First off, thanks to Jami's husband Todd for turning me on to the Obamicon Me website, which enabled me to make the "COPE" poster from a pic I yanked off somebody else's website.
The fact that the Steelers have made the playoffs reminds me that between the years 1982 and 1998, I was thoroughly convinced every year that the Steelers would win the Superbowl that year. As you may recall, they did not win the Superbowl any of those years.
Admittedly, I was pretty young and naive for many of those years. But for nearly a decade of that time, I was a "grown man." I put that in quotation marks because it seems kind of strange that I could be so convinced that a Neil O'Donnell / Barry Foster led team had a lock on the Superbowl.
It also seems a little odd, as I look back, that I had such undying faith in a football team. I'm not so sure I had that much face in anything else. Furthermore, I suspect, but can't prove, that I got more emotional--highs and lows--about Steelers football that just about anything else at that time in my life. From screaming at the top of my lungs to near total emotional collapse (thank you, Neil O'Donnel).
Luckily, I have a more balanced approach to Steelers football these days. Don't get me wrong. There is an occasional shout of "You stupid. Son. Of. A. Bitch!" at the television screen. But the beer and kielbasa has taken on greater importance relative to the outcome of the game itself.
3 comments:
Lou, you're not crazy or unrealistic to have expected the one for the thumb in 1981 or any year thereafter. In a recent ESPN interview Art Rooney II stated, "We try to put a team on the field every year that can win a championship. And we never take a year off". Did we always really have a team that was a contender? No. But after racking up 4 Lombardi trophies it was natural to think a Super Bowl win was our divine right. And I'm sure the stress of some of our post-season losses (and some of the skin-of-our-teeth wins) definitely took a few years off my life. Watching other teams match, then beat our record championship wins was often hard to take. So this year I'm trying to steel myself against the emotional investment I'm trying to avoid putting on this Super Bowl win. On the eve of my 40th birthday, to have the Steelers once again be world champions, to reclaim their title as having won more Super Bowls than any other NFL team, to have everything be good and right in the world as it was on Jan 20, 1980--it's almost too much to take. Plus, in this economy I can't exactly afford a midlife crisis Italian sportscar. So please, please Steelers--win this for every fan that's hoped and wished and believed every year, for the past 29 years that you are the greatest team in the NFL, you can win more Super Bowls than anyone, and that every Lombardi trophy, every year, belongs in Pittsburgh!
Lou, it sickens me that a sausage would be more important to you than the outcome of the game. For shame, Lou, for shame.
The Lombardi has safely returned to Pittsburgh, and I thorougly enjoyed the game. Admittedly, I was trying to make peace with what I thought was certain loss with 2:40 left in the game.
One clarification -- the sausage has grown in importance relative to the game but has not become more important than the outcome of the game. The outcome is somewhat less important than days of old, and the sausage is somewhat more important.
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