BALDWIN (PR) - We stopped by the local Volunteer Fired Department today for a fish-fry and a conversation with Coach Wannstedt. On the menu: your choice of baked potato or fries, slaw or potato salad, and fish sandwich (cod or catfish). Coach explained the situation. "Right here, you got a great guy making the potatoes. He's a good man, from right around the corner. He's been fighting fires for 30 years. Some say he isn't the best but he's been doing it a long time and that counts for something with me. And his sour cream and chives are right on target." Coach continued, "and over here you have the fish sandwich guy. His name is Larry and we go way back to the 60's, playing together and eating fried fish. Today I'm going with the catfish." We asked coach if he felt the qualities of a bottom-dwelling creature that feeds off the remnants of those above him and really can never rise above his lowly state was somehow symbolic. "You got that right! The catfish is just misunderstood - he does all the right things, works hard, puts in his time, hangs out with the right crowd. Some people expect him to do things that he wasn't coache...I mean, things that aren't in his DNA. He'll never dine on the good stuff and he's ok with that. He's what Pittsburgh is all about; and he's what I'm all about."
We then asked the Stache about slaw versus potato salad. "I tell ya one thing, going with the potato salad is the smart play. You should never take any chances in life; play it close, go the route that is guaranteed, don't shoot too high. See, the slaw is sometimes great and sometimes Ned over there, he's the youngest son of ol' Charlie, well, he just doesn't have experience. And yeah, he's a trained chef at that fancy school dahntahn, and maybe it's good. But Willy, he's been making the potato salad for a long time. LONG time. And he's from around the block here. So you can't go against that, no matter what else is out there. I'll take Willy's potato salad any day. And I'll punch someone in the mouth if they want to tell me different."
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