A Dawn of a New Time for Pittsburgh Sports
Story by Yinzer Crazy Contributor Andre Curtis. Follow him on Twitter @AndretheRegular
Much like life, sports towns go through different intervals. Cities and their fans experience everything from supreme triumph to utter disappointment throughout each interval. These intervals can be called "eras" in the sports world. For example, the 1970's Steelers' Super Bowl era saw Pittsburgh bring home 4 Vince Lombardi Championships in a decade. On the other end of the spectrum is the Pittsburgh Pirates' horrible, terrible, no good, very bad era, where the team unimpressively missed out on the MLB playoffs from 1992-2012.
The Penguins' Sidney Crosby era isn't over yet, but it's on the back nine.
Last night marked the first time the Penguins were eliminated from NHL playoff contention in 16 years. To give you an idea, fans of the Penguins haven't seen their team not meet expectations like this since the first iPhone came out. To say Pens fans are disappointed is an understatement. Penguins' General Manager Ron Hextall is without-a-doubt public enemy #1 in Pittsburgh.
What did the Penguins think would happen when hiring a Philadelphia Flyers guy?
If Ron Hextall is not fired by 7AM, I will be at the county courthouse filing for power of attorney over this team when they open their doors tomorrow morning.
— Penguins Jesus (@PenguinsJesus) April 13, 2023
With the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger era ending several years ago and the Penguins missing the playoffs, it is the dawn of a new time for Pittsburgh sports.
This success era may be coming to a close, but there's no reason that another one can't begin.
It is easy to be pessimistic about the Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates. For starters, the Pirates haven't won a World Series since 1979. Also, the Steelers last won a playoff game over 6 years ago. And as stated, the Penguins just missed out on the playoffs and have much to sort out moving forward to next season and on.
Yet, there is more room for optimism amongst the Pittsburgh professional sports teams than one thinks.
The Pirates, for instance, have built up an impressive amount of prospects from their early draft picks over the years. Since the team is a small market franchise, a stretch of 3-4 seasons making the playoffs could be right around the corner.
As for hockey, Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Penguins, is one of the wealthiest multinational sports-holding conglomerates there is. FSG just purchased the Penguins in 2021, so they will be spending as much money as it takes for the team to succeed.
The Steelers may need to win a playoff game, but that shouldn't trump that Head Coach Mike Tomlin has not had a losing season in his 16-year career. The team as a whole is young, fast, and explosive. The sky is the limit with Kenny Pickett. Hey, that's a great motto for this Steelers' new era.
The bottom line is that the Steelers and Penguins' successes in the past twenty years have brought an overload of joy to Pittsburgh. Pirates, where're you at? Fans must realize how lucky they are to see that much success in such a short amount of time. 2 Super Bowls and 3 Stanley Cups in 18 years is unbelievably impressive for any city. When one thinks about the fact that Pittsburgh is around the 60th largest city in the United States, it becomes even more awe-inspiring that a small city like this can have such incredible sports teams. Pittsburgh is a sports city at its core, and that isn't going to change.
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