From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
The 15 highest-rated television shows in the local market in 2008 were Steelers games, according to N.F.L. and Nielsen Media Research. The only reason there weren’t 16 games is because the September 14 game at Cleveland was not rated because of Hurricane Ike.
Once again, the Steelers led the league with the highest television ratings in their own market. The Steelers drew a 44.5/66 rating/share (percentage of households/percentage of household TV’s in use) in 2008, a 5 percent increase over 2007.
David Streitfeld‘s interesting article about Pittsburgh in The Times on Wednesday, meanwhile, about the city’s conversion from steel town to service town, failed to mention the Steelers once. This is nearly impossible when writing an article about Pittsburgh; this is like writing a term paper without using “the.” While I was personally disappointed (yeah, I’m a fan), I congratulate Streitfeld on his feat.
At the other extreme, here’s Holly Brubach in today’s Times with a great profile of Steelers defensive coordinator Dick Lebeau.
Many sports fans may be unfamiliar with Brubach’s byline; that’s because she’s better known as an arts-and-fashion queenpin, including stints at Prada and as Style editor for The Times. But she’s always written wonderfully about sports too; and now she’s moved back to her native Pittsburgh.
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“… article about Pittsburgh … failed to mention the Steelers once. This is nearly impossible when writing an article about Pittsburgh; this is like writing a term paper without using “the.” ”
Absolutely, and hilariously, true.
While I am a Pens fan first, and I no longer live in Pittsburgh, I know there is nowhere else in America where there is a sports/everyday life relationship like in Pittsburgh.
And amazingly, you can apparently even prove it with stats.
Go Ravens
Thanks for this burst of notes on the burg. It is an interesting place with a beloved football team and many cultural and historic places of interest. And the cost of living ain’t so bad. I don’t want to talk it up too much, though.
Any chance they’ll change the name of the team to the Servicers or is that too racy?
Your comment about writing a term paper without using the word “the” reminded me of this novel
http://www.spinelessbooks.com/gadsby/01.html
which was written entirely without the letter “e”
As someone who lived in Pittsburgh for four years, I can tell you that this is a city which people think about the Steelers in their sleep.
Also, keep in mind that aside from the Pens, the Steelers do not have much competition for people’s attention. The city does not have an NBA team, and the Pirates have not had a winning season since Barry Bonds left town 16 years ago.
This makes me wonder what the numbers are for the other teams.
I suspect that the Packers are more integral to Green Bay than the Steelers are to Pittsburgh, but that such a large fraction of the population attends the games that the TV ratings are depressed.
How common is it for the local football team to have the 15 or 16 highest rated shows in a local market? I’d expect the Packers to do that, and some other teams such as the Colts and Cowboys in good years despite not being as large a part of their cities’ cultures as the Steelers. Are the numbers available somewhere?
While in Germany for the World Cup last year, I heard the statement that football (soccer) in Europe is a religion. The same can be said in Pittsburgh for the Steelers.
There is a great documentary that suggests that while Pittsburgh as a city was in a huge depression, the people were able to look the Steelers as a ray of hope, a symbol of the city rising from the ashes. While the city is still emerging (and quite well as the article by Streitfeld suggests), the Steelers are still an important aspect of recent our recent history and culture.
We love our Black and Gold and it shows. I’ve been around the world and always found a group of Pittsburghers to watch a game with (from a pub in London to a Greek restaurant on Grand Bahama Island in the Bahamas). There is a kinship unlike any other I have seen.
Now if only we can get our mayor to change his name from Ravenstahl to Steelerstahl. We don’t take kindly to Ravens in this city…