I am a Yinzer, born and raised in Southwestern Pennsylvania.  I bleed black and gold for my beloved Steelers and Penguins and will feign a paper cut for the Pirates.  I mean, come on, that losing seasons record is old enough to take across state lines. (18 years old).   But, I love all things Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas.  That's why i felt the need to show off the true Burgher in me but putting up some great designs dedicated to the Yinzer in all of us.  I've also included a few I didn't do just because they are awesome, n'at.  Enjoy!

When we win championships the streets are alive with revelry and burning couches.  It even comes in Morgantown, West Virginia and East Lansing, Michigan versions as well.




It's like Cheers.  Yinzers is my tribute to the local pub where everyone knows yinz names.  All the steelworkers would go there after a hard day in the mills for a cold Iron or boilermaker.  Sometimes, you didn't go very far for a beer because some had built bars in the basements of their homes in Southwestern, PA.  There is also a rival bar located in Bellevue, PA called Jagoff's which is a play on the phrase, "Jagoff from Bellevue."


With all the talk about leasing the Pittsburgh parking revenues to outside companies, one must remember that in the residential areas, parking is also at a premium.  But instead of having permit parking, Burghers tend to use a lawn chair to stake their claim to a parking spot, or even a spot on a parade route.


This one is by SpeedRound and I love it.  It has a great look with the awesome angles and lines creating a perspective of riding on the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh.




This is a tribute to the prevailing area code for Pittsburgh and surrounding areas.  I used a couple of techniques to give it a stamp like appearance making it look like some of the ink didn't completely transfer onto the design.






There are a few Pittsburgh Steelers shirts out there that use retro looking clip art in the designs.  I was inspired to create this from one of those shirts, which I own, and a song performed by WDVE's Randy Baumann toting the love of girls from Western PA.

Pittsburghese is spoken throughout Southwestern, PA.  We have things called Gumbands, Jumbo and  Buggies, which you may know as Rubber Bands, Balogna and Shopping Carts.  I wanted to be able to express that love of these terms by implying that, unless you are from Pittsburgh, you probably won't know what we're talking about when we say these things.  So, on the front is the Pittsburghese item and on the back is the phrase, "It's a Burgh thing.  Yinz wouldn't understand."

Here's another example of Pittsburghese in the form of the shopping cart which we call buggies.


The rivalry between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals stems basically from the individual rivalry of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.   Here is a bartender's joke from the perspective of Sidney having won a Stanley Cup versus Ovie having not won one.   The joke is "Guy walks into a bar and asks the bartender to make him an 'Ovechkin.'  The bartender asks 'What's an Ovechkin?'  The guy says 'It's a White Russian without a cup!'" (rimshot)


For 50 years, the Civic Arena, known as the Mellon Arena from 1999-2010, was the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins as well as big name concerts, monster truck rallies, ice shows, Pittsburgh Spirit and the setting for the Jean-Cluade Van Damme movie, Sudden Death.  I even got to be an extra in that film  With the construction of the CONSOL Energy Center, the Igloo is now slated to be demolished in 2011.  I chose to remember the Igloo in a way not too many people do, with the roof open, showing the skyline.


Another popular set of Pittsburghese terms are "Yinz" and "N'at"  "Yinz" means "You all" and "N'at" translates to "And that," which is tagged onto various sentences much like Canadiens using the word, "Eh."  For this particular design, I chose to showcase the different regional pronunciations in the style of the ampersand shirts which string together a set of terms much like the original Beatles shirt denoting all of the members with "&" between them.   Of course, the last one is purely Pittsburgh replacing "You all" with "Yinz" and "&" with "N'at"

That's all for now.  I plan on expanding the product line with more Pittsburgh themed designs, so stay tuned.