4 Places to Channel Your Inner Olympian

Don’t slide around the kitchen in your tube socks. Here’s where to skate, curl and cross-country ski.



Photo via Flickr



The Olympics are upon us, and even though Pittsburgh’s getting repped by seven Penguins and one strange Sochi bar, chances are you didn’t manage to score a trip over to Putin’s playland. Which, by many accounts, might be a good thing.

Still, the Winter Olympics are a perfect opportunity to realize that, deep down, you’ve always wanted to give curling a shot — or finally put on that sequined dress shirt and try your hand at figure skating. Now, thanks to this handy blog post, you don’t need to travel to Russia to realize that dream.

Want to bring out your inner Sid the Kid? Mt. Lebanon’s drills and skills session is offering a relaxed atmosphere for grown-ups hoping to sharpen up their game.

If you like your skating with a little more flourish, check out the Pittsburgh Figure Skating Club’s instruction program, which offers beginners all the bottom-line skills that are crucial to cutting it in your own routine (sequins not included).

For those who are more into games of skill, strategy and endless sweeping, catch up with the Pittsburgh Curling Club at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center. The club offers 30-minute “Learn to Curl” sessions, where would be curling champs can learn to slide and sweep like the best of them.

Off-the-ice adventure seekers should check out the Pennsylvania Cross Country Skiers Association. Anyone interested in learning can take a free lesson throughout the cross-country skiing season.

But if sports just aren’t your thing, perhaps you head to the Melwood Screening Room, where the folks from Pittsburgh Filmmakers are screening all the Oscar-nominated shorts for the next two weekends.







#Brrr: Pittsburgh is frozen … again



Photos by Dave DiCello







#DARE: Ryan Clark defends the ganja on ESPN

As if an 8-8 record weren’t bad enough, now the Steelers are going to spend their offseason in the middle of a media-driven whodunnit — or perhaps a whosmokedit.

In a recent interview with ESPN’s “First Take,” Steelers safety Ryan Clark got real about the NFL’s drug-testing policy for marijuana — telling interviewers that “I know guys on my team who smoke” and making the case that some players use it for pain relief as opposed to Vicodin.

It’s fine to have an open conversation about drug use in the NFL. But for a team that’s already wading through a sea of questions about its future, the last thing the Steelers need is a public witch hunt.

At the very least, the public debate that’s sure to be carried out by Angry Facebook Dads will be entertaining.







#HappyFriday: We need a Danish playground. And we need it now



This magical playground wonderland comes from the Danish design firm Monstrum. Isn’t it just the best? We need this right now, Citiparks.



