[PRCo] Re: THEIR 6TH SUPERBOWL WIN!

[Ken and Tracie]

Watching parents try to relive their childhood (or entire lives) through 
their children is always sad. It is not limited to sports, as we all know.

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
>
>
>
>