Pittsburgh Is the Nation's Premier Sports Town

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

There is the wide variation of distinct neighborhoods that generate not just civic pride, but pride in your neighborhood. 

There is the quirkiness of one of the most unique accents in the country, an accent that resulted in plenty of wonder, and more than a bit of laughter, in my first year at college in Colorado despite what I thought were more mystifying ones all around me.

One of my friends would ask me to say the following sentence, "I'm going out downtown with yinz to the mountain to wash some clothes."  He would then crack up. 

There is the beauty of the Pittsburgh skyline outlined against the Point, where the three rivers come together.

Against this backdrop, it is the sports tradition that binds all of us together as one community. 

Pittsburgh might be a small city whose contributions on the national stage are overlooked or even laughed at by those who should know better, but it has the greatest sports history and traditions in the U.S. 

At the top of the list, the city hosts the greatest franchise in football in the Steelers. 

What makes the Steelers so special when compared to other professional sports teams is the way that the team and even the players fit the image of the city. 

The team has always been a "blue collar" team, emphasizing strong character and teamwork.  The mentality of the team is all about slugging it out on the ground while playing excellent defense. 

The city isn't about gimmicky bells and whistles and neither is its football team.  No other team has generated the national following of the Steelers with the very real phenomenon of Steelers Nation. 

In every single place I've lived, the Steelers were either the favorite team or the second favorite team. 

Even in Colorado, in the heart of Broncos Country, the Steelers had a huge following, a fifth column ready to show up at the Broncos game whenever the Steelers came to town. 

When I lived less than an hour from Cincinnati, the Steelers were the team of choice, not the local Bengals.  Thanks to Hines Ward, my current home in Korea is even Steelers' Country. 

Everywhere I've ever lived, if I throw on a Steelers' jersey and head out, I'm bound to be greeted by other Steelers' fans.

Clearly, the Steelers' winning tradition is a big part of this phenomenon.  But, it is more than that. 

It is the sense of identify that the team has established by being true to its Pittsburgh roots.  It is the fact that when the city was struggling economically in the 1970s, it was the Steelers who became the glue that held everybody together and kept the sense of community intact.

That team has a mythic quality.  Remember when Joe Greene shared a Coke with a kid and then threw him his game jersey?  Oh, that was only a commercial.  Nonetheless, that was cool. 

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