Even Puck Daddy agrees, Malkin’s Mom is freaking adorable.
She was one of the Olympic torch-bearers, and she was in training over the summer for her jog:
When I came back from Pittsburgh in the summer I started going to the gym, getting fit.
*tap tap tap. This thing on?
Heinz returns to the Superbowl this weekend, after a 16 year absence and for the second time ever. The commercial, in my opinion, is very well done, with one exception: you should hit the bottle where the neck joins the body, where the ’57’s are in the glass. But if you want to check it out early, here it is:
Coming up next this week, my review of Quantum Theatre’s “Madagascar.”
I’ve been away for a bit, mostly due to the fact that I’m not downtown on a daily basis anymore, but sometimes, I’m reminded how much I love this city, and I get sucked right back in, so expect more regular postings!
Football season started over the weekend, or I guess actually last Thursday, but really that just means we’re about a week until pre-season Pens games.
In case you’ve been under a rock lately, you’ve most likely heard about Russia’s draconian anti-LGBT laws as we barrel towards the Sochi Olympics. And in classy fashion, Sid spoke with the media about how he disagrees with the law. Combine that with Orpik’s work with the You Can Play project, and it’s a refreshing look at a professional sports team, and its stars, interested in equality.
The Capitals on the other hand, we have Ovechkin, who is either completely unaware of the law (best case scenario), or afraid to talk about it, instead trying to turn the conversation back to the jerseys. And to be fair, he is in a bit of a more precarious situation, considering he’ll be playing for Team Russia, but it’s still a weird non-response and he’s in a position to make a significant difference, it’s sad to see him pass on the opportunity.
I don’t really follow baseball. I mean, I root for the Pirates, I wouldn’t think of rooting for another team. But hockey is my sport, so I don’t know much about the roster, stats or anything else, really (same with football, I know, a sin here in Pittsburgh).
So I have cautious optimism while we’re doing so well. Fool me 20 times, shame on you. Fool me 21 times, shame on me.
The Good Men Project took a look at the Pirates. Does this resonate? Is it missing something? Let me know, and maybe I’ll see you at the double header later today!
Let’s go Bucs!
And I’m back. I wanted to take a minute to talk about the most recent adventure I went on with Venture Outdoors: Fireworks Paddle.
At the start of the Pirates game, we headed down underneath the Clemente Bridge, got our kayaks, PFDs and paddles and after some brief instruction, headed out onto the water.
There were a lot of us, and we were much more spread out than on other VO events (since the boats bounce into once another and it’s generally annoying when you do), so it was more of a relaxing, solitary look at the setting sun bouncing off the skyline.
We made our way up to Herr’s Island and then headed back towards PNC Park, all the while, in my head, singing Ride of the Valkyries. As the sun finished setting, the game finished up (Pirates won by the way) and we had the best seats in the house for the fireworks.
It was mentioned beforehand, but I was surprised how much the water and boats were rocked by each blast.
Aside from a jagoff motorboat boat operator (who said he couldn’t see us even though we had lights and to get out of his way as he started to move), it was an awesome night. The staff at Kayak Pittsburgh are amazingly efficient and helpful. VO talked about it on their blog, and there’s another one scheduled for August. Make sure to check it out if you want to see Pittsburgh from a new perspective. I’ll have some pictures posted soon!
In 2015, the Professional Disc Golf Association’s world championships will be here in Pittsburgh:
July 25 – August 1, the tournament will be played at Deer Lakes, Knob Hill and Moraine (state) Parks, as well as Slippery Rock University.
I’m very bad at Disc Golf. It’s fun, but I just don’t have much aim. While playing Ultimate in college (as one does), I was much better at catching than throwing, not that I was that great, but I made a few good plays between classes.
LaMarr Woodley is the new owner of the Pittsburgh Jack Rabbits, our PBA team which will be competing against, among others, Jerome Bettis’ Motown Muscle.
The announcement of the logos can be found here, although I may also be rooting for Chris Hardwick’s Atom Splitters, as I’m a huge fan of the Nerdist industries.
It’s still the holiday season, so I don’t feel too bad posting this so late, but check out a fantastic poem over at The Pensblog.
And then cry because we still don’t have hockey.
I’m late to the game on this one, and there isn’t much time left, but I’m hoping that there will be some sort of last-minute push to put this over the edge: a Kickstarter project to support the all-volunteer Steelers Drum Line.
While it’s not official (yet), you’ve probably seen them on the North Shore before home games.
If you have some money you can throw in, it would be appreciated. Besides, we can’t let Baltimore have something that we don’t!
A few weeks ago, news broke that McClatchy, former owner of the Pirates, came out after being away from the organization (and I think the city) for years.
The New York Times has an extensive story on the subject, and it includes this bit:
And pro sports offers a frontier on which there’s considerable good to be done
While that is true (the sentence is referencing the generally homophobic culture of sports, albeit one that is slowly changing), I think lately we’ve seen a big shift in the thinking, or at least public face, or sports. Homophobia seems to be disappearing (with some kicking and screaming), but I’m not convinced that a retired owner of the Pirates is really going to do that much good in that arena.
That being said, apparently McClatchy and his family own the third largest newspaper corporation in the country, and combined with other connections, there is real possibility to do real good.
“So I’m curious to see how the public, particularly in Pittsburgh, responds,” Zeigler said, wondering aloud if they’ll blame McClatchy’s private burdens for his team’s performance.
Again, I’m not a huge baseball follower, no doubt in part of being exposed to the Pirates and their now epic fall clinching them 20 losing seasons in a row. But from what I saw on Facebook when this broke, was it pretty much was well known anyway, and people find all kinds of things to blame the Pirates losing streak on, usually the owners and management, but not because of who they love, instead it is them doing a crappy job running a professional sports team that got us into this mess.
Does this change much? I don’t really think so. The Pirates are still in the midst of the longest streak of professional sports losses, and doing so in a spectacular fashion. Pittsburghers don’t need to hear much more than that, and that is a credit to them.
To see the amazing new video from Benstonium about the epic 20-season streak, click here.
