Before we sat down I watched the special teams practice. Tom was in line for a hamburger off a grill that was set up behind where we were standing so I joined these folks (in picture) to watch Shaun Suisham kick some balls through the uprights.
Then we walked up, up, up and rode a few escalators up, up, up to our seat level. I was out of breath by the time we hiked up, up, up to our seats which happened to be one row from the last row at the top of the stadium. In full sun. I didn't care. Because the view was breathtaking.
The players were on the field stretching and running through a few drills and then they headed to the locker room for some words of Tomlin wisdom. The announcer was great. He told us what was happening every minute from the band on the field, to it being breast cancer awareness month in the nfl. He let us know when the Post-Gazette took its weekly
fancam picture so that we could all cheer and wave our terrible towels to we could prove later that we had attended the game.
Note: I'm at the back, row 526, to the right on the end. (Darcy is hidden by the woman standing in front of her, but you can see her arm)
While the announcer was firing up the fans, they were busy filing into the stadium to take their seats. The Titans came out on the field first. Then Mike Tomlin. And then the roaring began. We sat across from the Steelers tunnel so I could see them waiting to be announced.
When they were announced the crowd went wild. We were all on our feet with our towels. I will admit I was crying a bit.
The offense came out first and formed two lines on the field. The defense stayed back in the tunnel and were announced one by one, and each one ran out between the two lines slapping hands with the offense.
Out of the tunnel came LaMar Woodley, Lawrence Timmons, James Farrior, Chris Hoke; guys I've watched on television and who grace my Steelers room walls. One by one they exited the tunnel running out on to the field to all the cheering. I alternated between peering through the binoculars and watching it with my own two eyes. Waiting...
He came out last to the biggest roar ever. "At safety, number 43, Troy Polamalu!" And the hair on my arms stood up and a chill went through me. I was really here seeing all of this, experiencing all of this live... in the Steelers own home... in the city of Pittsburgh. It was a beautiful moment.
And then Mike Tomlin's niece sang the National Anthem, fireworks went off, and the players met in the middle of the field for the coin toss, which Pittsburgh won, and we were off!
I watched the defense.
I watched the offense.
I watched the 63,857 fans that filled the stadium.
And I soaked it all in. We were, literally, the last fans to leave the stadium. I can actually say that I closed down Heinz Field. We left the field and stood in the upper deck leaning over the concrete wall to watch the players as they exited the locker area into the secured parking lot where most of them were parked.
We saw Sanders, Kiesel, Wallace, and Roethlisberger among many. Mike Tomlin came out and went right out the gates to chat with some of the fans who were standing outside. I was waiting for Polamalu when security came up and told us we had to leave. They were very nice. "If this were my stadium you could stay here all night," one guy said to me.
And so we were the last to leave with security behind us chatting with us as we walked down, down, down and out the gates of Heinz Field. We walked around the corner of the area we had just been watching, and Polamalu, his hair tied back and his son in his arms, came out with his wife and his other son, and I caught a glimpse of them before they disappeared behind the covered fence where I was walking. We joined the handful of fans at the exit and waved to them as they drove past us, many of them shouting his name. It was a nice ending to a great day.
Thank you to my mother-in-law, Mary Anne, for making it possible. It was without a doubt one of the best experiences of my life and something I will cherish forever.
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