Dear Cincinnati, Cleveland and Baltimore..."Suck It"

A nice thing for the city and good for the marketing & travel department. Philly rings in at #5. I've never lived in either city and I'm closer to the Philly Metro area than I was to the 'Burghs, but I'm really glad Pittsburgh got recognized again this year as the nation's Most Livable City. So many people still have this insane idea that it's a dirty place and they couldn't be further from the truth.

For some really cool pics of the city...go back to this post.

I Miss Da 'Burgh

Check out these awesome photos of the city. Thanks to Mr. Britt for sending me the link. Thanks to the superb photographer for permission to link them here!

Check them out! <<--- Click Here!

Good Super Bowl XL Steeler Parade Footage

Wow. My old college roommate and tailgate buddy has a friend (hard to believe) that went to the parade and taped some footage. He took it home and edited it, mixing in some cool tunes and still shots. If you'd like to see it, click the following link.

15 minute Cool Ass Parade Capsule.

Thoughts From The Super Bowl Parade

My dad was good enough to tape the Steelers Super Bowl parade for me and I watched it over the last 2 nights. Why 2 nights? It's 2 hours and thirty minutes long! The crowd was amazing. At some points the cars could barely get through. It was cold and it looked like it was sleeting. I'm not sure if the fans would have turned out and stayed like that in most other cities. Steeler fans really set themselves apart from the rest of the league this year in a ton of indicators. The first thing I read was that the Steelers lead NFL merchandise purchases for the 2005 season. Also, so far in 2006, the sales of Super Bowl items are up 500% over last year's winners, the Patriots in the same timeframe. The Steelers also had the top honor of "most watched" NFL team this year (and last year) in their home viewing area - meaning within a certain mileage limit, what percentage of TVs were tuned into the game. Finally, this year's Super Bowl was the 2nd most watched program in the history of television. Only the last episode of M*A*S*H had more viewers. Not sure if it was the granola eating Seahawk's fans that drove the number up? The next highest rated Super Bowl was Super Bowl XXX, again being lead by Steeler Nation. Total viewers who watched the entire game was up over 5% this year from the Eagles-Patriots game of last year. Who Dey? We Dey! Back to the parade thoughts:

* Randle El was having the best time of any player I saw. I hope he remembers that when he's signing his fat contract with the Bears or Eagles.

* For some unknown reason, the local ABC channel went with a 2 window viewing area for most of the broadcast with the one window showing the commentators. If there's one thing I hate, It's local TV people acting like celebrities. I didn't want to hear these people, let alone see them.

* A reporter went up to Randle El and called him "Willie". Randle El said "Who are you talking to?" and the guy replied something to the effect of "I'm sorry, I'm an idiot." Yes, you are.

* Most players got to say something at the microphone and the director of the program decided to only show a handful of them. I could hear some players on the podium while stupid Sally Wiggins is talking over them saying "I think I see another car coming with players on it.......". SHUT UP!

* Joey Porter is no doubt the emotional leader of this team. No Doubt.

* Bill Cowher should never ever chant "Who Dey? We Dey". He looked like the whitest man in American on the podium doing that. Stop it.

* Jeff Reed is one interesting character to say the least. Nice hair.

* My biggest impression? The Rooneys. Dan said 5 words and Art II said about 10 and then they stepped into the background. I didn't even see Kevin Colbert take the microphone. I just sat there thinking - if this was Jerry Jones, Daniel Snyder or Jeffrie Lurie - I bet they'd be standing at the mike hogging as much camera time as humanly possible. Thats not the Rooneys. Thats one of the reasons I love this team so much.