well-being of the town that made him famous.

If we don’t make it to the playoffs this year, it is not Lemieux’s fault. The team is struggling because they are inexperienced and injured. But Lemieux still cares; he still wants to help. If we somehow miraculously make it into the postseason, it will only be because Lemieux rallies the troops.

Lemieux taking a few games off should remind us, if anything, of what it will be like when he is gone for good. So shut up about the Olympics. Get off his back (it’s already sore enough) and wish him luck. If he wins that gold medal, it could further rejuvenate his love of the sport. Maybe he’ll even stick around to play in the next winter games.

Every second of ice time he takes here until his next, and final, retirement is a personal gift from the unselfish Lemieux to Pittsburgh. Considering that he has spoiled us rotten for almost two decades, we should be happy to still be getting anything at all.

David J. McCarthy can be reached at [email protected].