[PRCo] Re: THEIR 6TH SUPERBOWL WIN!

[Ken and Tracie]

SARCASM (OR PERHAPS MEAN HUMOR) WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One benefit of  professional sports is that it taught at least two 
generations of "couch cavemen" to reduce the most fanciful, imaginative and 
whimsical names for sports teams to a grunted, single syllable 
nickname............of course, adding a large quantity of beer enhances 
their ability.

K.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dennis Fred Cramer" <trombone at windstream.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 6:08 AM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: THEIR 6TH SUPERBOWL WIN!


> The city and county are not the same and the economic variances across 
> both
> the county and region are staggering.  It is one thing to found memories 
> of
> what once was and another to live in the reality and see it day to day.
> Realize that the Steeler Nation exists because so many people had to leave
> this area to find meaningful employment and people feel a need to belong 
> to
> a social group that has little rules.  Religion does not work as well 
> today
> because there are expectations.  Belonging to a group in Facebook, 
> MySpace,
> this group, or something as vague as Steeler Nation is comforting to many.
> We can do it from the comfort of our homes without necessarily having to
> make any commitments.
>
> The Steelers won, not me or any of the other patrons.  We are the ones who
> had new sports stadiums shoved down our throats when we voted them down.
> The politicians like to talk about the incredible revenue teams bring to 
> an
> area.  There were 10 regular season football games in Heinz Field played 
> by
> the Steelers, one day of WPIAL high school playoffs and about 6 PITT 
> games.
> Far too little usage for my tax money.  They should have let the Pirates 
> go.
> They thought if they built a new park that everything would be
> wonderful--build it and they will come.  They never considered traffic to 
> or
> from the games.  Watch other cities and see how there stadiums have 
> parking,
> road, and many times rail access.  Pittsburgh is a nightmare when there is 
> a
> sporting event and the Rooney's want public money to build an 
> entertainment
> complex.
>
> I do not spend money on sports and think there is far to much emphasis on 
> it
> in the media.  Too many people want to live their lives through someone 
> else
> than themselves.  We stopped at the Grove City outlets on the way home 
> from
> Niagara last weekend and in this struggling economy, the Steeler store was
> jammed with people spending incredible amounts of money thinking they own
> the team.  It is a business and all professional sports owners & players
> realize that.  They have to meet a budget and try to get what they can. 
> They
> sit on the couch and call themselves sports enthusiasts.
>
> We have seen rude behavior by all sorts of people in all sorts of 
> settings.
> Many times alcohol has a lot to do with it.  I remember playing at Three
> Rivers in the early '70's and seeing people being carried out because they
> were so drunk.  Many stadiums have built family zones and a few even have 
> a
> district magistrate office in the stadium.  It is just as bad in high 
> school
> sports.  I spent 40 years as a student and teacher in music programs
> directly involved in sports programs and many times the parents bring the
> wrong attitudes. Many fine coaches leave the profession, because of 
> "expert
> parents" who gained their expertise by watching sports on TV, want to run
> the show instead of letting the professional teach.  Don't even ask about
> performance enhancing drugs given by parents to their kids to help them
> improve.
>
> If their was as much time effort and concern actually spent on learning 
> our
> educational system might not be the basket case that it is today.  Parents
> cannot afford to provide them with the basics needed to succeed, but they
> all have $80.00 team jerseys on their backs and a cell phone in their
> pocket.
>
> Enough of the tirade, I am going to spend the day celebrating on of my
> favorite persons 200th birthday.
>
>
>
>
> Dennis F. Cramer
>      Trombone
>
>
>
>