Your Thoughts on the Steelers Parade plans? [UPDATED]

Do you have any thoughts about the timing, notice, and route of the Steelers victory parade? The following news release with additional details about tomorrow's went out at 4:34 this afternoon. Feel free to offer your comments below.. (I'm filing this blog post via BlackBerry/GMail.)

UPDATES:

From the mayor's office:

• "Please note that the parade is to start at Grant Street and Seventh Avenue. Reports indicating otherwise are false."

• "Stanwix Street from Fort Pitt Boulevard to the Boulevard of the Allies will close at 9 a.m." [Other street closings are listed in the news release below.]

• "In addition, workers who use the Gateway Center and US Steel parking garage located between Stanwix Street and Commonwealth Place will be able to have access."

Authorities are suggesting parking on the periphery of downtown. That would include Station Square, the North Shore, The Strip District, and the new Grant Street Transportation Center (at the end of Grant Street by Liberty Avenue).


Here's the phone number Port Authority customer service: 412-442-2000.


The Post-Gazette is reporting:

"The Gateway Clipper Fleet will run shuttles from Station Square to the Monongahela River side of Point State Park for the parade. Shuttle service will begin at 9 a.m. and will continue until the start of the parade. Return shuttles will begin immediately following the conclusion of the ceremonies and will continue for an hour. The cost will be $5, with no charge for children 6 and younger. The fleet will donate part of the proceeds to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank."

Here's Monday's news release from the offices of the mayor and the county executive:

"RAVENSTAHL, ONORATO ANNOUNCE PLANS FOR SUPER BOWL XLIII VICTORY PARADE"

"(PITTSBURGH) February 2, 2009 Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and County Executive Dan Onorato today announced plans to honor the history-making victory of the six-time Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers with a parade through Downtown Pittsburgh tomorrow, February 3, starting at 12:00 noon at the intersection of Grant and Seventh..."

" 'We are excited to give fans an opportunity to celebrate with their team, the number one Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers.' said Ravenstahl. 'Let's welcome home our guys and show the world what Pittsburgh and the Steeler Nation are all about.' "

" 'Tomorrow's parade will be a great opportunity for this region to honor this amazing Steelers team and the Rooney family for bringing the Vince Lombardi trophy back to the City of Champions for a record sixth time,' Onorato."

"The parade will take off at 12:00 noon and proceed down Grant Street. From Grant Street, the parade will loop to the Boulevard of the Allies and end at Stanwix Street where a stage celebration will be held. A media reviewing stand will be set up near the stage."

"Color and honor guards comprised of City and County public safety personnel will commence the parade. Six marching bands from Thomas Jefferson, Bethel Park, South Fayette, Carrick, Perry and Brashear high schools will follow, representing each Steelers Super Bowl victory."

"Barricades will be set up throughout the parade route to ensure the safety of fans and players. The City encourages all fans to take public transportation. If driving is necessary, fans are encouraged to park on the periphery of downtown."

"Road closures are as follows:"

· "6:30 p.m. this evening to 3 p.m. tomorrow - Boulevard of the Allies between Stanwix Street and Commonwealth Place"

· "9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow - the entire parade route from Grant Street to the Boulevard of the Allies to Commonwealth Place."

· "Please note that there will be no parking on the Boulevard of the Allies tomorrow morning. Traffic will be back to normal for tomorrow's evening rush hour."

--
Sent from my mobile device

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John McCain & The Steelers Defensive Line?

Black & Gold?

When Senator John McCain was a Vietnam prisoner of war, did he give his interrogators the names of the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line when they pressured him to name his squadron mates?

McCain told that tale to a Pittsburgh TV reporter this week, but it contradicts McCain's account for the past 40 years --- that he named Green Bay Packers players when he defied his captors.

The Republican presidential candidate is taking heat from some sports and political websites for his apparent Steelers-Packers flip flop.

First, here is his exchange with the Pittsburgh reporter:

Q (from KDKA's Jon Delano): "Senator, when you think of Pittsburgh, what's the first thing that comes to your mind?"

McCain: "The Steelers. I was a mediocre high school athlete and I loved and adored the sports, but the Steelers really made a huge impression on me, particularly in the early years."

"When I was first interrogated, and really had to give some information because of the pressures, the physical pressures that were on me, I named the starting lineup, the defensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron mates (Laughs)."

Q: "Did you really?"

McCain: "Years ago, yes."

Q: "In your POW camp?"

McCain: "Yes. Yes, indeed."

Q: "Could you do it today?"

McCain: "No, unfortunately, I couldn't. But I certainly could then."

An Amazon.com check inside the pages of McCain's autobiography "Faith of My Fathers" shows McCain's own words on page 194. Quote:

"Pressed for more useful information, I gave the names of the Green Bay Packers' offensive line,..."

When McCain's book was made into an A&E cable TV movie in 2005, the Green Bay version of the story was acted out, complete with the names from the Packers' 1967 defensive lineup. The Movie McCain repeated "Starr; Greg; McGee; Davis; Adderly; Brown; Ringo; Wood."

During a May 27, 2005 appearance on CNN, when the interviewer played that movie scene clip McCain explained it this way:

"That was the starting line up of the Green Bay Packers, the first Super Bowl champions. But, uh, it was the best I could think of at the time."

The reaction on sports blogs?

Fan IQ: "John McCain Apparently Gets Caught Lying About Naming The Pittsburgh Steelers Line In Vietnam"

FanHouse: "John McCain's Steelers Story Doesn't Add Up"

I e-mailed two members of the McCain campaign, asking "Why did the Senator change to the Steelers version? Was it -- as some bloggers are suggesting -- in the hope of winning the Steeler fan votes?"

National McCain campaign staffer Kimmie Lipscomb did not respond. Paul Lindsay of McCain's Pennsylvania campaign e-mailed back:

Hey Bob,

On background as a McCain official - It was an honest mistake. If bloggers want to make fun of him because he forgot which team he used under torture, let them.

Hope that is helpful to you,

Paul

I responded:

Paul,

We are on the record.
The senator wrote about the Packers version in his book and discussed it in interviews many times. Is the senator's or the campaign's response that he forgot? His statement to the Pittsburgh reporter was part of an extended discussion about the Steelers.

Bob Mayo
Reporter
WTAE-TV

I've gotten no further response from the campaign.

A viewer named Mark first alerted me to this story in an e-mail Wednesday night, writing that in KD's story McCain:

"stated that he used the great Steelers defensive line when FIRST interrogated. The thing is, he was first taken prisoner in 1967? Love to see some factfinding here."

That's when I started doing some Googling on the topic.

McCain became a POW in 1967. The legendary Steelers defensive line that McCain appears to be referring to -- The Steel Curtain -- wasn't in place until 1971. Mean Joe Greene --the first of the front four to arrive -- didn't join the Steelers until 1969, two years after the time McCain refers to as when he was first interrogated.


In 1967, John McCain was 31 years old and the Steelers were anything but super. They'd had only eight seasons since McCain was born in which team wins outnumbered losses. In the two years before McCain was shot down, the Steelers were 2-and-12 and 5-8-and-1. Discouraged fans back then called them SOS -- the "Same Old Steelers".

I wasn't able to blog on this Thursday, due to my trip to Harrisburg to cover the Gaming Board's hearing on the Pittsburgh Casino. When I resumed my Googling this morning, I saw those sports blog links and this blog post by Jake Tapper of ABC News. My station, WTAE, is doing the story on tonight's 11 o'clock news. If the video makes it to the Pittsburgh Channel website, I'll update this post with a new link.

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