STEELERNATION UK'S FIRST STEELERS GAME
Sunday October 17th - game day.
The Steelers against the only remaining unbeaten team in the NFL, the New Orleans Saints. I arrived back at the hotel after breakfast to find a message from Myron Cope asking me along for an interview on his radio show Monday night. Reluctantly (that’s sarcasm, right?) I agreed and rang him to confirm the arrangement.
Off to the stadium for the crunch game. We wandered around the tailgate parties, and what a great time we had in the sun before entering the ultimate football stadium. Our pilgrimage was complete. We had seats in the upper echelons of the stadium that gave you a fantastic view of the field. It did not matter that we were off to one side of the end zone, we were well placed to see all the plays develop.
The national anthem was sung and we held our Steelers UK flag high. We just couldn’t believe it. We were finally here. Three Rivers Stadium and the Steelers. From watching recorded highlights in the eighties on channel four to now, actually being at a game.
The tension was high. The Steelers received. On second down, Barry Foster ran for a few yards before fumbling to turn the ball over. We couldn't believe our luck. All this way to see a rare Foster fumble. Was this a sign of things to come?
The Saints line up on the Steelers twenty. A run for no gain. The defense has started well. Wade Wilson tries a pass, Rod Woodson intercepts and runs towards a screaming bunch of United Kingdom Supporters for the Steelers opening touchdown.
Up in the clouds, we now think we hav reached heaven. This is what we've come 3,000 miles and loose change to see. A few plays later, Superman Woodson performed more heroics when he recorded his seventh interception of the season. Neil O'Donnell then threw a delayed screen pass to Barry Foster who took it in for a 20yd touchdown.
We were out of our seats screaming "STEELERS! STEELERS!"
Did Rod know we had come all this way to see this supreme performance? It certainly began to appear he had. He looked as though he was beginning to believe in this Superman publicity he was receiving.
Later in the game, Foster scored his second before Mike Tomczak came on to throw a tipped touchdown pass to Eric Green. We seemed to see it all. Throw in a hat-trick of Gary Anderson field goals and the final score line read 37-14. Not a bad spectacle for your first NFL regular season game.
After the game finished, we made our weary way to the souvenir shop in the stadium. Yet more shopping. Giles brought his $160 jacket while I made do with a plain Steelers' waterproof jacket for $40. A bargain and my favourite Steelers jacket - which I only stopped wearing in 2001. We eventually emerged from our exhilarating experience to take the clipper back across the water to, you guessed it, Station Square.
More photos were taken of Three Rivers, this time from the river. Andy found a railway car around Station Square selling Pittsburgh memorabilia and antiques with Pittsburgh Maulers (their USFL team) badges and pennants and bits and bobs from the Pirate and Steeler glory years.
I left the lads in Station Square as I was meeting Nick Nery who was the "co-ordinator" of all the Pittsburgh clubs spread around the United States for ex-Pittsburghers so they can meet and watch Steeler games. At the time, our UK club was listed as the only overseas club and was also unique in that our members were not originally from Pittsburgh, of course. Steelers Nation was a noticeable part of the fan base even back then.
Nick gave us the run down on many Pittsburgh connections and then took us up to Mount Washington to see Three Rivers Stadium under the glorious spotlights while they were clearing up after the game. It was the only time that I didn't have my camera with me, an opportunity missed.