What's with Obama and Pittsburgh, of all places?

(UPDATE: Due to the interest in this article generated among Pittsburghers, a humorous video has been added below.)

President Obama, who couldn't muster enough interest to drive several blocks from the White House to watch the exciting Washington Capitals during the professional hockey playoffs last spring, has instead invited the hockey team from somewhere in western Pennsylvania all the way over to the presidential residence today.

The Pittsburgh team is champion of something called the National Hockey League, which really should be called the International Hockey League since it's got teams in the U.S. and Canada.

Last winter the American president, who grew up in those known hockey hotbeds of Indonesia and Hawaii, cheered for Pittsburgh's once-woebegone football team because its owner campaigned for him.

And later this month Obama has invited the G-20, the so-called Group of 20 really important global finance ministers and central bank governors, to hold a crucial two-day summit in that ... 

... place, if their pilots can find it on the map. Sure, Joe Biden fled the state. But Pennsylvania has a lot of electoral votes and that turncoat old senator who's now a Democrat.

But Pittsburgh?

Pittsburgh?

The Pittsburgh Penguins are named for a bird unable to fly that doesn't live anywhere near that city. After losing ignominiously in 2008, this year the Pens won something called the Stanley Cup.

Winning that trophy is a very big deal -- in Canada, whose teams have been unable to capture North America's oldest professional sports trophy since seven years back into the last century when a club from somewhere in Quebec sneaked passed the Los Angeles Gretzkys, four games to one.

The cup is a very heavy trophy -- see the team captain struggle with it in the photo above -- awarded to the first NHL team to win 16 playoff games after 82 regular season games. That's a hard thing to do.

And hockey is a hard game to play with sticks and armored elbows, skating at some 20 miles an hour around opponents approaching at similar speeds and, in between fights, shooting a 7-ounce chunk of rubber at 90+ miles an hour toward a man willingly standing there to stop it.

Which explains why every NHL club employs a team dentist.

The city of Pittsburgh was founded in the early 1800s by Pennsylvanians who weren't strong enough to make it all the way to Ohio or were rejected at that border.

There, at the junction of two dinky Pennsylvania streams that form the mighty Ohio River, they built a city based on making steel. They've had running water, sewers and electricity there for years now.

But when the steel-making thing didn't work out, the rusting burgh turned to building sports stadiums so its people could wave yellow towels and scream obscenities at visiting teams.

That has actually turned out pretty well for people into that sort of thing. As many Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters recall, the state of Pennsylvania is that place that primary candidate Obama was caught on tape saying was full of bitter small-town losers clinging to their guns and religion. He seems to have changed his tune now.

She won the Democratic primary there. But he won the party nomination and the support of the football team's owner. And Obama returned that support at his successful, taxpayer-financed White House Super Bowl party last winter, cheering against Phoenix. See what Arizona gets for electing John McCain?

In fact, the Pittsburgh football team has won so many Super Bowl trophies that the Democrat president may consider passing some of them out to other cities because in a country that can put a man on the moon, no one should feel left out or uncovered.

After nearly moving to Kansas City or back to Canada because they too wanted a new arena, this past year the Pittsburgh hockey team hired enough Canadians and Russians to defeat Detroit's Canadians and Scandinavians in the cup finals that so many people missed on TV.

They'll likely miss today's White House ceremony too because it's conveniently planned for dinnertime, which means fewer U.S. TV crews will bother.

-- Andrew Malcolm

For irregular mockings of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania, click here for Twitter alerts on each Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot

Photo credits: Top, Associated Press; bottom, Pennsylvania State Archives (Pittsburgh before it could afford color).

Comments

[Steve]

You sir, are a moron. Great way to put down an entire city and their sports teams because the idiot president we have favors it.

And before you write another article that embarrasses yourself on your sports knowledge, the Penguins were named as such because the arena they play at was nicknamed The Igloo. And the Penguins never played for a Canadian City. They have been the Pittsburgh Penguins since 1967, their first year in the league.

How many of these things are near or in L.A.: Lakers, Dodgers, Angels, Clippers or...oh that's right, no NFL team...

(Pittsburgher speaks out! Disses LA for not having NFL team! Doesn't mention NBA titles -- understandably.)

['Burgh-Bock]

WOW! you must REALLY hate this town? Actually the thing i find SOOO amusing is that as much as you undermind hockey you STILL seem a little upset about the fall of the great one...I seem to remember a Seagate Facility here, As well a HUGE HP Campus comprised of R&D, Marketing, and A&R capacitites...and LEST WE FORGET....This is where Asprin came from! Bayer World Headquarters is in the South Hills! Yes the steel industry did die out several years ago and you can Mock the Steelers all you want as I am not a fan of the Rooney's anyways...But do not detract from the Culture....Where would the art world be without Andy Warhol? Where would NASA be without John A. Brashear?????? Where would the education level of children around the country be let alone that HUGE music hall in NYC be without Andrew Carnegie...... I think you are upset that the president isn't into the whole movie star thing and wants to be in a REAL WORKING MAN'S city, backwards as some of the yinzer's around here maybe, they are ALL genuine people...

so yeah if you are upset because the president has a vested intrest in a city that only watches sports and doesn't have any way to relate to its younger geneartion like , say i don't know, having the youngest mayor EVER to preside over a major city, who unlike MANY before him didn't have to create alot negative press to get on Letterman then you are right. not sure how.... but ok!

I'm done I could go on FOREVER about the contributions this city has made to science, art, and the world at large.....but I am sure ALL this is falling on deaf ears...so I will leave you with this one last question.....Why is the new space shuttle being designed and built at Carnegie Mellon University in the city's Oakland Neighborhood(which btw also lays claim to the home of UPMC the largest health care provider in ....ohhhh....ummmm THE WORLD???

find another punching bag cause when you hit us you hit STEEL!!!

[Steve]

Wow, what a retarded article.

(Pittsburgher seems to disagree with article's mocking of city.)

[jason]

Uhm, I don't know what to do with this. All I walked away with was you don't like President Obama and you don't like hockey in America. Are you a sports writer? Have YOU ever been to a hockey game? Can you name the players on the Penguins?
More over, you slam the city of Pittsburgh for no other reason than to attempt (unsuccessfully) to be funny. This is disappointing. I have lived and worked in the Steel City my whole life, and I share this fair city with many dedicated citizens who would likely take offense to your comments (which, ironically, seemed to be something you were upset with Mr. Obama for).
Is this journalism? I'm so sick of attempting to sell papers of TV shows by slamming somebody else. Tell me what's going on in the world, and leave the rest well enough alone.
Plus, you are no where near as funny as Joel Stein.
Godspeed, Jason

(Lifelong Pittsburgher likes where he stayed.)

[SteelPenguin]

Talk your politics all you want, leave my city and my hockey team (and my "woebegone" football team.... the Steelers were once woebegone??? Oh, that's right, you're like 90 so you remember the 1950s or something....) OUT OF IT.

(Pittsburgher finds writer's age bothersome.)

[Steven]

Here we go Steelers HERE WE GO!!! ;)

[Zack]

Have you ever been to the city and seen how great of a city it really is? You obviously don't understand the true passion that Pittsburghers have for everything they do, especially their athletic teams. This article is of very poor taste. This writing is the reason that the newspaper industry is quickly becoming irrelevant.

[Richard Hertz]

I look forward to the day when the big earthquake hits and California falls into the ocean.

(Pittsburgher wishes ill to other places!)

[Dan]

This whole article fails. It's a bad mistake to mess with the city of Pittsburgh. Here are just a few sections I needed to say something about

"Last winter the American president, who grew up in those known hockey hotbeds of Indonesia and Hawaii, cheered for Pittsburgh's once-woebegone football team because its owner campaigned for him."
- Once-woebegone? Name one football team that HASN'T been "once-woebegone". Also what does your sarcastic comment about a "hockey hotbeds" have to do with football?

"The Pittsburgh Penguins are named for a bird unable to fly that doesn't live anywhere near that city. After losing ignominiously in 2008, this year the Pens won something called the Stanley Cup."
- Right that's a valid point because there are a whole lot of Bears in Chicago, large tribes of Indians in Cleveland, Wizards like to chill in D.C., and how about all those Lakers running about your city of LA? Also "ignominiously"? Does every team that comes in second place lose ignominiously? It's not like they punched Detroit player during the hand shake or spat in their face after losing the game.
This writer is a joke.

(Pittsburgher disses writer's age, sees no Bears in Chicago and believes penguins can fly.)

[Tara Molle Seattle, WA]

The Penguins won the Stanley Cup, hence why they were invited to the White House. He invited the Steelers because they won the Super Bowl. I am sure he will invite the team who wins the World Series. Anyway, I am really not sure what your incoherent rant is about but please cry about this somewhere else. Go Pens.

(Seattle person, who's also not in Pittsburgh, says she likes it anyway.)

[asdf]

You're a joke.

(Another Pittsburgher can't think of anything to say.)

[dannyinzer]

what a moron....

why are you so mad, that you have to hate on a hockey team visiting the white house then demean an entire city?

what are you gonna say when your lakers go to the white house idiot...

p.s. GO STEELERS!

(Steelers fan tries to speak out.)

[Wm. Smith]

In 2007, Forbes magazine named Pittsburgh the 10th cleanest city.
In 2008 Forbes listed Pittsburgh as the 13th best city for young professionals to live.
In 2007, Pittsburgh was named "America's Most Livable City" by Places Rated Almanac.
In 2009, Pittsburgh was named most livable city in the United States and 29th-most-livable city worldwide by The Economist.

whooooooops

Sorry we can't all live by the picturesque LA River. Los Angeles is a regular punchline for most other people in America and the ignorance displayed in this column serves to point out exactly why the newspaper industry is falling apart. What even prompts a column like this? Upset because the G-20 isn't in LA? Give it a rest, read up on something before you speak and save yourself some embarrassment.

[Pat]

Have you ever been to the city of Pittsburgh? I thought not, otherwise you never would have written such a piece of garbage. Go somewhere and see it for yourself before jumping to ignorant assumptions.

(Pittsburgher asks question, answers it herself.)

[Kenny]

You ignorant loser! You really thought you could bash Pittsburgh and get away with it? I have never read a more poorly researched or more idiotic article in my life. You should be ashamed to call yourself a journalist. All I can say is that you should come to Pittsburgh, attend a Steelers game, witness its expanding financial and medical economy, attend a Penguins game, and actually experience Pittsburgh before you ever comment on our city again. Okay?

(Pittsburgher thinks writer tried to hide idiotic article by putting it online.)

[Kenny]

Also how can you even begin to comment on winning Super Bowls and Stanley Cups when Los Angeles has no professional football team and the Kings have never won a Stanley Cup. You're a joke and a complete hack of journalist!

(Pittsburgher notices LA has no NFL team but admires writer's style.)

[Pascal]

I recommend never writing about pittsburgh again. Just a thought if you dont want every one in Allegheny county at your doorstop. You're a joke

[Erin]

Wow.
Your only image of Pittsburgh is from something you saw 30 years ago isn't it?
Either that or someone who calls "The Most Livable City In America" ( 2007 Places Rated Almanac) their home has made you very angry and this is the only way you can think of to get back at them.
Or you are trying, and failing spectacularly, to be funny.
Whatever the reason is, it's really no suprise you lost out on that Pulitzer with in depth research and reporting like this.

(Pittsburgher finds Pittsburgh very livable in 2007.)

[Sports Fan]

The article is simply ignorant. At least bother putting some research into what you feel passionate about.

(Pittsburgher thinks Pittsburgh-hater should get facts straight.)

[Steven]

Somebody is still sour over the election. Time for a nap.

(Pittsburgher is taking his nap now.)

[Scott]

I disagree that this guy did all his research in Google. Old people don't know how to use computers.

(Another Pittsburgher favors government death panels.)

[Andrew]

I'm not from Pittsburgh and never plan to visit, but that article had to be one of the lamest and most idiotic things I've ever read. Most journalist take pride in their breadth of knowledge, while this writer (if you want to call him that) celebrates his ignorance for a National Sport and major metropolitan city.

Here's a hint: use the internet and google NHL, then Pittsburgh, then Journalism. And take some pride in your profession, you make other journalists embarrassed by your lack of etiquette.

And I thought California wasn't just full of hypsters and failed actors. Thanks for proving me wrong.

(Non-Pittsburgher took article seriously, vows to never go there.)

[F$ck Snob a## LA]

LMAO you are so clueless and delusional about pittsburgh, hockey and pretty much life itself, the pure jealousy dripping from this is LAUGHABLE, waaaaaaaaaahhhhh why cant EVERYTHING BE ABOUT LA????? WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! for the love of God do some research on the city and sports you write about, no one cares about LA either, so yes the writer of this article pretty much sucks at life, and hows that debt and working out for ya CALI? pittsburgh is in the top 5 most stable cities in the USA, LA............LOL

(Pittsburgher, practicing typing, finds his city among most stable.)

[S.K.]

Usually when a "journalist" tries to write a controversial article, explaining their views, they can tell a success by the conversation that stems from their article. Good opinion articles often have people who strongly agree, people who strongly oppose and those in the middle. And the comments section turns into a discussion about those views.

Reading through these comments, I don't see one comment that agrees with any part of your article. Sir, there is obviously something wrong here.

(Pittsburgher surprised so many Pittsburghers disagree with article insulting Pittsburgh.)

[Chris]

After much contemplation, and an attempt to figure out if you were just being ironic, I decided that; you being from the West Coast, you probably don't have any real knowledge of history, the facts in general, or anything about how real people actually live.

It is kinda a sign of the times, though, that the once lordly Southern California feels so insecure, with all its financial and existential bankruptcy, that it now feels the need to attack parts of the country where people don't feel the need to be so arrogant, presumptuous, or flagrantly pretentious.

Once your paper folds, and you loose your McMansion to a mortgage that only an idiot ever would have signed, you are welcome here. We're nice like that.

(Pittsburgher sees article as arrogant statement of California superiority. Confuses online blog with printed newspaper.)

[Blake Chaney]

"...since it's got teams in the U.S. and Canada." Great grammar.

(Pittsburgher corrects grammar.)

[Anthony Schmeck]

Obama is hardly the first president to fall in love with Pittsburgh. The first president to fall in love with Pittsburgh would of course be...our First President, George Washington. Washington considered Pittsburgh of such strategic importance that he named the outpost he established upriver Fort Necessity. Thus, rather than being founded by "Ohio rejects" in the 1800's (as the author claims), Pittsburgh was in reality founded by, among others, the man commonly called THE FATHER OF OUR COUNTRY. Somehow, Malcolm's research failed to uncover this as he prepared to write this wandering, poorly written, vitriolic that apparently passes for journalism at the LA Times.

(Elderly Pittsburgher recalls George Washington liking Pittsburgh.)

[Steve]

"President Obama, who couldn't muster enough interest to drive several blocks from the White House to watch the exciting Washington Capitals during the professional hockey playoffs last spring, has instead invited the hockey team from somewhere in western Pennsylvania all the way over to the presidential residence today."

Only one sitting president has ever attended a Capitals game...and that was a Democrat...Bill Clinton in 1998.

[Chris]

If you will permit me another msg...

BTW... if the past doesn't excite you and you need a reason to establish that Pittsburgh still has any relevance to the world, look at almost every single piece of robot technology that has come about in the last 20 years, from surgical tools to Asimo. Take a guess where it came from? Especially with surgical robots, as the CMU/UPMC partnership has been far-and-away the most productive source of innovation in that area, anywhere in the world.

(Pittsburgher says Pittsburgh leads in robot technology.)

[Roger]

Wow, maybe then LA's football team could visit Obama after they win the Super Bowl...Oh wait, such a "great" city doesn't even have one. Aren't you due for some more riots??

[Travis]

Are you envious of Pittsburgh's low cost of living? Or perhaps the fact that the burgh is regularly voted one of the most livable cities? Honestly, your stereotypes are dated and you really have no idea how much of an impact the NHL has in this country.

[jasonicus]

Seriously, are you retarded in some way? This is so laughable, you are nothing but an idiot. Nice article, now I see why your paper is failing. You are obviously a bitter old man who has no knowledge of Hockey and it is quite comical. Nice try though, now go change your wife's diaper.

[David]

What is your problem with Pittsburgh? It's a great city with a lot of pride and winning sports teams, so you decide to rip on it for your article???? And one of your main argument's is that obama is wrongfully obsessed with pittsburgh because he invited the penguins to the Whitehouse, a tradition for whoever wins the Stanley Cup, Superbowl, etc? "They've had running water, sewers and electricity there for years now." Seriously what is your problem?

[Stairway To Seven]

Sixtime Superbowl Champs. The Stanley Cup. Your argument is invalid.

[Wiznertz]

You sir, are a perfectly good waste of moustache. I hope you contract the swine flu.

[Kris Draper]

Sir,

Bravo! I must commend you for putting those damn Pittsburghers in there place! Its about time somebody stepped up and really gave them an earful. You failed to mention that Crosby fellow failed to shake hands at the end of said championship playoffs. I guess their players take on the persona of the city itself.

Warm Regards,

Kris Draper

[Patrick Howell]

I was going to use this opportunity to let this author know how..."mistaken"...he is, but i saw that all comments are previewed and approved before posted, so I'll just say what a shame it is that someone can be employed and get paid for not doing there job. I always thought reporters were supposed to use facts, but little to nothing in this article is factual, let alone relevant, therefore I can do nothing but sit and ponder how this man will continue to receive paychecks from the LA Times. Like the licks to the center of the tootsie roll pop, the world may never know...

[Jeff]

the best part of this article is the comments. seriously.

now i'm going to sit down and watch my championship team play on tb.

(That'll be fun. As champs, they should absolutely destroy Tennessee.)

[king.of.kenya]

Andrew Malcolm hates black people.

[John Pendel]

First of all, the Stanley cup didn't originate in that gay country up north. I'm not going to tell you where it did. Secondly, I would like to see you play some true hockey. You would be laid out like a rag doll. Your probably a black person that doesn't like the ice. So stop your bitching and deal with it. This is towards the fag that wrote this article... Have a great day, because us in Pittsburgh have great days for hockey...

[Wow]

I'm willing to bet money that the author of this article was the first fat kid to be out during dodgeball.

[Tara Molle]

"The Penguins won the Stanley Cup, hence why they were invited to the White House. He invited the Steelers because they won the Super Bowl. I am sure he will invite the team who wins the World Series. Anyway, I am really not sure what your incoherent rant is about but please cry about this somewhere else. Go Pens."

(Seattle person, who's also not in Pittsburgh, says she likes it anyway.)

Above is my original entry along with a comment which I believe was written by you? I am actually from California, thanks, and after reading your article for the L.A. Times and the commentary from angry Pittsburghers (understandably) I am quite embarrassed. People of Pittsburgh, please do not think we are all of this mentality. And if you, sir, want to question why I am a Pens fan when I am not from Pittsburgh then I only need to say one word: military. You must be quite bored to be posting commentary to every response to this lame article. Le sigh.

P.S. I am in Seattle by default because I am stationed here.

"I'm score." Go Pens.

[malkin]

you're old and have no friends.

[Sixburgh Kid]

That earthquake that will drop L.A. and all of California into the Pacific can't come fast enough. Hope you can swim Andy. I look forward to visiting Arizona Bay in a few years.

[yukyukitryer]

i hate you.

[Cameron]

you are as ugly as your are dumb.. i wish i could have the 3 minutes i spent reading your article back.. id ask you for them but your geriatric self probably passed away already.. and what are you doing up at 2:25 am to post this article.. surely they have curfiews at the nursing home you reside in

[Cameron]

oh.. and i love how you have to get in the last little quip in each post with.. (Pittsburgher this and Pittsburgher that..) haha which just makes you seem that much more pitiful and ignorant.. ha you have no idea what you just opened up

(Oh, watch out. Cameron's gonna start waving his Terrible Towel!)

[Yinzer]

I can see why you've only been nominated for a Pulitzer. Typical conservative making broad assumptions based off little facts or information. Obama won, get over it. Don't take your parties downfall out a city you've never been to, nor know nothing about it. Shouldn't you be writing about Sarah Palin or something? Hockey and Pittsburgh certainly aren't your strong suit.

[Bryan Seybert]

You do not deserve to call yourself an American. This is why idiots like you will not be the future of our country...the future of our country lies in the hands of people that know what they are actually talking about.

[Alex]

How can you pretend to act patriotic? you're bashing your fellow Americans. It sucks that you can't enjoy sport, write about it in you're diary. This article is so bad it might lose to the LA Kings.