Pittsburgh Peeps!
 

I just got sent a Kennywood Quiz, and thought y'all might want to take a shot at it.

I got 15/15 - I rule!!! :D

I got 14/15, but I have to admit a few of those were guesses! I get all those little towns on the Mon like W. Mifflin, Braddock, etc. mixed up!

Can I just say that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Potato Patch!!!!!!!!

mr. honeychile and I went to Kennywood this summer, or I wouldn't have done half as well! There's a new coaster, The Exterminator, that's completely dark, and you spin and go downhill backwards etc. It's pretty wild!!

My grandparents met at Kennywood!

i got a 13/15

Speaking of Pittsburgh stuff, did you guys here what Bruce Pompeani did?

Yes, and he has me disgusted!!!! His brother Bob is one of the nicest people in shoe leather, and Bruce pulls that crap!! I hope he's nailed!

Okay Pittsburghers...

I have a small question. I was in P-burgh years ago (I believe it was Thanksgiving on '96) and the friend we were staying with took us on a tour of downtown. What is the name of the trolley-like thing that runs down the hill?

I've been trying to remember forever, and I was trying to explain it to someone. I'm afraid I looked like an utter tool trying to recreate it with my hands...

the incline. There's two of them. The Duquesne (roughly pronounced do-cane) Incline and the Monongahela (sound it out, lol) Incline. Both have names that are impossible for non natives to remember!

Thanks, Dani. I knew it was some simple name, but just couldn't come up with it.

The one we took ended up at a marketplace-type thing.

That would be the Monongahela then, by Station Square.

For the Pittsburgher's about the Pompeani scandle:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05011/440242.stm

My roommate tans at that salon when she's at her parents, lol

LOL, all I can think of is the Beavis & Butt-Head episode where they went to the unisex hair salon so the chick would bend over them to wash their hair and they'd see her thingies. :p

I got 13/15 on the quiz by the way.

ETA does anyone remember Kris Long from channel 11? He seemed like such a horndog - I would have thought if anyone would get arrested for sexual harassment it would be him.

Remember school picnics? When your school district would get the day off and everyone would go to Kennywood? Good times! I wonder if schools in other places do that?

I got 13/15. I missed the world's fair one and the million dollar one - I had originally guessed the right ones but I talked myself out of it.

I would kill for some potato patch fries right now. Yum!

Getting ready for Saturday!!
 

For those of you in Pittsburgh the message is obvious. For those of you who are not, I thought you might like to get the "flavor" of the feeling about football in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh: A Big Happy Company Town
January 12, 2005
By JERE LONGMAN

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 10 - The playoffs for Pittsburgh begin here Saturday against the Jets, as the red and green of Christmas gives way to the black and gold of the Steelers. Even mannequins at the Satin and Lace lingerie shop are decked out in Terrible Towels.

"A couple of women thought they were aprons and men think they're nighties," Patty Pearce, the shop's owner, said of the towels that fans have long waved at Steelers games. "That shows you where the mind is at. Of course, my business is based on where men's minds are."

Roethlisburgers are going for $7 at Peppi's, a pricey homage to the rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and his jersey number. And there appear to be more songs dedicated to the Steelers than to trains and rivers.

"There must be 20 of them, one worse than the other," said [honey's least favorite sports writer] Gene Collier, co-author of a play about Art Rooney, the Steelers' founder. "What is it about the Steelers' success that makes people say, 'Where's my kazoo?' "

A magnificent 15-1 season, latticed with 14 consecutive victories, has tightened the resilient bond between the Steelers and this appealing but frayed city of immigrants. It is an attachment of civic identity, loyalty, perseverance and nostalgia for the glory days of the 1970's, when the Steelers won four Super Bowls as the steel industry crumbled.

"Pittsburgh is a throwback town," said Wallace Miller, a Steelers fan and the coroner of Somerset County, Pa., which is east of Pittsburgh. "You see people walking around in Jack Lambert and Jack Ham jerseys. And that was 30 years ago."

But wistfulness does not fully explain the relationship between Pittsburgh and the Steelers. The team is of the city, not merely in the city. It emerged from the sandlots of the north side and was purchased for $2,500 in 1933 by Rooney. The Rooney family still owns the Steelers and has fashioned them in the family's unpretentious image.

Dan Rooney, the team chairman, walks from home to each game. The Steelerettes were retired in 1970 as the Rooneys wearied of the ostentation of cheerleaders. The team's jut-jawed coach, Bill Cowher, and his reliance on running the ball and punishing defense, evoke qualities the fans see in themselves as hardworking, blunt, durable. "In Pittsburgh, you're either a tough guy or you're not," Marc Mrvos, a distributor of medical supplies, said. "With the Steelers, things remain the same. I'm 35. In all my life, they've had two coaches."

The Rooneys have provided fidelity, committing to Pittsburgh while Westinghouse, Rockwell International, Gulf Oil, Mesta Machine, J&L Steel and U.S. Steel reduced or ceased operations, said Rob Ruck, a history lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh who is co-writing a biography of Art Rooney.

A city once defined by steel is now defined by sports, he said. Expectations demand victory. From 1960 through 1992, the Steelers, the Pirates and the Penguins won all nine championship games or series in which they participated, while Pitt also won a national collegiate football title.

"It's a divided city, not just by race and class and ethnicity, but by geography and topography, by hilltops and river valleys," Ruck said. "What unifies Pittsburgh more than anything are sports. Of any sport, it is the Steelers."

Even though Pittsburgh has diversified, and the Steelers reflect this resourcefulness, in many ways the city represents America in a rear-view mirror. The region lost 158,000 manufacturing jobs and 289,000 residents between 1970 and 1990, according to Carnegie Mellon University.

Currently, the city faces a deep financial crisis, the N.H.L. players are locked out and the Pirates struggle to maintain relevance against teams in bigger markets, with deeper pockets.

In these impecunious times, the Steelers provide a black-ink balance to a city that has suffered too much red in the ledger, said Andy Kelly, 68, a retired account executive for CSX railroad.

"We were the industrial center of the universe," he said. "Now we're in the dumps. The Steelers show we're alive, a major city, still a force."

He spoke over a beer at Chiodo's Tavern, a local institution once situated near the front gates of the immense Homestead Works of U.S. Steel.

The mills along the Monongahela River are long closed, replaced by university research buildings and the shops, the restaurants and the movie theaters of brand-name commerce. Chiodo's is as much a museum as a bar, with photographs of the Steelers dating to 1933, when they were founded as the Pirates.

"They are the city of Pittsburgh," Bob Clark, 53, a hospital purchasing manager, said of the team.

Tony Novosel, 52, a bartender at Chiodo's and an academic adviser and history teacher at Pitt, said that passion for the Steelers reminded him of passion for European soccer, where the local team is considered "immediate family."

Mrvos, the medical supplies distributor, has the Steelers' logo on his cellular phone and a likeness of goal posts inlaid in the wall of his entertainment room. On game days, he decorates the goal posts with yellow ribbon. He knows of a guy with a black-and-gold car, and of another guy with the names of Steelers greats tattooed on his back.

Dr. Rodney Landreneau, a thoracic surgeon, understands football obsession. He grew up in south Louisiana, and his father showed Louisiana State game films at Cub Scout meetings.

"Here it's crazier," Landreneau said. "At L.S.U., it's still sport. Here, it's live or die." Several weeks ago, a patient arrived for an appointment wearing a Steelers jacket, a Steelers necklace, a Steelers pinkie ring and a Steelers watch. "I had to tell him he had lung cancer, but all he worried about was whether the Steelers would win the next week," Landreneau said.

Fondness for the team springs from great affection for Art Rooney, its patriarch, who died in 1988. He stuck by his Steelers although they needed 40 years to win a division title.

A charming rogue, Rooney was a semipro football player, an Olympic-caliber boxer, a horse player who counted among his friends priests and racketeers, and a man who valued honesty, loyalty and patient respect for others, Ruck said.

Rooney also loved to attend wakes, said Collier, a columnist for The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette who co-wrote the one-man play about the Steelers' founder called "The Chief."

Upon the death of his wife, Kathleen, Rooney attended the viewing of another man at the same funeral home. The man had died leaving virtually no family, Collier said, so Rooney took flowers intended for his wife and placed them near the man's coffin. Rooney also signed the man's guest book, as did some of the Steelers, Collier said. "A night or so later, another relative of the man showed up and said, 'Dad knew Lynn Swann and Franco Harris?' " Collier said.

The play, co-written with Rob Zellers, ended its second run last month and became the most popular production in the 30-year history of Pittsburgh's Public Theater, said Ted Pappas, the theater's executive director. "The team and play triggered what's best in this city - a sense of community, pulling through when the going gets tough, the old values of family, friendship, loyalty," Pappas said.

Not everyone has warm and fuzzy feelings. Some Steelers fans complain about vulgar behavior by ticket holders. Others grew upset about seating when the team moved from Three Rivers Stadium to Heinz Field in 2001.

"I feel betrayed," said Joe Chiodo, 86, owner of Chiodo's Tavern and a longtime season-ticket holder who said he stopped attending games because his seats were moved from the 38-yard line to "peanut heaven" in the end zone. "I hope they lose every game," Chiodo said.

In November, nine season-ticket holders sued the Steelers over expected discounts in their upper-deck seats. A similar suit, filed in 2001 by fans who felt misled by a season-ticket brochure, was dismissed by the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court last July.

William Helzlsouer, a lawyer who filed both ticket lawsuits, and an antitrust lawsuit regarding public financing of stadiums, said some ticket holders were paying $1,000 a season more than expected, an amount that could be worth $20 million to $30 million to the Rooneys over the life of Heinz Field. "It's a bait and switch," Helzlsouer said.

The team has said it treats fans equitably and that it believes the lawsuits have no merit.

Legal issues aside, the Steelers have no trouble drawing fans at home or on the road. An estimated 20,000 Steelers supporters attended a game this season in Jacksonville, Fla., which will play host to next month's Super Bowl.

For displaced Pittsburghers, who left in pursuit of work no longer available here, the Steelers hold a particular resonance, Vic Ketchman, 53, said. He left at 44 and is senior editor of the Jacksonville Jaguars' team Web site. "Iron City beer had a slogan, 'It tastes like coming home,'" Ketchman said. "That's what the Steelers are, like coming home."

This helps explain the popularity of running back Jerome Bettis, who accepted a pay cut to remain in Pittsburgh this season and rejuvenated his career.

"He did what most Pittsburghers wish they could do - stay here," said Novosel, the former mill worker who tends bar at Chiodo's and teaches at Pitt.

The Steelers also represent another sentimental longing, Ketchman said, apologizing if he sounded like a "hopeless romantic."

"They are the team for all the ones who like the old things," he said. "For all of us who don't want fast food, who don't want to live in a new bedroom community and pay association fees, who don't want progress forced upon us. Pittsburgh is an old place. It feels just right."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/12/sports/football/12steelers.html?ex=1106554

In case I haven't told y'all, my daddy had a heart attack during a Steelers game, and wouldn't go to the hospital until half-time. He was all wired up in Cardio-ICU, mouthing, "The score! What's the score!" I will praise the good Lord forever for letting him live through that one to enjoy many more of his beloved Steelers games before he was buried - with a Terrible Towel!

that was a nice article.

I love Tony Novosel. i had him for a history class and he is awesome. He used to work in the steel mill and when it closed he went to get his undergraduate and then graduate degree.

He was one of the judges for greek sing my last year in college and I just remember him being really excited about it.

Interesting that they didn't mention that Chiodo's is closing to build a walgreens

Thank you!! I thought I was losing my mind, because I was sure that Chiodo's was closing. They could have gotten the same information from so many other sports bars.

Just prior to 4:30 this Saturday, all 'Burgh people are to start waving their Terrible Towels - all around the world!

THANK GOD THEY DIDN'T. I'm so tired of this topic - the dude is about 205 and wants to retire. If Chiodo's means that much to people they should have stepped up to the plate and offered to buy it themselves - but ooops, then that would entail work. Honest to God, put it on a trailer and move it down the street to a vacant lot (there are many there) and let new membership keep it up if that's what people want. The problem is that everyone is upset but no one wants to do anything but bitch.

/end Chiodo's rant

Wallace Miller, the coroner they quoted, was the county coroner at the time of the Flight 93 crash and received universal praise for his handling of such a difficult situation.

Honey, I loved that article! I think Pittsburgh is such a hard place to explain to someone who has never lived there and the article helped a lot.

My husband actually said to me this morning that we should buy tickets and go see the Steelers/Jets game this weekend! :eek:

For those non-burgers, you can't just buy Steeler tickets. You have to inherit them or something!

Ah yes I hear my friend Bryan gripe about that all the time!

Anyways this is completely off subject but I just had to share with only people that would understand why I'm so excited about this. Anyways the Clarks are playing in LA on Feb 9th and I'm going to see them! I'm sure there are bigger Clarks fans out there but there something about having a bit of the 'burgh on the west coast that almost makes the country seem not so big after all.

Glad you loved the article, KR!! I've only ever been to one Steelers game, the last time the Steelers played the Bears at Three Rivers Stadium. I listen to 3WS in the morning, and they were having a contest. When I called in, I told them that the day of the game was also my birthday (which it was), so I was thrilled to win the tickets!!

The last I heard, at the rate of attrition, if you get on the waiting list today for season tickets, you will probably get a chance at them in 32 years!


ADDED: I just heard on tv that the T. Rex at the Airport is holding a T. Rex sized Terrible Towel!!

Kinda off topic, but I was in the 'Burgh over the weekend and lost my Primanti virginity! It was pretty yummy, too!

Welcome to the club, Jess! ;) Good, good stuff :)

More interesting things about Pitt: I do a history program for the local third graders, and it's tomorrow. I was confirming (actually, debunking) a rumor I had heard on the net, when I found a whole section on Women at Pitt. Needless to say, the only sorority mentioned is a Pi Theta Nu (?) founded in 1914.

But! There are some awesome photos & floor plans of the mysterious 12th floor of the Cathedral here! We actually had Rho Chi and Rho Lambda/Order of the Omega meetings in the Braun Room, and I have millions of memories of the kitchen & the large Social Room from being in Quo Vadis. But I never knew that there was a Quilt Room or a Roof Deck there! I had heard that the 12th floor was supposed to be used for sophisticated entertaining and teaching the social graces, but...!

It's after midnight, and I'm aching to go to the Cathedral!!!

I love the Cathedral. As a high school girl, I hung out there for HOURS on end with friends. Also went to writing institute there for a while, which was tremendous. I love that place. Looking back now, a teenager hanging out at a college as much as I did probably wasn't the smartest idea, but man do I have great memories.

Hey I went to that concert. Greg is a jerk. The guy from Street Smarts was there. He is from Pittsburgh. I had to cold knock that sucka out because I think he was hitting on me.

Anyways, it was a pretty cool show. you know because it was live. I'm not even sure if people from Pittsburgh has even heard of them though. Considering everyone from the show was the lead singers neighbor, the drummers cousin, Gregs step brother. yes all 20 people in the audience. In fact I think they paid everyone 5 bucks to go to their show. Good times. My friend did the crip walk on one knee. And he still would have kicked Gregs ass.


Viva la Nooshieburger. I hope you read this in the morning! haha

ETA: Oh yeah, I kept lying and told everyone I was from Cherry Hill. I have no idea where Cherry Hill is. I remembered it from a map one day when I was looking at Pennsylvania. I just imagined a bunch of hot chicks naked running around waiting to feed me cherries on a hill. Hence the reason why I remembered it. Anyways people actually believed me. But then again I'm not sure if they did. You know considering they gave me the look like, " whoa, they have Asians in Cherry Hill?"

Good time. I love lying to people that I don't know. Next time I run into someone from New Jersey I will tell them I am from Trenton or something. if they don't believe I will try and mug them. Then they will probably believe me.

I believe Cherry Hill is a rather fancy suburb of Philly.

I love you...I really needed that this morning

A sister & I were at the beach one summer, and we ended up at a bar (go figure!). We were supposed to go to a muckity muck party, but weren't in the mood, so there we were, in this bar on a pier, dressed to the nines (and I'm talking the serious carat-type jewelry), and she turned to me and said, "So, where are you going next, back to the Hamptons or to Nice?" Without missing a beat, I said that I was going to check in on the new nanny & the kids, and that I'd meet up with her in Nice. She said that she was thinking of Venice instead, and we went on like that for an hour. Maybe it was how we were dressed, or the fact that we were drinking champagne kinda seriously (we sent one bottle back because it was "inferior"), but it was one of the best times I ever had with her!

It is that, but it's not in Pennsylvania. It's in Joisey.