Do Detroit’s Professional Sports Teams Need To Be More Like Pittsburgh’s?
I’m not going to lie, that was a difficult headline to write. I hate Pittsburgh. I want nothing to do with them. Seeing that word written out brings me physical pain. Now, I must admit, I have never been to the city of Pittsburgh. I do have some friends from the Steel City. I like them plenty and don’t hold it against them. I even enjoy Primanti Bros. and was a frequent customer…when there were still locations in Michigan. Of course…who wouldn’t enjoy French fries on an overstuffed sandwich?
I know what you’re thinking. If I just highlighted so many wonderful things about the city of Pittsburgh, why do I detest it so? Well, I’m still not over losing to the Penguins in the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals. Outside of that I have no other reason to dislike them. However, that one fact alone is enough to not like them. Clearly, I am still incredibly bitter over the Red Wings Game 7 loss. We should have won. We should have been back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions (again).
Detroit Red Wings vs Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
14 years have gone by and I still cling to this grudge. However, I am ready to let it go. Well, sort of. I still won’t like them. I think I still need time to get over that loss. Yet, I am willing to concede Pittsburgh, and its professional sports teams, has done something right and I think we need to follow in their footsteps. Detroit’s professional sports teams should, indeed, be more like Pittsburgh’s.
Now, what do I mean by that? Do the Red Wings need to draft the next Sidney Crosby? Do the Lions need to develop a Steel Curtain-esque Defense a la the Steelers? Do the Tigers need to build the prettiest ballpark in the Major Leagues, like the Pirates? Or, do the Pistons have to…wait…okay, they don’t have an NBA team in Pittsburgh. Take that! Obviously, all of those things would be nice, but that’s not what I’m getting at here.
All of Pittburgh’s professional sports teams use Black and Yellow as their team colors. Penguins? Black and Yellow. Steelers? Black and Yellow. Pirates? Black and Yellow. It’s really no wonder why Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa was able to make a hit song out of it.
Using the same color scheme for all of their professional sports is great for Pittsburgh sports fans. You have one set of colors that can go with all of your favorite sports teams. Black and yellow represents Pittsburgh. Not just the Steelers, not just the Penguins, and not just the Pirates–the whole city. That is awesome, and Detroit should implement this for all of us fans.
However, if Detroit were to follow Pittsburgh’s lead and do this…which one of our sports teams colors would we choose to have all of our teams wear? That Honolulu Blue and Silver is a very unique look, certainly one of a kind. At the same time, the Red Wings red and white is incredibly iconic. If you were to change their colors to Honolulu Blue and Silver, you’d also have to change the team name to the Blue Wings, or something, because Red Wings wouldn’t make much sense without the Red. The Tigers rock a Navy Blue and Orange, that somehow work well together. I could see that working. Or, we could have all of our teams wear the Red, White, and Blue just like our Detroit Pistons. I guess if it were up to me, we’d have to implement the Red and White across the board for all of our teams. As much as I love the Honolulu Blue and Silver and would truly hate to see it go, we can’t change the Red Wings to the Blue Wings. It’s too late for that. Had they done it initially, to honor the Blue Angels or something, that would have been cool. Sadly, in 2023, I think we’re too late. The Pistons and their Red, White, and Blue has it’s pros and cons. It’s Patriotic and the colors go nicely together. However, how many teams use those colors? The Chicago Cubs, the 76ers, Washington Wizards, even the logos for pretty much every league is Red, White, and Blue. It’s far from original. Thus, it’s Red and White for me.
Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll ever be able to pull this off. So, I owe a tip of my hat to the city of Pittsburgh. As far as I can tell, no other city has pulled this off. We all messed up. Cheers to you, Pittsburgh. (Please don’t tell anyone I said that)
Red Wings Fans Penguins Fans
— Cort Freeman (Lord of Kerry) (@CortFreeman) September 14, 2022
🤝
Hating Marian Hossa
