PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, has been one of the greatest places in Pittsburgh since 2001. Before PNC Park was Three Rivers Stadium that was opened from 1970 to 2000. If you’re a sports fan, you don’t want to miss a Buccos game. The atmosphere is insane. With hundreds of fans flooding the ballpark each game, you would think someone incredibly famous was at the stadium, but the players are just like you and me. They have worked their butts off ever since they were little and fell in love with the game of baseball. Now being in the major league, they have to work extra hard to maintain not only a position on the team, but a name for themselves. Dan Hart, who works in communications for the Pittsburgh Pirates, took us up to the press box before the game and talked to us about his job. “Once the confetti of the Super Bowl game goes off, I’m on the clock and getting ready to head down to Florida for spring training. It sure is a fun job, but a very, very long year.” It was so interesting to hear about Dan’s traveling stories, how he gets to build a personal relationship with the players, and his daily work in general. “You don’t know who I am, but you know what I do.” Dan laughs as he explains that when someone comes up to him and is like “Oh! Did you know that Polanco’s last home run was this day at this game and so on?” and Dan says “Yes! I was the one that wrote that information! I was the one that gave you that!” “That’s the coolest thing about this job, Dan continues, you are constantly feeding people information and you never really know what you are going to get yourself into. We are everyone’s eyes and ears and they don’t really even know it.” Dan explained to us about a PNC Park internship they offer during the summer. “Get into as many internships as you can. Get involved, keep writing and it’s inevitable that you will make mistakes, but it’s okay, keep going.” Dan Hart was an incredible person to talk to and it was even better talking about one of my favorite topics, baseball. To top the night off, The Pirates were able to clutch a win in the bottom of the 10th inning 3-2 against the Brewers. The games are amazing and I’ll never get tired of going to them, It will be something I would want everyone to experience, even if you’re not a fan.
All posts by Chalee Durand
Fortune Cookie Blog
7/18/2017
Enjoy Life! It is better to be happy than wise.
Everyone goes through life. We all face challenges and we all have accomplishments. The most important thing to do in life is to enjoy each and every day. We never know what day will be our last. We never know when we will see our family members for the last time or our best friends. We need to learn to be excited about the future, but not too excited that it becomes a blockade for what is happening in our lives at that very moment. Happiness is a big factor that can dictate our outlook on life. We can live with happiness, hoping for the best and letting life happen; or we can be disappointed with the littlest things that happen in our life making us not enjoy anything. We should take out as much negativity as possible in our life because it only leads to discouragement. When negativity springs into your life, you shouldn’t take it straight to your heart but this is where you should use your wisdom to fight it off with positivity and happiness. Being wise can be a very good characteristic but when you think you’re a know it all, you tend to put yourself above everyone else. When you do that you take away their happiness and keep it all for yourself. When someone is happy they normally allow the people they are with to be happy as well. Happiness is contagious. A smile can say a thousand words that nothing else can. Let the world see your smile as you continue life. It will do you much better than negativity.
Home of the Pittsburgh Penguins
With two straight Stanley Cup wins under their belt, the Pittsburgh Penguins sure have made a name for themselves worldwide. Being in the journalism workshop, we were lucky enough to have Tom McMillan, the VP of Communications for the Penguins as a tour guide to go behind the scenes of PPG Paints Arena. From simply seeing all the work that needs to be put into the stadium to get ready for the upcoming season to seeing the locker room it sure was an interesting experience that I will never forget. To actually be at a Penguin game is one thing, but to be immersed in all that actually goes into having a game happen is another. That is exactly what Tom talked to us about. He told us how since PPG Paints just bought out Consol Energy a little over a year ago that they had to replace everything with Consol on it and put up the new PPG Paints detail. Then we got to see how they work on the ice rink to make sure it doesn’t have any scratches or cracks and it’s ready to go for the next season. “Many people think summer is their time off, but we’re not like the teacher’s. We have to make sure everything is ready to go and with the Penguins winning another Stanley Cup, it gives us even less time to get ready. We are working constantly.” Tom tells us as we walk around the upstairs of PPG Paints, looking at where the announcers work and all radio broadcasting happens. It was really cool to see all the newspaper prints on the walls upstairs. They had one headline from the very first game in 1967 all the way up to the winning of this year’s cup. One of the most exclusive parts of the tour was that we got to go see the Penguins locker room and Suite 66. Even though we weren’t able to go into the locker room it still was a surreal experience to be in the presence of where the boys actually are before a game. Suite 66 has been a new addition to PPG Paints for the fans. “People these days want more of an experience rather than stuff. It’s called Experiential Marketing. That’s what everyone is using these days.” Tom explained to us as we looked at all the pictures hanging on the walls, seen the fancy chandeliers hanging from the ceilings and were in awe at the mini Stanley Cups that were behind the glass. Seeing all of that was really special. From seeing the littlest details like the 50 years sign upstairs showing how long the Penguins have been a team; to seeing all the different concession stands throughout the stadium it definitely would be amazing to work with the Penguins just like Tom does. Tom told me that he doesn’t go to every single game, his team does but he travels a lot with them. He told us that “honestly you really don’t get to see much of the game live when you are there. You are more focused on the work that you are doing rather than being able to relax and simply just watch the game. You have multiple national television stations that you have to interview and many people you have to talk to during the game, but the excitement of the game is there. That’s the best.” Tom sure was an excellent tour guide. Even though some may not be hockey fans, there was still something for everyone to learn about while we toured. Tom showed us something that many of us didn’t know. The number signs that show you where your seat is located at is actually made very uniquely. The signs are made from steel because Pittsburgh is home of many steel mills, that’s what we’re known for. Also there are scratch marks on the glass behind the steel signs. Those are like that to represent the huge ice skating rink that is very popular during the winter months. Also in the middle of the signs there are three steel rails that are suppose to represent the three rivers in Pittsburgh. “Hundreds upon hundreds of people walk past those signs during the seasons and they never really notice all the detail that goes into the making of it. If I was the architect I would be really mad that I did all that thinking and know one really even stops and looks at their work. Tom laughs as he wraps up his tour. This definitely was one of the greatest tours I have ever gotten to experience. Growing up near Pittsburgh and being a sports fan allowed me to enjoy my time more and I hope everyone learned something that they never thought they would ever learn. There’s always something to learn about in Pittsburgh. Always.