Hartford Dodges a Bullet: Bring Back the Whalers

For years, the ever-so-ahead-of-the-game civic leaders in Hartford have coveted ESPN Zone. If only an ESPN Zone opened in Hartford, the thinking went, the city would come to life. Alas, the dream is dead.

To Hartford's leaders, bringing ESPN into downtown Hartford made all the sense in the world. After all, the WWL's headquarters is just around the corner in stylish Bristol. And Charlie Steiner once worked in radio in the Insurance City.

So if ESPN would just, please, maybe open one of their health-food outlets greasy spoons downtown, the whole world would see what a wonderful place Hartford really is. And if the crowds of people going the restaurant managed to find parking and avoid being mugged, all the better.

But now that Disney has pulled the plug on the ESPN Zones, Hartford can turn its attention to a more realistic goal - bringing back the Whalers.