The Game

Mike kept referring to game day as his big day.  He was nervous, excited, antsy, and giddy...and just so happy.  We joked that he was like a bride on her wedding day. He wanted everything to be perfect.  He had planned everything and I just sat back and watched the beauty of it all as it came together.  

He didn't want to worry about finding parking on his big day, so we took an Uber ride out to the stadium.  We had four or five hours to kill before the game, so we walked around the stadium and the tailgate parties.  

This guy walks around at every game and says he's their biggest fan.

One of my favorite things about it all was that everyone in the entire town was wearing Steelers gear.  The employees at Target, the kids on the street...I'm telling you there might have only been a dozen people in the entire town that were not wearing Steelers gear.  I had planned to just wear a yellow shirt, but Mike talked me into getting a Steelers shirt the day before.  I'm really glad he did because even in a yellow shirt, I would have stuck out like a sore thumb.

Mike wanted a good picture of the logo for the ketchup because he knows how much my family (and I) like ketchup. 

When Mike was in grade school, the Steelers were really good.  He and all his friends had a helmet and pads of their favorite teams and they'd play football at recess.  When they had to come in, they'd line their gear up on the heat vents so they'd be warm and dry when it was time to go out again.  Knowing how much Mike loves school (sarcasm) and his long attention span (sarcasm), I can totally picture my cute little 9 year old Mikey gazing over at his Steelers helmet wishing away the hours till recess again.  That's why he's a Steelers fan (in case you wanted to know).  Because he had a helmet and pads when he was a kid and he's never switched teams since then. 
He may not always love the players...especially the thugs, but he's loyal to the team.

I got the super fan lecture (not a boring lecture, and interesting one), about the immaculate reception, Betis, Franco Harris, the multiple Vince Lombardi trophies...it was great.

We got to go in two hours before the game started and we had fun visiting with the other fans and watching the team warm up.

I watched every play of that game.  I can honestly say that's the first entire football game I've ever seen.  I loved it and felt like it ended way too soon.  I became a super fan that day.

That stadium and the fans were amazing.  They cheered so loud that I had to cover my ears sometimes, but it was so exciting that it was hard not to get swept up in the excitement.  The Bengals had a few good plays and whenever they did, there was a hush over the crowd, or else groans of discouragement, except for this guy (above).  He'd stand up and pump his fist in the air and cheer at the top of his lungs.  I couldn't believe the bravery it must have took to be the one Bengals fan in a sea of Steelers fans.  I had to take his picture because he was cracking me up.

It was fun to see the ketchup bottles open up and pour the red ketchup out in the red zone.

Like I said, the game ended far too soon and the Steelers won.  It was just such a great night!

We got swept out of the stadium with the rest of the crowd and just walked where they did.  It took us across the river (on one of the really cool steel bridges) and over to a place where we hopped on a hotel shuttle and then got an uber to take us the rest of the way home.  It was an entire day of football and one that was just for Mike, but ended up being so fun for both of us.  I loved seeing Mike have such a wonderful day.  Pittsburgh is awesome.