Commentary
Fans may have changed, but Pittsburgh not a bad football town So this is suddenly a bad football town?
They’re saying that about Pittsburgh, where a Steelers jacket is considered acceptable wear for a funeral (provided the ratio of black to gold is a minimally respectful 55-45, of course).
That charge is being made against Pittsburgh, where people wrap their first-born in a Terrible Towel?
They’re accusing Pittsburgh of football apathy in a market where Myron Cope still delivers every other commercial on just about any radio station?
The city’s image took the hit when too many fans vacated the stadium during last weekend’s playoff game against the Cleveland Browns.
It was cold and snowy (it used to be called “Steelers weather”) and the home team was down by two touchdowns with 10 and a half minutes left. A lot of people got the itch to beat the traffic – even though the last person to beat the lower North Side traffic on a game day was riding a horse.
Clearly, this is not the same Steelers fan who used to attend games at Three Rivers Stadium to sit on that miserable damp concrete until the frostbitten end.
Those people, sadly, are either dead after too many bouts with pneumonia or they’ve moved to Florida so they’ll never suffer like that again.
Things change and Steelers fans have clearly been influenced by what’s happened at other venues. Hockey has those two intermissions and people like the idea of double smoke-and-beer recess, even though they’re paying a premium price for tickets.
Over the past two years, absolutely no one has remained in his seat for a Pirates game from start to finish. The show on the field won’t hold anyone’s interest and the lure of paying four times what sub-standard food is actually worth is curiously powerful.
So people gather on the ramps or they gaze out at the vista, hoping some drunken tramp on a passing boat will make the trip worthwhile.
Perhaps it’s only natural that some Steelers fans would develop those proverbial ants in their pants, too, and head for the parking lots – either to leave altogether or to decompress around the grill with another dozen cold ones.
Who knew the comeback against the Browns was pending?
Look at it this way – leaving the Oakland, Atlanta and Houston home games early was an excellent idea.
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Steelers linebacker Joey Porter wound up on the Tennessee Titans sideline when the teams played in November and was splashed with some sort of hot liquid.
Porter accused Titans strength coach Steve Watterson of the dirty deed and videotape evidence seems to support the charge.
Porter said he was doused with coffee. Watterson said, no, he had chicken broth in his cup. Wait a minute…. Coffee? Chicken broth? Do the Titans have a salad bar on the sideline, too?
Remember when Bud Grant wouldn’t even let the Minnesota Vikings have heaters on the sidelines?
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You can be tasteless and funny at the same time – Howard Stern has made millions doing it.
But tasteless by itself doesn’t work, which is why a Nashville radio station’s idea to re-create the aftermath of Tommy Maddox’s near-crippling injury as a stunt was so mind-numbingly stupid.
It was off-the-charts tasteless. And not even remotely funny.
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Television ratings for Pittsburgh Penguins games are down and this is supposed to be some sort of mystery.
The habit formed when the Penguins weren’t worth watching in the second half of last season.
Mario Lemieux didn’t play most of the games and neither did Martin Straka. Robert Lang missed a bunch of them, too.
That reduced the team’s star power to Alexei Kovalev, not enough for people who got spoiled watching Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr.
Ratings won’t be influenced by new camera angles, graphics or microphone placements. Viewers will come back when the Penguins are giving them a show worthy of their attention.
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Pirates CEO Kevin McClatchy turns 40 tomorrow, which makes this officially his last day as a Boy Wonder.
Sports correspondent John Mehno can be reached online at: johnmehno@lycos.com