I did this past Sunday, when the Steelers beat the Jets 27-10. A local friend shared his second season ticket with me, and the whole scene was a hoot.
First, you have to wear the uniform -- any combination of the colors black and gold. EVERYONE was wearing the colors. I'll bet the Steelers make enough money from imitation football jerseys alone to pay for Roethlisberger's salary. Every style, generation, and player name is represented. Standing in the Great Hall, where the six Super Bowl trophies are on display, I see an ever flowing stream of humanity dressed in variations of black and gold. Oh, yes, about one in a thousand was wearing a wimpy white-and-green Jets jersey, but usually accompanied by three friends in Steeler finery. Beyond jerseys there are Steeler earrings, hats, helmuts (including that goofy soft leather one from the 1920s), beads, scarves, watches (I wore mine!), belts, warm-up flannels, jackets, pins, shoes, blankets, and Terrible Towels. A nine-year old girl sitting behind us had a yellow scrungi in her hair, face painted half black/half gold, a Number 43 shirt with "Polomalu" in sparkly silver letters, black pants and gold Crocs. She was a Steeler princess!
Next you have to be willing to put up with a long walk from the parking lot to the stadium, outrageous prices for food and drink, boisterous lines in the bathrooms, leather-lunged idiots calling for the firing of offensive coordinator Todd Haley (at the second game of the season!), and a longer wait to exit the parking lot before you hit the road.
But it is worth it. Big Ben was at the top of his game, the defense rose to a shut-out after giving up 10 points on the first two Jets drives, and we all went home happy.
Things you see and do at the stadium which you don't in front of your living room tv: The season ticket regulars greet each other in neighboring aisles. This was the first regular season home game. Since most season ticket holders give away their tickets to the exhibition games, this was the chance to catch up on family news since December.
You do not see each squint of the quarterback, wide receiver, linebacker, or even coach. From where I was, behind the end zone in the open end of the field, I could barely make out Mike Tomlin or slimmed down Jets head coach Rex Reed. Since we were low, only ten rows from the field, you have little idea of whether runners make the first down marker. If the play goes into the far end zone, you rely on the crowd to tell you if it's a favorable or unfavorable Steeler play. You have to hand it to tv, it does give you the "up close and personal" view. But what you do see in person is how close the pro game is to sandlot or high school football.
It is midway through a dulsitory third period, third down and 16 to go on the Jets 37, Steelers have the ball. I turn to my friend and kiddingly say, "What play do you call on third and 16? Just heave it!" Which is exactly what Ben does, toward the far point of the end zone. At first it looks like the thrown pass is going far beyond the end line. Then All-pro wideout Mike Wallace stops dead in his tracks, as his Jets defender flies by. He jumps up and catches the ball, and lands -- barely -- with both feet in bounds. The crowd erupts! Touchdown, Steelers! That cheer, that feeling of being with the team, of contributing to the team's success, of high fives with strangers all around you -- that you cannot get in your living room.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Jets get the ball at their 20. Erratic Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez goes back to pass, and throws it to former Steeler Santonio Holmes across the middle. To my eyes simultaneously it looked like two Steeler defenders and the ball both hit Holmes in his hands, and the ball flutters to the ground. Incomplete pass. No, wait a minute. The sub replacement official threw a flag. Pass interference. The crowd (and Ike Taylor, the alleged perpetrator) can't believe it. All fans turn to the Jumbotron behind us, where they give us the feed from CBS. The replay, from three angles, clearly shows that the well-thrown pass was bobbled by Holmes, then Taylor and Ryan Clark hit him cleanly in his torso. Excellent football play! But it is still a penalty. First down, Jets.
The boos begin. They rain down from the top deck and through out the stadium, louder and louder. The Jets run a play, gain three yards. The boos don't let up. Sanchez throws an incomplete pass. The boos grow louder. Sanchez on third down throws a wild incomplete pass. The boos continue. The Jets punt. And the crowd knows that, one, they've seen a horribly officiated game, and two, they had a great part (with the tremendous Steeler defense) in getting the Jets off the field.
That you can't get in your living room.
Finally I have to say a word about a wild, wild Steeler two-minute video. If you've seen it, you know my words will not do it justice. (I don't know if it's availabe on You Tube, but even so, outside of the confines of Heinz Field it wouldn't be the same experience.) This time it was shown after another Jet three-and-out forced by the Steeler defense. It is one great hit after another, to a pounding beat. Harrison, Keisel, Polamalu, Clark, Farrior, a jubulent Coach Tomlin, more Harrison hits, Polamalu jumping the snap cut and kniving over the center into the backfield, twirling Terrible Towels through snow flakes. Over and over again. The crowd roars. It is an affirmation of the bond between team and fans. We all grin, some move toward the exits as the Steelers have the game in hand.
This is why pro football is the most successful sport in the U.S. Even the visiting Martians will sit down, enjoy the show, twirl their Terrible Towel, and say, "Yoi and double yoi!"
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