STEELER NATION GO TO MOUNT LEBANON
Tuesday October 19th. The one o'clock news broke the story of Tim Worley's trade to the Bears. I liked Timmy and was expecting great things for him with the Steelers. I thought at the time, if he was to fulfil his promise, it will be now be in a Chicago shirt.
WTAE television rang me requesting an interview with the club so we arranged to see them at the Penguins practice I had managed to organised for us to attend. Time was becoming so tight now that we had to kill two birds with one stone. But, a great position to be in.
That evening we attended a welcome party in Mount Lebanon arranged by Richard Price, a teacher at the local High School. I had swapped emails when the school flew over to England for a visit, so I had organised for my daughter to attend their school for a day so that she could experience USA education.
Richard had a huge fridge, full of beer featuring Steelers players' pictures on the cans that he insisted we took home with us - after carefully puncturing the cans of course reserve their memorabilia value. Richard did everything he could to make us feel welcome. He invited the school's football coach along so that we had someone to talk football to. We also talked about soccer, but the usual preception then was of the hooligan aspect dominanting the English game.
The icing on the cake from Richard was indeed a cake.
Wednesday 20th was the big trip to the Hall of Fame, Canton. First. I had to pick up the seventeen-seater bus that we were hiring for the day. I don't think that the lady who rented it to us was too convinced about my suitability for such an adventure in such a vehicle. I have driven in the States before, but nothing like this Greyhound bus that I was suddenly confronted with.
Driving the wrong way down a one way street shortly after we left the garage didn't boost my confidence too much. Eddie did manage to navigate our way sucessfully back to the hotel so I could pick everyone up for the adventure.
As we took the scenic route, it meant taking the back roads through the isolated parts of Ohio. We crossed the Ohio river and traced our way through the different scenery of another state. Most travellers think of the American highways that criss cross their states, but I can assure you that not all their roads are like that.
We found the Hall of Fame a little disappointing, but perhaps we were just expecting too much. I managed to talk my wife into buying my birthday present for me while we were in the shop. That lovely Steelers Super Bowl watch was never off my wrist – until we won the fifth when my watch became redundant.
Thursday October 21st we were off to the Igloo for the Pens practice, but first I had to take the rental bus back. When I turned up, I think the lady was relieved to see the van returned in one piece. I gave her fright, by first apologising for bringing it back in one piece, you could see the strain on her face before I completed my sentence.
She inquired why I hadn't told her I was on Myron's programme. Well, I ask you, it's not the kind of thing that you go around telling everyone. I then hired a '94 Ford car with just 300 miles on the clock. I guess she thought that it I could drive a bus, then a saloon wouldn't present any problems. Compared to the bus, it was an easy drive.
With Pittsburgh basking in the autumn sun, we were dropped off at the Civic Arena by the Hotel's courtesy bus and made our way inside. Harry Sanders came out and greeted each of us with a Penguin calendar. I returned the gesture by presenting him with a pin depicting a Union flag with the Stars & Stripes.
We sat down in our seats exhilarated in anticipation as we were expecting Mario to be practising. We sat high up in the empty seats so that we wouldn't have any obstructions in the way as we prepared our cameras. The players on the ice asked us to get down below the level of the plastic protection panels, as they were hitting pucks left, right and centre.
When the A team came out, the shutters on the cameras began to open and shut very rapidly. Mario came on the ice to immediately become the focus of everyone's attention Here was the greatest hockey player of all time. He wasn't fit enough to play in a game, but we were privileged to watch him practice. While the players skated around the ice and took pot shots at the goals, a TV cameraman appeared and started shooting Mario practicing.
Eventually Alby from WTAE introduced himself and asked if it was OK for them to take some shots of us watching the players. He then interviewed us and asked me to do an imitation of Myron. Being shy of television cameras, I did a very, very bad impression.
Can you imagine the scene though? Here were all those famous players on the ice, but the TV camera swung from them to us. I wonder what the players thought about it all. I gave Alby our seat numbers in Cleveland Stadium as WTAE intended taking some footage of us at the game. Alby also suggested that we didn't wear Steeler colours to the Cleveland game.
When practice finished I thanked Harry again for letting us in. We went outside and split up. Ed and James decided to remain behind and catch the players as they came out. The rest of us went shopping or up the US Steel building where they have a bar on the 60th floor with a superb view of Pittsburgh.
Ed and James got a right result as they spoke to most of the Penguin players as they were leaving the practice. Mario even came back to speak to them.
McSorley became Ed's favourite player when he took time out to talk about his ejection the previous Saturday while he posed for photos with them. I won't remind Ed about the McSorley game shirt he brought on the back of that meeting. (McSorley was later traded.) They managed to get my Penguin hat autographed by my favourite players, Mario and Jaromir. Something I still treasure.
When I arrived back at the hotel in the afternoon there was a message to ring Dan Edwards at Three Rivers, but it was too late to do anything that day. We had probably missed a golden chance to watch the Steelers practice, but that's life.
I rang Jim O'Brien, the author of those great books on the Steelers and Penguins. Once again, Jim told me not to wear Steeler colours to Cleveland. It seemed that all Pittsburghers were concerned for our welfare as we were about to foray into enemy territory.
Friday October 22nd... Friday nights are High School Football nights and it was only right that we went to Mount Lebanon to see their football team play.