Land of Penguins and Pirates – A Postscript…(with Fried Cheeseburger)
Ugh!
Okay – so the Wings lost and I was in Pittsburgh when it happened.
Ugh!
Oh well, when in Rome…
Your's Truly and Paul Rhoads with the "Cup"
I have to say, most people were really cool. It was interesting to be in the heart of a city that just won a championship. Detroit has won it’s share of titles over the years, but I’ve never been down in the thick of the action like Friday night.But then things got weird. We were down in the South Side bar district, popped out of “The Smiling Moose” (a real decent little dive), looked down the street and holy crap…a wall of cops. We’re talking mounted police, guys in riot gear with baseball bat size night sticks, helicopters overhead, SWAT type vehicles…it was a little freaky.Â
Talking to the locals, I guess Super Bowl got really ugly so this was the reason for the early show of force. I can understand why, but it always seems to me that being that aggressive usually helps to fan the fire, not necessarily put it out. They had a great photo in Sunday’s Free Press that summed it up…see it here.
We ended up bypassing the wall of police by literally moving down one block and walking up three. Suddenly we are on the other side of the “barricade” and popped into another bar where additional adult beverages were consumed to help drown our sorrows. That night ended up at this great place called “Mike and Tony’s” where gyro’s were consumed and we all agreed that was the best sandwich of the weekend.
The next morning, this is what I got to see…
UGH!
Right there in the restaurant of the hotel we were staying was the coach of the Penguins and his family eating breakfast with THE FREAKIN’ STANLEY CUP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TABLE!!! UGH!
The rest of the weekend we just tried to avoid SportsCenter and enjoy ourselves! We set up shop at “Mullen’s” across from the ballpark and had some lunch and played UNO for shots. Eventually we would find our way to Jerome Bettis’ restaurant across from Heinz Field before headin’ back to “Mullen’s” and then the game. Everyone was actually really cool on Saturday…pleasantries exchanged, that sort of thing. We were happy to tell anyone to stop living in the past, hockey season was done and it was now baseball season… 
Yeah, then how did that work out? We lose the two games we go to on Saturday and Sunday. Not just lose, but look completely beat down. Can’t a Detroit kid catch a break?
One of the cool things on Saturday was to find the MSU Alumni Club. We came out of a bar called “Calico Jack’s“, looked acrossed the street and there was the green flag with block “S” starring at us. They were tailgating and I got to tell you, doing it up right! Way to represent!!
Sunday was the culinary highlight for me! We went back to Bettis’ for brunch and I took on the “Soon to be Famous Fried Cheeseburger“!
That’s right, a cheeseburger that is covered in tempura batter and then fried! How could this go wrong?
They were even kind enough to make an exception for me and add bacon to it! YEAH for me! It really was quite good, just a little too much with the bun and then additional layer of fried dough. I finished the whole thing (of course I did) and can tell you I didn’t have to eat for at least another 8 hours! You know, I kind of ended the weekend much like I started it…
Ugh!
If you’d like to see a few more pictures…you can click here.
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