The 11 pm newscasts in Pittsburgh last night contained precisely three stories: the Steelers beat the Jets and are going to the Super Bowl; it was really, really cold; and some schools announced a two hour delay this morning.
And that was it. Several replays of key game moments, reporters standing outside Heinz Field and South Side bars pointing their cameras at drunk, hypothermic revelers, a few minutes of weather, and the school delay crawl at the bottom of the screen.
While the news content will be back to near normal today- if you consider static videos of auto accidents and burned houses "news"- for the next two weeks every Pittsburgh newscast will dedicate as much as a third of its time teasing, promoting, and airing inane Super Bowl-related drivel.
Please- add a minute or two to the sports segments and put your "enhanced" Steeler coverage there. We don't need to see players getting on and off planes, practicing, making predictions, and we sure as hell don't need to see more grossly overweight fans with black and gold paint covering their half-nude bodies.
Remember: ""We need to keep it in perspective. It's a very, very important game, but it's not the be all and end all of everything. The city better get its act together regardless; I'm talking politically, with its business leaders, its religious leaders, everybody's got to get back to work."
What killjoy uttered those remarks? The United States Ambassador to Ireland and Steelers' Chairman Emeritus, Dan Rooney. He made the comment when the city was going batshit crazy before the 2005 AFC playoffs.
Let's hope sane heads prevail. But I doubt it.
This is Pittsburgh, after all. And they are the Steelers.
UPDATE:
I happened to catch KDKA's News at 10 on the CW last night. The first half-dozen stories were all Steelers-related feel good pieces. The "real" news started over 11 minutes into the broadcast.
Sigh.
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