Pittsburgh - Hockey's new "Mecca"

[DudeMan2766]

I had to post this article to get some other opinions because it seems like since the Black/Gold game sellout we've been getting it jammed down our own throats how much better Pittsburgh is than everyone else. Frankly I think its getting obnoxious. TSN picked up DK's article and of course he's getting roasted up there. I dont want to turn this into a new fan/bandwagon debate at all, new fans are vital but I take offense (some of my personal friends included) from all these chest pounding when so many of these people were nowhere to be found before 2008. I mean Yoho did a story on this, Rossi, now DK I think its enough self importance. Especially when so much of it can be disputed easily

http://triblive.com/sports/dejankovacevic/dejancolumns/3336198-74/nhl-team-fans#axzz2Ig4dlL13

[DudeMan2766]

Exactly. and watch how many fans from Toronto are in Pittsburgh tonight. For a team thats been mismanaged and terrible for a decade. I dont think Toronto was the city to pick this argument with.

EDIT--well Tico left me high dry.

[penny lane]

Exactly. and watch how many fans from Toronto are in Pittsburgh tonight. For a team thats been mismanaged and terrible for a decade. I dont think Toronto was the city to pick this argument with.

exactly. I don't poke at hockey holiness : Montreal, Toronto.
Dejan better keep his head up if the leaf fans made it to Pittsburgh.

[MRandall25]

Since when did "journalism" become "trollnalism"?

[tfrizz]

Exactly. and watch how many fans from Toronto are in Pittsburgh tonight. For a team thats been mismanaged and terrible for a decade. I dont think Toronto was the city to pick this argument with.

EDIT--well Tico left me high dry.

He did the same to me... here you go

It's great to have fans, but I agree with you. The greater Toronto area could support 3 NHL teams. I don't think the same can be said for the greater Pittsburgh area.

To put it in perspective, there are people who spend their entire lives on the Leafs' season ticket wait list. It's at the point where season ticket holders are passing their season tickets down in wills, and I wouldn't be surprised if the same is happening with positions on the wait list.

I can't understand why the NHL has a problem with another team in the GTA.

[pugilist13]

I wonder what type of "mecca" it will be when the superstars are long gone and the team isn't quite as successful. Dont want to sound like Debbie Downer, but its gonna happen at some point. Hockey is God in Canada.

[GaryRissling]

He trolled and got the response he was looking for. No doubt there is a lot to be proud of regarding Pittsburgh's development as a hockey market, but this article is ridiculous. I especially like that any actual comparative data he uses focuses not on the differences between the Pittsburgh and Toronto markets, but on Pittsburgh versus other US markets; which isn't even germain to the arguement he thinks he's trying to make. He basically compares on-ice performance with the Leafs, and off-ice performance with US markets. It makes no sense, but hey, it got him an interview on TSN Toronto radio.

[DudeMan2766]

Yep. And its Vintage Dejan, he's accusing everyone who disagrees of not reading the whole article, or telling them they should re-read it. Even Chris Mueller is disputing it and DK's telling him he isnt even argueing his point.....which is what DK is doing himself.

[meecrofilm]

Why do people keep linking to this article everywhere? Don't give it hits, it's trash.

[newarenanow]

I actually read it, and if you step back and look, he's talking about right now, at this moment, the Pens are at the peak of the hockey world, and I can't disagree.

He even states in the article that the overall passion will not ever reach Toronto or Montreal. But the mix of success on the ice and for the most part off of it over the past 25 years, the Pens are near the top.

I agree, if the super stars are gone (which if Crosby is healthy, wont' be for another 12 years) things might fall off. But as long as there is a somewhat competitive team on the ice, you aren't going to have the 10K in the arena for the worst franchise in the league for a span of 3 years.

What he says is that Pgh has been built into a great hockey town, and one at the very peak right now. I can't argue with that.

[BurghersAndDogsSports]

I am biased becasue I cant stand Dejan and I think he wrote this article for the sole purpose of being a troll (in a sense), which is all he is right now anyways.
His entire purpose in life is to pick fights on twitter.

My thoughts:
Pittsburgh in general is a great sports town. The Steelers of course, the Pirates who do ok even with historical suckness and the Pens who did have a solid passion based fan base in the lean years. But that is where it the comparison to Toronto is dumb. They suck and have sucked and continue to "overdraw" whereas the Pens while they have a great fan base, better than most, Dejan is contracdicting himself by sighting 2004 - yes people where giving a standing ovation and where full of passion. Those that were not empty seats all year.

Its like saynig the Jaguars are a better football town than Pittsburgh if they went through a championship streak. When everything falls back to earth the team that sells out good or bad, superstars or not are going to have something to say about it. Dejan theory: "Hey, the Jaguars were stilld drawing 40,000 in the lean years so stop talking about that, its passion baby". Lets choose to ignore the other teams lean years as comparsion.

My only point is Pittsburgh is a great sports town, but we all know the Pens will fade quite a bit (like any franchise would) when these two stars leave, there was no need to write this article because not only is it wrong, it makes us look like arrogant ass wipes. To Newarenanow - I somewhat agree but he directly through a shot at Toronto, he directed the comparsions in the article and made it about the two, and to be honest its not even comparible, most of what he talks about he is simply comparing where he wants to so it makes Pittsburgh look better. For example why doesnt he list how many prospects come from XYZ city?

[Shakes]

I actually read it, and if you step back and look, he's talking about right now, at this moment, the Pens are at the peak of the hockey world, and I can't disagree.

He even states in the article that the overall passion will not ever reach Toronto or Montreal. But the mix of success on the ice and for the most part off of it over the past 25 years, the Pens are near the top.

I agree, if the super stars are gone (which if Crosby is healthy, wont' be for another 12 years) things might fall off. But as long as there is a somewhat competitive team on the ice, you aren't going to have the 10K in the arena for the worst franchise in the league for a span of 3 years.

What he says is that Pgh has been built into a great hockey town, and one at the very peak right now. I can't argue with that.

They have "arrived."

[Malkamaniac]

Dejan sucks.

[Pucks_and_Pols]

Can’t wait for the Leafs game tonight. I despise 99% of leaf fans that I have encountered over the years, including the busloads that would come down to the arena during the "lean years." They have all the heirs of being this all-knowing hockey-everything fanbase.

Yet the team they support has not had its stuff straight now for decades.

But they all know how to fix it. Every last one of them.

They are all hockey geniuses from just drinking water that comes from the wellsprings of Southern Ontario.

As the article points out, no Leaf has won the scoring title since 1938(!). And the Pens have had 14 Art Ross winners in the past 24 years. The closest example I can think of in terms of offensive lineage crosses over to baseball and the Yankees going from Ruth to Gehrig, to DiMaggio, to Mantle.
Lemieux to Jagr to Sid and Geno is honestly probably right up there with those 4 as all time legends in their respective sports.

Maybe declaring Pittsburgh the new Mecca of NHL hockey is just a tad presumptuous. But it may not be too far off base.
We just drew a 19.4 local rating for the 2013 season opener. That is an incredible number for a sport that struggles to beat out re-runs of cable tv sitcoms on some nights.
And there is no denying that youth hockey in the area has sky rocketed in popularity over the past few decades and we are now seeing the fruits of this growth manifest itself at the sports highest levels.

Go Pittsburgh. Go Pens. Go USA.

[stopper40]

Dejan sucks.

I always thought he did, but I remember a time, not long ago when he wrote for the PG, when people thought he was better than Molinari. There was a lot ok DK love on this board

[Malkamaniac]

Dejan sucks.

I always thought he did, but I remember a time, not long ago when he wrote for the PG, when people thought he was better than Molinari. There was a lot ok DK love on this board

Things change when he goes to the Trib and incessantly whines about everything. He at one point was an excellent source of information. Then he went and became a columnist and his real personality of whine came out.

[BurghersAndDogsSports]

Can’t wait for the Leafs game tonight. I despise 99% of leaf fans that I have encountered over the years, including the busloads that would come down to the arena during the "lean years." They have all the heirs of being this all-knowing hockey-everything fanbase.

Yet the team they support has not had its stuff straight now for decades.

But they all know how to fix it. Every last one of them.

They are all hockey geniuses from just drinking water that comes from the wellsprings of Southern Ontario.

As the article points out, no Leaf has won the scoring title since 1938(!). And the Pens have had 14 Art Ross winners in the past 24 years. The closest example I can think of in terms of offensive lineage crosses over to baseball and the Yankees going from Ruth to Gehrig, to DiMaggio, to Mantle.
Lemieux to Jagr to Sid and Geno is honestly probably right up there with those 4 as all time legends in their respective sports.

Maybe declaring Pittsburgh the new Mecca of NHL hockey is just a tad presumptuous. But it may not be too far off base.
We just drew a 19.4 local rating for the 2013 season opener. That is an incredible number for a sport that struggles to beat out re-runs of cable tv sitcoms on some nights.
And there is no denying that youth hockey in the area has sky rocketed in popularity over the past few decades and we are now seeing the fruits of this growth manifest itself at the sports highest levels.

Go Pittsburgh. Go Pens. Go USA.

Sounds amazingly like Steelers fans. Traveling in droves, know it alls, other fan bases get annoyed. And sorry its not close, we have grown wtih youth hockey, we have good ratings, but i am not sure anyone here really understands what 19.4 actually means.

I mean, I get it we have a strong base and have had a run of strong players. But its not close to Toronto, not near the level, not even in the same discussion, not in the same universe. That is why the article is so stupid.

[Admin]

...but i am not sure anyone here really understands what 19.4 actually means.

pfim's killer home theater system?

[Pucks_and_Pols]

Sounds amazingly like Steelers fans. Traveling in droves, know it alls, other fan bases get annoyed. And sorry its not close, we have grown wtih youth hockey, we have good ratings, but i am not sure anyone here really understands what 19.4 actually means.

I mean, I get it we have a strong base and have had a run of strong players. But its not close to Toronto, not near the level, not even in the same discussion, not in the same universe. That is why the article is so stupid.

From Puck Daddy: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/ratings-win-nhl-2013-openers-nbc-record-regular-202232224--nhl.html "The overnight ratings for Pittsburgh (19.4), Philadelphia (7.8) and Chicago (6.6) were NBC's best-ever in those markets for the NHL regular season, excluding Winter Classics."

People may not know what 19.4 means exactly, but it is pretty easy to see that 19.4 is alot more than 7.8 and 6.6 from other big time American hockey markets.

Again from Pucky Daddy: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/ratings-win-nhl-2013-openers-nbc-record-regular-202232224--nhl.html "Not only are the Flyers and Penguins the hottest rivalry in the League, but this was their first game since the chaotic circus of a playoff series last season – and, in case you couldn’t tell, the Penguins can push a national number (38 share!). "

The Pittsburgh market also drew a 38 share for that broadcast. For people who don't know what that means, it is a number that reflects that of all the TVs turned on in the Pittsburgh market at the time of the broadcast, 38% of them had the game on. That is pretty easy to understand. And for a city with a smaller metro population than other "large" hockey markets like Chicago and Philly, the percentage of people who are tuned into the Penguins trumps the population gap.


And to my point on Leaf Fans:
It is not just that they are know-it-alls, its that they want you to believe that they are the league's marquee franchise, when they never win anything.
I have no problem with Habs fans. They have the countless banners to back up their bravado.
Steeler fans have certainly had alot to celebrate since the 70s. Before that, they were a nothing franchise, sort of like the Pens before Mario.
Teams certainly do go through upswings and downturns. And the point is, right now, at this moment, Pittsburgh is at the top of the hockey world. Why shouldn't we celebrate that?

[newarenanow]

Its like saynig the Jaguars are a better football town than Pittsburgh if they went through a championship streak. When everything falls back to earth the team that sells out good or bad, superstars or not are going to have something to say about it. Dejan theory: "Hey, the Jaguars were stilld drawing 40,000 in the lean years so stop talking about that, its passion baby". Lets choose to ignore the other teams lean years as comparsion.

I don't think that is a good comparison. The Pens have been doing well on the ice for almost 25 years now. They've made the playoffs 20 out of the past 24 seasons, won 3 cups, made 4 final appearances, and 6 conference finals. The 3 cups is tied for second (with Devils) and 4 is 3rd in that span only behind the Detroit Red Wings.

During those lean years (and that was probably a period I went to more Pens games than I ever did), not only did the team not have a "superstar", Dick Tarnstrom was their best player (as Lemieux only played a handful of games for the most part). That was an absolutely CRAP team.

That said, I do think Dejan goes over the top, but if you take away the bias and look at his article, I think he is saying the Pens are at the peak right now and are the focus of the NHL world right now. Look at how many times they are on NBC. They get more coverage than anyone right now. The fans in Pgh are crazy for the Pens right now. And hockey in general has exploded in Pgh over the last 2 decades. I think that is what he is getting at.

I personally think Pgh is an above average market, but not the best. But both on and off the ice, in the past 25 years, and especially right now, I think you can say Pgh is at the peak. And yes, when you are at the peak, the only place to go is down if things falter for a period of time.

[Tico Rick]

Exactly. and watch how many fans from Toronto are in Pittsburgh tonight. For a team thats been mismanaged and terrible for a decade. I dont think Toronto was the city to pick this argument with.

EDIT--well Tico left me high dry.

Sorry about that! I deleted my post because the article pointed out that the greater Toronto area has 3x the population of Pittsuburgh, which made my argument moot... But as tfrizz points out, Toronto season tickets are handed down from generation to generation. Until that happens in Pittsburgh, we shouldn't be slamming Toronto.

[Digitalgypsy66]

...but i am not sure anyone here really understands what 19.4 actually means.

pfim's killer home theater system?

I think it means 19.4% of televisions are tuned to the game in the region.

[BurghersAndDogsSports]

Pens ratings are great. But sometimes smaller markets ratings can look inflated when compared to larger markets, or due to huge populations larger markets ratings can look "deflated". You can not look at ratings from different markets and claim a comparison.

Look, my Jaguar example wasnt perfect but it made basic point and didnt require a detailed analysis, it was simply an example. It mean until the Pens sell out and have a wait list and generation season tickets when the team sucks its not comparible. Dejan picked directly at Toronto, I didnt and he is an idiot for doing so.

he is not claiming we are at a peak:

See, with all due respect to our Ontarian visitors in town, I dare say it‘s now plenty safe to posit that this golden little triangle, this most fortunate magnet to four of the greatest talents in NHL history … this is hockey‘s new Mecca

He directly claims we are the new mecca.

[Penspal]

DK's intent vs. people's reactions are interesting to watch. I interpret it like NewArenaNow did, as a piece about Pittsburgh FOR Pittsburgh. Taking that article and pushing it on hockey fans not in/around Pittsburgh puts it out of context. Using numbers and data sources that he has used, supports his arguement to a degree, but there is no way to really compare. Its a losing situation which I think he was not intending in his writing.

I like DK, he's not afraid to push the envelope, yet he retains class, which is completely lost on many media people, both in Pittsburgh, and around North America.

There is no "buzz" meter/measurement, but there is a buzz happening in Pittsburgh right now, you can feel it, and its all about the Pens baby, like it or not!

[BurghersAndDogsSports]

DK's intent vs. people's reactions are interesting to watch. I interpret it like NewArenaNow did, as a piece about Pittsburgh FOR Pittsburgh. Taking that article and pushing it on hockey fans not in/around Pittsburgh puts it out of context. Using numbers and data sources that he has used, supports his arguement to a degree, but there is no way to really compare. Its a losing situation which I think he was not intending in his writing.

I like DK, he's not afraid to push the envelope, yet he retains class, which is completely lost on many media people, both in Pittsburgh, and around North America.

There is no "buzz" meter/measurement, but there is a buzz happening in Pittsburgh right now, you can feel it, and its all about the Pens baby, like it or not!

I'm not DK so I don't know, but I highly doubt he thought this would stay in Pgh the day we play Toronto. Other cities always post opponents articles. He throws shots directly at them. Also, he constantly picks fights with reporters from other cities on twitter, and during the Rangers game he constantly referred to them as "pre eason champs" or similar, even when relaying the score.

If he wanted this to be just about us he wouldn't be on national radio shows.

You could be correct but I don't buy it. For one second.