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Catching playoff fever in a Stanley Cup city
http://www.e-sports.com/articles/2336/1/Catching-playoff-fever-in-a-Stanley-Cup-city/Page1.html
Jo Ann Lawery
Jo Ann Lawery now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. When she isn't writing for eSports and other web sites, this avid hockey and baseball fan works in, where else, a casino as a "slot club ambassador."
 
By Jo Ann Lawery
Published on 05/8/2010
 

It's the month of May and thoughts usually turn to the start of the baseball season or the NBA playoffs. However, for the city on the three rivers – Pittsburgh – it's the Stanley Cup playoffs that are on the minds of sports fans. 

Sports fans in Pittsburgh are getting playoff fever.

It's rainy and dreary in this city, which is the home of the defending Stanley Cup champions Pittsburgh Penguins. However, the fact that it's rainy and cold  hasn't stopped Penguin fans from showing their loyalty.

All over the city you see people wearing black and gold jerseys, which seems to be the official color of all the "Steel City's" teams, even the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates.

I don't see too many people in Pirates' uniforms, even though they were playing host to Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals the same night the Penguins were playing.

As Heinz Field and the Mellon Arena are near each other, and both games were around the same time, I don't think I need to paint a picture of downtown Pittsburgh traffic for you. Thank God for public transportation.

Once again, Pittsburgh is hosting a Stanley Cup game. This time it's against the Montreal Canadiens, who have won more Stanley Cups than any other team in the NHL.

The Penguins were one game away from moving into the next round of the Eastern Conference finals. If they had won the game tonight, Pittsburgh would have been ready to party like it was 2009. Instead, Montreal pulled off a victory and the series is tied at two games each.

Everywhere one looks in Pittsburgh , it's all about what's going on at "66 Mario Lemieux Way" at the arena known as, what else, "the Igloo."

From the signs on the buses that say, "Let's Go Pens," to the billboards outside the city that mention the Steelers, the city has caught Stanley Cup fever.

Even the stores and restaurants have gotten into the act, having a "Go Pens" sign in the window, a Penguins banner or a picture of one of the Penguins' players. From what I could see, Sidney Crosby and Penguins' goaltender, Marc Andre Fleury were the two most popular Penguins to have in your store window in Pittsburgh.

The newspapers even have wall-to-wall coverage. No, not of the health care debate or immigration talk. No, It's all about hockey in Pittsburgh, 24/7. It seems I'm not the only one catching playoff fever in this Stanley Cup city.