Super Bowl XLIII

I've been a crazy Steelers fan since the early 90's and about fell into shock when my brother-in-law (Chris Esteban) sent me an email inviting me to the Super Bowl. Chris went to the Super Bowl last year and saw his Giants upset the Patriots... So I don't know if it was out of a new found Super Bowl fever, a chance to share the joy with the biggest Steeler fan he knew, because I was a good husband to his little sister or just that an opportunity to get face value tickets surfaced .... Whatever the reason, he scored brother-in-law of the year honors (Sorry Jeff, Alex, Dan and Tim... Good luck in 2010) when I received that email inviting me to go. All the pieces fell in to place and after a smooth plane ride on Saturday morning I'm standing in front of very large roman numerals. It is bizarre to think that someone out there, when asked what they do for a living, can say, "I make really big letters. Seriously. They're huge."

The NFL Experience

This is an area they set up outside the stadium where you wait in line to do things you can do in your own backyard without waiting in line. That said, there is something about doing football things in front of football fans that gets your blood pumping. I can't explain it much better than, nobody wants to suck.

Punt / Pass / Kick

This was our first event and Chris and I both rocked it. You'll notice he 'conveniently' stops the camera before I'm done, so the final 'combined distance' winner cannot be calculated ;) Though, truth be told, he is clearly the passing distance winner between us which became more apparent in the Pass / Pass / Pass event.

Claude's attempt



Chris's attempt




Pass / Pass / Pass

If I had any dreams of a talent scout walking by and giving me a nod as if to say, "Hey, kid, you've got some talent..." they were immediately dashed with this event. A QB, I am not..... The video doesn't do justice to how pitiful my attempt was.

Chris, on the other hand, was solid. He would have hit the back of the net if the guy hadn't caught it. It would have been all the more impressive if he hadn't spent the next few hours complaining about tearing various muscles in the attempt ;)

Claude's attempt



Chris's attempt




Kick / Kick

Kicking was fun. My first was virtually perfect.... The second sailed right. Chris's first one had the distance but missed right. The second .... well, let's focus on how close the first one was. I'll spare you the full footage... but here was my first attempt which was all the more impressive for having done it sideways.



Other pics from the NFL Experience

This is someone we chatted with on the line for Punt / Pass / Kick. She told us that she lived in Boston and was rooting hard for the Patriots. So I asked her, "Oh, so are you a Cardinals fan?" She just stared her red an yellow bird face at me.... What I meant was, "Who is your real team the Patriots or the Cardinals?" but, still, I felt pretty silly staring at her beak with my question lingering in the air.

Michael Strahan was at the experience and I was amused when a heckler was trying to give him some attitude. He replied, 'My teeth look like this because of playing professional football. What's your excuse?" He then said something like, "Don't mess with a man whose spent 20 years in a locker room." The heckler held his tongue from that moment on :)
Naturally, you have to find a way to take the picture of yourself as a Steeler. I tried to put on my 'don't mess with me' face. But my kids do that face much better than I do. :)

There were other things to do there such as see an NFL film about the Super Bowl which, by the way, completely pumps you up. That was where I got my first demonstration of the fan base composition of Super Bowl XLIII. There were maybe 100 people watching the film. When they showed Steeler plays, huge cheers went up. Given that we were in Tampa, when the Bucs made the reel, a modest but not insignificant cheer made itself heard. When a Cardinal highlight made it on screen, both Cardinal fans said, 'Yay!'. God bless em' for trying.


Cardinals and Cheerleaders

Chris suggested we stalk some of the fancy hotels as they might be where the players were staying. First try was the Hyatt and BINGO, the players were staying there.... well.... Not all the players.... I actually found myself in enemy territory....
That being said, the enemy was quite friendly. I had several good interactions with Cardinal fans and some of them were just downright nice. One Cardinal fan wished the Steelers luck in the men's room while washing up. He said, "What we want most is a good game where everybody leaves the game healthy." I agreed, wished him luck and exchanged a friendly pat on the back. Reflecting back, given where I was (home base for the Cardinals and their family) I must have been chatting with someone who will be much more worried about the health of the players than the outcome of a stupid game. You don't really think much about how much of a stress this game puts on the family and friends of players.... Sure you think about it a little watching Jerry McGuire or when they bring out the cart during the game.... but chatting with someone living it makes much more of an impression.

In any case, if the Cardinals had a significant advantage over the Steelers it was with cheerleading. The score was 30 gorgeous women to 0. Certainly the big score of the hotel was that a couple of Cardinal cheerleaders were out and about mingling with the crowd. As you can see they weren't fans of my Steeler shirt but they couldn't cover up the hat and towel :)


The Steelers this year did have a new mascot... Steeley McBeam. He seems nice enough but I'll trade him away in heartbeat for the second string Cardinal cheerleaders. In any case, I chose not to pass up a photo op with Steeley before the game.

The Pre Game

We got into the stadium at about 4PM and checked out our seats. RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME...... Some people say the 50 is where it's at... But I say there is no substitute for seeing the action around the goal line.... Not only that ..... But the Arizona cheeleaders were right in front of us... you can thank Chris for the following pictures....

Now how do you expect anyone to concentrate on football with this going on?????? I'm considering a new career as a member of the NFL Films crew...




Ahem..... ANYWAY...... Other pre-game shots....

Ben sending a football close to me in warm ups....


A confused, but clever, fan....


If you want to hear the difference between what the stadium sounded like when the Cardinals were introduced and when the Steelers were introduced watch the following.... What can I say? ... Steelers fans travel well.

Steelers introduced.....

Cardinals introduced.....

THE GAME

And we were finally ready for the game... Quite honestly.... Some folks talk about the stadium being 'Electric' or there being an overwhelming sense of energy..... But from the perspective of the energy producer you don't really feel that. I just did my part as a good electron should and screamed my head off at all appropriate opportunities .... Including kickoff of Super Bowl XLIII

The stadium was filled with fans who were too excited to sit for most of the game. The guy right in front of me clearly wanted to stand for each play but apparently didn't have the stamina for the long haul so in an effort to conserve his energy would pop up like some kind of Jack in the Box on every snap and seemed almost pulled into his seat at the end of each tackle. Well, I wasn't going to miss every play because this guy was playing the mole in the 'Whack a mole' game, so I just stood. Some guy a few rows back tried in vain to get me and a few others to sit with the ol' , "Down in front!". The second time he said it, I just turned and said, "Hey! This is the SUPER BOWL.... UP IN BACK!" He didn't try again after that :)

Overall, the game seemed to be going well... The Steelers could move the ball easily but weren't exactly pulling away either (settling for a field goal form the 1 inch line hurt a little bit). Then the Cardinals got a turnover as the end of the half neared when the score was Steelers 10 Cardinals 7 and were knocking on the door with the clock ticking down... I was figuring they'd score and the Cardinals would go into the half up 4 (10-14) .... MAYBE we'd get lucky and hold them to a field goal and go in tied at 10... Never in my thoughts did I think the biggest play of the Super Bowl XLIII could happen.... Chris had the presence of mind to capture the moment from the Fan's perspective... He stopped recording after the first half of the runback because it was getting too far away... but you get the gist..... The stadium exploded....



Instead of going into the half Steelers 10 Cardinals 14.... James Harrison collapsed over the goal line with no time left giving the Steelers a 17 to 7 lead. Without that play, I doubt the Steelers win.

Halftime

Great halftime show..... I was never a huge Springsteen fan, but I like him well enough.... After the show... I like him a little more :) He has a great time on stage and it shows. More than one person asked me if I was able to go on the field with Bruce. The fact is that Bruce brought his own crowd. They just came pouring out of the tunnel and went out the way they came. Bizarre.





















Back to the game...

The third quarter was a good one for my general cardiovascular health. At the end of it, the Steelers were up 20-7 and I was preparing for a nice stress-free stroll into into championship inevitability... But, as you know, the Cardinals had other ideas. When Fitzgerald scored his second touchdown to take the lead, I found out that it wasn't only Steeler fans in the stadium... The quiet, subdued and stealthy Cardinal fans produced a little eruption of their own and I got a taste of what I had been looking like to them for 57 minutes of the game.....

People asked what it felt like when the Cardinals took the lead. The answer is a mixture of emotions.... 1 part inevitability (the way the Cards were playing it seemed like they were going to find a way to get some points) 1 part resolve (The Steelers have come back in the 4th quarter all year against opponents and in my mind the biggest and most comforting thought I had was, "If they could drive the field on the Ravens to win it, they could do it to the Cardinals) and 10 parts 'I might just pee my pants' .

.... One tipped pass..... One bad pass.... One fumble ..... One tremendous defensive play .... and the whole season is lost. It was like seeing the Steelers chance at victory as a soap bubble floating through a class of toddlers. One good poke and the fun is over. (Sorry, I have three kids... these are the analogies I think of first).

The game winning drive was a backyard football thing of beauty leading to the game winning 'on both toes' catch.... Though in classic modern style... we had to wait to 'officially' celebrate until the guys in the booth deemed it so...

Here is the catch.....


Here is the unbridled joy ....

Special Thanks

I had an unbelievable time and still can't believe I had this once in a lifetime opportunity. This type of thing happens to other people and I'm still in shock that I was a part of it. Not only did my team win the Super Bowl but it was one of the greatest games of all time. I couldn't have done it without the support of a few people.... First, of course, is Brother in law of the year winner, Chris Esteban.... you so rock. Thanks for pulling this together my friend. It has been two weeks and I'm still grinning.

I had the incredible support of my wife, Sheri, who held down the fort while I ran away to Florida for the weekend. She was unbelievable in how supportive she was and with how well she handled the many curveballs the weekend threw her. I love and appreciate her all the more each and every day. Thanks Babe.

Lastly, it wouldn't have been nearly as fun without my own little team of Steeler fans supporting me... Thanks Aidan, Jessica and Ben!!!!!!!!!