Greetings from Pittsburgh.
I actually didn't go to Washington for Game 5 since we didn't have any news shows on Saturday night. I ended up staying in the Steel City and watching the game from Jerome Bettis' bar next to Heinz Field.
Last year at that very same restaurant, they had a promotion where if you ate a 72-oz steak, you could actually meet Jerome if he was in the restaurant.
I was tempted to do it but then I asked myself a very important question: If Jerome Bettis thinks it's an accomplishment to eat such a large piece of red meat should I really be doing that?
Probably not.
Now last week, I blogged about a playoff game-day experience at the Verizon Center in Washington.
In the interests of being fair, let me walk you through a game day in Pittsburgh as we get set for Game 6 on Monday night.
Here's my running journal from the Penguins Game 4 victory on Friday night at Mellon Arena:
10:57 am - We all know that Matt Cooke is an instigator on the ice, but apparently, he acts the same way off-ice as well. Cooke has a running prank where he sneaks up behind a cameraman in the locker room and discreetly unplugs one of his audio cables. Cooke did that to my cameraman but luckily I caught him in the act. I've hung around Jarkko Ruutu enough to know how to deal with former Canucks superpests in the lockerroom.
12:18 pm - I'm being pushed around in a 50-person scrum as we wait for Alex Ovechkin to come out and talk about the death threat he received from a 17-year-old from suburban Pittsburgh. Killing someone at Mellon Arena? Wasn't that the plot of 'Sudden Death'? Someone should check what movies this teenager has watched lately.
2:47 pm - I have a new pre-game ritual in Pittsburgh: I hit the Arby's for a late lunch. My favorite part of the experience came when the guy in front of me actually phoned his wife to see if they already had Arby's sauce in the car. Only in America.
6:33 pm - Players hit the ice for the pre-game skate and the fans have out their usual collection of signs. Best rated-PG sign from a Caps fan: "You Can't Spell Crosby Without C-R-Y".
7:41 pm - Alex Ovechkin takes out Sergei Gonchar with a questionable knee-on-knee hit. The fans at Mellon Arena are furious that the Caps star is not thrown out of the game for this. One Pens fan right in front of me is wearing an Ulf Samuelsson jersey and he's completely disgusted. I'm pretty sure that's the exact definition of the word ironic.
8:01 pm - At the start of the second period, the local TV broadcast shows a bunch of celebrities at the game. They go from a shot of Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, to a shot of actor Nick Nolte and finish up with former Democratic leader John Kerry. Those three guys have absolutely nothing in common, but they they're all at the Penguins game. It's like when you find out that Don Mattingly, Carmen Electra and Adolf Hitler all share the same birthday. You're not really sure what to do with that information.
8:47 pm - The fans sitting a row behind us start making jokes about Petr Nedved. That's a sure sign you are in a hockey city.
9:22 pm - Evgeni Malkin's parents are now getting more face time on the broadcast than Jessica Simpson at a Cowboys' game. Evgeni's mom looks like one of those sweet old ladies you'd see on the label of a jar of spaghetti sauce. In fact, if they wanted to make a quick buck, they could start selling "Mama Geno's Spaghetti Sauce" here in Pittsburgh.
Who cares if she's from Russia? That sounds Italian to me.
9:47 pm - Penguins hang on for a victory to even up the series and ensure I have at least one more visit to Arby's in this round. I wonder if Jerome Bettis would agree to meet with me after he learns how much roast beef I've consumed this week....
