Interceptions & Reflections

Interceptions & Reflections: My Pittsburgh Weekend by CB26


Just missed everyone from....No, let me start over. I didn't really miss anyone at all. This weekend was a blast; I thought I'd just start and be polite. However, I'll choose honesty instead this time around!

This article comes complete with a nice little footnote here to tell you to drop down several paragraphs if you only care about my game thoughts and don't care about my weekend shenanigans. If that's you, jump down to GAMEDAY, BABY!

Seriously though, what a great weekend. Week 10 against the Clowns marked the annual trip for the Black & Gold Brigade. As in each year, fans from all over the country converge for Steeler football, beer, old friends, and always welcome new faces. I had missed last year's regular trip due to a diagnosis of puss-itis, otherwise known as PWS, or in-full as Pussy-Whipped Syndrome. Nonetheless, in true Cheers fashion, all the old faces welcomed me back with a toast and a manly hug.

The trip always starts in the hotel bar with just catching up with old faces, welcoming new ones, and for some of us, scoping out any new girls that have come along for the trip! We are usually in the William Omni, and this year was no exception. Shouts of Fabio rang across the bar as I made my entrance. Ahh, home again!

Friday night we had a great time at McFadden's and at Bettis'. The lasting memory from Jerome's bar is the one-way mirror in which you can see everybody as you're standing there taking a piss. If I was a freak, those hot girls at the bar would have been an inspiration in this moment...but I like to think I've got more charisma than needing to sink to that level. And on a side note, is there ANYBODY that didn't want to steal one of those Bettis beer glasses? My upbringing wouldn't allow me to go there, but I couldn't resist making jokes as I entered the bar, "Hold on, guys. I gotta stop here. I can only walk in here at 3.3 yards at a time." All jokes aside, twas a very nice bar and great service! The night closes with more drinks in the hotel bar. Just one full day away from game day, baby!

Saturday is always a blast with The Brigade, taking a bus tour/pub crawl all around the city. Drinks on the bus, drinks in the bar, repeat, shake, and stir. I ride the same busy every year (no short bus jokes, folks!), and I can't imagine any other bus is more fun. Drinking songs, Steeler pride, and lots of laughs keep the wheels of this BUS rollin'. The funny story this year happened when our bus driver was heading to the 3rd bar, and he took a turn down the WRONG street. He tried to shimmy back and forth, but there was no way the bus was getting through this small street with cars on both sides and all around. We basically ended up completely stuck! One of the fellas tried to knock and find the owner of the ILLEGALLY parked car, but it was to no avail. About 8 to 10 of us from the Justice League threw on our capes, popped out of the bus, and just moved the damn car ourselves! This calls for a celebration! Who's up for a beer!?!!

I never remember the names of the bars we go to. One of these years I'll write them down. All I can say is there are still no ugly girls in Pittsburgh...only the ones we bring in! I hope the girl at the second bar is beginning to regret the happiness she passed up when I told her I couldn't leave without telling her I fell in love with her in the last 45 minutes. Someday it will hit her, when she's holding that pillow tight! Bar 4 really picked things up when the DJ played a hair band song. I was just at the right level of alcohol inspiration that my beer bottle morphed into a microphone, and I proceeded to put on a show from the stage area. The DJ should probably add me to his advertising, because kept the party going with about 6 or 7 similar songs in a row! When the dance floor filled up with everybody pretending it was a real concert and all eyes on this rockstar Terry Bradshaw, I was having a blast furnace of a time!

GAMEDAY, BABY!

What a Sunday ahead of me. Tailgating, Steeler football, and a Keith Urban concert are all on the schedule. I want to give a shout to the awesome tailgaters close to Heinz Field that always have 80's hair band music blaring every year! And, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the generous hospitality of Tailgate Mel for offering tons of great food and a great atmosphere in their parking lot! As usual, urination time always sucks, Heinz Field isn't loud enough, and too many people sit down. But that's 2 separate articles right there: Swiss, perhaps you should write an article on all that goes into the process of 37 penises pissing in the same 6 foot trough at a time, and those who suffer from shy bladder syndrome? I get myself psyched and ready to pee, but I'm sure it's an issue for some. LOL

Now that the generalities are out of the way, here are my game thoughts:

I felt like I was watching a pretty flat first half. We basically had our 3 scoring drives in each half, but what a difference punching them into the endzone makes. Ben was off on a few throws, but there were also a few drops. I really got the feeling I was watching the continuing development of one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL out there. On his td run in the second half, nobody was keeping him out of that end zone. This guy is all heart and all intangibles. Don't even try to measure Big Ben with stats. Speaking of stats, he put them up too, and he carried the team on his back the entire second half. Willie (happy birthday, buddy!) may have rushed for over a hundred yards, but it sure didn't seem like it. It always seemed like 1 or 2 yard carries other than his big ones. I'm not saying 'subtract the long runs', but I'm saying that 1 yard carries aren't going to sustain an offense properly in the long run either. This line wasn't getting much push. The pass blocking looked okay again though.

Defensively, the Browns appeared to be throwing to open checkdowns quite a bit in the first half. Our tackling looked great to me, but they were grabbing 5-8 yards on those kind of plays quite a bit. All in all, I thought it was a solid effort by the defense, considering we gave up two horrendous kick returns to the 3 and for a td. I sure as hell hope that Coach T gives the blues to the special teams guys in his "news" each week. I'd love to see a copy of "the news" get leaked out! Somebody write a funny spoof article of that!

As for coaching, Mike did what a lot of guys wanna do...take off as much time as possible and then put your defense to work. BUT, as it often does, that almost failed. As Mike is a rookie, I give him the benefits of the doubt in these matters, fully expecting that he's going to learn that it's better to trust your offense to throw it for a first down to easily run out the clock....especially when your quarterback is a superhero that's just now getting a chance to fly.

Postgame, cb26 can never leave that beautiful field without standing there twirling his terrible towel for at least 15 minutes past the clock's expiration. It's always, always an experience I cherish, and I thank God for the opportunity to have such good friends, resources, and a great organization in the Black and Gold Brigade to live it each year. Everytime I'm in Pittsburgh, I say to myself..."this is good people."

For my postscript, I can't neglect mentioning that there were about 37 million unbelievably gorgeous girls at the Keith Urban show that night. And Keith is an awesome showman and musician. I'm sending up my prayers to all the girls who had to be rushed off by the paramedics because they couldn't handle Keith Urban and CB26 being in the same building at the same time.

Thanks for reading, gang!