Timothy McNulty | January 14, 2009
Gag.
I'm as big of a sucker for Steeler mania as anyone (see today's front page Steeler story, and the time I climbed through a garbage dumpster after my wife threw my Steeler tickets in the trash). Also, I sincerely like Luke Ravenstahl, having covered him since his first year on City Council way back in 2003.
But his move today -- changing his name to STEELERStahl at the county Department of Court Records -- may cross the fine line between clever and stupid.
We're not making this up. Here's Rich Lord's story, and the news release:
(Pittsburgh) January 14,
2008. Mayor
Luke
Ravenstahl announced today that he
will be ceremonially changing his last name from RAVENStahl to "STEELERStahl"
until the Steelers' game/victory on Sunday.
"On behalf of
the Steelers Nation, I've decided to remove the word ‘Ravens' from my name just
like the Steelers will remove them from the AFC Championship," Steelerstahl
said. "From now until Sunday, all references to my name will reflect
Pittsburgh's love and support for our
Steelers - and suggest a victory."
The last half
of the Mayor's name - in a strange coincidence - references Pittsburgh's blue-collar heritage and
the Steelers' Steel Curtain defense.
"The Mayor's
surname ‘stahl,' is of German origin and translates to ‘steel' in English,
making the name change even more appropriate," said John Lyon, associate
professor for the Department of German Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.
The Mayor officially
adopted the name "Steelerstahl" today at 11
a.m. at the Department of Court
Records, located on the first floor of the City-County
building.
He shouldn't have done this, and here are some reasons why.
We assume he was forced into this extraordinary maneuver (instead of just placing the usual mayoral bet like last week) because Baltimore's Democratic mayor was indicted last week. Fellow Democrat Steelerstahl has some experience with that: Detroit's mayor was also under indictment during the Stanley Cup, hindering his ability to get in a Red Wings-Penguins bet. Just stop doing these ridiculous PR moves, please -- what's next, encasing yourself in ice above Heinz Field like David Blaine? (Thank god we don't have Pirate playoffs to worry about.)
There are way more important things going on, even more so than usual when these silly PR events go down: Due to a historically bad economy, 100 percent of Pittsburgh-area hunger and human services agencies are facing budget shortfalls this year. There were 73 murders in the city last year, a jump of 28 percent and its worst year since 1993. The city pension fund just lost $124 million, meaning it only has 29 percent of what it should have to pay retirees.
Taking time out to do this is just tacky -- especially for a young guy still proving himself whose Steeler fandom has gotten him into handcuffs before.
So "stahl" means "steel" in German? Mayor Steelstahl could regret this most of all for personally filing to make himself redundant.
Posted
Jan 14 2009, 11:36 AM
by
Timothy McNulty