Quick background: The Pittsburgh amusement park, Kennywood Park, did a grand re-opening of their Noah’s Ark attraction which was a big deal because it’s one of only a handful of dark, fun houses left in the United States due to providing universal access to the attraction, etc, etc, blah, blah, etc.
A big-deal media day happened and the YaJagoff Podcast got invited to capture the day. Feel free to listen to the Kennywood Podcast Episode.
As if Pittsburgh was hit by a flood, Kennywood Park PR dude, Nick Paradise (real name, not a stage or Magic Mike sequel-to-the-sequel kind of name) called out various Pittburghers 2 by 2 to board the ark. You can see it in the video below.
So at the the 1:50ish mark of the video, you see 2 retired Steelers, Craig Wolfley and Bill Priatko (one of the Oldest Living Professional football players) step up to board the Ark. If you’re not familiar with Pittsburgh, the Steelers are like gods!
As the 2 retired players go to enter the attraction, somewhere, lurking in the trees like a Pittsburgh-arazzi, is me and my iPhone camera. I yell, “Hey guys, look here!” and the two guys turn to me for a faaaaaaantastic picture! Refer to the very wonderful insert in the top photo.
The bad news? The guys with the video cameras behind Craig Wolfley and Bill Priatko, in that still photo, are the video folks from Kennywood Park trying to capture the moment forever and ever and ever! Little did I know that I spoiled their ability to document history until I receive the email from Nick at Kennywood saying they needed my photo to insert into the video since they had no face-shots of 2 retired Steelers loading into the ark for this piece of history!
Nick was extremely kind about my mishap. But, if he didn’t work for one of the smiley-est places in Western Pennsylvania, I think his email to me would have gone something like this:
Hey, have you ever, ever, ever been to a real-life press function? Do you understand media day protocols about not crossing into another media outlet’s site line? Are you also a creepy “stream crosser” in public restrooms? How were you even able to take pictures with that Potato Patch Fries cheese-residue smeared all over your iPhone screen? You’ll be lucky if we even invite you back to cover when we change the water in the Log Jammer! Next time, learn some media manners, Ya Jagoff!!!
Quick Note:
Go watch the video now. I know you passed over it earlier trying to cheat!
Where’s the video?
BTW, I would have done the same thing, and would probably not have gotten a polite response! 😀