We Are Family, I Got All My Yinzers and Me
#MoreThanAGame
**THIS POST IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY ROLLING ROCK BEER…OR RATHER THE YINZER FROM PITTSBURGH WHO PROBABLY STILL KEEPS THEM IN BUSINESS**
If you can define the following words, we should be friends…
- Yinzer
- Gumbands
- Chip Chop Ham
I’ve lived a lot of places at this point in my life — born in Pittsburgh, school in Ohio, work/live in New York City and London, and most recently in Berlin. But the one thing that has always been a constant in my life is my love of sports, and more importantly, Pittsburgh sports! Like Erica Boeke, I too bleed black and gold (save those pink jerseys for the sissies) and have always loved that no matter where I am on this planet, there is something very comforting about seeing a jersey in black and gold.
For me it’s the connector from my past to my present — an instant feeling of being of home even when I am miles away. And when I am most homesick, I find myself thinking of the moments that involve time with my family on the field (oh, ok, I also think about Del’s Pizza too, but I swear it’s mostly just the games!). Whether it was sweating in the Midwest humidity of June at a Buccos baseball game or applying ThermaCare patches (that’s right, what you use for sore muscles) all over our bodies to brave the sub-zero temps of Pennsylvania’s tundra at a Steelers game. And that, to me, is home — the moment when the game was a part of my family and my family a part of the game.
The other night in Berlin, at Rosenthalerplatz (imagine the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, but in Berlin), I thought I was stroking out when I saw a man in a Troy Polamalu jersey. Forgetting where I was for a second, I yelled “Go Stillers!” — a strange glance was shot back my way telling me instantly that it was obviously a hand-me-down or borrowed jersey for a beer run. I began to turn back away, chastising myself for forgetting where I was. I glanced back one more time to see if he was still looking at me with the weird look I imagined, and maybe it was the overhead street light, but I swear, I saw a glint in his eye that made me think for one moment that maybe… just maybe…he was a Yinzer after all.
Your Mini Guide to Pittsburgh Vocabulary:
Yinzer = Fellow Pittsburghian, prone to being loud, wearing sports gear on a daily basis and NEVER missing a game
Del’s Pizza = The best — yes NYC, I said BEST — pizza ever, born and bred in Bloomfield, PA.
Troy Polamalu = Former member of the Steel Curtain (not to be confused with the Iron Curtain) defense
Buccos = Pittsburgh’s Baseball Team, otherwise known as the Pirates … or the Buccaneers (hence Buccos), and past home of the Killer B’s (not insects…look it up!)
Chip Chop Ham = Major dietary staple of the’Burgh and found in about one out of every three kid’s lunch boxes in Allegheny County
Kiersten Geiger is a global marketing executive and The Relish contributor who proudly hails from the Midwest. She loves a variety of sports — Football (American), Fußball (aka soccer), Ice Hockey and Baseball — but draws the line at golf (there have been some incidents of throwing a putt putt club reported). She owns the requisite amount of black & gold gear, is often found spending her Sundays drinking Rolling Rock and screaming at the Steelers’ game. She thinks Bill Cowher should be awarded People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive Award.
