phil sheridan makes nice

With all the smack-talk being flung around our great commonwealth this week (ahem) in anticipation of the big Pens-Flyers series, which begins Friday at The Igloo (in case any of yinz were wondrin' 'n at), Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer has decided to take a kinder, gentler approach. In his column today, Sheridan seeks to find some common ground between the life of kings' hometown and the life of kings' adopted home. Money quote:

We're talking about Pittsburgh, that bridge-happy city on the other side of the state. We're talking about our neighbors. Taking cheap shots at Pittsburgh would be like picking a fight with your favorite cousin. Think Pittsburgh and you think blue-collar, beer-drinking, salt-of-the-earth folk who are working hard to reinvent themselves in the post-industrial era. That makes you want to hang out with them and compare notes, not insult them. ... Pittsburgh fans [are] a lot like us, only more polite.

Cheers to that. And cheers to what promises to be a fun series. They're calling for all the fans at The Igloo to wear white for Game 1, which means the joint will look a lot like this:


Sweet.