Skip to main content

Before the parade passes by
















I wish I could capture the feeling I had driving into work on Monday. Sure, I was tired after having stayed up to midnight to revel in the Steelers sixth Super Bowl win. But the feeling of euphoria, helped by a local radio station playing various Steeler songs as well as "We Are the Champions" was something I cannot put into words, something that a lot of people just don't get.

The good times continued right into Tuesday with the Steelers parade. I hardly noticed the 30-degree weather and occasional snowfall. What I was well aware of was that I and my closest 350,000 friends were celebrating in style. That day we were all united members of the Steeler Nation (except for the black-and-gold clad jag-off who apparently robbed a bank during the festivities).

This year, one of my coworkers had the best idea of his life (his words): bring a ladder, which was made possible thanks to Bob, the office guy, dropping us off. So many people walked by telling us how smart we were or what a great idea we had. A number of people snapped our pic, clearly in awe of the brilliancy. We saw everything and captured most of the players, unlike when we went three years ago, and saw almost nothing. The only downside was some players never turned our way; they continued to face the crowd on their side. Regardless, I posted some of my faves above; most of the rest are on Flickr.

What stands out most for me is the president of Steeler Nation, Mike Tomlin. He was walking the parade, clearly excited. When he was near us, he picked up someone's sign (something about Stairway to Seven). I have thought highly of Tomlin ever since he made the comment, "I walk past five Lombardi trophies, not five rushing titles," in response to Fast Willie's complaint about the run game. It is hard to describe or define Mike Tomlin; I do know he says things like "things of that nature" a lot, and that is all right with me.

I am glad I went; well worth a few hours of vacation time. Again, glad I live here and am able to experience something like this. There is nothing like living in Sixburgh!

Comments

Mel said…
what a fun time! I actually contemplated going, with a 3 1/2-year-old in tow... and then common sense ruled and we watched it on the tube. ahhh, to be a silly 20-something in such a celebratory season in the city... sigh. the ladder was pure genius. glad I know at least a few people who were there to record the moment for posterity. hurrayyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Popular posts from this blog

What a year 2021 has been (Day 7)

I have almost no words for what happened yesterday at the Capitol. Protesting is one thing (though I truly think it is and has been time to move on). But to storm the Capitol? A friend on Facebook said, quite simply, " Almost 20 years ago a group of people on an airplane sacrificed themselves to protect the Capitol. How far we have fallen!" Indeed. And, yes, it IS storming the Capitol. I have seen numerous videos of people knocking down barricades/fences, pushing police officers, and breaking windows and climbing through them. That is beyond protesting. And even if a protestor did not do those things, if they followed those seditionists past those barricades and into the building, they are just as guilty. I did not support the violent protests this summer that resulted in damages to businesses and public property (I was in full support of the actual protests). But I also acknowledged as a white person, I cannot truly put myself in the position of a black person who is angry a

Melancholy and Gratitude

 A few days ago, I decided to do gratitude posts on FB. I was good the first two days. Day 3 I got a little snarky as I posted about "doing the right thing" in regards to Covid. The Covid cases in Allegheny County have been on the rise. For a while, we had daily counts between 50 and 100. After July 4, we saw a spike for a few weeks, and then cases were back below 100. Unfortunately, other than one "low" day this week, where "only" 288 cases were reported, we have had between 500 and 620 daily cases. Fortunately, only a few people have died this week. But of course, any death is too many. I started to keep track of cases, deaths, and hospitalizations on 6/12/20. On that day, since 3/12, Allegheny County had had 2,034 cases, 352 people had been hospitalized, and 172 people had died. On 11/19/20, the county has seen a total of 22,042 cases, 1,724 people have been hospitalized, and 465 people have died from Covid since 3/12. In just over 8 months, we have had

Hug your loved ones!

I hate to say that I am still working through my grief. I mean, in some ways I can imagine I will always be grieving. But I feel pretty confident it will get easier, and I will cry less and less. But, yeah, I guess I am still working through it. Yesterday, a thought occurred to me: I had not hugged my dad since the end of February, and that will now be the last time I ever did. I did not see him for almost three months because of COVID, and then at the end of May, he started his series of hospital visits with skilled nursing stints in between. I was always afraid to hug him then. What if I gave him COVID? And yet when my dad had really bad ICU delirium during a few different hospital stays, I fed him. If I could do that, why not hug him? So I cried a bit last night thinking about that. I am not necessarily a big hugger; I used to hate it, and then probably before Jordan was born, I got back to doing it again. Before COVID, I hugged my friends goodbye (and sometimes hello). I always wou