See you in Dallas in two weeks...

I hope this feeling of excitement never gets old.  The Pittsburgh Steelers are back in the Super Bowl for the third time in six seasons.  Six years ago I could only hope that this team would make it back to the championship game after a long drought.  Now, with two rings and another within our grasp, I'm just as giddy as I was in 2006 and 2009.  I can't believe I'm going to watch the Steelers play the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV in Dallas in two weeks.

I watched Sunday's AFC Championship game in Maryland with my family, as I owed them a visit after missing them at Christmas.  My stepmother and I screamed at the TV on almost every play, which was more screaming than might have been completely necessary.  As we built a seemingly insurmountable 24-3 lead before halftime, we all dared to dream about what we'd do for the Super Bowl: where we'd watch the game, who would travel, and so on. I tried to keep calm.  There's plenty of football left.  I took comfort from CBS's note that the Steelers led the Broncos 24-0 in the AFC Championship in 2006 and went on to win.

Then the New York Jets came out after halftime and cut the lead to 24-10 and ultimately to 24-19.  My heart was pounding (although that might have been from the giant sandwich and metric ton of seven layer dip I'd consumed in the 1^st quarter).  I watched the clock tick down, moving far too slowly. Like the Patriots did last week, the Jets took their time marching down the field in the 4^th quarter.  With 3 minutes left, they kicked off deep instead of kicking it onside (my greatest fear at that point was that they'd recover an onside kick).  I kept thinking “one more first down. Just one.”  The Jets used up their timeouts before the 2-minute warning.  One more first down was all we needed.  And when Ben Roethlisberger hit Antonio Brown for those precious few yards, my dad said “that's the game!” and I laughed and stood up and waved my Terrible Towels (I have two now) and everyone thought I was going to cry.  Ike Taylor threw his hands in the air, Rex Ryan threw his headset, and the Steelers kneeled to seal the game.

Now we move on to Dallas and the Packers.  Green Bay is a solid, dangerous team and I am not about to underestimate them.  The Steelers have experience on both offense and defense and a coaching staff that knows what it's like to play on the game's biggest stage.  I'd like to think those are advantages, but New Orleans came into last year's game against Indianapolis and proved that they could beat a talented quarterback and a recent Super Bowl champion.  Green Bay will not let Pittsburgh have a 24-0 lead by halftime.  We are in for a fight in two weeks.  We played these Packers on my birthday last year (a game I was supposed to attend until a snowstorm kept me in New York) and we only beat them at the last minute.  These are two evenly matched teams.  I think it's going to be a great game.  I'm thrilled to be a part of it.

One more thing: my superstitions might be getting out of control.  When I'm at home by myself, I wear my Steelers shirt, a Harrison jersey, carry two Terrible Towels, and I make chili (and watch the game from the kitchen sometimes) and that usually leads to victory.  Since I was at my dad's house, I couldn't make chili or watch the game from the kitchen.  Instead of ignoring my superstition for the foolishness that it is, I came up with a new one.  We all stayed seated for for most of the first half as we were eating and drinking, and the Steelers looked like world-beaters.  In the second half, my brother and his girlfriend got up to get drinks and dessert and spent a few minutes in the kitchen.  The Jets scored a touchdown.  Then my brother got up to get another drink in the 4^th quarter and the Jets got a safety.  I realized that we'd been in our seats in the first half and the Steelers had played well.  I nearly ordered everyone to sit where they'd been sitting in the first half, because who knew if that had been helping the team?  I tweeted that I was threatening to tie everyone to their chairs.  My father had to use the bathroom and waited until the 2-minute warning to get up.  OK, I felt a little bad about that one.  But a trip to the Super Bowl was on the line!  You do whatever it takes to help the team.

I will try to calm down a bit for the Super Bowl, but it's going to be tremendously difficult. We're going for our seventh championship. I need to remember that nothing I do can affect the way the Steelers play. Except for what I wear, and where I watch the game, and where I hang my Steelers banner, and what I eat....

The Pro Football Hall of Fame

One of the good things about dating someone who lives in a state that I haven't visited extensively is the opportunity for me to be a tourist.  On New Year's Eve, my girlfriend and I went to Canton, OH to visit the one and only Pro Football Hall of Fame.  The pilgrimage was her idea, as she'd never been there either.  We're both Steelers fans, and yet we both neglected to wear anything remotely football-related (unlike most of the other people at the Hall that day, many of whom wore football jerseys or shirts).

The first stop on the tour is the history of the pro game.  There are exhibits of old uniforms and protective equipment and features on early professional teams.  Other panels and displays trace the development of the NFL and its merger with the AFL in the late 1960s.  Next, there's a section dedicated to the NFL's 32 teams, with helmets and team records and facts.  Famous Detroit product Jerome Bettis gets the honor of representing the Steelers.

The next room is the heart of the Hall, with the well-known bronze busts of all the honorees.  I couldn't resist taking pictures of all of my favorite players and coaches (the Hall has a liberal photo policy).  Touchscreen computer displays help you find your favorite Hall members and show highlights and interview clips.  Terry Bradshaw's interview, which must have been filmed for his induction in 1989, shows him wishing for one more chance to run a two-minute drill in a Super Bowl with all of his players.  He says "I could still play two minutes."  I love Bradshaw more than any other former NFL great, but even in 1989 he'd have had a hard time running a few plays.  Other exhibits in the Hall show highlights from past Super Bowls and feature memorabilia from current NFL players.  I liked the exhibit panels for other leagues, like the now-defunct WLAF.  (Scottish Claymores forever!)

The final stop on the tour is the Hall's theater, playing "The Road To The Super Bowl."  I hoped the film would be a retrospective on past Super Bowls, or show how tough it is to get through an entire season and win a championship.  While we waited for the theater to open, video screens on the ramp showed training camp footage from past seasons.  It was fun to see now-fired coaches hollering at their players.  The movie started with playoff highlights from last year, then the theater rotated 180 degrees to show a larger screen on which we saw the NFL Films' reel from Super Bowl XLIV.  We watched as New Orleans beat the Indianapolis Colts, with all the miked-up hits and cheers reverberating around us at top volume.  It wasn't bad at all, but the film made me wish I'd visited the Hall last year so I could have seen the Steelers' victory over the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII.

The Hall has plans to expand further, and some of the displays (especially the history of pro football) are low-tech and antiquated and could use some modernization.  I'd like to go back in five or ten years and see how the Hall has updated their exhibits.  And I'm sure that a decade from now they'll have busts of more former Steelers for me to fawn over.  I like this idea.

This is the birthday that was

How I planned to spend my 36th birthday:

After the NYRO concert on Saturday night, have a quick drink at the bar, then run home to get about five hours sleep. Wake up at 5 AM, go to the airport, fly to Pittsburgh, go to the Steelers-Packers game. Eat at Primanti Brothers, drive back to the airport, sleep at the hotel, and fly back to New York on Monday morning.

What really happened:

Saturday's blizzard didn't seem so bad in the afternoon. Holly and I continued to plan our trip all day, working out minor details over IM. I got ready for the concert and was on my way out the door when Jess told me that she'd heard that someone's flight out of JFK on Sunday had already been canceled. I checked JetBlue's website and our flight out had been canceled too. It wasn't even 6 PM on Saturday and the trip was off. I resolved to go and play a great concert and worry about the game later.

The concert was fantastic. Getting the chance to play Saint-Saens' "Organ" Symphony was a thrill I had waited twenty years to experience. When the organ thundered that massive C major chord to start the finale, I had a huge smile on my face. The floor of St. Mary's shook with the force of the organ and the power of the brass behind me. Between them, I could have played "Yankee Doodle" and no one would have heard me. After the concert, we had a few drinks with my friends from the orchestra and discussed our plan for Sunday. While I was disappointed that we weren't going to make it to Pittsburgh for the game, I was happy to be able to sleep in on Sunday and relax on my birthday. And that's basically what happened. It was a leisurely morning, with birthday cake and omelets for breakfast. I went for a walk in the afternoon and saw families frolicking and sledding in the snow in Prospect Park. Then I went to James and Jess's apartment to watch the Steelers-Packers game and have dinner.

The game was not on in New York, so I listened to the first half online and then found a few underground sites where I could watch the FOX feed from overseas. And I was able to see the last few minutes of the game on their TV, when Mike Wallace caught a touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger with no time left on the clock. The booth review kept me from my customary touchdown dance, but I whooped and waved my Terrible Towel when the extra point won the game. I was happy the Steelers won, but I felt bad for the Packers and for Holly. However, I have every confidence we'll be watching the Pack in the playoffs in January, while the Steelers are at home wondering how their season got away from them.

So I never made it to Pittsburgh, and I have an expensive but worthless piece of unused card stock as a permanent reminder of a game I never attended. But I had a fantastic day here in New York anyway. It was a great way to start my 37th year on this planet.

Some random musings about the Steelers

My reaction to the Steelers' fifth straight loss last night (to the Cleveland fucking Browns) was to finish off a bottle of rum and send texts and e-mails that I would later regret. Sleep did not make me feel much better.

I'm not here to swear off my team or call for anyone's head. The Steelers won the Super Bowl last year and have two championships in the past five years. I've been blessed as a fan. But five-game losing streaks are not something I'm used to seeing from my team. Especially when those losses are to the Chiefs, Raiders, and Browns, all among the worst teams in the league. Now we can include Pittsburgh in that group. Those six wins on the schedule look like flukes now.

I have a plane ticket and a game ticket for next week's game vs. the Packers. I'm going to get up before dawn next Sunday morning (also my birthday) and fly to Pittsburgh to see my team. Two weeks ago it looked like a playoff contender showdown. Now the Steelers are just playing for respect. I'm going to the game with Holly, a Packers fan (though I won't hold that against her). It's the first time I've dated a serious football fan and then had my team play her team. That scenario alone will make the afternoon more interesting. If we don't kill each other during the game we'll have a great time.

It's going to be hard to watch the playoffs without the Steelers. The good thing is that my blood pressure will go down and I won't order my best friend to leave my apartment because he's rooting for the other team. And then there's the long off-season of regret and ruminations. The Steelers won't be down for long. I have faith.

And I have the Penguins.

Did the Steelers lose, or did I affect the outcome?

I have an unhealthy number of superstitions when it comes to watching the Steelers play. I wore the same clothes for every game in the Steelers playoff run last season, and they won the Super Bowl. I hadn't bought a Steelers jersey since 1996 until I bought the Harrison jersey last week. I wore my new #92 for the game yesterday and even put a photo of myself in full regalia on my Twitter feed. Was that hubris? When the Bears started moving the ball on the Steelers, I moved myself to the kitchen. I watched a few of the Penguins' playoff games from my kitchen and they seemed to play well when I did that. The kitchen didn't work for me yesterday. Or maybe it was working, but then I moved back to the couch because the food I made was ready to eat? And that's where I was when Jeff Reed miss his second field goal of the night. What if I'd stayed in the kitchen for the second kick? Would he have made it?

And what about the new jersey? Does this loss taint it? Does it have bad "mojo" now? Or was it the kitchen? Maybe I should have worn my old black jeans to watch the game instead of blue jeans. Sure, they're out of style, a size too big, and worn out, but I wore them throughout the 2008 playoffs.

These are the questions I ask myself the day after a Steelers loss.

I'm ready for some football

I know you're all dying to see how I look in my new #92 James Harrison jersey, so here you go.

From the front:


And from the back:



Contrary to my appearance in these photos, I do not have anything wrong with my shoulders.

It's football season... where's my jersey?

The NFL season starts next week, and I realized a few days ago that I haven't fulfilled one of my offseason goals: buying a new Steelers jersey. My last jersey purchase was in 1996, when I bought a reversible home/away Greg Lloyd jersey. Lloyd retired a few years later. The Steelers had a couple down years in the early part of this decade, and I didn't want to risk buying a jersey with a name of a guy on the team who wouldn't be with the team the following season. But it's 2009 and the Steelers have won two championships in the past four years. I've worn a "Here We Go Steelers" long sleeved t-shirt for the past few playoff runs and while I'm usually a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" guy, in this case I think it's OK for me to trade up. I can always go back to the t-shirt for the playoffs.

The question is which player's jersey do I want? I grew up a Terry Bradshaw fan. While I can get a custom-made Bradshaw jersey, that would strain credulity. I'd like to be able to walk into a Steelers bar in the city and NOT have fans laugh at me. I'd like to stay away from the other offensive star players. I love Ben Roethlisberger, but #7 jerseys are plentiful and I don't want to be perceived as a bandwagon guy. The same goes for Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, and Willie Parker. On the defensive side, I'm tempted by Troy Polamalu's #43, but when I think of defense I think linebackers. So that leads me to James "Silverback" Harrison's #92. Harrison had the second most memorable play of last year's Super Bowl when he ran back a goal-line fumble 100 yards for a touchdown. Sure, he lost his mind in the second half and earned a costly penalty, but the Steelers won the game and the championship so all is forgiven. Plus, Harrison just signed a contract extension, so he's going to be with the team for a few more years. There's low risk and high reward in celebrating my team's recent championships with a #92 jersey.

Here's the real question: can I get away with paying $80 for a replica jersey? Or am I not considered a true fan unless I pay $275 for the authentic game-day jersey? I'm leaning toward the former. I bleed black and gold, but I'm not made of money.

Quick newspaper analysis

On my way in to the office this morning, I bought copies of the New York Post, the NY Daily News, and USA Today. I didn't want the newspapers for the writing; I just wanted the back page photos for possible "posterization" in my apartment or my cubicle at work. But I read and skimmed a few articles in each of the papers just to see what the NY writers had to say. I've already seen some other national coverage today, so sentiment is running high that this was the best Super Bowl ever, even though last year's was an incredible game, as were the Rams-Patriots, Rams-Titans, and a few others earlier this decade. The NY writers all have similar opinions on the game, which makes me think everyone on press row at the Super Bowl had the same idea.

But the one column that sticks out in the Daily News is Gary Myers' column looking forward to the 2009 season and Super Bowl XLIV in Miami. He goes out on a limb and predicts Giants-Patriots II for next February. Aside from this being a ridiculously obvious hometown prediction, it's also ridiculously idiotic. Predicting sports is as much guesswork as it is analysis. Yes, the Giants were the best team in the NFL until Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg and hurt his team. The Patriots were the favorite coming into the season, and then Tom Brady's knee injury gave way to Matt Cassel and an 11-5 finish out of the playoffs. No one can plan for injuries, freak accidents, or the abject stupidity of some highly paid athletes. The Steelers looked like a solid bet to repeat in 2006, until Ben Roethlisberger decided to ride his motorcycle without a helmet and ran into a car, nearly getting himself killed. The point is that while these are two great teams going into 2009, it is far too early to make any kind of guess as to who will make it to next year's Super Bowl. I know newspaper columnists need to file stories, but it's drivel like this article that makes me want to stay away from newspapers in general. Gary Myers might as well have written about who will win the 2020 Super Bowl for as much foreknowledge as he has of how the next NFL season will play out.

GO STEELERS!!!!

I'm just glad that game is over. I couldn't take any more. If the Cardinals had scored again at the end to win the game, I wouldn't have had the energy to be too upset. That was a hell of a football game. I've got to give the Cardinals credit. They played their hearts out and deserved that game as much as the Steelers did. They definitely gave me the most stress I've ever had while watching a football game. (That's a sign I need to take it easy while watching games, but that's another matter.) Anyway, the game is over, the Steelers won, and I can relax. I can't really think about it right now.

I will say that James did a fantastic job with the centerpiece of our Super Bowl feast, our own version of the Primanti Brothers sandwich. We made our own cole slaw and James handled the French fries and grilling the meat for the sandwich. At one point we thought we might all have heart attacks either from the game or from the sandwiches, and I thought it would be best to let the cardiologist work out those details. I made chile con queso and salsa (both of which got great reviews) but the sandwiches were the highlight, and James deserves all the credit for that. I was skittish about trying to make a Primanti Brothers sandwich. I thought we were toying with forces we didn't fully understand. But James talked me into it, and it was the right call.

And one more thing: six is more than five!

Let's not go there just yet

A Pittsburgh printing company is making a t-shirt with the slogan "On The Road to Sixburgh" in honor of the Steelers' attempt to be the first team to win six Super Bowls.

Can we just not do this? I get the idea, and it doesn't say "19-0" like all the Patriots crap from last year, so it's a step up. But we still don't need anything to jinx this championship game. Let's all remain calm, print up our t-shirts IN PRIVATE, and if things go well, sell them after the game. Until the morning of February 2, I don't want to hear a damn thing about "one for the other thumb" or a victory parade or any of that crap. Let's win the game first and worry about the marketing later.

The Steelers are going to Tampa

I wanted to be confident about the Steelers' chances in the AFC championship game. They were playing at home in cold weather, and they had the best defense in the NFL. But they were playing the Ravens, trying to beat them for a third time this season (which is actually easier than fans think, if you look at the historical records), and they had history at home against them. Even when they had a 13-7 lead at the half, I couldn't relax. Roethlisberger kept holding on to the ball too long, the running game hadn't gotten going, and the Ravens were a quick score away from taking the lead. We should have been up 20-7 or 16-7 at the half but for some bad play and bad clock management. In the second half, when the Ravens narrowed the gap to 16-14, I saw an unpleasant future: Baltimore kicks a field goal for the lead, and Pittsburgh has to play from behind to get a game-winning score. I saw the Ravens celebrating the AFC championship on our home field.

But those things didn't happen. The Steelers played their game and hung in there, and Troy Polamalu's pick-6 iced the game. I was ready to celebrate but Willis McGahee's injury took me out of the game as much as it did the crowd at the stadium. When the game did end, and Rod Woodson(?) handed the Lamar Hunt trophy to Dan Rooney, I played the "Steelers Polka" and danced a little in my living room. It was a few hours before I could read some of the post-game recaps and commentary and fully digest the results of the win. Three years ago, when the Pittsburgh went to the Super Bowl to face Seattle, I was going through some difficult times and the Steelers' surprising run to a championship gave me reason to be excited about getting up in the morning. Also, since I hadn't seen a Steelers title run since my early childhood, I was elated at the prospect of witnessing one as an adult.

This time, it feels more like my team belongs in the game. We're the veteran team facing a newcomer in the Arizona Cardinals. They have former Super Bowl and league MVP Kurt Warner and the insanely talented Larry Fitzgerald on offense. They're not going to be a pushover. I like the Steelers' chances in this game (more than I did against the Ravens or in a possible matchup with the Eagles) but I will do my best not to get too excited before game day. It's going to be a fun Super Bowl, and I'm going to be a mess while I watch it. Best not to get too anxious yet.