Pittsburgh Is the Nation's Premier Sports Town

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The city also has plenty of great sports history with both the Pirates and Penguins. 
We hang on to the heroes in all of our teams. 

I grew up listening to stories about Roberto Clemente's exploits at Forbes Field, about how Harvey Haddix threw the best game by a pitcher in the history of baseball...and lost, and about Bill Mazeroski's homer that slew the mighty Yankees in the 1960 World Series, the most dramatic conclusion to a World Series in the history of baseball. 

Speaking of Forbes Field, it is one of the most storied baseball field ever to open its gates to the public, the field where Babe Ruth hit his final home run. 

I remember looking on the part of the wall that still stands in Oakland and wishing I had the opportunity to see just one game there.  That stadium first opened its gates almost 100 years ago to the day and had a profound impact on the history of baseball.

While many of us weren't alive to see these incredible moments or watch Clemente play at Forbes Field, listening to our elders tell the stories helped shape our character and first fanned the flames on a passion for sports that unites nearly all Pittsburghers. 

The Pirates of the last several years may be a bunch of bums but they are our bunch of bums.  And we remain ever hopeful that they will once again live up to the legacy of the players who came before them.   

Pittsburgh has also become one of the nation's most exciting hockey towns.  This is because the Penguins have featured three of the most dynamic players ever to lace up a pair of hockey skates, turning rabid football fans into puckheads, at least during hockey season.

In hockey, we also have our stories.  The greatest of them is the story of Mario Lemieux, one of the greatest players to ever play the game, a guy who would later save his team from leaving his adopted hometown and lead it back to glory while mentoring a new champion and all-world leader in Sidney Crosby. 

And the team just drafted the son of one of my all-time favorite Penguins, Ulf Samuelsson.  Now that is cool.

Perhaps the part of sports I miss the most since leaving Pittsburgh is Friday night high school football.  I used to love watching the highlights on the Fedko Zone to see who came out on top in the Woodland Hills-North Hills grudge match.

 I've never lived anywhere where high school football is as important as it is in Pittsburgh. 

When I was in high school, there were two things in high school football you could count on...North Hills was going to win, and my team, Baldwin, was going to lose.  Everything else was up for grabs. 

Our sports teams touch every fabric of our lives.  They bring fathers and sons together.  And we all have our stories associated with those teams. 

You know the stories.  Like meeting that really cool girl at a Pirates' game and scoring her number even though the Pirates lost. 

Or seeing your favorite player at an area restaurant.  Or walking by "Badger" Bob Johnson on your way to a baseball game and having him nod and say, "Have a good night, boys."   

The players that come to Pittsburgh understand that special relationship between player and fan that, if not unique to Pittsburgh, is at least at its highest form in the Steel City. 

That is why so many Pittsburgh greats adopt Pittsburgh as their hometown when their playing days are done; players like Lynn Swann, Franco Harris, Rod Woodson, and Mario Lemieux. 

It is why Troy Polamalu did not hesitate for a second when answering whether he sees himself as a Californian or a Pittsburgher.

All of this and so much more is part of the spirit of Pittsburgh.  That is why Pittsburgh is not just one of the greatest sports towns in the United States, but one of the most special places in the entire country.

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