Pennsylvania is rarely the center of national attention...
...but today it is. Two NFL championship games in the same state! My home state (the one I'm from, not the one I live in)! A can't-believe-it-went-blue-but-it-did-and-I'm-proud-of-it state!
I am from the county that's pretty damn near the geographic center of the state,
Mifflin County. (The center of the state is actually the appropriately-named
Centre County.) As such, I can freely root for both Pittsburgh AND Philadelphia, which I will be doing with all the gusto I can muster.
But I am a Pittsburgh fan. When the first of my Italian immigrant ancestors came to Pennsylvania (my Candeloro and Russo families), they settled in
Coraopolis, on the western side of Pittsburgh. Others on the Italian side (my Meloni family) settled first in
Huntingdon County, to work on the railroad and in the coal mines, before moving to Mifflin County to work in the brickyard. The point is, those are all very Western PA places and so I was raised a Pittsburgh fan.
It's sort of sacrilegious as a Pittsburgh fan to root for the Other Side of the State, but until Pittsburgh and Philadelphia play each other (which would be in the Super Bowl if all goes well) it's cool. At least, I hope it's cool. I'm afraid of some of those Philly people.
UPDATE: well, poop. go eagles.
