I’ve been hearing a lot about the Ravens telling the NFL commissioner that they don’t want to play any nationally televised games at Heinz Field this upcoming season.  Most of this week I heard it on the radio every day.

However, I’ve been searching, and the only references I can find are about the 2009-2010 season.  I’ve seen a few forum posts scattered around, and they are current, but they don’t like to any new articles.

Has anyone heard differently?  Or is this a non-story (at least this season)?

I’m not sure if it will embed or not, so just in case, here’s the link to the Star morning show’s Peep Olympics:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aEeUa40tYw[/youtube]

From the depths of Metblogs, once again comes…a kitteh.

As I mentioned briefly before, I’m looking for more writers.

Here’s the deal: We (Metblogs authors) write because we love the cities we live in (now granted, I consider Southwestern PA to be Pittsburgh.  I spend enough time romping through Westmoreland and Fayette counties to know we’re all Burghers).  All you have to do is write about Pittsburgh.  Anything that is related to Pittsburgh.  I tend to write about transportation, culture-type things and fun things I see when I’m walking to and from my bus stop.  If you want to write about those things too, that’s awesome!  I don’t know much about Pittsburgh politics, since I live in the suburbs, and I tend to only follow hockey.  We’re pretty irreverent here sometimes, we have fun with what we write.  If we don’t, what’s the point?

What do you get out of being a Metblogs author?  Well, I keep getting invited to things, for free!  I’ve seen a bunch of special preview shows, gotten to interview awesome people who I would normally not have access to, and also, every now and then, just get free stuff.  I’ve gotten a lot of exposure for my own blog, and made friends in other cities because of the community of authors.

And, here’s the fun thing, since I’m Captain now, I can give you stuff.  Case in point, at least every other month (but I’ll try for monthly), we’ll have an author meet-up, and the first round of drinks is on me (21+ only, younger authors can write, but I’ll be buying you something non-alcoholic).  That’s right, free drinks, just for writing about the city you love.  Seriously, where else are you going to find a deal like that?

What do you need to do?  Write about Pittsburgh.  That’s it.  I try to post at least once a day (sometimes I fail, hence the need for help).  The general rule is to post 2-3 times a week, but if you can’t, that’s okay too.  When we have a lot of authors, we just make sure that we don’t post over one another (that is, letting other posts sit at the top of the page at least an hour, and scheduling of posts does that easily), unless something is happening live.  I post a lot from my phone (you can post from a flip phone, Android, or iOS device).

If you’re interested, send me a message, I’d love to see some previous online writing if you have some, and if you don’t, that’s okay too, I’ll work with you, no worries.

As always, thanks for reading.

I was driving on McKnightmare road when I got pummeled by rain.  However, nothing like this:

Photo credit: @junofive

Good gravy.  Stay dry and be safe out there!

Today’s sports news brings both happiness and sorrow, although chances are you’ve already heard both items by now.

First, go outside right now, head to Oakland and burn a couch, the Pirates are over .500!  As of this writing, the game being played now has no score, so we can still celebrate this fleeting whiff of mediocrity!

Second, sadly, the Cotton Candy Man has passed away.  Ken Geidel, who also sold Lemonade at Pirates Games, was a Pittsburgh staple.  And, in a very classy move, the Penguins put up a news story about it.  How many cities professional sports teams care like that?  Read the Pen’s article here, and go to WTAE’s coverage here, which includes two videos of Geidel in action.

The Rachel Maddow show visited Pittsburgh for the NRA convention.  She had this to say:

The NRA held its convention this year in Pittsburgh, a city that is way more beautiful than it gets credit for.  Pittsburgh also has way worse traffic than it gets credit for with 70,000 extra people in town for the NRA who would not otherwise be there.

She then took a ride with City Councilman Rev. Ricky Burgess as they discuss the gun violence in Homewood.  You can watch the video here.

What I love, is watching them leave downtown and head past the Strip District and then turn onto the East Busway.  Government cars, as well as emergency vehicles use the busway all the time, although it was a little strange to watch, I’m used to being higher up on the back seats of the bus, it was fun to watch him pass the stops that I’ve become so familiar with.

Some kind of accident at Liberty and Seventh.  Buses are running late, lots of emergency vehicles and flashing lights.  Stay away if you can.

It’s been a very long two weeks, with no end in sight, but that’s okay, I guess, I don’t really need the sleep.  Anyway, yesterday, I was working a golf fundraiser for work.  Now, my experience with golf is in the miniature fashion.  I don’t really understand real golf.  But in the two years I’ve worked this event, here’s what I’ve learned:

• Apparently, sometimes (but not for our event), you can buy mulligans.  That seems strange to me that you can buy a better score.
• Some people do wear funny plaids.  Most don’t.
• More people need to wear funny plaids.  And big berets.
• There are some really awesome golf club covers and umbrellas.
• Hot dogs injected with cheese and jalapenos are awesome!
• Golf courses aren’t designed to soak up as much rain as we’ve been getting lately.
• Golf course managers are very good at reading radar maps and keeping everyone safe (thanks!)

I still don’t know what club you use for what, or really how the game works, but when it wasn’t pouring or threatening us with lightning bolts, it was a fun day, I even got some work done outside between rounds.

Also, the staff at Cedar Brook are amazing, and the food was excellent, if you’re down near Route 70 and 51 (and throw 981 in there as well), stop in, it’s worth a trip!

Some more beer related news for you: you can become a capitol-investor of East End Brewing!  East End is raising money to move to a much larger space (still not that accessible from the East Busway, sadly), and is offering a new program which basically lets you pre-order your beer.  However, you also get VIP passes, exclusive invites to events, tours and a t-shirt.  Pretty awesome!

I love East End’s beer, and if I had the money, I would certainly do it, but sadly, it is just not going to happen right now.  If you want more information about it, check it out here.

East End has also teamed up with local app creator, Levlr, and now has a mobile site (through Beerby) that allows you to quickly find the hours and beers on tap at each location.  Check that out here.

Big win for D’s II in Monroeville today at the chili cook off held at South Side Works.  Here is Dan with their trophy (from my crappy camera phone)

If you have never been, stop in at either Monroeville or Regent Square for an awesome selection of craft, impored and domestic beer, great food (obviously) and the best staff in the world.