Dan Rooney's book launch November 2007

Monday (November 3rd) may have been game day, but there was a higher priority to attend to before the evening kick-off. With the focus of the Steelers’ anniversary celebrations centred around the Ravens and the Browns games, it was appropriate for Dan Rooney to launch his book, “My 75 Years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL,” during this week.

The Senator John Heinz History Center, situated in Pittsburgh’s strip district, was hosting an exhibition embracing the 75 years of the Steelers and was a fitting background for Mr. Rooney’s book launch.

After Sunday’s festivities, with all the veteran players in the city, why not record a TV programme to celebrate the launch of Dan Rooney’s book about the Steelers’ 75 years. After all, Mr. Rooney is as young as his team and was in a unique position to provide the inside story.

The event was scheduled to start at noon. We arrived early at the Center and eventually joined the queue on the fifth floor as the Steelers TV cameraman walked up and down filming the waiting fans. At the announced time, the fans rushed for their seats.

The front couple of rows were reserved, but Pete and I found some good seats, adjacent to a clear path (to the stage) in front of the TV cameras. It was the ideal place to take my photos – from the floor under the view of the cameras.

FSN recorded the show for a later broadcast. The programme began with Mr Rooney being interviewed for the first hour. His stories of those early days were fascinating and thoroughly entertained everyone in the hall as they hung on his every word.

Mr. Rooney responded to the questions of FSN Pittsburgh’s Stan Savran. The fans sat in their seats quietly listening, captivated by the stories that Mr. Rooney was telling, only punctuating the oration with appropriate bursts of laughter and applause.

The Raiders owner, Al Davies received a few mentions. As we all know, there's not much love lost between the Steelers and the Raiders and Mr. Davies.

For the final hour, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Greene and Franco Harris joined Mr. Rooney on stage. Quite a few players from the previous evening also sat with the audience, and I was glad to see my man Greg Lloyd amongst them.

It was a great event with the audience enjoying the banter, especially when a big Steelers fan, Hank Williams, joined in the fun. He gave an impromptu burst of his Monday Night Football theme, “Are you ready for some Football!”

Hank has been a fan of the Steelers since the day he learned that he and Terry Bradshaw had been born in the same Louisiana hospital way back in the late forties.

“He was an underdog and so was I, so that’s when it started,” Williams told the Steelers web site. “I kept saying we are from the same place, me and him. I have something in common with him. That’s how it started.”

My daughter had given me the details of what Ugg boots to buy. If I found a shop that sold them, the only challenge was going to be obtaining the correct size. The UK size is not the same as the US one so I didn’t want to travel home with boots that didn’t fit.

My daughter had provided me with the names of a couple of shops in my favourite shopping centre, the Mall at Robinson. I frequent it so much because it is close to where I usually stay.

It’s surprising what your fledglings can put their mind to when they actually want something badly enough. To provide your dad with details of where to shop 3,500 miles away is amazing. I remember the previous trips to Pittsburgh when I spent hours hunting for clothes for Jodie. Now I had the names of the shops to visit.

The shoe store, Journeys, it would be then. The young girl in the shoe shop was very helpful and offered me 8 as the equivalent US size to what Jodie wanted. Unfortunately, I had searched on Google and they said it should be an 81/2 so doubt set in.

When you are dealing with your daughters, you have to be certain. Reading the size details from my mobile phone, the lady assistant offered to put aside Jodie’s boots, awaiting my confirmation of the right size.