Hockey is Big Time Fun Where I Live

The article written by Frances Blevins

I was really surprised when my wife went out to lunch with me on game day wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey. She started watching the games on Satalite Specials with me but wasn't what one would call a big fan of the hockey. That was about ten years ago. Now there is a huge fan base of the Pittsburgh Penguins who are women, and they are more rabid fans than many of the men. I've never seen anything like it. We have the NFL and Major League Baseball represented here in Pittsburgh, but they don't get the female fans like hockey does.

I joke with my wife that it is because many of the players are French and the women are romanticizing the game. My wife and her girlfriends who are hooked on hockey all go nuts over Sidney “Sid The Kid” Crosby. I tell the girls that they only like him because he is a hockey player who still has all of his teeth.

Our team went through some bad times. They have won the Stanley Cup Championship more than once, but there were some lean times when there was bankruptcy and talk about moving the franchise out of Pittsburgh. Our town is still a blue collar town even though the steel mills are mostly closed and there are a lot of white collar jobs now. It must be in the coal dust particles that still are floating in the air because even highly paid executives are crazy for the Penguins.

"I have been paid for this guest post."