If You've Seen One...

I had never been to Pittsburgh. And I didn’t begin my visit with a negative opinion of the city. I dislike the Steelers, but had no opinion of the town. Besides that, I liked the Pirates and the Penguins and Phish, if there is any correlation to the Dr. J movie.

The reason for our trip was to attend the engagement festivities for Julie’s cousin. This would complete a circle of sorts as I met this cousin and her fiancé at our formal engagement party three years ago. I remember him best for introducing me to room temperature Dr. Pepper. I thought he was a bit touched. As someone who doesn’t imbibe alcohol, one of my complaints about Europe was their apparent ice shortage. Any drink order that required ice consisted of a singular cube usually the size of a peanut M&M.

I was converted easily. There was nothing wrong with room temperature Dr. Pepper. It was smooth, mellow, even. I brought this up the next week during lunch with a co-worker. This guy knows a lot about a lot. If I had to play a game of trivial pursuit with my house at stake, he would be my partner. (Julie would want him to be my partner, too.) He tells me that he remembers advertisements where people drank Dr. Pepper hot, like tea or coffee. I haven’t tried that, but I vouch for the other.
So, our first full day in Pittsburgh was a Friday spent walking through downtown. Lots of construction going on, which I wasn’t expecting. Count me among those that thought of a coal town that was not exactly prospering. This is where Pittsburgh got me. Sure, the roots are in coal, but this Carnegie Mellon’s town, too. And the Heinz family.

This was a big topic that night for me. Julie’s family has always been accommodating, but the best discourse came from her cousin Neil. Neil is still in college, in another state. He wasn’t supposed to be there because he was supposed to be in a wedding the next day, in yet another state. He was taking a pass because he was ill. Other wedding invitees had dropped him off on the way to the wedding, leaving him to find a way back to school by Monday. Talking with him, you knew that it really wasn’t an issue, somehow it would happen.

Neil explained that he had fielded his share of phone calls from friends asking how to get somewhere at all hours of the day. “Pittsburgh is weird. How many other cities have 2nd and 3rd street running parallel in opposite directions, then two blocks later, they cross each other?”

Because Neil wasn’t feeling well, he didn’t take part in the Heinz Field tour or the Pirates game on Saturday night. This game was part of the 50th anniversary of the 1960 World Series team. The video of Bill Mazeroski’s homerun was shown many times. What I did not know was that Julie’s uncle attended that game. His father had taken him out of school to see an historic event. Pretty great, huh?
Well it turns out, his sister was there, too. Prior to this, this aunt of Julie’s was best known to me with this note: she had been to six continents, and Antarctica was one of them.

Apparently, in 1960 the Pirates allowed Carnegie Mellon students to enter the stadium after the 7th inning. I had heard of this before. The Rangers did this throughout the 80s. Then again, there was not a long line taking advantage of this offer. Julie’s aunt walked over with her art school friends who thought it would be a good opportunity to draw faces and crowd scenes. So she was also there when the Pirates won it all.

Here is the kicker. To this day, it is the only major league baseball game she has ever attended.