Most Super Bowl responses came out on either Monday or Tuesday of this week, but I needed a few days to catch my breath. I've spent most of the week wearing Steelers clothes, getting excited greetings from a guy at the Tin Can who looked like hw was out of an Adam Sandler movie and the occasional joking heckle from the other side of my weekly poker game. All the negative comments directed towards me stopped once the game ended and the Steelers brought home the Six Pack to Pittsburgh. After a game that exciting and nearly devastating, I'd even high five this girl (you know the one I mean).
Now I'd like to give you the view of what it was like to be a Steelers fan in St. Louis on Sunday. I know that the vast majority of the people reading this were cheering for the Cardinals on Sunday, so this should be a new perspective for most of you. As I said in my previous entry, I like Kurt Warner, but I couldn't cheer against my own team for him. This earned me an aura of negativity as soon as I arrived at my Aunt Sherry's house for her annual Super Bowl party (Yes, this is the aunt who curses games by looking at them, but we'll get to that later).
I, by the way, was decked out in about as much Steelers gear as possible. I had on my Ben Roethlisberger long-sleeved t-shirt, over that my Troy Polamalu authentic jersey, and my Steelers cap on my head. I also had on my leather Steelers jacket, not because it was cold but more for spite since I assumed there would be very few Steelers fans there besides myself. I also had brought along my five-time Super Bowl Champions stocking cap (now delightfully obsolete) in lieu of a Terrible Towel (I ordered one the other day as I told my girlfriend Laura I would if we won). It's yellow on the inside, so I flipped it inside out and twirled it from time to time during big plays. Laura also requested that I bring her a Steelers shirt to wear, so she had on my "One For the Thumb" t-shirt. I also brought a yellow t-shirt for her to twirl, but instead she just wore it due to being cold (Laura's cold roughly 90% of the time).
Laura and I didn't even get into the house before we saw the Regans (Sue and Denny), family friends of my mother's side since as long as I've been alive. We used to go skiing every spring break from second grade through eighth grade, but I haven't seen them in a couple of years. When Denny saw me, he said, "What's with the Steelers stuff. Aren't you cheering for Kurt?" This was about the nicest football related comment i heard for the rest of the night that wasn't from my godparents, mother, or girlfriend.
As more and more people began to arrive at the party, it's becoming abundantly clear that Laura and I will be the only people openly cheering for the Steelers. This would be fine as long as we won, but very obnoxious if we lost. Laura and I gorged ourselves on food, mainly buffalo wings and some Schlafly Hefeweizen to wash it down. Few things in life beat beer and buffalo wings. Time winds on until it's time for kickoff. Right before kickoff, my uncle's MOXY (like a Tivo for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about) decides that it's time to record "The Closer". Mass panic ensues until my uncle can find the remote and turn it off. The Steelers ended up losing the coin toss, which also happened in the only Super Bowl that they had lost to this point, Super Bowl XXX against the Cowboys. However, it's also worth noting that the Steelers have only won the coin toss once in seven Super Bowls and with five wins to this point, it doesn't seem to matter to much. This also marked the 12th straight time that the NFC team has won the coin toss, which I'm sure even someone with a statistics degree would tell you is insane. The Cardinals opted to defer and began the game kicking off. As I see the teams lining up, I'm freaking out realizing that the Cards, not the Steelers are going left to right. Every time my aunt looks at a game, the team going left to right when she first notices wins.I glance over to her and she's just talking, facing the direction of the TV, but not really paying attention. I'm hoping that she'll remain distracted until the second quarter, as it's really Pittsburgh's only chance.
The Steelers marched the ball right down the field on their opening drive, starting with a two-yard run up the middle by Willie Parker and followed by Hines Ward's cameo appearance, which resulted in a 38-yard reception down to the Cardinals' 32-yard line. Ward, the MVP of Super Bowl XL would only make one more catch the rest of the night. His knee clearly bothered him, but he functioned well enough as a decoy to allow the Steelers' other receivers to get open. The Steelers made it all the way to the Arizona one-yard line where they had third and goal. Roethlisberger snaps the ball and scrambles out to the right, he's still looking to the end zone but he decides his best chance to get in is to run for it. He hits contact at the goal line but is signalled in for a touchdown! I'm thinking about how easy that drive was and how we could blow out the Cardinals instead of having a tight game like we did last time against Seattle. That's when the red laundry comes out onto the field. The Cardinals challenge that he was down short of the line and they win it. This is when I get my first text message of the evening from my cousin Kevin, who I have a bet with on the game. "Just short." This brings up fourth and goal from the one, which I'd like to go for, but head coach Mike Tomlin decides to play it safe and just take a field goal. It puts us up 3-0 early and I text my cousin back, "Just winning."
The ensuing drive had me a bit worried, as the Cardinals' offense is better than anything we've seen in weeks. The Chargers' offense is ok, but their top back was out and they don't have anything close to the wide receivers that Arizona does. I'm just hoping that Warner doesn't get into a rhythm early. They get one first down, but then commit one of what seemed like about a billion holding penalties, fumbled, and were forced to punt after running just five offensive plays. Our next drive took up the remainder of the first quarter, as we drove down to the Arizona seven for first and goal. Two plays into the second quarter, our fullback Gary Russell takes it in for a one-yard touchdown run and leaves no doubt this time around. It's 10-0 Steelers after Jeff Reed nails the extra point and my thoughts of a rout resume. J.J. Arrington muffed the ensuing kickoff but he quickly recovered and managed a return up to the Cards' 17-yard line.
Arizona's second drive started out innocently enough, a few yards here, a few yards there, until they were already to the Steelers' 46-yard line. At this point, Warner chucks a bomb up to Anquan Boldin who ends up making the grab and scrambled down to the one-yard line before Ryan Clark lit him up. Unfortunately, unlike Willis McGahee two weeks earlier, Boldin held on to give the Cards a first and goal at the one. Warner hit up tight end Ben Patrick for a one-yard touchdown pass on the next play and just like that it was 10-7. My leg vibrates and it's Kevin responding to the touchdown with, "Here we come."
Our next drive barely went anywhere. It had one big play, a 22-yard pass to Santonio Holmes down to the Cardinals' 44-yard line, but it was called back for holding. We ended up having to punt and Arizona took it back to our 43. They picked up six yards on a first down run from Edgerrin James (who the day before Kevin tried to convince me would rush for 100 yards). The next play killed their drive, as they got called for a 15-yard personal foul for a chop block. Warner was then sacked for a loss of three by LaMarr Woodley which was followed by an incomplete pass and a punt. We took over after a one-yard punt return at our own 16 with just under three minutes to play in the first half and I'm just hoping that we don't do anything stupid. Following a six-yard run by Mewelde Moore, we do something incredibly stupid. Roethlisberger tosses a ball over the middle, it gets tipped and Karlos Dansby picks it off, giving the Cards the ball at our own 33 at the two-minute warning.
Arizona manages to get the ball down to our one-yard line. At this point, everybody watching is thinking that the worst case scenario is the Cards have to settle for a field goal and go into the locker room tied at 10 and they have a chance to go on top 14-10. Those things likely would've happened if not for the longest and arguably the best play in Super Bowl history. On first and goal from our one-yard line, James Harrison, the NFL's defensive player of the year, baits Warner and picks off the pass. He zigs and zags all the way down the field until Fitzgerald manages to tackle him at the goalline and it's a ruled a score! As soon as he picked it off, I started jumping up and down and yelling in a room full of extremely disappointed and angry people. Laura jumps up to celebrate too, but she jumps up directly beneath my elbow and drilled herself in the skull with it. So the whole time Harrison was making the return, I'm just hugging Laura hoping she's ok and still can't believe that Harrison hasn't been tackled, pushed out of bounds, or just stepped out of bounds. There was no time left at the end of the play, so it was all or nothing. Because it was under two minutes to go in the half, they reviewed it, the play stood, and Harrison would end up being fine. 17-7 at halftime. My leg buzzes and my friend Dan who's a Chiefs fan had just texted me the word "Wow." Kevin of course, texted me that, "He was short." If he can prove that, we'll need him to look at the JFK assassination next.
It's also worth mentioning that in the points pool, I had 0 for the Steelers matched up with 7 for the Cardinals. Therefore, if Harrison had been ruled down, I would've won the pool for the second quarter. But as I told my aunt, who ended up winning by having 7 and 7, I'd trade $25 bucks for my team to have the longest play in Super Bowl history any day.
At halftime, my uncle busted out the turkey that he had fried earlier that afternoon. If you've never had fried turkey, it's about the most amazing thing on earth and I'd even suggest it to vegetarians. Turkeys are stupid. They drown on occasion by looking up when it's raining. They should be eaten. My friend Emily who is a vegetarian eats chickens because they're morons, so turkeys should be looked at on the same level. Laura and I make up a few sandwiches of it, grab some more beers, and get introduced to a few more people. One of those people was a man who I don't believe I ever got his name, but he let us in on his secret. He had 100 bucks on the Steelers. The spread that he had was seven points however, so they would need to maintain a lead close to what they had now. I saw bits and pieces of the halftime show with Bruce Springsteen and his crotch, but halftime passes quickly and just like that it was time to kickoff the second half.
The Cards deferred, so they would receive to begin the third quarter. Their first drive was of little consequence. The Cards got to their own 49 before Warner was sacked by James Farrior, who also caused and recovered a fumble. This was a pretty bad call, as it looked relatively obvious that Warner's arm was coming forward when he lost control of the ball. The Cardinals challenged the call again and won the challenge again. It ended up only changing field position though, as the next play was an incomplete pass and was followed by another punt.
Our next drive began at our own 15-yard line, but we quickly moved it up the field, more due to penalties than anything else. This got my uncle's friend Mr. Deutchmann about as close to a heart attack as he's probably ever been. He was yelling at every call, whether it was correct or terrible. There was a 15-yard facemask, which I felt was an obvious call that had to be made. There was a 15-yard roughing the passer call that I felt was pretty soft and didn't need to be made which took us from the 50 to the Arizona 35-yard line. Then on 4th and goal from the nine as we're trying a field goal, the Cards got called for unnecessary roughness. This too, was a bit of a borderline call. However, we were held to a field goal anyways so it didn't really affect the game other than taking some more time off of the clock. Four plays after the kickoff that followed, the third quarter ended with a 20-7 lead for Pittsburgh. This gave me the pool for the third quarter, which I informed Kevin of in a text. He let me know that that was good news and I could send it directly to him.
The fourth quarter started with a 13-yard completion from Warner to Boldin that would be called back by yet another holding penalty against Arizona. Another Mr. Deutchmann uproar and two passing plays later, the Cardinals were forced to punt again. We began our next drive with great field position at our own 43, which would be helped by another Arizona penalty. This was a five-yarder for defensive holding which put us just shy of midfield for first and 10. Parker gained six yards on first down, lost four on second down, and then Roethlisberger ran around like a chicken (or turkey) with its head cut off and was sacked for a loss of 12 yards, forcing us to punt. Still, with the best defense in the league, a 13 point lead, and under 12 minutes to play I didn't think that I had much to worry about.
The Cardinals were forced to begin their next drive at their own 13-yard line, giving our fantastic defense plenty of room to breathe. This is when Warner found his rhythm. 13-yard pass to Steve Breaston. 18-yard pass to Jerheme Urban. Six-yard pass to Fitzgerald. 22-yard pass to Arrington. 18-yard pass to Fitzgerald on which there's a penalty, but it was against the Steelers, so it was declined. Six-yard pass to Fitzgerald and we finally call a timeout to talk about this unstoppable offense that we stopped for almost all of the first three quarters. Then they come back on the field, completed a three-yard toss to Tim Hightower down to the one and a fade to Fitzgerald in the end zone for the touchdown. There was a fair amount of contact on the play, but it was equal so it was a good non-call by the refs. This left 7:41 on the clock though and we were still ahead by six.
On the next drive, we went three and out primarily due to Roethlisberger taking a 10-yard loss on a sack on second down. Now I was starting to get nervous and everyone else in the room but Laura was starting to get fired up. The next drive went back and forth. Ike Taylor got called for unnecessary roughness to move the Cards up to the Pittsburgh 49. The Big Red then drove to the 26, before they were called for another holding penalty, taking them back out of field goal range. A field goal here would be huge, as it would mean they would only need one more field goal drive to tie it up. After that, our defense managed to stymie them and forced them to punt. Then came the stupidest play of the entire night. After the punt, James Harrison could be seen right in front of the play punching one of the Cardinals players. He probably punched him six times before finally pushing him over. Since Arizona downed the ball at the two, it was only enforced have the distance to the goal, or the one-yard line. If the play had given the Cards a first down, it could've been a very different game.
From our one, we threw an incomplete pass on first down, made a run for no gain on second down, and on third and 10 we completed an amazing 19-yard pass to Santonio Holmes for the first down! But there was a flag down in the end zone. It was holding on the Steelers in the end zone, which results in a safety. 20-16. Kevin texted me to say, "Safety," as if I was unaware of the ruling. I shot back, "Still winning." Around that point, NBC flashed up on the screen that the Steelers were 142-1-1 in the regular season when having an 11-point lead at some stage in the game and 10-0 in the postseason...
Their next drive began with an incomplete pass to Boldin. The second was a short pass up the middle to Fitzgerald that ended up going for a 64-yard touchdown and the lead. As he dashed to the end zone, everyone in the room but Laura and me began jumping up and down. Our family veterinarian
