Original photo by Mark Spowart/ Alamy Stock Photo
Of all the North American cities with multiple major sports teams, Pittsburgh is the only one where each of the teams shares the same primary color scheme. The Pirates (MLB), Steelers (NFL), and Penguins (NHL) all wear standard black-and-gold home and away uniforms, although exceptions are made for the occasional alternate uniform. This choice was inspired by the colors of Pittsburgh’s official seal, which itself is based on the family coat of arms of the city’s namesake, William Pitt the Elder.
The trend began with a defunct NHL team known as the Pittsburgh Pirates, who played from 1925 to 1930, changing their colors to blue and gold in 1928 before ultimately moving to Philadelphia. In 1933, the Steelers (also known as the Pirates at the time) adopted the black-and-gold color scheme during their inaugural season, and has kept it ever since.
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It's a factIn its original 1816 charter, Pittsburgh was spelled with an “h.” But in 1891, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names mandated all places ending in “-burgh” drop the “h,” so the city officially became “Pittsburg.” Many locals refused to comply, and the board reversed its decision after 20 years.
In 1948, the Pirates of Major League Baseball — who previously wore red, white, and blue uniforms — switched to black and gold as well. As a Pittsburgh Press article of the time read, “The Pirates’ colors now will be gold and black, colors of the city of Pittsburgh itself.” Finally, when the Penguins joined the NHL in 1967, they primarily wore powder blue, although their original logo still prominently featured black and gold. In 1980, that team also went all in on black and gold to be more in line with the city standard.
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The Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers merge in Pittsburgh to create the ______ River.
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The Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers merge in Pittsburgh to create the Ohio River.
The first digital emoticon was created in Pittsburgh.
On September 19, 1982, Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist Scott Fahlman created the first digital emoticon — a series of keyboard characters meant to represent a human facial expression, such as 😉 for winking. Fahlman was looking for ways to distinguish lighthearted online message board posts of a jokey nature from serious ones when communicating with his fellow computer scientists. He offered a potential solution: “I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers: :-)” and he also suggested a frowny face for “things that are NOT jokes.”
Before long, the idea caught on not just among those in Fahlman’s department, but throughout the university and at other campuses nationwide. Soon it was embraced by the general populace, and emoticons became engrained in everyday conversation. The late 1990s saw the creation of the similar yet more elaborate animated emoji, which today has largely superseded the emoticon in most online communication.
Bennett Kleinman is a New York City-based staff writer for Optimism Media, and previously contributed to television programs such as "Late Show With David Letterman" and "Impractical Jokers." Bennett is also a devoted New York Yankees and New Jersey Devils fan, and thinks plain seltzer is the best drink ever invented.
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