Your City's "Pittsburgh" Bar

[Steely Dan]

^ there are definitely bars in Chicago that specifically cater to northwestern and Illinois alums on game days, though for Illinois, it's really MUCH more of a b-ball thing because their football program has been a big 10 doormat for so many decades.

There might be a Rutgers bar somewhere in the city, but it's nothing at all like it is for the traditional big 10 schools (wolverines, badgers, spartans, buckeyes, hawkeyes, etc.)


EDIT: after a quick Google search, I found a trib article about big 10 bars in the city and apparently some place called "Derno's" is the city's lone dedicated Rutgers bar. And Maryland's bar is "the darkhouse lounge" (which is also a Steelers bar on Sundays, staying in topic).

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by Razor

I never heard of a Pittsburgh bar being a thing, until reading this thread..Interesting stuff!

Just a head's up - there's also a motorcycle wave and a Jeep wave.

I've also heard that there's a Subaru wave, but can't independently verify its existence.

[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I'm pretty sure there's a Rutgers bar in Chicago. It wouldn't make much sense to have a Rutgers bar in NYC or Philadelphia. It would be like having a UIUC or Northwestern bar in Chicago.

You may have college bars in NYC or Philadelphia for somewhat local schools where athletics are more popular. I think there are Penn State bars in Philadelphia, and there are certain bars specific for Temple, Villanova, St, Joseph's, etc. Rutgers is not known for its athletics, so I would be surprised if there were Rutbers bars in different parts of the country. I wouldn't be too surprised to see a Rutgers bar in NYC just because so few people in the area care about Rutgers athletics (with pro sports, or schools like Syracuse, Penn State, or Connecticut, being more popular), so they would have to concentrate in one place in order to be around like-minded people.

[harls]

Can youse guys turn this into a Pittsburgh bar?

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by pj3000

I think we all know the general story, but the national phenomenon directly emanates from the Steelers' "Steel Curtain" glory decade of the 1970s... heavy manufacturing was collapsing throughout the region, and Pittsburgh and the steel industry was the epicenter of it.

Blue collar workers throughout the country (but in the north especially) felt a kinship with the team, who embodied gritty toughness... and won 4 super bowls in 6 seasons. It was the perfect fit for the era.

Additionally, the whole Franco's Italian Army thing was HUGE in solidifying an ardent Italian-ancestry fanbase throughout PA, NY, NJ, OH... I mean, Frank Sinatra himself joined

• Ethos of Pittsburgh/blue collar toughness
  
• No bullshit coach Chuck Noll from Cleveland
  
• Italian-American RB Franco Harris from Jersey who was a star for Penn State (NYC's favorite big time college football team due to proximity and Brooklyn boy Paterno)
  
• Vietnam vet/Purple Heart-receiving, Catholic RB Rocky Bleier who nearly had his leg blown off after his rookie season and was captain of a national championship Notre Dame team
  
• Southern gunslinger HofFame QB

These above characteristics were huge in gaining fans, aside from the winning ways on the field. And add to that, aerial acrobatics of HofFamers Swann & Stallworth, an huge, impenetrable O-line, and a defense chock full of HofFamers... Jack Lambert, Mean Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Mel Blount, Donnie Shell, LC Greenwood (who should also be in the Hall).

It was just such a natural fit for the time 40+ years ago, and it has somehow persisted decades later.

Hmm, I never really knew all of these details so thanks for laying it out like that. It's pretty interesting. Being born in the 80's, I knew that the Steelers had a huge winning streak back then but I didn't realize the connection that the team kind of embodied the rust belt at a time when this whole region of 50 million people was going through traumatic deindustrialization.

And the way you describe the makeup of the team sounds like it came from a well scripted sports movie designed to unite as many working class people and groups around the country as possible. No wonder the brand is so strong, I didn't realize.

I wonder why it is still relevant though? I don't know anyone in my generation who works in steel mills or any type of factory now. Should we update the team image to be a bunch of scrawny desk workers and software coders?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

I wonder why it is still relevant though? I don't know anyone in my generation who works in steel mills or any type of factory now. Should we update the team image to be a bunch of scrawny desk workers and software coders?

how about instead of the Steelers, they could update the team's name to the "Pittsburgh Eds & Meds".

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

I wonder why it is still relevant though? I don't know anyone in my generation who works in steel mills or any type of factory now.

There are Yelp reviews for Pittsburgh steel mills:
https://www.yellowpages.com/pittsburgh-pa/steel-mills

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by harls

Can youse guys turn this into a Pittsburgh bar?

don't forget yinz.

pittsburghers are yinzers.

you gotta add the appalachian in there.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

how about instead of the Steelers, they could update the team's name to the "Pittsburgh Eds & Meds".

That's it man.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

I wonder why it is still relevant though? I don't know anyone in my generation who works in steel mills or any type of factory now. Should we update the team image to be a bunch of scrawny desk workers and software coders?

Still relevant because probably around a third of the nation's population work blue-collar jobs. Maybe not as many in large mills and factories anymore, but lots of people don't work office jobs. And in general, football embodies and celebrates American blue-collar toughness... Pittsburgh happens to still embody and celebrate it as well. So does Buffalo and Baltimore and Cleveland and Detroit and Chicago, etc. The Steelers just happened to be the team that excelled during that time -- hence the national following. If the Bills won 4 Super Bowls in the era of industrial collapse, we might be talking about "Your city's 'Buffalo' bar"

Look around the region (and just about anywhere else)... most of the people you see are certainly not scrawny desk workers and software coders

Originally Posted by mrnyc

don't forget yinz.

pittsburghers are yinzers.

you gotta add the appalachian in there.

Yinzer and yinz are 21st-century creations.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Look around the region (and just about anywhere else)... most of the people you see are certainly not scrawny desk workers and software coders

The military, farming, police/fire, offshore + the blue collar and service industry worlds are typically pretty invisible to urbanists and Twitter.

It used to be the case that new college graduates would list odd summer jobs or restaurant jobs they held during the school year on their first resumes. That changed sometime after 2000 when the internship took over - I recall having never heard the phrase "intern" until Monica Lewinksy. It was such a comical concept in the late 1990s that it was lampooned in an episode of Seinfeld, when Kramer - who never held a job - hired an intern.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

The military, farming, police/fire, offshore + the blue collar and service industry worlds are typically pretty invisible to urbanists and Twitter.

It used to be the case that new college graduates would list odd summer jobs or restaurant jobs they held during the school year on their first resumes. That changed sometime after 2000 when the internship took over - I recall having never heard the phrase "intern" until Monica Lewinksy. It was such a comical concept in the late 1990s that it was lampooned in an episode of Seinfeld, when Kramer - who never held a job - hired an intern.

Are you a college graduate?

[Centropolis]

Helen Fitzgeralds, a suburban “Irish Pub.” Fairly substantial Steelers base goes there to my shock..probably locally growing due to lack of an NFL team. Not everyone wants to root for KC, Packers, Colts or Chicago…which are the most common that I see.

[PhillyRising]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Just a head's up - there's also a motorcycle wave and a Jeep wave.

I've also heard that there's a Subaru wave, but can't independently verify its existence.

The Mini Cooper Wave does happen...I always wave at another Mini owner..

[PhillyRising]

I can't even imagine there is one Yinzer bar in the Philadelphia area.

I mean I see cars with Stillers stuff on it...but they are just seen and not heard. So I know displaced Yinzers are amongst us Yousers...but they seem to stay in their lane. You figure they just out to Yinzerburgh for the games....

[xzmattzx]

What's the most random sports bar in the US? Is there a Steelers bar in Montana? A Mets bar in the Oklahoma panhandle? A Clippers bar in South Carolina? A Sharks bar in Vermont? A Saints bar in Omaha?

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by craigs

Are you a college graduate?

Yes. In college I worked at restaurants, in warehouses, as a door-to-door salesman...one winter break I alphabetized a company's old medical records. Oh yeah I worked at a video store one summer.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by PhillyRising

The Mini Cooper Wave does happen...I always wave at another Mini owner..

My neighbor and his wife own his-and-hers Mini Coopers, so maybe they wave at each other?

[homebucket]

There is no such thing as an all encompassing Subie wave. WRX or STI owners will wave at each other but that’s because they are enthusiast cars in a specific car scene. Soccer moms in their Outbacks are not waving to soccer dads in their Foresters.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by homebucket

There is no such thing as an all encompassing Subie wave. WRX or STI owners will wave at each other but that’s because they are enthusiast cars in a specific car scene. Soccer moms in their Outbacks are not waving to soccer dads in their Foresters.

Is there a lesbian wave?
https://www.theatlantic.com/business...sbians/488042/

Although it was easier to get senior management on board with making ads for hikers than for lesbians, the company went ahead with the campaign anyway. It was such an unusual decision—and such a success—that it helped push gay and lesbian advertising from the fringes to the mainstream. People joke about lesbians’ affinity for Subarus, but what’s often forgotten is that Subaru actively decided to cultivate its image as a car for lesbians.