Since I discussed the idea of city pride in the last post, I thought I would continue in that same vein tonight. An element of Pittsburgh pride, that I rather purposely left out last time, is the city's pride in their sporting franchises. Obviously there is a strong tie between the fans and the city the team plays in, but there are far more layers involved when it comes to sports fans. Franchises have a history of changing cities when there are far better benefits elsewhere. Fans will start following a team because of their performance during the season rather than the team's location. Generally I find discussions about what sports teams you support to be akin to opening a can of worms. You always end up in an long discussion/debate about why they're great, what needs to happen to move forward, and all sorts stats I don't follow. Although that is mainly because I have never really been a sports fan. Not that I have anything against sports, I do quite enjoy heading to actual games, I've just never had that sort of dedication. But with all of my mild grumbles, I do have to admit that Pittsburgh has some of the most dedicated fans I've met.
I know I've mentioned in the past that while I'm not originally from Pittsburgh, my dad is. So I've always had a very strong connection to the city and its teams. If someone ever asked who I followed in football, baseball, or hockey I would always say Pittsburgh even though I honestly never did. This was because my dad would always have them on so they were the teams I generally knew the most about. Well, when they were available to watch I should say. Since I grew up on the other side of the state, close to the NY border, Pittsburgh teams aren't really ones to get a lot of air time. But that never deterred my dad. When it was available, that game was on the TV. If we had other plans during that time, there was a tape in the VCR so he could watch it later. As the internet became more accessible, he had the Post Gazette's site added to his favorites so he could stay up to date with all of the news and discussions. If someone is playing while he happens to be in the area, he takes full advantage of being able to watch the game whether or not he can actually get tickets to it. He even had that ubiquitous collection of sports tees that would be on regular rotation, depending on the season of course. Since his children have all managed to move out here at this point, there are regular requests for new shirts or a copy of the local paper so he can get the recent win's breakdown. I think he's always been a little disappointed that none of his children really became true fans like himself but I know he takes consolation in the fact that he at least has a couple of people who are willing to watch the game with him. While I had that exposure of Pittsburgh dedication from an early age, I have to admit that it really didn't prepare me for the level of local dedication. Pretty much everyone has an opinion about how the season is fairing and just need the slightest nudge to share it. Heading to a game, well any event really, you can easily get lost in a sea of black and yellow. (I've always held the belief that the reason all of the Pittsburgh teams have similar colors was so that you could never stick out at a game no matter what shirt you happened to grab.) As I entered the work force I was truly surprised how many people would decorate their desks with some collection of sports paraphernalia. I had a manager at one point who decorated the top of his cubicle with a collection of Pirate bobble heads he had managed to accumulate. There would be contests at work where one of the prizes would be to have the ability to wear your sports tees for a month. The amount of celebration that happens after someone has won a big championship is rather staggering. Granted I have managed to be in the city for some of the bigger wins within the last decade, so I'm sure that's part of it. Even though I really haven't featured many here yet, I constantly find stickers from the various teams all over the city. Some are official ones like this one but others are clearly from a fan who wants to show their pride in the team. No matter where you turn there is always something that promotes Pittsburgh's pride in the Steelers, the Pirates, and the Penguins.
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Maggie Ondrey
An amateur photographer and writer capturing a small portion of the city. Archives
August 2017
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