From Sports Illustrated.
In the four years I've been in Korea I've missed two Pittsburgh Super Bowl wins and two Penguins Stanley Cup Finals appearances. I was a sports fan back home, but absence certainly has made the heart grow fonder, and not simply for Pittsburgh sports.
The Steelers two wins are great because Pittsburgh essentially revolves around football. Even the indier-than-thou kids I knew in high school love the Steelers, and the local newspapers devote considerable space to high school football and where the top student-athletes will be playing college ball. I spent a short time working for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in college, and it was really creepy being around thirtysomethings who talk about 17-year-old boys' stats and measurements, and pass judgement on their futures.
But living in Korea and seeing how fired-up they get for their national sports teams has provided insight into the pride Pittsburghers feel for the Steelers, and vice versa. Pittsburgh was one of the most significant cities in the country until the steel mills closed down, and Pittsburgh's identity during the bad times became mixed up in the Steelers. One reason "Steeler Nation" spans the globe is because so many Pittsburghers had to leave town to find work.
They are would-be steel workers who have improved their lot in life, but in doing so have had to leave Western Pennsylvania, but Western Pennsylvania never left them.The quotation comes from a 22-minute video on "Steeler Nation" from NFL Films that touches on some of that:
I don't think we're at the point where we pack our suitcases full of pierogies and Iron City when we spend a few days out of town, like the stereotypical Koreans who eat nothing but ramyeon and kimchi when they take package tours, but you can find plenty of pictures of Terrible Towels in exotic places. I have one in my apartment, but I always forget to bring it when I visit someplace neat.
The video also gets into Pittsburgh's media obsession with the Steelers and the relationship to football with the city's self-image, something we in Korea can definitely relate to. Here's an excerpt from radio personality Scott Paulsen:
The news coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers, in Pittsburgh, is possibly the most ridiculous imaging problem I've ever seen in local news. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying it's ridiculous. Let me give you an example. Of course, the big stories this past summer were Hines Ward returning to South Korea . . . and Ben Roethlisberger returning to Switzerland to find his roots . . . These were not only silly news stories, but they were the lead, the lead, the first story on every single newscast.
The Penguins win is significant because only a few years ago they were close to moving to Hamiliton, or Portland, or Oklahoma City, or Kansas City, or any number of places. After a couple losing seasons, brought about salary dumps in turn brought on by wreckless spending in the 1990s, and declining popularity in the US, Pittsburghers generally forgot about the Pens. The Penguins turned it around pretty quickly by drafting Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin, and Sidney Crosby.
The success of the Penguins and Steelers demonstrates how much there needs to be a salary cap in baseball. The Pittsburgh Pirates are a historic franchise, around for over 120 years, but now they're just known for being historically bad. They haven't had a winning season since 1992, and if they finish below .500 this year it will be a record. Their failures are due to bad trades, bad drafts, and bad free agents, but we can trace a lot of these back to their inability to spend money. The Pirates' 2009 payroll is about US$48.7 million; the New York Yankees' payroll is over US$201 million, and their two highest-paid players will earn US$51 million this season. The Pirates are considered a "small market team," though nobody considers Pittsburgh a small market for football or hockey. Hell, nobody in Pittsburgh even plays ice hockey. But because Pittsburgh can't compete financially with the Yankees, Mets, or Red Sox, there's really no point in them fielding a team at all.
The Penguins were bad enough to be able to draft high, taking superstars with high picks they acquired through trades or through simply being terrible. In hockey and football, players can make big contributions a year or two after being drafted, but there's not such a quick turnaround in baseball. And because first-round draft picks in baseball command such high salaries and bonuses, the Pirates can't even afford to draft the best players available. In 2007 they passed on Matt Wieters because they couldn't afford him and instead drafted the 5th-best pitcher with the 4th overall pick. *cough*
The Penguins also have a connection to South Korea in that the two ethnic Koreans to play in the NHL were drafted by Pittsburgh. Jim Paek played for them from 1990 to 1994, and Richard Park played 58 games for them over three seasons in the mid-90s.
You can find more Penguins photo galleries on their official website, and more links from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Mondesi's House.
10 comments:
First of all, the Yankees don't play in the same division or even league as Pittsburgh. The Yankees have nothing to do whether Pittsburgh makes the playoffs. They have had very poor GM's for a long time. The current one is clearly a step up compared to the past ones.
http://content.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/totalpayroll.aspx?year=2009
The problem is that they can't like St.Louis that wins despite not having a top payroll. Blame the Cubs if you want- they have the huge payroll in the NL Central.
I saw that video a few years ago. And it did remind me of the Korean way of emotionally overcompensating for their weaknesses. Fact is, "Pittsurghese" is just bad English. I hate when people try to make it something special.
Your point about teams like the Yankees is a good one. The issue is not who plays who. The Pirates are a farm team for upmarket ones who can lure a player away whenever he suits their needs.
Pittsburgh: a drinking city with a sports problem
Northern Virginia is home to many economic refugees from Pennsylvania, so there are probably almost as many Steelers fans as Redskins fans in the area.
Was happy the Penguins won, just since the The Red Wings are kind of like the Yankees of the NHL. They always seem to win, was nice to see a different team win for once.
One I was actually rooting for as well, as I saw Edmonton, Calgary, and Ottawa all loose recent Stanley Cup finals.
Salary caps in baseball are a great idea. Would be nice to level the playing field for the Blue Jays against the Yankees and Red Sox.
Pittsburgh has a baseball team?
Just kidding. I'm also from a small market major league city, and the lack of parity in MLB has pretty much killed my interest in what was my main sport as a kid. (I looked and pitched very much like former Pirate Kent Tekulve.)
My local team's marketing slogan might as well be, "Come See Tomorrow's Stars Today (before the Yankees or Red Sox buy them)."
I saw Kent Tekulve live and in person at a Chuck Tanner Day parade in New Castle PA, after the '79 World Series. He was the coolest pitcher ever.
When I go back, I drink Iron City for no other reason than it is from Pittsburgh. There is no other reason, heh...
Northern Virginia is home to many economic refugees from Pennsylvania
I thought Pittsburgh has been doing quite well, lately. At least that's what I read here and there.
Anyway, I always thought of regional sports teams in the US as a fairly accurate model of the behavior of national teams in smaller countries amid other smaller countries, like Korea, Taiwan, or even Japan and China.
Blind loyalty, a sudden interest from fair-weather fans when a big event comes up, etc., etc. But because the "local team" is a national team, it starts to sound uncomfortably like blind nationalism.
Just a thought.
I'm happy for you that the Penguins one. I'm a Detroit fan through and through though. I'd be extatic if we had a professional football team but that looks like it will never happen.
That is "I am happy for you that the penguins won."
3gyupsal, I was a Wings fan when I was in middle school and high school, and probably still would be but I didn't follow hockey for several years. By the time I got back into it it was almost time to go to Korea, and I've barely watched hockey since. Beating Detroit wasn't as big as a lift as beating piece of shit teams like the Flyers or Rangers. Detroit was like the Yankees of hockey, but they've always shown an ability to draft well. Most of the dominant players they've had the past decade or two have come either from drafts or from trading prospects. Curtis Joseph isn't among them, but he didn't really do anything.
Kushibo, the territorial rivalries are ridiculous and borderline disgusting, and yes I agree they're similar to what people in Asia feel for their neighbors. I hear people talk about how they hate Cleveland (b/c of the Browns.) Christ, it ain't but two hours away.
David, I used to hate the Pittsburgh accent, and was embarrassed when my dad used it (sorry dad). But now I like hearing it, though that will probably change if I'm back home for too long. The most obnoxious American accents are, in my opinion, Baltimore and New York.
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