Steve Levy and Barry Melrose discuss Jake Guentzel's incredible performance in the playoffs and despite Nashville's decent performance, they need more than a moral victory at this point. (1:13)

PITTSBURGH -- Just before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger shuffled out onto the ice waving a Pittsburgh Penguins version of the Terrible Towel. I'd categorize the reception Roethlisberger received somewhere just shy of robust. Blitzburgh, I guess, is the wrong blue-collar city for a QB to feign retirement.

Or perhaps the beer-chugging, bare-chested, catfish-loving Tennessee Titans offensive linemen have just set the bar too high for cameos by NFL Cup cameos this season.

Either way, a few minutes after Big Ben's appearance on the ice, the Penguins were awarded a 5-on-3 power play against the Nashville Predators, and the smart, engaged and wild crowd inside PPG Paints Arena erupted with a roar so deafening it had me thinking blasphemous thoughts.

Mainly: Has Pittsburgh somehow transformed from a football town into a hockey town?

Look, don't start with me, I was eating homemade chicken casserole in Alabama with Kevin Greene before you waved your first Terrible Towel. I'm only asking. The raw numbers are shocking: If the Pens close out the Preds, since 1991 they would have five Stanley Cups to the Steelers' two Lombardi Trophies.

To be honest, I don't think the Sid versus Ben debate is even close. Not when you consider Sidney Crosby's Olympic gold medals and Roethlisberger's off-the-field troubles, no matter how long ago they occurred. Attendance is pretty much a wash, although the crowd watching the game outside the arena on Wednesday was so big they had to shut down the street to make room -- never seen that happen at a Steelers game. (The crowd inside was also insanely loud, or maybe that was the horn going off so often from all those goals. Not sure.) And here's the kicker, especially for the proud sports fans in Pittsburgh: While the Pens own the Washington Capitals, their East Coast rivals, in January the Steelers were once again bullied and bounced from the playoffs by Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.

Face it, Blitzburgh is now Iceburgh.

Penguins hockey fans have taken over Pittsburgh. Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

It makes you think, that's all I'm saying.

Other stuff that was on my mind and in my notebook after a week in Pittsburgh: