The Next Edgar Snyder? (Friday Video)

Edgar Snyder is arguably the best known lawyer in Pittsburgh. I remember seeing his commercials constantly growing up (391-2101. 391-2101!), and when I visited Pittsburgh last summer, I saw his billboards everywhere. Daniel Muessig seems like he wants to be the next Edgar Snyder. Although Muessing is a criminal defense attorney while Snyder focuses on personal injuries, they both know the power of media. Check out Muessig's video:



He actually reminds me of Breaking Bad's Saul Goodman. Not sure he really needed the Jewish thing at the end, but I guess some people really want to have a Jewish lawyer.

Muessig appears to be a young, rather new lawyer and is trying to make a splash. However, Edgar Snyder is a friend of mine,* but Dan Muessig, you are no Edgar Snyder.




* This is not true although I once held a contest run by Edgar Snyder, and I know that he has visited my blog.


h/t Deadspin

Essential Yinzer Giveaway

In the 8+ years of Sean's Ramblings, I don't think I've ever used the word "yinzer" before. (Checks archives; found that I wrote yinzer once in a pop vs. soda blog post).

Anyway, on March 5th (that's tomorrow), two Pittsburgh icons will meet for the first time on live TV: Pittsburgh Dad and Attorney Edgar Snyder. On this episode of “No Fee TV,” Attorney Snyder will speak with Curt Wootton of Pittsburgh Dad, to discuss life in Pittsburgh and the impact of social media.

The episode will air live in Pittsburgh on the Pittsburgh Cable News Channel (PCNC) on Tuesday, March 5th at 7:30pm and re-airs on Saturday, March 9th at 12:30pm on PCNC. Those who live outside the Pittsburgh region can watch the video after the show airs on the Edgar Snyder & Associates YouTube channel.



In honor of this historic moment, I'm proud to host the Essential Yinzer giveaway where you can win the following prize pack:

• Pittsburgh Dad DVD
• Terrible Towel
• Edgar Snyder T-Shirt & Mug
• “N’@” bumper stickers and Pittsburgh goodies

To enter, please answer this in the comment section below: if you could ask Attorney Edgar Snyder or Pittsburgh Dad one question, what would it be? One comment/entry per person. Please enter by 7:00pm Eastern time Tuesday, March 5th (deadline extended!), and I will use Random.org to choose a winner. Please note that your question could be used during the live show!

By the way, although I only wrote "yinzer" once on this blog before today, I have written about Attorney Edgar Snyder multiple times.

Plus, enjoy a recent episode of Pittsburgh Dad.

Sandwiches and Edgar Snyder

Esquire created an unranked list of the best sandwiches in America which included Primanti Bros. and Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor. I never thought Esquire and Primanti Bros would be used in the same sentence. Chick-Fil-A’s chicken sandwich and McDonald’s McRib also made the list. The McRib? I thought it was a good list until they decided to add a McDonald’s sandwich.

According to Forbes, Boulder, Colorado is the smartest city in America followed by Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, Maryland and Ithaca, New York. Other cities on the list included Washington, D.C.; Arlington, Va.; Alexandria, VA at #13; Charlottesville at #17; and State College, Pennsylvania at #18. The biggest problem I have with this list (besides the fact that Forbes makes you click from screen to screen without providing one single list) is that Bethesda, Gaithersburg and Frederick are listed together. Frederick isn’t even in the same county as Bethesda and Gaithersburg.

In last week’s Grammys journal, I wrote "when Beyonce introduced Tina Turner earlier tonight, she called her The Queen. No offense to Tina Turner (I’ve written this way too many times tonight), who I think is an amazing artist, but Aretha is the queen." Aretha must have read this and agreed with me as she’s unhappy with Beyonce.

In response to my "pointless" post on Friday, HDKart sent me more pictures of people pointing:


I am honored to have a picture of Attorney Edgar Snyder on my blog!

Pittsburgh Pirates Shock Everyone at Trade Deadline

The Pittsburgh Pirates continued their amazing season by acquiring three new members to the team on Monday night and Tuesday. Most analysts never thought the Pirates would be so aggressive in adding these players to help the team compete for the playoffs for the first time since 1992, but the team has proved critics wrong all season. I’m proud to introduce you to your new Pirates:

Gabby Douglas

The Pirates need players in the locker room who have won on the biggest stage. Even though she’s only 16 years old, Gabby “The Flying Squirrel” Douglas proved that she could handle the pressure by winning gold in London.

DJ Qualls

DJ Qualls isn’t necessarily a guy that you want to depend on to carry your team or movie; however, he is a solid glue guy. I think this is best demonstrated through his work in Hustle & Flow and Road Trip. Qualls is a solid veteran able to adapt in various environments and step in when needed (see his guest spots on Scrubs, Criminal Minds, Lost, Monk, CSI, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Numb3rs, My Name Is Earl, Breaking Bad, The Big Band Theory and more). Solid veteran.

Attorney Edgar Snyder



In 50 years, I'll still remember 391-2101. 391-2101! Anyway, this is a no-risk addition for the Pirates. They don't have to pay Snyder a salary unless he gets money for the team!

You can read more about the Pirates' trades here. Let's Go Bucs!

The Greatest 2014 World Cup Preview

Since U.S. Coach Jurgen Klinsmann said that the Americans can't win this World Cup, welcome to the greatest 2014 World Cup preview you will read that has zero analysis of any games or teams. I've included random facts and interesting tidbits about players, and stay tuned for a never-before-seen picture of the best soccer team to ever play and me!

- The youngest player at the World Cup is Fabrice Olinga of Cameroon born on May 12, 1996. (Thanks to Grantland for this nugget.)

- The oldest player at the World Cup is Pele born on October 23, 1940. He might not actually play for Brazil during the World Cup, but I guarantee that you'll see him everywhere.

- Landon Donovan will not be on the US team. Instead, you might see him at a local bar near you assuming that you live in Los Angeles. Personally, I'd love to see him serve as a studio analyst for ABC/ESPN. What amazing awkwardness there would be after the US loses a game ("Well, Alexi, if I was playing...") or wins a game ("I'm happy for all of my teammates though the coach is a dick."). UPDATE: ESPN listened to me.

- Jose Cholevas of Greece is the only member of the team with a first name that doesn't end with a s.

- Meanwhile, Gabriel Paletta is the only member of the Italian team with a first name that doesn't end with a vowel.

We interrupt this preview for a picture of Ziggy with a soccer ball.

- I hope that Eden Hazard, midfielder for Belgium and Chelsea, becomes a duke.

- Korea has five players named Kim, four players named Lee and three players named Park. Does that make it easier or harder for the announcers?

- While Fosters is Australian for beer, Ben Foster is English for back-up goalie.

- I challenge you to accurately pronounce the name of Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka.

- The Washington Post created an article of the 10 most-eye catching wives and girlfriends at Brazil's World Cup. This makes me proud to be a Sunday-subscriber. What a list!

- Congrats to Italy's Mario Balotelli on his engagement! Just to show you how strong the Washington Post list is, Fanny Neguesha didn't make it. There may need to be a recount.

Mario Balotelli has struck first in Brazil, popping the question to girlfriend Fanny Neguesha and getting engaged! pic.twitter.com/VJz8lWyDZx

— Nikolas Postinger (@nikpostinger) June 10, 2014

- Shakira is #1 on the Post's list and she and her husband, Gerard Pique, recently visited the National Zoo here in DC. [DC Sports Bog]

- Koke is a midfielder for Spain. K is for Koke, that's good enough for me.

- Sammir and Eduardo don't sound like traditional Croatian names.

- Although Memphis Depay is a forward for the Netherlands, this could be the name of a blues artist or BBQ restaurant.

Time for this incredible video by John Oliver about FIFA's corruption. There's a few bad words here, so it could be NSFW.



- It's nice to see that Dante has a new hobby being a defender for Brazil after writing his Inferno.

- Australian midfielder Tommy Oar is such a big fan of the group O.A.R. that he changed his last name. Of course, his previous last name was Minogue.

- I'd like to congratulate defender Francisco Rodriguez and midfielder Carlos Pena for making the Mexican team. They also both have had successful baseball careers.

- Shlomo Cohen barely missed making the Iranian World Cup team.

- Landry Nguemo & Edgar Salli are both midfielders for Cameroon. I cannot confirm or deny that they are named for Pittsburgh Steelers QB Landry Jones or Pittsburgh Attorney Edgar Snyder.

- Gotoku Sakai made Japan's 23-man roster. I'm trying to put this delicately, but Sakai doesn't quite look Japanese. He looks more American which makes some sense since he was born in New York. I need to learn more about his journey.

- I saw Honduras midfielder Andy Najar play on DC United. Um, that's all I've got.

Time for another picture of Ziggy with a soccer ball!

- Fresh off his 9th French Open title, Rafa is playing forward for Portugal. I can't see Spain being okay with this.

- Former University of Pittsburgh basketball player and current member of the Oklahoma City Thunder Steven Adams plays goalie for Ghana. To make everyone believe that he is not playing soccer during the basketball off-season, he changed the spelling of his name for soccer to Stephen.

- I hope every American player and fan constantly says "Good night, John Boye" to Ghana's defender before and during the game. I think John Boye would be really confused.

Finally, thank you very much for making it this far. As a reward, here is a picture of me with the Pittsburgh Spirit. I can't identify the players but I really hope that Paul Child and Stan Terlecki are in here.

News & Notes

Am I only one entertained by the recent dispute playing out in the pages of the Express? Almost everyday, the "Look Out People" section, which posts news/information about somewhat famous people, features a two-line story about Amy Winehouse. Twice in the past few days, a letter to the editor asks Express to stop with the Winehouse stuff. In response, Express featured another snippet about Winehouse on Wednesday. Personally, I don’t understand why people are so upset about the Winehouse coverage. If you don’t want to read anything about this train-wreck, turn the page and read the Blog Log, Pearls Before Swine or play Sudoku!

Thanks to everyone for providing their votes and comments about attending a game at Yankee Stadium. Please keep them coming, although at this point, I’m probably leaning towards visiting New York.

The Naked Cowboy is suing Mars Inc., the maker of M&Ms. Is Edgar Snyder on the case? (Call 391-2101; 391-2101! I will remember this phone number – even if it is not current anymore – for the rest of my life.)



I received an e-mail from Brandon who created an online petition trying to convince Marian Hossa to stay in Pittsburgh. Although I would love Hossa to return to the Penguins, it appears that money is more important to him than trying to win a Stanley Cup. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but unless everyone who signs the petition also pledges to give Hossa $5, I don’t know how much this will help. Good luck to Brandon anyway.

Finally, I have a new friend on Facebook…her name is LPGA golfer Erica Blasberg. In honor of this historic event, here’s another picture of her.



However, if she is going to continue to be my favorite LPGA golfer, she may have to do a bit better on the course. Blasberg finished last (of those who made this cut) in this past weekend’s Wegmans LPGA tournament.

State Of The Ramblings

Wednesday marked the 9th anniversary (yes 9th!) of Sean's Ramblings, so it's time for my annual State of the Ramblings. Although I had fewer posts in 2013 compared to any other year of this blog, I still averaged slightly more than a blog post every other day. Not too shabby.

(Get it? For 9 years of Sean's Ramblings.)

A big part of this blog over the past year was community. I got more involved with the Pittsburgh blogger community by participating in a Pittsburgh Guest Blogger event, becoming the Commissioner of the Pittsburgh Blogger fantasy football league, and I was encouraged to do NaBloPoMo in November from some Pittsburgh bloggers. Meanwhile, while I didn't hold the Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog tournament this year, the Pittsburgh Sports Blogger Interview Series was fun and something that I'm proud of. I plan on continuing the series in 2013. Meanwhile, I attended my first ever Northern Virginia blogger event (since I don't actually live in Pittsburgh anymore), and I questioned if the DC blogging community is dead.

Fatherhood posts continue to be a big part of my blog and with a second child on the way (let's call the baby Jim Paek or Jack Wilson for #2), there's a good chance that there will be more fatherhood posts in 2014. Of course, with a second child there may be fewer posts in 2014 since I expect to be a little busy and a lot tired.

2013 was the year of famous visitors. Sally Wiggin, Edgar Snyder, John Ross Bowie (aka Kripke on The Big Bang Theory) and at least one of The Birthday Boys all read a post on Sean's Ramblings. This was confirmed based on Twitter correspondence. Unconfirmed visitors to my blog last year included President Obama, Mike Tomlin, Mila Kunis and Kevin Pittsnogle's mom.

On a completely different topic, these are some of my favorite blog posts of 2013:

Paul McCartney Concert Review
Return to Pittsburgh
Hockey Road Trip

So what will 2014 bring? Besides fatherhood posts, I hope to have entertaining posts about the Olympics and World Cup. I also hope to write all about winning my fantasy baseball league for the first time in the 20+ years I have been in the league.

I'm also contemplating making Sean's Ramblings its own site instead of using the Blogspot address. However, I want to make sure that I keep my archives and I don't really want to pay for a domain. Plus, I feel like making a new site could be a lot of work. Basically, I probably won't do anything about this.

Finally, I want to thank you for reading and for commenting over the past year and past 9 years. I really appreciate your support, feedback and encouragement!

Return To The 'Burgh

The Taylor Allderdice High School Class of 1993 held its 20-year reunion this past weekend, so this seemed like a good excuse to visit Pittsburgh. Of course, I didn't attend Allderdice and wasn't invited to the reunion, so I just returned home to see family and friends and be a tour guide/tourist. Here are some notes from the trip:

- Attorney Edgar Snyder is everywhere! You can't drive two miles without seeing his picture on a billboard. I think he could win an election to become the next Pittsburgh mayor but that position would probably be a significant pay cut.

- While there probably isn't any type of statistical data on this, my guess is that more people wear professional sports merchandise in Pittsburgh than anywhere else in America. Most of these people wear Steelers gear including the LaMarr Woodley and two Troy Polamalu jerseys I saw at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. Sure, the people wearing the jerseys could have been going to the Steelers pre-season game later than evening, but my guess is that they just wore the jerseys because it was Saturday.

- The Children's Museum was a huge hit for my son. There were numerous interactive games and exhibits including a Clifford exhibit that he really enjoyed. The only downside was that we visited the museum on the same day as the Kindergarten Here I Come program where incoming kindergarten students could visit the museum for free. Although he held his own, my son was a little overmatched by all of the bigger kids. On the plus side, there was a school bus outside the museum that kids could enter, so that went well. Mr. McFeely of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was there too, but my son didn't notice him or know who this was.

- Is it bad that I said my son was under two so that he could get free admission into the museum? The cost for kids two and over is $11 (with the AAA discount).

- It's amazing how lost I got driving around downtown and the North Side. Despite growing up in Pittsburgh, I relied on a GPS to navigate through these areas. While I can blame construction for part of my difficulties, the reality is that I struggle with all of the one-way streets.

- We stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites in the Strip District directly across the street from the Heinz History Center. The hotel was nice, the free breakfast was an added bonus, and the staff was friendly and accommodating. I wanted to get my son milk during one afternoon, but there was none for sale. Fortunately, one of the staff members got him a cup of milk from the kitchen for no cost. I’d be very happy if the Hampton Inn and Suites Pittsburgh – Downtown became the official hotel of Sean’s Ramblings. How can we make this happen?

- Sharing a hotel room with a kid can be tricky. On the first night at the hotel, we put out son in his pack-and-play, and I went into the hall until he fell asleep. About 20 minutes later, I thought it was safe to go back into the room. Unfortunately, I realized that I left my room key and cell phone in the room. I didn’t want to knock on the door on the chance that I could wake up my son, but I had my Kindle, so I tried to e-mail my wife. After about 10 minutes without a reply, I figured she already fell asleep. Naturally, I tweeted live updates about the experience.

Just realized that I don't have my room key. Carl.

— Sean's Ramblings (@seansramblings) August 10, 2013

@seansramblings maybe Carl has your room key.

— Phil Catelinet (@PhilCatelinet) August 10, 2013

@seansramblings better sleep in the lobby. You can’t be too careful.

— Phil Catelinet (@PhilCatelinet) August 10, 2013

When I went to the lobby, the staff hooked me up with a new room key. Again, amazing staff at the hopefully official hotel of Sean’s Ramblings.

- I haven’t been to Market Square in several years, but it looks really nice now.

- To the store in the Strip blasting the “Here We Go” song on a constant loop – Please mix in some other songs. Play “We Are Family,” “Pittsburgh Steelers Polka” or even “Call Me Maybe.” The 19th incarnation of Here We Go shouldn’t be played over and over again particularly in August. (Playing it once in January after the Steelers win the AFC Championship game is acceptable.)

I really wanted to show my son some of my favorite parts of Pittsburgh, but I was only able to hit a few of these spots. Of course, he’s only two, won’t remember anything about the trip and he’ll have plenty of opportunities to make it back to Pittsburgh. More importantly, my family and friends got to spend time with him, so even if he won’t necessarily remember them, they will remember seeing him.

Good Night Pittsburgh

I started reading to my son almost as soon as we got home from the hospital. Sure, he had no idea what I was reading, but I felt like it was a good way to bond with him and so that he would learn my voice. He'll turn two in a few months, and I still read to him every day. One of the first books I remember reading to him was Good Night Ocean. The book introduces various ocean animals and ocean-related items throughout the course of a day. I find that I use different voices for certain pages (Hello hammerhead shark is said in the "Hello" voice from a Seinfeld episode) with varying degrees of success in making my child smile. We later received Good Night Washington DC as a gift and now own several other books from the Good Night Our World series. I like the books, but noticed that there was no book about Pittsburgh. I felt like this was an injustice, and I wanted to make this happen. Therefore, I contacted the publishers via this e-mail sent on September 11, 2011.

Dear Our World of Books,

I am a big fan of your series of books as my wife and I read them regularly to our child. As a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I wanted to know if there were plans to create a Good Night Pittsburgh. If not, what is the process to create one? I'd be happy to assist you if needed and even help you promote the book.

Thanks for your consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you.

In hindsight, it was probably not a good idea to send this e-mail on the ten year anniversary of one of the most tragic events in American history. Therefore, after I didn't receive a reply, I sent this e-mail on September 19, 2011:

Dear Our World of Books,

I recently contacted you about whether there were any plans in creating a Good Night Pittsburgh book. If there is not (or even if there is), I am writing to inquire as to whether I could write such a book.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.

I again didn't hear from Our World of Books and didn't think much of it...until recently. Good Night Pittsburgh was published on September 26, 2012.

Were the publishers already planning this book or did I give them the idea? I didn't get any credit for the book, and I wonder if I should. Do I need to contact Attorney Edgar Snyder or Jackie Chiles?

Kosher for Passover Sunscreen

It’s fun to see how people find Sean’s Ramblings through Google and Yahoo searches. While I receive dozens of hits from folks seeking information about plans for Jenna Bush’s wedding or Spider Pig lyrics, here are a few "interesting" referrals:

all sunscreens kosher for Passover
Are there non-Kosher for Passover sunscreens? Seriously, how could sunscreen not be Kosher for Passover since you’re not eating it (I hope!)?

John Cangelosi marry Beyonce
Can you imagine the headlines on People or Page Six if this actually happened? I’m guessing that only four people who read this actually know who John Cangelosi is.

Why was Ithaca College upset with Barry Manilow
There are just too many reasons.

bestman speech/bestman speeches/bestman speeches for free
There must be a lot of speeches out there if a Bestman ever gets married. Are there specific speeches for someone with the last name of Besterman or Betterman (as in Pearl Jam’s song)?

Do you love me Sean?
Depends who’s asking.

We invited Jason to the wedding but he was a no show.
I hope that it wasn’t this Jason.

dreadlock hair celebration expo
This is an expo in which I’ll never be invited. (Tear)

Pictures of Edgar Snyder
Here’s one for you. Enjoy!



Finally, enjoy a nice Happy Passover message from the Matzah Man/Men.

Essential Yinzer Giveaway Update

We have a winner in the Essential Yinzer Giveaway.



Number five is alive! Bram provided the fifth comment, so he is the winner.

Thanks again to Attorney Edgar Snyder & Pittsburgh Dad for putting together this contest. Please make sure that you check out their entertaining and informative video below.

Pittsburgh Trivia

In the earlier days of this blog, I regularly had Trivia Tuesday posts. They became less and less popular, so I stopped writing them. While I have no plans on bringing the Trivia Tuesday posts back, I thought I would try some old-school Pittsburgh trivia questions. Please leave your answers in the comment sections below.

1. Who was with Quinn in the morning?

2. Where does the place go crazy every 16 minutes?

3. Who said it would?

4. Fill in the blank: Don't say Olds, say ________ Olds.

5. What is the name of this sticker?

6. What is just minutes from the mall and on what street is this located?

7. What is Edgar Snyder's original phone number? (No area code necessary.)

8. What is Rusted Root's most-successful song?

9. Who is this?

10. What restaurant (probably best known for their roast beef sandwiches) had the slogan, "Fast Food with Style?"

Good luck! (There are no prizes, so please don't cheat. Even if there were prizes, still don't cheat.)

Empire Today

I really don't know much about the company, but they seem to be taking over the world. I thought they were just a local DC area company that does carpeting and windows. Then, I saw commercials for the company when I was in Pittsburgh and in San Diego. And I can't get the song from the commercial out of my head (singing: "800-588-2-300 Empire" person's voice: "Today"). This is the most catchy phone number since 867-5309. I don't remember a commercial being so and memorable (and a little annoying) since "Don't Say Olds, Say Bendick Olds" and Call Attorney Edgar Snyder at 391-2101, 391-2101.