I did a tried-and-true (read: clichéd) sports talk bit on Thursday’s radio program, namely the use of a list: Top 5, Top 10, Mt. Rushmore, 1,004 holds, etc. You get the idea. (We’ve now had 100 days without sports. You come up with better.)

In this case, it was Top 5 Pittsburgh sports wins ever. Not moments, but wins. What victories by Pittsburgh sports teams impacted the town and team the most?

Here’s what made the list:

1. Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off home run wins Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. Baseball was king in America and in Pittsburgh. The Pirates beating the New York Yankees juggernaut was arguably the biggest upset ever in MLB. Roll over Herb Brooks, and tell Joe Namath the news. Mickey Mantle never got over it.

AP In this Oct. 13, 1960, file photo, fans rush onto the field toward Pittsburgh Pirates’ Bill Mazeroski as he comes home on his Game 7-ending home run in the ninth inning to win the World Series against the New York Yankees in Pittsburgh. Between 1947 and 1962, the Yankees won 10 championships, but Mazeroski and the Pirates stole one away with a wild Game 7 that included in the first ever Series-ending homer.  

2. The Steelers win Super Bowl IX following the 1974 season. That kicked off the dynasty. The Steelers were under .500 just three years before, 1-13 two years before that. It marked an incredible transformation under Chuck Noll from joke to powerhouse. It made football No. 1 in Pittsburgh. The Steelers are one of football’s premium franchises. That’s where it started.

AP In this Jan. 13, 1975, file photo, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll holds Super Bowl trophy aloft before fans who greeted the team at the airport in Pittsburgh on the team’s return from New Olreans. The Steelers won the first NFL football title in their 42 year history by defeating the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IX.  

3. The Penguins’ first Stanley Cup in 1991. Mario Lemieux’s arrival in 1984 started Pittsburgh on its way to being a hockey town, but it took a while. That notion and Lemieux each needed a championship for validation. As with the Steelers, such heights didn’t seem possible. The Penguins missed the playoffs just the year prior.

AP Pittsburgh Penguins’ Mario Lemieux holds up the Stanley Cup trophy the Penguins won beating the Minnesota North Stars 8-0 to win the Stanley Cup in Bloomington, Minn., May 26, 1991, to win the best of seven series 4-2. Lemieux was named the Most Valuable Player in the series.  

4. The Steelers win Super Bowl XL after the 2005 season. The “win it for Jerome Bettis in his hometown” angle played well. The Steelers won their last eight, including the Super Bowl in Detroit, and all eight games were must-win. It had been 26 years since the Steelers last won the championship. The franchise badly needed reborn.

Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review Jerome Bettis holds the Lombardi Trophy after the Steelers won Super Bowl XL in Detroit, Mich. on Sunday, February 5, 2006.  

5. The Pirates win the World Series in 1971. Few Pittsburgh athletes are more iconic than Roberto Clemente, and that was his signature moment. Clemente was series MVP, hit safely in every game, and clubbed a home run in Game 7. As in 1960, baseball was still king, both in America and in Pittsburgh.

AP Pirates’ Robert Clemente gets congratulations from third base coach Frank Oceak after he homered in fourth inning to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead against the Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore, Md., on Oct. 17, 1971. Pittsburgh won the seventh game of the World Series, 2-1. Clemente was named the outstanding player of the 1971 World Series.  

Several big-time victories didn’t make the list. (A Top 10 seemed too much work.)

Among them:

• Pitt football’s national championship in 1976. Pittsburgh just isn’t a college sports town, and Pitt faded to mediocrity inside of a decade (and remains there).

• The “Immaculate Reception” in 1972. Some see it as a launching pad for the Steelers’ dynasty, but it was a fluke bounce and the Steelers lost the AFC final the next week.

• The Pirates win the 1979 World Series. That year was to the beloved Willie Stargell what ’71 was to Clemente. The “We Are Family” gimmick got over big.

• The Steelers win Super Bowl XIV after the 1979 season. That was their fourth of the decade and cemented them as an all-time great team, maybe the greatest.

• The Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 2009. It reset the Penguins, not unlike Super Bowl XL did for the Steelers. It also stamped indelible greatness on Sidney Crosby (21) and Evgeni Malkin (22) at very young ages.

So I did wind up doing a Top 10 list. I was right. Too much work.

It was a fun exercise — until I took calls.

One caller suggested the Pirates wild-card game win in 2013 belonged on the Top 5 list even though it led to nothing. Yeah, I know … CUETO DROPPED THE BALL! Yahoo. My list wasn’t about atmosphere, it was about significance. That win had zero.

I hoped that guy was a lone idiot. I was wrong.

A subsequent caller allowed that Johnny Cueto dropping the ball wasn’t Top 5 material but was bigger than the Steelers winning Super Bowl XIV. Wow.

Pirates fans are determined to assign significance and relevance to their team, but none exists. When winning a wild-card game is your Kodak moment dating to 1992, your franchise’s rep has slid (just like Sid Bream).

Someday Cueto will come to PNC Park to throw out the first pitch … and will drop it. In front of a substantially smaller crowd, one bets.

Up soon: Top 5 worst losses in Pittsburgh sports history. The Pirates losing one million in attendance since 2015 isn’t eligible. When Sid Bream slid definitely is.

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