Pittsburgh Sports & Outdoors

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PNC Park is the beautiful new home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. It sits in downtown, right along the Allegheny River, overlooking the city. The stadium, completed in 2001, seats 38,362 fans and cost $262 million to construct. This is the fifth stadium the Pirates have played in since the team was established in 1887. Down the right field line, it is 456 feet from home plate to the Allegheny River, meaning that an occasional ball bounces into the river during games.

I have attended a handful of games here since the stadium was built, most recently in August 2011 when the Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. On this fine day, local native Neil Walker went 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs, Andrew McCutchen went 2 for 5 with 2 runs scored, and trade deadline acquisition Ryan Ludwick was 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored. On the mound, Charlie Morton pitched 6 great innings while giving up only 2 runs, and Joel Hanrahan pitched a perfect ninth inning to get his 31st save of the year.

Tickets range from $9 to $52 as of 2011, with a slight increase expected in 2012. As you can imagine, food and drink are expensive, with hotdogs priced at around $7 and beer somewhere in the $8 or $9 realm. Be sure to eat at Primantis, located behind section 110; they have the best sandwiches in Pittsburgh which are topped with tomatoes and french fries.

Do not be confused by the name... It's "PNC Park", not "pee and see park" -- there are no TVs or windows in the restrooms to allow you to see the game while you pee.

The D4DR Club is a social club like no other.

Geared at those individuals that are willing to go on vacation to that far flung, war torn country or the guy who is wiling to risk his life by bungee jumping inside a cave....

They come from all walks of life. Men and women of all denominations and races, their common denominator is an elongated D4DR gene.

The D4DR is a gene at the end of chromosome 11. We all have it, but when it is mutant or elongated, it causes that person to seekout high stimulation via adventure travel or extreme sports.

For the first time, we have managed to bring together a unique niche within our society, filling a vacuum which laid dormant for years.

Just weeks after our site was launched it had already seen an amazing response. Over 2500 visitors and 100 email requests came in soon after its launch.

Why do people join the club? Some join to have a forum where they can interact with others like them, others want to take advantage of the club benefits and some want to advance the research on the D4DR gene.

According to a 1999 Time Magazine article, people living today do not encounter danger on a daily basis as they did centuries ago. This has caused people to search out and take risks on their own to satisfy this urge.

Either way, the club has definitely tapped into something which many of us could just not put our finger on previously.

As the site's home page states, "if you've got the D4DR gene, no need to do genetic testing, you probably know it!"

Also check out this recently published article:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04328/415890.stm

The Youghiogheny River has exciting whitewater boating for all experience levels. Only sturdily constructed rubber rafts, kayaks and closed-deck canoes may be used in the river. River levels can change the difficulty of rapids. The are both independent and guided trips. Ohiopyle is a Pennsylvania State Park and offeres many other activities such as hiking, camping, bicycling, horseback riding, fishing, firearms and hunting, and various winter sports.

Equipment: You can bring your own, or rent. Guided trips provide equipment.

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Three Rivers Stadiumk was home to both the Pirates and Steelers from its completion in 1970 until its demolition in 2001. The stadium only survived 31 sports seasons, but it was home to many great games and 6 championship teams. The stadium only cost $55 million to build, meaning that its construction costs averaged out to $1.7 million a year over the life of the venue. For comparison, Dallas Cowboys' new $1.3 billion stadium would have to remain in use for almost 765 years to have the same average cost per year.

All that remains of three Rivers Stadium are the original sign post marking the former Gate D entrance and a historic marker next to Heinz Field that reads:

Three Rivers Stadium

Opened in July 16, 1970. Home to the
Pirates, who won two World Series, and the
Steelers, who won four Super Bowl Cham-
pionships, creating Pittsburgh's "City of
Champions" identity. It was the site of
Roberto Clemente's 3,000th hit, September
30, 1972, and Franco Harris's legendary
"Immaculate Reception," December 23, 1972.
A multi-use facility, it also hosted many
concerts and special events prior to demo-
lition on February 11, 2001.

Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission 2006.

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Watching a Steelers victory is one of the best things to do in Pittsburgh.

We saw the Steelers crush the Carolina Panthers on a freezing Thursday December 23rd night game. We sat high in the upper deck on the south side of the stadium, luckily the stands themselves blocked the wind and kept us reasonably warm, despite temps around 20 degrees.

The Steelers won the game 27-3, behind Ben Roethlisberger's 320 yards and 1 touchdown and Mike Wallace's big night with 104 yard receiving. Panthers QB Jimmy Clausen struggled with just 72 yards passing and an interception. Perhaps the highlight of the night for most Pittsburghers was the Penguins winning their game against the Captials in a shootout on the seventh shooter.

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Consol Energy Center was completed in summer 2010 to replace Mellon Arena in downtown Pittsburgh. Completed on schedule, in time for the 2010 NHL hockey season, the arena is the permanent home for the Pittsburgh Penguins and a new Arena Football League team. More than a dozen buildings, including the old St Francis Hospital, were demolished to make room for the arena, but luckily the historic Epiphany Church was able to be saved. The arena has 18,087 seats for hockey games, which recognizes superstar Sidney Crosby's uniform number 87. The facility was designed by HOK, now called Populous, which also constructed Heinz Field and PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

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Originally known as the Civic Arena, Mellon Arena is the home of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins, who won 2 Stanley Cups in the 1991 & 1992. Built in 1961, it has been the home of the Penguins since they were established in 1967 and it holds about 18,000 people. The Arena has the world's largest retractable stainless steel dome which can open or close in just 2 minutes...it is made of 2,950 tons of Pittsburgh's own steel. Penguins fans have long known this facility by its nickname...the "Igloo".

At almost 46 years old, this is by far the oldest arena in the NHL and is long overdue for replacement. Why is the Civic Arena so old and outdated? As Guy Junker, local sports writer said, the politicians were too busy to think about an arena because they were wasting taxpayer money "building a second convention center because the first one was so poorly planned. Two convention centers in 22 years, one public auditorium suitable for professional hockey in 45 years. Now that's urban planning at it's best." -- Thanks, Guy.

Luckily in 2007 the city, county, state, Penguins and Pittsburgh's new casino owner agreed on a $290 million plan to build a new arena next to the old Igloo. It should be ready for the start of the 2010 season.

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The Homestead Grays were a Negro League baseball team from 1912 until 1950. The team's best player was Josh Gibson, a talented power-hitting catcher ofter referred to as the "black Babe Ruth." He played for the Homestead Grays in 1930-1931, 1937-1939, and 1942-1946 (he played for the nearby Pittsburgh Crawfords from 1932 to 1936). Gibson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, and he has been joined by 11 other Homestead Grays players.

While the team was from Homestead, just up the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh, the team played most of its home games at Forbes Field, which was also home to the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the teams later years, they adopted Washington DC as their second home, and the Washington Nationals still celebrate the Grays as part of the Washington baseball heritage.