Laboring Thru The Season
Labor Day was never a favorite. As a kid it meant the summer was over and back to school. As an adult, you are reminded they give you this one lousy day for a year’s worth of laborious work. There was one thing I was always able to look forward too back then…Labor Day weekend brought with it the start of NFL season.
It was 1993 and this Labor Day weekend, like many after, would start in the Hamptons. Saturday would be like any other day, but it would be my last one of the season. While others looked forward to a Boardy Barn Sunday, I prepped for my departure. This final weekend was dubbed Last Chance Labor Day…since this was your final opportunity to…well…do all the things you didn’t do all summer long…or maybe just to do them again. My roommate, never one to pass up ANY opportunity, had taken this to heart. It was Sunday morning and I woke up somewhere…lets just leave it at that. After a quick shower, it was time to leave my summer behind. Unfortunately my previous packing, including my Steelers jersey, was residing in my room…and so was my roommate…and he was not alone. I allowed him some time, but my departure window to make the game was closing. My knocking going unanswered, I just gave them a head’s up…”Naked or Not, here I come!”. I was more surprised with who he was with than they were about my boldness…didn’t see THAT coming. Anyway…Sorry, dude…it’s the Steelers…and I had to leave.
My Steelers viewing would be at Mulcahy’s. When I returned home from college it was back to the Jets and Giants on TV every weekend. Many a week during the 1989 season I was stuck watching a meaningless game while my team had a magical run to the playoffs. I couldn’t sit on the sidelines another season. I inquired around for a pub that had a satellite dish…and Mulcahy’s was that place. Steeler fans from around the Island gathered here. I was home. Steeler Nation was a term not yet bantered about, but that is what I had found. Each Sunday we would gather for the games and at the end of the season we would say our goodbyes. We would meet again next Labor Day Weekend.
For 15 years I never missed an opening day at Mulcahy’s. This led to me being interviewed by Steve Zipay of Newsday…got my picture in the paper and everything. Eventually, the NFL decided to move the start of the season away from Labor Day Weekend. In the years that followed I moved out east and opted for the NFL package. My attendance at Mulcahy’s began to dwindle. Last year was the first time in 22 years that I did not make a single game. This year, I have no urge to.
