Here We Go!

Last year, when the Steelers finished the regular season 15-1, I thought our year had finally come. Every time a conversation turned to football, I talked trash--and then, after losing miserably in the playoffs to, of course, New England, I ate a lot of crow.

This year, we weren't quite as strong in the regular season, and barely made the playoffs--as the No. 6 seed. A No. 6 seed has never made it to the Super Bowl, so all the commentators had written us before the playoffs even started. But something was different this year--we had a rocky mid-season, but we looked strong at the end of the season. And somehow, you could tell, there was a hunger there. From the beginning of the playoffs I've had a good feeling that we were going to the Big One. But this year, I kept my mouth shut--I made no bold predictions, just said before each new game that I was hopeful but also nervous.

Today, my boys did it--they defeated the Denver Broncos and are on their way to Detroit for the Super Bowl. I am ecstatic--though during the game I was so nervous I thought I might get physically sick. I am ecstatic because I think that Steelers are a good team, and a team with character. While sports reporters write stories about "star" athletes who make more trouble off the field than plays on the field, the stories about Pittsburgh in the coming weeks will surely center around one of the most gregarious, vibrant, and well-deserving athletes playing the game today--Jerome Bettis.

Because bigger than the story of his almost 14,000 career rushing yards, bigger than his returning to his hometown of Detroit for a game that will probably be the biggest--and last--game of his career, is the story of a man who has always played the game he loved with more heart than anyone, but always knowing that it was just a game. You can be sure if you're watching a Steelers game, you're going to see a lot of shots of a big man with quick feet, a propensity to dance in the endzone, and a grin that can't be contained.

To me, Bettis' unbridled enthusiasm for the game is what Steelers football is all about--because it mirrors the same enthusiasm I've experienced my whole life following this team. Some of my favorite Sunday afternoons growing up were spent watching Steelers games with my dad--my dad, a quiet-mannered guy with coke bottle glasses, who turned into a raving maniac when the boys in black and gold were on. One minute he would be sitting nervously, cynically predicting that we were sure to give this one away (the more he predicted we would lose, the better our odds of winning), then a moment later, after we'd make some big play, he'd be leaping off the couch, doing a crazy little dance I can't even begin to describe, and whooping and hollering so loudly he probably woke the neighbors.

It was those Sundays with my dad that are the reason I love the game of football--and the Steelers--so much. During the next two weeks, I will again be making no predictions--I'm hopeful but also nervous. The only prediction I will make is that on game day, I'm going to wish I were sitting on the couch next to my dad, watch the boys.