DSB Field Trip: Pittsburgh's Homecoming Weekend...
This past weekend was branded as Homecoming for the City of Pittsburgh... so naturally as a native Yinzer I had to make a trip back. After begging Max Power to release some of our hard earned blogging dollars to pay for the trip to cover the Pitt Panthers and the Steelers I was informed that we don't actually generate any money with this site. I tendered my resignation which was returned immediately because I was told I was not allowed to quit. Screw them! Lucky for you...I can't leave the DSB Army. Here is my report from Pittsburgh:
The #12 (now #8) Pittsburgh Panthers were playing host to Notre Dame in prime time, the Penguins were coming off a long road trip and the Steelers were taking on the Bengals in an AFC Divisional grudge match for control of the AFC North. By now we all know how the games shook out (Pens won to get off a short slump, Pitt delivered a beat down that all but ensures that Weis is fired and the Steelers got debacled by the Bungles) but what you missed was the insanity that took over the city during the roughly 30 hours I was in town. Sorry for the load time there are quite a few pictures and I hope it is worth it for our loyal DSB readers. As you should expect...all names have been changed to protect the guilty...
I arrived in the city a little before 3:00 pm just as the parking lots opened on the North Shore to welcome fans for the biggest game of the weekend (Pitt/ND). I arrived at the tailgate with APB (he is in law enforcement and was a good choice as a wingman since a disorderly conduct or public drunkenness charge were not only likely but expected and he could provide some help in that regard) at exactly 3:30 (perfect timing). We were greeted at our tailgate location by an assortment of encased meats (hot and sweet Italian sausage and hot dogs) as well as burgers and chips...all the game day staples. The most import items at this tailgate were the various libations...a keg of Yuengling, a couple of 30 packs of Miller Lite and the omnipresent Pittsburgh beer of choice, Iron City. The real kicker were the liters of cheap rot gut vodka, Gentleman Jack, and Jameson (yes, I said liters). I felt right at home and immediately knew that although most of the party were strangers that I was among men of distinction and good taste.
After sipping on my first beer for about 15 minutes, it dawned on a couple of the guys that we only had four solid hours of drinking and that beer would not be sold in Heinz Field during the Pitt game...this caused all involved to really get their goose on. It is fun to watch a group of men aged 30 to 45 attempt to kill their livers in a matter of hours. They know their limits but clearly choose to ignore what many, many years of drinking has taught them. Prime example - - "John" chose to skip the beer all together and instead grabbed a 16 ounce Solo cup filled it halfway with ice from around the keg and proceeded to fill the cup the rest of the way with Jameson. This was greeted with approval from the entire group. John was drinking Jameson like a fish for the rest of the afternoon and evening...a true champion (more on him later).
As afternoon turned to night with the typical fall 5 pm sunset, the parking lots really started to fill up and the number of Notre Dame fans in attendance was impressive. At least 20% of the crowd was there in green and gold to cheer for the Golden Domers. They were more civilized than I had expected but they were certainly confident that they were going to bounce back after their embarrassing loss to Navy the prior week. The parking lots leading up to game time were jammed with tailgaters and eventually Pitt students starting wandering the parking lot looking for free booze. A couple of students spotted our keg and we gave them a keg stand...it was certainly an "anything goes" kind of atmosphere. The Pitt band even drove by in a couple of school buses with the drum line hanging out the windows asking for cans of beer. Several groups ran over to help these guys out. Everyone was on a high for the game.
The Pitt Cheerleaders came by to fire up the crowd... a nice touch.
After the keg was nearly tapped out and the bottles of hard liquor were more than half drained it suddenly was 7:30 and time to make our way into the game. There we found this guy who was exceedingly popular and with good reason...
Rey Mysterio is a Pitt Panther fan... good to know
APB and I had standing room only tickets but they were more then enough since we found a sweet spot on the closed side of the stadium facing the scoreboard. A great view of the game. The highlight of the crowd from our vantage point was this girl who argued with me about the contraption in the next picture. She was certain that it was a grill even though she could not tell me why Heinz Field would need an outdoor grill...she could not let it go. (if you can't tell from the picture it is a TV camera.)
What really disturbed me about Notre Dame fans was how fickle they all were. Most of the Golden Domers bailed during the third quarter. There was still plenty of football left to play but they just gave up...It probably did not prevent the guy from leaving early that was standing next to us when I went into full Bearcat mode reminding him that not only were we going to win the game but that his team's bowl would be mostly like be played sometime around Black Friday...
After watching the Pitt Panthers dispense of the Irish it was time to re-tailgate and celebrate not only a win but an almost certain top ten team...upon getting back to the parking lot we once again saw our friend John who was in a much different state then how we left him four some hours prior.
John had apparently been kicked out of Heinz Field during halftime for puking in the men's room...His statement and I quote: "Yeah, I puked but I did it in the toilet it's not like I was puking on the floor...but apparently you can't be doing that so they kicked me out and I came back here and passed out in the bed of their truck. Those guys weren't too happy to find me inside." Lesson learned.
After re-tailgating (and finishing off both the Jameson and Gentleman Jack) we called for our ride who was kind enough to come by the parking lot and pick us up so that we could crash...It was at this time that I noticed that my voice had not only gone hoarse but was rapidly getting worse for letting Notre Dame fans know what I thought of their once proud program...I am pretty sure that I went from hoarse to draft mule in that time...this did not bode well for the next day's Steelers game.
After staying up for several hours watching Pitt's defeat of ND on DVR (coupled with our host bringing out Keystone Ice pounders), I finally got some rest (three whole hours) before returning to the city for breakfast and a walk from downtown to the identical scene of the prior night's debauchery.
On the walk across the Roberto Clemente Bridge it was nice to see the Pittsburgh Pirates do a recreation the last time a Cincinnati team visited the 'burgh for a day game... That was September 24th when I completely lost my shit over the futility of the team. I was even able to find a nice piece of graffiti to commemorate that fateful day.
The Sunday game was heavily attended, but it was obvious that the crowd was completely hungover. The few fans that had the will or the wherewithal to get loaded got mostly dirty looks. In short, the whole stadium was hungover. The Steelers had a Monday night hangover and the crowd had a Brett Musberger hangover...not a good combination.
Before we could get to our seats we watched as Dan Rooney honored spaceman Michael Fincke for taking the Terrible Towel into outer space with him aboard the International Space Station. The Rooneys even gave him a brand new Terrible Towel. Let the record therefore reflect that the universe is in fact Steelers Country.
Finding and settling in our seats, I noticed that we had were warmly greeted by several typical yinzers excited for the game but not necessarily "pumped up." After the first quarter it was clear that the guy in front of us was seriously into the high five as he attempted to break my hand with one after every Steelers first down or third down defensive stop...
"My high fives are so strong they can only be measured megatons...
I will high five until my hands bleed. I'm that dedicated."
The guys behind us talked about tires for four hours. I wish I was kidding...it was like listening to Benjamin "Bubba" Blue talk to himself but replace shrimp with steel belted radials. Only in Pittsburgh. The game's outcome was a tough one but it was a great weekend and getting to see a Steeler game (win or loss) is always worth it.
Random thoughts:
I need to buy a flask. Everyone always respects a man who carries a flask. You are instantly 38% cooler if you pull one out at halftime. Everyone I asked agrees with that percentage of increase in coolness.
In college football it really matters if you are building a program versus just trying to win right now. Weis and Rich Rod will not get a chance to build a program. If your window is only five years you don't get enough time to really build something. I think Pitt understands this and is going to give Wanny enough time to build something over the long term (colleges need to think of it how the Rooneys think of head coaches).
Can we give up on yellow mustard as a society already? That stuff is offensive to me. Mustard is brown. That yellow mustard just looks like baby shit.
After the Bungles won the game, a group a Cincy fans were seen burning a Terrible Towel in the parking lot. Two days later the Bungles signed Larry Johnson. Have Steeler haters learned nothing?
Thanks for coming and suckling on Daddy's Sugar Ball...
Bearcat
Posted by Bearcat at 11/18/2009 4:30 PM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Pittsburgh Steelers Cincinnati Bengals Notre Dame Fighting Irish Pittsburgh Panthers
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Pittsburgh Steelers Cincinnati Bengals Notre Dame Fighting Irish Pittsburgh Panthers
Comments