Author Archives: brrittsburgh

The Steelers Obsession

I have lived quite a few places in my time. All have been under the general Pennsylvania umbrella, but I have had sprinklings of “Stiller Country”, “Eagles Nation”, and “Ravens…whatever” I’m not really sure what Ravens fans call themselves that could remotely sound like a good thing. Anyway, the thing that I have discovered is that no resident of any city is as enamored with their football team as Pittsburghers are.

Pittsburghers LOVE their Steelers. Love isn’t even the operative word. Let me search the stalker manual to find the correct term. Ah, there it is-OBSSESSION. Pittsburghers are obsessed with their Steelers and rightfully so; even the people who have no clue who the players are, what a down is, how many points a touchdown is worth, or what year it currently is on the calendar.

There is such camaraderie amongst the fans as well. If you are out and about in the burgh, or even better yet, not in the burgh and you see a fellow Steelers fan, your eyes grow into huge emoji-like hearts because, well that person is FAMILY. This does not happen elsewhere, trust that. Especially with Philly fans (I’ll go ahead and call out my Philly-resident husband) when they see one another, there is no love. They are all just trying to avoid the wrath of the angry Eagles fan, because we all know they are unpredictable and have anger management problems.

Now being back in Pittsburgh permanently, it is such a cool thing to experience

One thing I love is that 95% of the city, both people and property are all decked out on game day in Steelers gear, and 70% are basically bleeding black and gold on a 24/7/365 basis. My neighbor actually has a custom made black and gold Steelers mustang. The front license plate proudly states “If you ain’t a Stiller fan, you ain’t shit”. Truer words have never before been written, my friend.

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North Park Driving Rage

Yes, that says RAGE, not range. As much as I’d love to enlighten you all about the North Park driving range, that would last all of 37 seconds. Anyway, this post is about the struggle of living essentially in North Park and driving. Let me be the first to say I adore living in the nature observatory that is North Park; beautiful families of deer prance about daily, cute little groundhogs and bunnies run about in the grass, families enjoy fun outings in the pavilions…oh and people drive like idiots.

The speed limit is 25, as there are walking and biking trails right along the road, and we non of us want to have an oopsy moment when we plow over a bicyclist as we enjoy the scenery, or the hot ladies (I see you fellas, it’s okay!). In my experience there are two varieties of North Park drivers; the Bottled up Speed Demons (BSD) and the Fearful Sunday Grannies (FSG).

The BSD KNOW that the speed limit is 25. The KNOW they could kill someone with their sheer speed. The KNOW they should be law abiding citizens…but…they also know they are late for work. Oh, and they have to check their Twitter-and their Facebook-and their email…all while going 35 and hoping the cops take mercy on their wobbly driving slightly above the limit.

The FSG live in fear of the law. And they live in fear of vehicular manslaughter (as we all should). They know that the speed limit is 25 but they are willing to do BETTER! They will go 20 and be extra law abiding citizens. Yes, they are holding everyone else up, but they are setting the example.

Either way, both suck. I am notorious for my road rage, but I have to cross through to get to work…so, I practice daily zen as I drive 25, not looking at my phone, not pushing the limit, not setting the example…just laughing insanely at Mikey and Bob and probably terrifying the car stopped at the light next to me.

 

 

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