Great Year For Pittsburgh Sports Fans

By Scott Morganroth
If you're a Detroit er, the weekend of June 12-14 was a tough one to digest against Pittsburgh sports teams.
It was difficult to see the Detroit Red Wings lose the Stanley Cup Finals to the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 as home ice advantage meant nothing.
But to see the Detroit Tigers lose a pair to the Pittsburgh Pirates was harder to deal with. It wouldn't have bothered me as much if the Tigers lost to a Pirates team which featured players like Bobby Bonilla & Mr. Steroids Barry Bonds.
Those Pirates, managed by current Tigers Manager Jim Leyland from 1990-1992, reeled off three straight division titles.
It wouldn't have bothered me if the Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente and Dave Parker, etc... of the 1970's which won a pair of World Series titles, would have defeated the 2009 Tigers.
The Pirates are now an organization which has a new stadium but instead of putting people in it, they're now known for trading their quality players away with their annual fire sales.
Yet, we're midway through 2009 and Pittsburgh can still make a legitimate claim to being "The City of Champions."
The Steelers won their sixth Super Bowl on February 1st, while the Penguins won their third Stanley Cup Championship in franchise history on June 12Th.
Pittsburgh wouldn't have a chance to win an NBA title because they don't have a team.
The Pirates won't win this years World Series yet the franchise still has a proud history.
The University of Pittsburgh does have a fine football and basketball programs.
Does anybody remember that Tony Dorsett won a National Championship in 1976 for the University of Pittsburgh, and in 1977, won a Super Bowl in his rookie season with the Dallas Cowboys, thus becoming the first player to accomplish this feat?
The Panthers basketball program is an elite team in the Big East Conference and I wouldn't be surprised they'd defeat the Los Angeles Clippers.
If for some reason, the Los Angeles Dodgers do win the World Series this year, it would be ironic if all four major sports titles were won by two cities.
Even though the public may not know members of the 2009 Pirates, they're well aware of Penguins Owner/Hall of Fame Player Mario Lemieux, the Rooney Family, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Lynn Swann, Mean Joe Greene, Ben Roethlisberger and Sidney Crosby.
Your economy may be down but it sure seems like your sports teams are doing a nice job picking up the slack.
The best part is the Penguins will be playing in a long overdue arena in the future and we could be looking at a dynasty in the making. The Steelers are a model franchise run by the Rooney's and their last three coaches have all won Super Bowls speaking of Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher.
The three rivers are nice to watch and your sports ownership appears to be solid for the most part as well as the Pittsburgh Panthers success.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com