TREATS FROM THE INBOX: PHOTO EDITION

It's time for the randomly-scheduled feature where YOU are the star, "Treats From the Inbox". Being that I received so many great submissions this week, I'm breaking this feature into a few parts. As you can see, this is the photo edition. From these, I can draw a few conclusions:

1. You guys go on some really interesting vacations

2. The level of Pittsburgh loyalty among those scattered around the globe is off-the-charts. You can take the Yinzer out of Pittsburgh, but you can't take the Pittsburgh out of the Yinzer.

3. Pittsburgh absolutely deserved that #1 ranking as the top sports town from the Sporting News. To say there's an unhealthy obsession with our sports teams would be an injustice to the phrase "unhealthy obsession".

That being said, on to the evidence...

PICS OF THE WEEK

"Just thought I'd pass on some pics from my wedding last month, which had a decidedly black-n-gold feel. Our favor was a custom-made "Terrible Tighes" towel. The wedding party was introduced (in jerseys, of course) to the Pens' "Boys of Winter" theme. My lovely new bride, Tracy and I came out to "Here We Go," and we even had our friends Kenny Wregget & his beautiful fiancee Cindy on hand as well. We took our Terrible Tighes towel on the honeymoon to Cancun, so there are now a bunch of the extras floating around Mexican bars." --
Mr. & Mrs. Steve Tighe



"Don't know if you've seen pics from this place before, but it's called Steel City Pizza and it's a Pittsburgh sports themed pizzeria located in The Woodlands, TX (a suburb of Houston). It never ceases to amaze me how far Steeler Nation extends" -- Mandy S.


"This is a picture of James Harrison and I the weekend before the Superbowl down on the Southside. I had already had more than a few beers and several shots of saki when I decided to approach him….after I asked him for a picture, I then proceeded to: make fun of him for not being able to work my camera phone with his giant fingers (God knows I couldn’t do it myself); lecture him on the significance of the then upcoming Super Bowl; give a speech about the proud tradition of Steeler linebackers that he needed to uphold; and then topped it all off with a rant about how important the Steelers are to the city of Pittsburgh and the fans. Much to the credit of James and his friends, they put up with me and were all great sports throughout the whole thing. Seriously – who actually walks away intact from an encounter like that?

To this day I still:

1) can’t believe that he’s actually smiling. (yes, he is, believe it or not)

2) can’t believe that I’m still alive and he didn’t wrap those giant hands around my throat

3) totally believe that my words were in his head as he fought for the final few yards of the longest touchdown in Superbowl history (“this drunk guy on the Southside told me how important this game was…”)" -- Jay N.


"Here are a couple of Steelers-related skiing pics. The first is me in Chamonix, France, proudly displaying a package of Big Ben's Beef Jerky after the Steelers won Superbowl XL. The second is me in Zermatt, Switzerland, Ben's homeland. This was taken on the day the Steelers beat Dallas last season, and that's the Matterhorn in the background." -- Greg




"Here are a couple pics with Pittsburgh celebrities and some Terrible Towel pics you might like, although they are a little bit dated. I've got a pic of me and Kevin Stevens, my childhood hero, who I met at the Stanley Cup Finals last year. I was also lucky enough to attend the Winter Classic last year in Chicago, and made sure to bring my Terrible Towel. I've got one picture of me in front of Wrigley Field (although you can barely see me) with the towel, and one in Harry Carry's. Hope you like them!" -- Mark A.


"One of my favorite pictures from my trip to East Africa last month...
this shot of me was taken last month in Ngorongoro Crater in northern
Tanzania." -- Sam S.


"Here is a picture of myself with a Terrible Towel from Ecuador. My wife is from there and we were visiting her family. This was the day of the season opener against Tennessee. Usually, nationally televised games are on TV down there, but the game ended up getting preempted by U.S. Open Tennis. I didn't find out the score until the next day. Every time I go down there I take Terrible Towels with me and hand them out to her family members as a little piece of Pittsburgh.

Another interesting story, one time when down there, I was walking past a store with a guy working at a desk near the window. He had a Mario Lemieux starting lineup figurine on top of his computer. I stopped and asked him why he had it and he told me how much he loved hockey, even though he had never been on ice before, and that Mario was his favorite player. He was beside himself when I told him I was from Pittsburgh and had seen Mario play in person before." -- Ben A.

"It is hard to see me in the picture but that is me in Moscow." -- Justin H.



"The first pic is me and my brother Jeremy ( a Yinzer undercover who lives in Boston) last week downtown at the city county building. The second is from the top of Mt. Washington, NH with my brother Chuck right before he deployed for a tour in Iraq. (where he currently is reppin the steelers nation) and family. Third is me and my friend Aaron in Lima, Peru." -- Doug

"I was recently in Beijing working at the China Open tennis tournament and had a free day to do some site seeing. Decided to go to The Great Wall. I was there last year but forgot my towel so I made it a point to bring it this year and return for a picture. I've been living in Miami for the past 13 years. Work requires me to travel a lot but rarely do I get to come home. I miss the Burgh." -- Justin M., Miami

"A zombie with the Stanley Cup. You can tell Pittsburgh won." -- Joe W.

Great pic of Mario at the banner raising from Matthew W.

"I read your blog on the regular and one thing I love the most is when you put up the pictures from all over the world that have the Pittsburgh sports theme. I had this one for a while and couldn't think of a someone or some site that would appreciate it anymore. This was taken at a Phish show in East Troy, WI this past summer. The way this individual was walking through the crowds with that trophy made me extremely proud to be from Pittsburgh and more importantly a die hard Pens fan." -- Andy A.


Nipsy at the recent Max Talbot K-Mart signing:

"I did get a shirt signed. Everyone was allowed 1 free autograph, or one free picture with Max. But they pretty much cut out the photo ops just to get the line moving. Max was really cordial with everyone and fashionable as usual, as you can see. Apparently, he was even breaking the rules by giving in and signing more than one autograph per person than he was supposed to. It was ironic because one guy started complaining to a K-Mart employee that, basically, Max was taking too much time meeting with people to sign their items and the whole thing was moving too slow. I guess it's a fine line.....be cordial with a few people or ignore everyone while signing. Not sure how it turned out though, because I got through at about 2:15 and I figured I was at the 40-50% mark when it started. And there were at least a few hundred people behind me to squeeze in by 3:00."

Ed. Note: (By the way, since I always get asked, you can get the Max shirt here).

"I just got back from a week visiting Tokyo. Even in Japan, the Pirates are total losers." --
Tom C., California

"Taken before Patrick’s first Steeler game – 4 yrs old." -- Blair D.


"Not sure if this has ever been mentioned, but have you ever noticed the uncanny resemblance of Flyers' clown Scott Hartnell and Slap Shot hooligan Ogie Ogilthorpe????"-- Joe C., Blawnox, PA

"I told my wife if we were to get a mini van, I'd get a vanity plate! She did..." -Jonathan K., Concord, NH

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If you'd like to join in the fun for the next episode, here's what we're looking for:

-Personal photos and/or stories with Pittsburgh celebrities and athletes
-Terrible Towel shots from unusual locales
-Pittsburgh-centric license plates
-Pictures of Steeler/Pirate/Penguin jerseys in random places
-Well-written or thought-provoking emails
-Personal Burgh-sports stories
-Amusing Western PA-related links

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