I live in Pittsburgh. What can I say – someone has to.
It’s an interesting place. Locals call it the City of Champions. Part of that is because this year for the first time ever both the NFL franchise and the NHL franchise won their respective championships in the same year. For the NFL franchise, it was their sixth – first time an NFL team has done that.
The city has a strange affectation for sports. A month or so back there was a headline that read “Big Ben Running on 150 Year Old Technology.” The first thought most locals had was about the starting quarterback for the Steelers, whose nickname is Big Ben, and not the big clock in London. I’m pretty sure some of ‘em never heard of the clock.
Not too long ago there was a night of shooting in a local neighborhood that left five kids dead. The headline the next morning read : “Big Ben Feels Good Going Into Training Camp.” No mention of the dead kids.
For the hockey team, not long ago they played the ‘we’re moving if you don’t build us a new arena” card. The city buckled and broke ground on the new arena. The Penguins then admitted that they never planned to leave – it was a ploy to get sympathy for the new house. When they won the Stanley Cup last week, a teary eyed Mario Lemieux sobbed on about how the city almost lost the team. He’s the guy who made the announcement that it was all a ploy.
Other folk refer to our little town as Pixburgh. I think it’s part of local culture. There is an entire subset of English here for which you sometimes need a translator to understand.
A nine course meal here is pierogies, Kielbasa, and a six-pack of Iron City beer…followed be funnel cake for dessert.
Dress up for cultural events is the sports ‘T’ of your choice, and matching ball cap. It make sense – cultural events are defined by the number of kegs you can fit into the back of your SUV. They take place in the parking lot at Heinz field or PNC Park.
This is not to say Pittsburgh doesn’t have its attraction. It’s the only city I’ve ever been to that makes an entrance – especially at night. My points of comparison include Chicago, New York City, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Detroit, Toronto, Washington DC, Charlotte, and Amsterdam (yeah – that one – the one in Europe). Seeing it for the first time as you make that last turn on 279 or exit the tubes, it’s simply breathtaking!
And then there are things like Phipps Conservatory, the National Aviary, SandCastle, Kennywood, the Zoo and Aquarium, the Strip, and Station Square.
Hey – bet your city doesn’t have three rivers and a submarine to patrol them!
And then there’s All That Jazz! Pittsburgh has a long heritage of great jazz and great jazz musicians.
Plus, best of all – I met my lovely wife here!
We don’t have a great big band show tune – you know, like Chicago, it’s my Kind of Town, or New York, New York! But where we lack Sinatra, we have drunken southsiders in Steeler Black and Gold singing “Here We Go!”
And the most confusing street signs on the planet.
Ah, Pittsburgh. Yinz come on down.
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