Friday, March 16, 2018
Odd Pittsburgh Sports Facts
What the what?
I’ve been a sports fan for as long as I can remember.
While I am a Steelers fan, I must admit, my first love was the Pittsburgh Maulers. I didn’t know much about football at the time, all I knew was that everyone super-loved the Steelers and hardly anyone even knew the Maulers existed. My young, compassionate heart hurt for them, so I got a felt flag to hang on my wall and threw my entire being into rooting them on. For the entire
The recent alarming confirmation that Vince McMahon is bringing back the XFL did remind me of my Maulers. As I spent some time online reading up on them, I came across a few other odd Pittsburgh sports stories that I didn’t know about.
For instance:
The Pirates played in the first-ever World Series, where they lost to the Boston Americans. This was in 1903. It might feel like that was the last time they played a World Series, but
really, it’s only been since 1979, which they won. Practically yesterday.
Maybe we need to consider bringing back the Green Weenie? This phallic fan-favorite was all the rage until its retirement after the 1974 season. It came back briefly in 1989, only to once more get shown the door. And we haven’t won a championship since. Coincidence? I’ll let you decide.
But perhaps nothing shocked me more than the fact Plaxico Burress, of sweatpants wearing, club-going, self-thigh shooting fame, used to own a luxury sock company. You would think with his history of making catches, he would have gone into the luxury glove business, but no.
No matter who you root for, every team has a history of odd facts. If you're ever bored at work, go ahead and look some up. Take those fact-nuggets to happy hour with you. Be your bar trivia team hero.
