PITTSBURGH (TNS) — In middle school, nothing made me happier than going to gym class and seeing the floor hockey nets out. I knew it was going to be a rare day where I’d get picked first. And if some bozo team captain didn’t pick me first, I’d be extra motivated to try to run up the score.

Brandon McGinley

I remain very competitive to this day, but back then the edges had not yet been sanded. It could get embarrassing. For this year’s NFL Draft, a city that rarely gets picked — and, like me, has a bit of a complex about it — got picked to host the picking. It’s a tremendous opportunity and responsibility: Getting picked means you have to follow through, or you look pretty foolish. Some Pittsburghers, as always, insist on emphasizing the negatives rather than the positives: the few days of disruption rather than the long-term benefits of the national spotlight, the fact the city needed to be cleaned up rather than the fact that it has been, the risks of looking foolish rather the likelihood of looking pretty darn good. This Eeyore attitude comes with being unaccustomed to being picked. And it becomes a reason you don’t get picked. But let me be a beacon of optimism: Like putting a plastic hockey stick in my middle-school hands, hosting the NFL Draft is an opportunity for Pittsburgh to excel in front of all the doubters at what it’s best at.

Football town

The first and most obvious example is football itself. Few regions in America have as deep a history with the game as southwestern Pennsylvania. There’s a reason NFL Films produced a documentary to mark the draft called “The Football Town.” I’m a hockey fan first, but hosting the NHL Draft here simply wouldn’t be as fitting as hosting the gridiron version. Despite being a born-and-raised Pittsburgher, I didn’t fully appreciate just how dominant football is until I joined the Post-Gazette nearly five years ago and got to see the website data. Holy moly, do you people love to read about the Steelers — win or (sometimes especially) lose. Weirdly, as the NFL Draft has become rightly seen as a major civic event for Pittsburgh, the Steelers have somewhat faded into the background. But this celebration of the Steel City would not have come to pass without the legacy of the franchise and the efforts of the Rooney family to elevate Pittsburgh in the eyes of the league and the world. There’s no need to indulge cliches about gridiron grit representing blue-collar toughness to observe a basic fact: The Steelers are the most visible symbol of Pittsburgh. Whether it’s a Dublin game leading to a Dublin flight or the NFL Draft giving Pittsburgh an international closeup, the city benefits from the team’s prominence. A football extravaganza gives the city a chance to shine that few other events ever could.

Pittsburgh pride

The biggest party in Pittsburgh’s history gives us a chance to do something else we really like, and that we’re really good at: showing people around the place. While Pittsburgh will certainly benefit from tens of millions of pairs of eyes looking at screens — more on that later — it’ll be the people who actually come to the city who are most likely to form a positive impression, tell their friends and come back themselves. That means Pittsburgh pride and hospitality will go a long way. One of my favorite activities in the world is giving newcomers tours of the city, and I’ve come to appreciate that I’m far from alone. And these tours aren’t just about bragging about the impressive bits. They’re about sharing with people the unvarnished truth of the city — and why I love it, not in spite of the flaws but because of them. Even those of us who love to complain about Pittsburgh have strong, detailed opinions that come from a place of deep affection. That makes an impression on visitors, especially those from places with a less pronounced sense of identity.

A special place

I’m putting the finishing touches on this column at my neighborhood hangout, where I watched the Pirates blow it against the Nationals. ESPN is on the other televisions, and of course they’re talking about completely speculative predictions for the NFL Draft. And there’s b-roll footage of Pittsburgh. Sure, it’s all the usual: Primanti’s and bridges and the stadium. A little tedious. We’re used to it. But here’s the thing: When Pittsburgh’s on TV, there’s no mistaking it. It’s something we share with a small, select group of American cities and almost none our size. Not to pick on anyone in particular, but no one but architecture and urbanism nerds could pick the cityscapes of Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Nashville or Phoenix out of a lineup. Yet few Americans would fail to recognize the three rivers, the view from Mount Washington, the riverfront coliseums. Pittsburgh is a place in a way few other American cities are. That means that airtime in national (and international) media is especially valuable: It’s a reminder to millions of people that Pittsburgh isn’t a place of the past but a going concern that, at its best, maintains what makes it special while adapting to political and economic conditions. Pittsburgh was picked. Now it’s time to show our stuff with confidence that, yes, we are as special as we think we are.

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The Bradford Era

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