Super Bowl Lacks Luster Without Steelers

By Mike Wereschagin

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Sunday, February 4, 2007


On the bright side, it'll be a lot easier to get a seat at the bar.
A year after Pittsburgh fans celebrated a fifth National Football League championship with jubilant screams and thumbs thrust skyward, much of the city is greeting Super Bowl XLI with a shrug and a yawn.

Trevor Melville said the Super Bowl party he's hosting this year will be geared more toward his guests than the game.

"I didn't think anybody was doing anything," said Melville, 36, of Bridgeville. He invited about 15 college friends to his Sunday soiree.

One friend replied in an e-mail, saying she'd be there and asking, "Who's playing?"

"It's more of a social gathering than a football gathering," Melville said.

Steelers merchandise is the best-selling of any team in the league, but sales have drifted back to normal after the stratospheric numbers in 2006, said local shopkeepers.

"Last year, they were lined up out the door. We had to hire security guards," said Marcia Hellman, manager of Mike Feinberg & Co. in the Strip District, which claims to have the city's largest stock of Steelers paraphernalia. "This year, you could have the whole store to yourself."

Hellman declined to release sales figures comparing the past two years, as did Shawna Kocik, manager at Hometowne Sports in Station Square.

"This is more normal than last year," Kocik said.

Penguins merchandise sales, however, have been on the rise as hockey fans, some of whom were angered by the 2004-05 player lockout, trickle back to the sport. The team features several of the NHL's best and youngest stars and is in the midst of a multi-game winning streak.

"We really didn't sell a lot of Penguins gear last year. This year, the Penguins are really booming," Kocik said. "Of course, the Steelers are still the biggest hit."

Sports bars are bracing for brisk business tonight, but it's nothing like last year, said Stephanie Wagoner, manager of Hi-Tops in the North Side.

This year, the bar won't charge a cover, and it will be giving out prizes all night. Last year, no such enticements were necessary. Before Super Bowl XL began, Hi-Tops sold enough $75 admission tickets to keep the bar filled all night.

"We're still going to have a pretty good crowd," Wagoner said. "But last year was just insane. ... We were at maximum capacity the whole night and it was a crazy party all day."

Pittsburgh police last year dispatched dozens of officers in riot gear to the South Side and Oakland, where they tried to contain crowds who set fire to couches and overturned cars. This year, the department is planning only on dispatching roving patrols to catch drunken drivers, said police spokeswoman Diane Richard.

The easygoing atmosphere is fine with Melville, who said he's looking forward to a Super Bowl that's just a game.

"It's a good excuse for friends to get together -- watch the game, watch the commercials."

Mike Wereschagin can be reached at mwereschagin@tribweb.com or (412) 391-0927.