How many is 5,000?

By: Jason Kutney

Numbers these days seem to have lost their value. Gas prices were the thorns in our side just a year ago, when we were struggling to fill up our midsized sedans for less than $55 per tank. Now, the same car is pulling out of the station for less than half the price! Meanwhile, American businesses are singing the blues and looking for bailout money. AIG, Freddie and Fannie, “the big four” – just about everyone is getting in line, looking for their billions of dollars of aid! MSNBC, CNBC, FOX NEWS, and others just wait around to report the Unemployment Rate, almost hoping to see a higher number so they have more to talk about! We, as Americans, see these numbers and just go on about our business as best we can. We pull our resources together and respond. Most Americans have no idea how gas prices are truly swayed, or what over $100,000,000,000 of “help” looks like in strategy, or what the Unemployment Rate means until it hits home. We’re faced with an interesting dilemma these days – numbers have lost their meaning!

But I ask you – how many is 5,000?

In the broad scope of things, 5,000 now seems like a small number. If you won $5,000 in the lottery, you would say “just $5,000” when you told your friends and family. If America only cut 5,000 jobs over the previous 6 months, we would be thrilled. If 5,000 people showed up at Heinz Field to watch the Steelers play on Opening Day 2009, the Rooney Family would panic. However, what if those same 5,000 showed up at Chartiers Valley High School on May 2nd to watch 18 professional soccer player band together, in hopes of representing Pittsburgh? That would be a sellout!

Here we are, just over a month away from that day, and I ask you: how many is 5,000? Is it attainable? Can we pull it off? Can Pittsburgh, one of the nation’s leading sports towns, support professional soccer? All of these questions face us, the Riverhounds, on a daily basis.

And at the end of each day, I sit back and think about the number 5,000…

In our new world of fantasy numbers, remember that 5,000 is real. 5,000 standing to listen to the national anthem; 5,000 hearts beating as the first ball rattles the crossbar; 5,000 coming together to form a family for 90+ minutes; 5,000 steps taken by players playing their hearts out for 5,000 times less than the Steelers, Pirates, and Pens.

5,000 – my dream!

See you on May 2nd.