City of Champions

Now, the past couple years, our dear city has had a ton of success in terms of sports teams and events. We now have two Superbowl wins, two Stanley Cup Finals appearances and a Stanley Cup Victory. The Pirates are finally on a rise, however small, it is still just that, a rise. Pitt is always trying to move up, we will see this coming season. We seemed to be poised with some great success for years to come. That is why we claimed the name, the City of Champions!

In the 2004 season, the Steelers went 15-1 on the shoulders of a strong defense, good coaching, and a rookie named Ben Roethlisberger. We made it all the way to the AFC Championship game only to lose to the New England Patriots. Now, I won't go into the whole spygate thing, but I think you already know all about it. The following year was a down year as we were riddled with injuries and the departure of our head coach turned turncoat in Carolina Bill Cowher. We then hired Mike Tomlin to take over the reins and in his second year, this past season, we won the Superbowl again. In the years of the salary cap, it is a tough program to win multiple championships. We seemed primed, however, to win another next year due to a weak schedule and an almost complete returning cast. I am excited to continue this rein of dominance.

The most recent winners of a championship, the Penguins, won the Stanley Cup despite overwhelming odds that were against them after dropping the first two games of the series. This, alongside the fact that we lost to the same team the year before, was quite the accomplishment. We are also, as are the Steelers, poised for a run over the next few years of championships. It is exciting because the Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win, in my opinion. I consider every couple games as hard as one NFL game. In hockey, they play 82 total games. It just shows the athletic level the players have to be in to go all the way.

Next year is set to be the last year in the Mellon Arena, previously known as the Civic Arena. They are in the process of building the Consol Energy Center down the street. This will be the most eco-friendly facility in the country. It will also provide tons of places for business to begin once the building is finished. It is exciting to think of another new facility of this type in the city. We recently had built Heinz Field and PNC Park for our sister teams and they are labeled as some of the best venues in the country. I am sure Consol will be right up there as well. All this does is improve the city in every way. I don't know what the plan is for the Mellon Arena after the Penguins move, but I have heard two rumors, one is that they will blow it up and the other is that we will keep it because of the history and the heritage of the old arena. I don't know which I like best just yet.

The Pirates are a bit of a different story, yes, they are on the way back up, but the previous ownerships have done so much damage that it is going to take a little bit to get things rolling once again. Yes, it has been 16 years since we have had a winning season. The MLB record is 16 seasons, so, yes, if we don't get the 81 wins necessary to at lest NOT have a losing season, we will take the record from Philadelphia. This is definitely not something that we want. If any team in recent seasons can break up this losing record, I believe this one can.

The past couple years, Pitt Panthers have been consistently getting better. Although we have had no national championships or anything close, we have been improving. We consistently get a decent bowl game in football as well as make a decent run in the March Madness tournament in basketball. I would like to see us turn the corner soon, but we will have to wait and see.

There are other things going down in Pittsburgh aside from all the sports. I just want o mention them to let you know that we are mostly a sports town, but not only a sports town.