Steel Balls

As we have already established, I am somewhat of a Steelers fan…I have been as long as I can remember. My Step Dad liked sports…his job actually encompassed it…but that is a blog I am saving for a rainy day. However, my parents did not like to drive to the games so I rarely got to go. Queens was too far…even though we lived right on the border…and the Bronx? Fuggedaboutit.

My first real Yankee game, one not at Shea, I would drive to myself…in May of 1983…my senior year of high school. With my first Yankee game under my belt, I now needed to see the Steelers in person. A week after that Yankee game, the NFL schedules were due out…and there it was. The game lit up on the page: Steelers @ Jets Saturday December 10, 1983 12:30 pm. Not only did I get the Steelers coming to Shea Stadium, but it also was a Saturday game to boot. The scheduling Gods had answered my prayers.

I was off to college in September of that year. A few have asked why I chose a university in Pennsylvania…as a matter of fact, why ALL the colleges I applied to were in the Keystone State. Obviously those who inquired hardly knew me…PA would televise Steeler games on Sunday…what better way to determine my education and my future! I packed lightly but took a few books, one was my yearbook as I had a hard time letting go…and another was my NFL Bible of Stats…can’t leave home without that! A good friend from High School had scribbled in my yearbook “I hope you find someone who loves football as much as you…or is deaf”. I found the former. My new dormitory neighbor had a bit of a connection…his Dad was a former NFL head coach(pictured above). We became fast friends. As fall headed towards winter, we spent our Sundays studying…oh wait, that wasn’t us! We were planted in front of the TV from noon to 60 Minutes. Others would come and go, catching a quarter or 2, but our only movement involved putting beer in and letting beer out.

Read the rest of this entry »

+4