by hilzoy
I gather there are football games today. Apparently, one of them even involves my hometown team. Buildings all over Baltimore are illuminated in purple. But we haven't gone as far as the mayor of Pittsburgh (h/t):
"In light of the big Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens matchup this weekend, mayor Luke R. Ravenstahl has officially changed his name to Luke R. Steelerstahl. The change is only temporary, but he's gone so far as to change the nameplate on his office door. He said he wants to "eliminate the Ravens just as the Steelers will on Sunday.""
Delightful quirkiness, abject pandering, or evidence of mental illness? And did he pay for the replacement nameplate himself, or ask the citizens of Pittsburgh to foot the bill? If he lived in San Francisco, would he have changed his name to 49erstahl? Questions, questions…
Ravenstahl, as you may already know, is America’s youngest big-city mayor. The scion of a political family, he was elected to the City Council at age 23, ascended to its presidency as a candidate unobjectionable to both deadlocked factions, and then to the mayoralty upon the death of the previous mayor. He was re-elected to serve the remainder of the term in 2007.
He’s got a lot on his plate. Pittsburgh has more than its share of problems. One tactic he’s used successfully in the past to rally support is championing the city’s athletic teams. His ability to retain the Penguins helped secure his re-election. I’m sure that this latest stunt was planned with that in mind.
At some level, I don’t really object. Mayors, as a general rule, are most powerful as cheerleaders for their cities. I just wish he was similarly creative in his other responsibilities; his administration has been dogged by allegations of corruption, he’s been beset by a series of incidents that have called into question his maturity, and the city still hasn’t found a successful formula for economic revival.
Baltimore? Pittsburgh?
MEH!
Go, Cardinals!
makes me wonder:
is he a raben’s thal (i.e. “from the valley of the raven”)
or a raben stahl (i.e. maybe “dark black steel”)?
if the second, then he is renaming himself “steeler-steel”, which, even for a cheerleading mayor, may count as redundant.
Maybe he could get some federal funding to fix the streetcars and put them back in service.
Kid – I’d go with the second option. He’s steeler steel today.
“Delightful quirkiness, abject pandering, or evidence of mental illness?”
All three.
I grew up in Wilmington, Del., and live in Newark, Del., both which in many ways are out-of-state suburbs to Philadelphia.
I went to college in Pittsburgh, right after the Steelers had established themselves as the Team of the ’70s.
Both cities live and die with their football teams way more than most — both teams and towns are mirror images of each other, blue collar, gritty, never glamorous.
Pittsburgh had soot and steel mills. We had Rocky and Frank Rizzo.
Don’t forget cheesesteaks. I think that tells you something about Philadelphia — it’s food of choice is cheesesteaks, and we are quite proud of it. And if you don’t like cheesesteaks — try a Philadelphia soft pretzel. Philadelphia . . . a cheap date.
FWIW, I’d give the edge to Pittsburgh as the town that revolves more around its football team — which isn’t exactly a compliment.
I mean, Pittsburgh has a great baseball tradition that it barely recognizes and it is most definitely not a baseball town. We have the Phillies, winners of the 2008 World Series. Our ballpark, like Pittsburgh’s, is fairly new, and in the old style — and we filled it when our team was still rebuidling; the Pirates can’t give away tickets to their games.
Philadelphia has Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Ben Franklin — more images abound of Ben than the Eagles or Phillies combined — the Philadelphia Art Museum and big-time shows (my wife made me endure a Salavador Dali exhibit there and I’m still wondering what I saw; on the other hand, I loved and perfectly understood the Andrew Wyeth — may he rest in peace — exhibit of two springs ago, and have taken the family to the rustic Brandywine River Museum, which is essentially the Wyeth museum, at my urging, not hers).
Pittsburgh has the Mellons, the Carnegies, a great ballet, but it always comes back to the Steelers.
Give me Philadelphia and the Eagles — even if they just broke my heart for the umpteenth time, losing just now to the Arizona Cardinals (ugh, fcnk, what the hell?).
“I gather there are football games today.”
Very cute.
I gather you are not a football fan, hilzoy:)
My Eagles, which I referenced in the above comment, managed to lose in the NFC title game just now — and, thus, lose its chance to go to the Super Bowl. All that is bad enough, but they missed that chance by losing to the Arizona Cardinals, who have never won anything in two lifetimes of football fans, although I guess it’s time to start giving them some respect.
Last week I sympathized with dr ngo over at Taking It Outside — his Carolina Panthers falling to these same Cardinals. Now I can commiserate with him and share in his numbness. Yes, dr ngo, as you said last week, words fail.
hilzoy: An attempt at perspective: The Arizona Cardinals going to the Super Bowl would have been like Ron Paul going to the Republican National Convention — as the GOP candidate.
A proper snob would make certain to call it American football, because she just cannot be bothered to consider the possibility that a game called football could be played with hands.
I grew up in Arizona. Just think of it this way…Arizona State sucked in football this year and the Cardinals are a handy substitute…
Ravenstahl looked like a misspelled Riefenstahl to me when I first encountered the name. ‘stahl’ is also the past tense of ‘stehlen’ (= to steal). Steelerstahl is either some kind of Howbury Hill or a hint of metal thievery 😉
He should just have changed his last name to Steel. Steelerstahl is redundant.
And it is pandering, but when it comes to politicians and local sports, who can blame him for a little free publicity.
/Limagolf
I’ll be changing my name to James Tiberius Kirk on the day Star Trek comes out!
Okay, maybe not.
“Pittsburgh had soot and steel mills.”
And Flashdance!
More seriously, Carnegie-Mellon is a good school.
“I gather you are not a football fan, hilzoy:)”
All I know is that there are a lot of football games around this time of year year (um, winterish); I have no idea what’s special about today. (No need to tell me! You’re welcome to enjoy. Seems like every weekend has a crucial game, the way football fans talk every weekend football is played. But we all have hobbies/interests that aren’t of universal interest, and god knows none of mine are.)
IF he lived in San Francisco, he’d be nostalgic for the old days like the rest of us.
freelunch:
To be fair, I have a hard time calling that elongated thing a “ball,” too.
Then again, when was the last time you actually “dialed” a phone number? Names tend to stick, long after they no longer accurately describe the thing to which they refer.