It is a gorgeous 83 degree sunny day here in the ‘Burgh… we’re enjoying every bit of it and now sitting in our pressbox chairs high up in the rafters at Mellon Arena. Puck will drop in 15 minutes!

This is a photo of the remnants of the actual outfield wall of Forbes Field, once home of the MLB Pittsburgh Pirates… you can find this on the University of Pittsburgh campus.

Our good friend Kevin Dale, a/k/a the “Booted One”, was in town on business so he hooked up with us before the game for some beer and wings at a pub near Mellon Arena.

These buildings across the street from Mellon Arena will be coming down very soon to make room for construction of the new Pittsburgh Arena, set to open in October, 2009.

A bird’s eye view from the Mellon Arena pressbox!

Sourdough bread… your choice of meat… cheese…cole slaw… and french fries… ALL PILED ON THE BREAD!

A tried and true Pittsburgh thing… we stopped in to their flagship restaurant in The Strip to enjoy lunch.

Road Trip! Road Trip!

We’re traveling down to Pittsburgh tomorrow… just a day trip. Lunch at Primanti’s in the Strip; a visit to the University of Pittsburgh campus to get some shots and walk around; a glimpse of the site of the new Pittsburgh hockey arena. And then across the street to the Igloo… The puck drops for the Sabres and the Penguins at 7:05pm.

Assuming we’re wi-fied, we’ll be posting updates and instant photos right from the arena.

The Schmitter at Citizens Bank Park? Pittsburgh famous Primanti Brothers sandwich? In today’s USA Today they list their top ten ballpark treats across the MLB spectrum.

I have always thought that the famed “Dodger Dogs” in LA were more hype than taste, but nonetheless they made the cut on this list. For the most part, I am nodding my head in agreeement at most of the choices, but would like to add mine here:

Baltimore - Boog Powell’s barbecue and the Maryland Crabcakes.

Tampa Bay - Cuban Sandwich.

St. Louis - Toasted Raviolis (although we couldn’t find them at the new Busch, they are there we are told.)

Take a seat, New York Yankees and Monument Park. The Cleveland Indians have unveiled Heritage Park beyond their left-center field wall at Jacobs Field. This former picnic area is now an area of concrete obelisks and bronze plaques enshrining the greatest players to ever wear the Indians uniform.

More from this article in the Northeast Ohio News-Herald.

Dave should have made it here already, but we held off because we needed an updated photo of him… the few old pics we have didn’t quite cut it as Dave has, ummm…. let his hair grow out just a tad.

It seems we’ve known Dave forever, but we actually met him back in 2001 when we started attending Bisons games representing Sportsblast. Being involved in the media and entertainment community for many years - as a sportswriter, a comic entertainer, and even as a wrestler, he knew the players at Sportsblast very well… and could immediately sympathize and commiserate with us as to what a silly piece of crap that show really was.

Dave is first and foremost a freelance sportswriter - he wears and has worn the hat for many different media outlets, but despite his joviality, when it comes to gathering news and writing a story, he is a no nonsense professional. Dave’s specialty has become profiling athletes and getting a behind the scenes glimpse of their private lives and their professional outlooks, and has developed a good rapport with a good number of players in the Bisons and Sabres clubhouses. No wonder then when big league baseball players come down to AAA on a rehabiliation assignment, national outlets such as MLB.com come calling on Dave to get the story for them - nobody does it better.

Why has Dave been important to our growth? Mainly because he has shown us the ropes - teaching us the proper etiquette on how to approach players, coaches and other personnel in getting stories and quotes; showing us the rules of engagement at Sabres morning skates and games. There really is no handbook on this stuff - when you get credentialed you are in the building and kind of fly by the seat of your pants. Dave showed us the way, and for that we are always grateful.

Dave is a pressbox regular at Bisons games, so with the season starting up this week, we’ll be seeing a lot of him once again - always a big smile, a warm greeting, and catching up on Bisons news, media gossip, and sports topics of the day over a pregame meal in the dining room. For Dave Ricci, we leave with one parting comment … Choi!… errr… Choo!