Thursday, May 25, 2006

Where is Pittsburgh? A recurring question

Pittsburgh is the farthest west I have ever lived. In the service of figuring out where I am, I have begun to collect views on whether Pittsburgh is part of the Northeast or part of the Midwest or somewhere else.

First item:

from a letter to the editor of the New York Times sports section, Sunday, April 30, 2006, p.9:

"For the second time in two months, I have witnessed teams from Washington state--specifically the Seattle Seahawks and the Washington Huskies basketball team--be snubbed by pathetic referees while playing teams from the East Coast [emphasis added]....

"The East Coast bias is getting so ridiculously old... If anyone believes that the referees in the Super Bowl were not paid off to influence the game in favor of Pittsburgh, they are just flat-out ignorant!"

The letter is from Ed Gill of Seattle.

I have no interest in Mr. Gill's conspiracy theory of the Super Bowl, but I find his geography quite interesting for my project.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I always thought Ohio was the gateway to the Midwest. I never considered Pittsburgh to be less than East Coast (and I grew up outside of DC).

Menachem Butler said...

and the origins of Squirrel Hill?

pittropolis said...

Hmm. Pittsburgh, East Coast or Midwest? Pennsylvania is considered on the East Coast. Ohio is considered the Midwest. However, Pittsburgh is at the western edge of Pennsylvania and sure feels more like a Midwestern city than an East Coast city. I'd say Pittsburgh is situated in the gray transition area between East Coast and Midwest. However, if you'd poll the nation, I'm sure most would say East Coast...probably based on the fact that it's in Pennsylvania (regardless of its location within the state).