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 more than 10,000 responding showed more than 30% voting would rather see Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin retire as Pittsburgh Penguins than have the team win another Stanley Cup.

You always can pick another favorite player. You always can 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.

It’s reported Malkin will pursue free agency Wednesday.

If Malkin declined a four-year contract at $6 million per, he was always committed to maximizing his earnings, not finishing his career with his “brothers,” Crosby and Letang. Didn’t Malkin say he was already “pretty rich”? Malkin’s best friend (ex-Penguin Sergei Gonchar) lives in Dallas. Malkin’s wife and son live in Florida. His loyalties are spread far and wide.

Letang took less. Bryan Rust took less. Crosby always has taken less. Malkin wants more. The Penguins aren’t the bad guys here.

GM Ron Hextall must get working the second NHL free agency begins at noon Wednesday. He can’t wait to see if Malkin pulls a JuJu and limps back.

The Penguins have approximately $15 million in cap space.

Get Vince Trocheck to be the second-line center. Not because Trocheck is from Pittsburgh but because he’s 29, he can play coach Mike Sullivan’s system and speed game, and he’ll be better than Malkin five-on-five — soon enough, if not immediately.

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

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

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

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

The stadium no longer will 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.

This is no betrayal of a local firm, BTW. Heinz still has corporate offices in Pittsburgh but mostly has 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 in Michigan: It’s reportedly a 15-year deal worth $10 million per.

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 to games. 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.)

You’re not alone in your discontent. The Steelers paid Ben Roethlisberger more than $267 million, but he nonetheless criticized the franchise on Twitter: “It doesn’t seem right or real! FOREVER HEINZ!”

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?

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