When the audio for the Stevie Wonder pre-game performance was so terribly bad I had an idea that this Super Bowl was going to be anything but Super.  With respects to my friend, James Morrisett, the venue for the game forced all extreneous activitives indoors as the snow fell outside. Volunteers from local colleges actually had to volunteer their time to shovel snow so the celebrities would not get their expensive shoes wet or dirty. It is the little things that matter. So the scene was then set for the yearly NFL extravaganze with the football game  in between acts.

 What did not matter was the fact that Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw would not be a part of the former Super Bowl MVP presentation due to personal greed. It didn't matter that the NFL brilliantly selected Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady, who was greeted with a chorus of boos from the pro-Pittsburgh crowd, to flip the coin for the ceremonial coin toss. It did not even matter that the Rolling Stones sounded like a newly formed garage band or that Mick Jagger could not remember lyrics that he had been singing for over thirty years. What mattered was the blown calls by officials and missed opportunities by the games participants.

 You had to have a clue that the officiating was going to be bad when the offensive pass interference call was made in the end zone, taking a touchdown away from Seattle. A nit-pick call that never would have been made in the regular season. Then Seattle reciever, Jeremy Stevens, fumbled the ball after catching a pass from Matt Hasselbeck and the officials ruled it an incomplete pass. The Seahawks then aided in their demise when Ben Roethlisburger lofted a pass against the grain of the field and the Seattle defenders stood mesmorized while Hines Ward made camp, went fishing, cooked and ate his meal, then let the ball fall into his arms at the three yard line. Still it took Pittsburgh three plays to be awarded a touchdown when the nose of the ball may or may not have touched the goal line, a contraversial call that will be disputed for decades. Then the Seahawks looked like a group of rookies as they squandered away a precious thirty seconds just before the end of the first half, then missed a field goal that they should have never needed to attempt. Thus, before the Sprint Halftime Show, or Coaches Interview Brought To You By Ford, or The GM Goodwrench, Budwieser, MasterCard First Half Review, Seattle had dominated play, yet they trailed by four points.

 There was for football purists, finally an exciting play when just after  The Second Half Kickoff, Brought To You By Taco Bell,  a pulling Pittsburgh lineman made a perfect block which sprang Willie Parker to a 75 yard touchdown run. But just as Pittsburgh seemed on the cusp of putting the game away early in the third quarter, Seattle db Willie Herndon stepped in front of a Steelers reciever, intercepting the Roethlisberger pass and returning the ball to inside the Steelers twenty yard line before he finally fell in exhaustion. Four plays later the score was Pittsburgh 14, Seattle 10. After a few exchanges of punts Seattle was about to take the lead when officials called a  holding penalty that did not happen. Then Seahawks qb, Matt Hasselbeck, threw an interception and was called for "blocking below the waist" when he made the tackle. Something I've never seen in over 30 years as a player and fan. After an Antwan Randle-El touchdown pass to Hines Ward the score was 21-10 and the game was over.

 I guess in the end what mattered most was not the poor officiating, poor play by the games participants or even the final score. What mattered most is that Hines Ward was going to DisneyWorld and I remembered to watch Grey's Anatomy, coming up right after the game.

 Now all we can do is look forward to next years Super Bowl and hope that the play is better and that the musical entertainment won't  be as antiquated. Though nowing the current atmosphere I suspect that it will likely include Chubby Checker and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

 From 1974 to 1979 the Pittsburgh Steelers dominated the NFL. Led by their irrascible head coach, Chuck Noll, the Steelers used both finesse and brute strength as the compiled a 67-20-2 record while winning four of six Super Bowl championships. This group  has often been called the greatest team ever assembled even though they could never match the undefeated 17-0 season of the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

 In the years afterword the Steelers teams were not nearly as successfull. At times the franchise even struggled to win half of its games. The years passed and while the Steelers were not making the playoffs there did remain one constant, coach Chuck Noll. While other NFL teams were running through coach after coach the Steelers ownership stuck with Noll, showing a respect for his past achievements. That is very rare in the NFL.

 In 1968, Chuck Noll was the defensiver coordinatior with the Baltimore Colts. That season his defense led the NFL in points against and total defense. After the season had ended he interviewed for the Steelers head coaching vacancy not once, but three times. The Steelers were being very methodical in order to ensure they made the correct choice. Finally, two days before the player draft, he was offered the job.

 As the Steelers head coach the next season Noll won the first game, then lost the next thirteen. In fact Noll's Steelers had losing seasons his first three seasons as head coach, with a compiled record of 12-30. Finally, in 1972, the Steelers went 11-3 and made the playoffs, where in the first round game against the Oakland Raiders  The Immaculate Reception  Occured. The rest as they say is history. For many NFL franchises Noll would never have been given the opportunity to guide the Steelers to four Super Bowl victories. Many owners would have fired the future Hall Of Fame coach after his second or third season. Noll was fortunate that he was employed by an aged and experienced owner in Art Rooney, a man who epitomized class and dignity. With a wisdom that can only be gained with age, Rooney clearly saw the fine qualities and potential that Noll posessed and never considered replacing him.

 Art Rooney was born January 27, 1901, in Coultersville, Pa. He founded the Pittsburgh NFL franchise in 1933, with money that he had won betting on horses. Rooney loved baseball and named his team the Pittsburgh Pirates, after the cities baseball franchise. Because of the confusion of two teams with the same name, he changed his teams name in 1940 to Steelers, because Pittsburgh was known as the Steel City.  In its first thirty-six y  seasons of play the franchise had a record of 150-234-14, never making the playoffs and having only six winning seasons. As the losing seasons piled up Art Rooney learned to be a patient owner, always looking forward to the next season with hope. His patience was finally rewarded by Noll, the man he refused to fire.

 After the glory years of the Steelers ended, Noll coached another twelve seasons, making the playoffs only once. His record as coach during that period was a disappointing 93-91. Still Rooney refused to replace Noll. Art Rooney died on August 25, 1988. Ownership of the Steelers then fell into the hands of Art's son, Dan Rooney, who also refused to fire Noll. Chuck Noll finally retired after the 1991 season, ending his twenty-three year career as Steelers head coach with a total record of 193-148-2. After over two decades with Noll the Steelers had a new head coach, Bill Cowher.

 Under the leadership of Cowher the Steelers were 11-5 in 1992 and made the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons. Since then the Steelers have  have made the playoffs ten times and twice have made it all the way to the AFC championship game. In his fourth season the Steelers returned to the Super Bowl, losing to the Dallas Cowboys. For many coaches the failure to produce a Super Bowl championship would have meant their dismissal. In this day of owners  with egos that match the size of their bank accounts, making the playoffs is often not enough. In recent years years coaches such as Tony Dungey and Jim Mora were fired because they could not get their teams to the Super Bowl. However the Steelers owner, Dan Rooney, learned from his father and continued to allow Cowher to be the seady, guiding hand that leads his franchise. Indeed, while other franchises have changed coaches with regularity, Cowher has been the Steelers coach for fourteen seasons, compiling a record of 141-82. However prior to this season it was his playoff record of 8-8 that his critics liked to point out.

 Through it all Cowher remains unfazed by his critics and Rooney has been  unwavering in his support for the coach that he hired.  For thirty-five years, first Art, the Dan Rooney, refused to be distracted from a vision that does not focus merely on the present. This intelligent approach to ownership looks far into the future and makes stability a priority. Like his father before him, Dan Rooney realizes that great coaches are rare and that a team is better off letting a great coach rebuild than going through a series of coaches until it finally stumbles upon success. A result of this loyalty is ten playoff appearences in fourteen seasons. Only the Denver Broncos, whose owner has been equally loyal to Mike Shannahan, have a similar record.

It is often called a regional sport filled with confederate flag waving good old boy red-necks. Many do not even consider it a sport at all. The drivers, who often endure hours on non-stop stress and tension to go with the G-Forces comparable to jet fighter-pilots are often not considered athletes. The most ignorant still see them as the whiskey-running moonshiners of old, with a long southern drawl. Far too many consider the very idea of a "sport" consisting of stock bodied cars racing weekly on a series of ovals as a joke. Indeed, Nascar, its competitors and fans have been the subject of jokes for decades. Through all the criticism and ridicule NASCAr has not only endured it has grown and prospered at such a rate that today even the NFL should be envious. It has managed this unequalled growth because pleasing the fans was always its first priority. In 1959, when Lee Petty won the very first race at Daytona Internatinal Speedway, there were only a few thousand people in attendance. Nor did the event did not spark a great deal of interest around the nation. Except for in the south, even those who enjoyed racing had never heard of Petty, Glenn "Fireball" Roberts or Ned Jarrett. NASCAR was in its infancy and was overshadowed by USAC and its crown jewell, The Indianapolis 500. They cheered for AJ Foyt, Billy Vukovich and Parnelli Jones. One year later, Charllote Motor Speeday speedway opned and with Darlinton International Raceway, which had been holding NASCAR events for almost a decade, the organization had three venues that were dubbed "superspeedways". Over the years other superspeedways were built and suddenly NASCAR was racing the the Atlantic, at Daytona, to the Pacific, at Riverside and Onterio, both in California, and all the way north to Dover, Deleware and Pocono, Pennsylvania. Even then you had to actually attend the event live in order to see a NASCAR race for none of them televised. Still, under the leadership of its founder, Bill France Sr., NASCAR was growing. With its competitive racing by driver who were easily accessible to both the media and spectators, NASCAR was meticulously increasing its fan base. In the early 70's corporate sponsorship came to NASCAR. Major companies began to put their product logos on the cars which in essence became rolling billboards. RJ Reynolds tobacco took on primary sponsorship of the main series infusing a tremendous amount of money into NASCAR and Winston Cup Racing was born. In 1976, CBS carried the Daytona 500 live from beginning to end. The network was rewarded for its ratings gamble when drivers Cale Yarborough and Donnnie Allison crashed on the final lap while battling for the lead, setting off a fight between the two with Allison being aided by fellow driver and brother, Bobby. NASCAR had finally gotten the nations attention. In the 80's, France turned over control of NASCAR to his son, Bill Jr. The younger France took an aggressive approach in marketing the sport, negotiating a deal with ESPN to televise all Winston Cup races that were not already contracted out to other networks. The rise of a new breed of superstar drivers such as Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace coincided with the early stages of the USAC implosion, who's disgruntled fans and drivers began to look south for competitive racing. In the 90's Indy Car Racing had become CART, the organization which had overthrown USAC as open-wheeled racings primary racing series. France, a shrewd businessman, made a deal with Tony George to hold a NASCAR race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. NASCAR had in effect invaded the capitol of American open-wheeled racing. Just as USAC had before, CART splintered into two separate factions. The Indy Racing League was formed by the Indianapolis Motorspeedway owner, George, in a dispute over which type of tracks open-wheeled racing cars should be competing on. George favored the ovals, such as his own speedway, while the CART founders favored road courses. The two organizations became competitors, competing for the shrinking open-wheeled fan base. As the house divided began to fall NASCAR stepped into the breach, opening new venues in areas once considered open-wheeled bastions. With the new millennium France Jr. gave the NASCAR reins to his son, Brian, who had been raised with the knowledge that he would eventually run NASCAR. His entire education had been focussed toward tthe day he would be the head of the series and he hit the ground running. Brian negotiated a new television package which gave broadcasting rights of NASCAR races to Fox and NBC. Suddenly what was once considered a regional sport broadcast mostly on cable had become a national sport with a network television deal. Ever aware of the criticism for being sponsored by a tobacco company, France then changed the face of NASCAR when Nextel replaced Winston as the primary series sponsor. A marketing genius, France revolutionized the sport by inventing "The Chase For the Cup", a ten race playoff which would decide the series champion. Not resting on its laurels, NASCAR has purchased land on Staten Island, New York, and by the end of the decade a NASCAR race will be held in the mecca of marketing, The Big Apple. Meanwhile, CART has folded and the IRL holds many of its events on NASCAR tracks, sometimes as a warm up race to that weeks NASCAR event. Through savvy marketing and with a little luck NASCAR has come from obscurity to the primary racing organization in the United States. The sport that no one outside of the south followed is now the fastest growing sport in America, with sponsors standing in line to get their product logos onto cars and in front of record crowds and television audiences. NASCAR had arrived as a major sport in the U.S. and is even now looking toward the future which will eventually include races in Mexico, Canada and beyond. Based on its record NASCAR will continue to grow and prosper long into the future.

Until 1972 the Pittsburgh Steelers were nothing more than an NFL afterthought. Then, in a playoff game against the Oakland Raiders, a pass thrown at Pittsburgh FB, Frenchie Fuqua, by Steelers QB, Terry Bradshaw, was deflected by Raiders DB Jack Tatum. The rest as they say is history. We all have heard the announcer shout "It's caught out of the air by Franco Harris". In an instant the Steelers fortunes turned from early playoff elimination to Super Bowl contender. The Steelers wouldn't make the Super Bowl that season but over the next eight years they would claim four Super Bowl titles. Pittsburgh coach, Chuck Noll, had been able to assemble a group of players who would become NFL legends, made all the more impressive because it was before there was free-agency. It was all done through the draft. I was watching the "immaculate reception" game. I saw the play happen, though I must admit that Harris was inside the ten yard line about to score before I realized what was going on and it was several minutes before I came to accept that the touchdown was going to be allowed to stand. When the officials ruled it a touchdown many believed that the favored Raiders had been robbed. When the Steelers were eliminated from the playoffs the following week it seemed as if a wrong had been righted. No one believed that these Steelers were actually that good. No one except the team and the city of Pittsburgh that is.

In the years that followed we, the fans of the NFL, became acquainted with the various personalities that made up the Pittsburgh Steelers. Head coach Chuck Noll a was a no nonsense teacher hard-nosed defense and mistake free football. His pupils were the likes of "Mean" Joe Greene, Dwight White, Jack Lambert, Jack Ham and Donnie Shell. The offense was loaded with talented skill players such as Bradshaw, Harris, Rocky Blier, a combat wounded Vietnam veteran, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth and Bennie Cunningham and a tremendous offensive line, anchored by center Mike Webster. The placekicker was Roy Gerela, and even the punter, Craig Colquitt, was a weapon with his deep booming punts. The personality on the team was Fuqua. As was the style in the 70's, he wore high-heeled shoes under his bellbottom pants. The difference was that Fuqua had clear heels and kept goldfish in water inside of them. It wasn't very good for the goldfish, but it garnered Fuqua much media attention. The people of Pittsburgh loved their Steelers and came up with several imaginative ways to show that love. They became members of "Franco's Italian Army" and "Gerela's Gorillas, as they waved their "Terrible Towels" and cheered their Steelers to victory after victory. Finally the city had a sports team to be proud of besides the baseball Pirates. They had their own boys of Autumn.

Time is a relentless enemy and for an athlete it is even more so. By the early 80's age had began to take its toll on the Steelers. One by one the Super Bowl veterans began to retire, depleting the organization of talent that it could not replace. The team began to slide back toward the mediocrity it had fought so hard to escape. Over the next twenty years the Steelers would make an occasional playoff appearance and even managed to find itself in another Super Bowl. But these Steelers were not "The Steelers" They were mere imitations, lesser talents in the same black and gold uniforms.

Last season, the twenty-third since the Steelers last Super Bowl Championship, it looked as if Pittsburgh had accumulated the talent needed to win the coveted Lombardi Trophy once more. With the addition of rookie QB, Ben Roethlisberger, all the pieces seemed to be falling into place. Even Bradshaw, now a broadcaster for FOX, called the rookie "The Guy". The stars were once more aligning themselves to favor the fortunes of the Steelers for the similarities between the current Steelers and the Steelers of the 70's were uncanny. Though eliminated from the playoffs in 2004, the expectations for the 2005 season were greater than ever. The Steelers were one of the favorites to win the AFC title and advance to the Super Bowl but things are not always that easy.  As the season began to play itself out one would have thought that fate had viciously turned against Pittsburgh. Roethlisberger was injured and the Steelers were losing games that they should have easily won. To make matter worse, the Indianapolis Colts were destroying anything that got in their way, including the Steelers, who looked like a team in chaos during a Monday night loss to the Colts. But the race is not always won by the sprinter. The road to the Super Bowl is long and difficult. As the Colts began to have their own troubles the Steelers were getting healthy and their star QB was getting back to his rookie form. So when the teams met for a second time the Steelers were ready and defeated the Colts in a game that was not as close as the score would lead one to believe. Now, a week later, only one game and one team stand between the Steelers and another opportunity to play for the Super Bowl title. One more chance to bring glory back to The Steel City. This edition of the Pittsburgh Steelers look as if they may be up to the task.

It is impossible to talk about my favorite football moment without telling about the long road that I took to get there, so here it goes.

 In early 1983 my brother came to me with what can only be called a gift from God. He had the opportunity to buy two season tickets to the University of Tennessee football games. He wanted to know if I would go in half with him and we could each use a ticket. It was only a few hundred bucks each at the time and I jumped all over the opportunity. Somehow it didn't seem possible. Even though the university was expanding Neyland Stadium as fast a possible, tickets for the Vols home game came at a premium. You had to be either rich or lucky to get them and neither of us were rich. Though I could hardly believe it a few months later we were in. We had season tickets that were renewable each year!

 The following two seasons we were at every home game in Knoxville. We sat through  some great victories over teams such as Alabama and LSU, where the students took down the goal post and carried it through the streets. We saw Reggie White play his final college season. We sat in the pouring rain as the Vols blanked Memphis State, 24-0. We also witnessed some pretty bad football from our Vols such as a tie to Army and losses to Kentucky and Auburn, when Bo Jackson and Lionel James ran wild all over the Neyland Stadium field. Through it all both good and bad we were just glad to be there, to be part of it all.

 

  No one had any idea that the 1985 season would be any different than the rest. Yes, quarterback Tony Robinson has a season of experience under his belt and he had future Cincinnati Bengal, Tim McGee as his primary target, but the defense was unknown and unheralded. We had no idea the ride we were about to undertake with this team. It began with an nationally televised 26-64 tie, with UCLA. It was a game that felt like a loss because the Vols had at one time lead 26-0. Two weeks later, after a week off, the Vols again hosted Auburn and Heisman trophy favorite, Bo Jackson. This time the game went much differently than it had two seasons before. Jackson might as well have been wearing a target on his uniform instead of the number 34. Time and again he was stuffed at the line of scrimmage. Meanwhile, Robinson to Mcgee had built up a huge lead. After the half the game was never in any doubt. The Vols won 38-20. Tennessee then beat Wake Forest and incurred their only loss on the road against Florida. After another week off they went the Birmingham, to play the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Vols won the game 16-14 when the Tide missed a long field goal as time ran out. It was however the very sense of the term "Pyrhic Victory" as quarterback Tony Robinson was lost for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. His replacement was named Daryl Dickey, the son of the Vols Athletic Director at the time. He did not have the arm of a Tony Robinson, who could throw the football seventy yards in the air. What Dickey had was a knowledge of the game and the Tennessee offense. His father had been head coach at two major universities and he knew his stuff. Still, the Vols offense was anemic at best the following week against Georgia Tech. It was a warm October night in Knoxville as I watched the Yellow Jackets warm up and stretch as their coaching staff blasted "Rainbow in the Dark" by Ronnie James Dio, from a tremendous speaker. Tech took an early 3-0 lead and held a 6-3 lead with less than a minute to play. Tennessee took a punt and quickly drove into field goal range using short sidelline passes and as time ran out Carlos Reviez kicked a long field goal to get Tennessee the tie. This time a tie felt like a victory. The rest of the season was easy. The Vols rolled over the likes of Rutgers, Ole Miss and Kentucky. The final game of the regular season was a cold November Saturday, the opponent was Vanderbilt. They were all that stood between Tennessee and the SEC championship, which meant a trip to the Sugar Bowl, in New Orleans. A few hours later the official invitation was given at mid-field, in front of all in attendence. Finally, after all these years, my beloved Vols were going to the Sugar Bowl. we hadn't even gotten out of Knoxville when my brother started talking about the Sugar Bowl. The Vols opponent would be the University of Miami Hurricanes.

 The following week my brother called me. We had to go to the Sugar Bowl. Despite my scepticism he managed to get us booked into at hotel in New Orleans AND he had two ticket to the game. I just had to come up with $800. In 1985 that was a lot of money, especially to a 23 year-old printing apprentice. Still, I got my savings together, pawned some meaningless jewelry and borrowed a little money from my parents to come up with the money and arranged for time off from work. That was it. We were going to the Sugar Bowl. My brother was married and had a hard time explaining a three-day trip that did not include his wife, but hey, this was football and a bowl game at that. She would just have to understand, and finally she did. We arrived in New Orleans on New Year's Eve. The drive from our hometown was twelve hours. We checked in to the Sheraton downtown and then checked out Bourbon Street. It was everything we had ever heard it would be. That meant that there were plenty of opportunities for two country-boys from Tennessee to get themselves in mess. We managed to stay out of trouble, In part because we kept our imbibing to a minimum and avoided getting into a mass shouting match between the two opponents fans. Then it was game day! We took a ride on the Mississippi River aboard a steamboat, where we had lunch. After going back to the motel to watch some of the New Years Day games  we headed off to the Superdome. On the way we decided to follow another crowd of Tennessee fans who were going to see the Vols board the team bus. The team was staying at the Hilton and the band was outside the hotel playing Rocky Top when the team came out. I still remember starting linebacker, Dale "The Hit Man" Jones, started crying because there were hundreds of us there. They were surprised that so many had managed to get tickets and show up for the game. Dale and the rest of the Vols were in for another surprise when they got to the dome. There weren't hundreds of Vol fans in attendance, there were tens of thousands. Somehow travel agents in Tennessee had managed to secure most of the Sugar Bowl packages and the Miami fans were outnumbered by about 7-1. Yes, the Superdome was a sea of orange. I was in section 534, row-3, seat 8. I have the ticket framed. Miami scored first, on an touchdown pass by All-American qb, Vinnie Testeverde. as we grew nervous it looked like the rout was on. But Tennessee managed to mount a drive getting inside the Miami twenty-yard line. A pass from Dickey, to Tim McGee got the Vols inside the 5. Then the Vols running back fumbled the ball on the next play, but McGee fell on the fumble in the endzone, TOUCHDOWN TENNESSEE!  After that there was no looking back. The Vols blitzing defense swarmed on Testeverde play after play shutting down the Miami offense cold. Tennessee built a 21-7 lead at the half and extended it to 28-7 after a Jeff Powell touchdown run where he outran Miami track sprinter Brian Blades. After an interception of Testeverde by safety Chris White, who had led the nation in interceptions, the Vols punched in another score it was 35-7. By that time my brother and I were all screamed out. We had hoped in our wildest dreams to win a close game. We had never dared expect the Vols to Beat Miami in a blowout. My last memory inside the Superdome is of Daryl Dickey, the games MVP, and Tony Robinson,who was on crutches, walking off the field together as they waved to the cheering crowd.

 

 We had strained our voices to the point that the following morning we could not even speak. We were not able to say anything until we were in Alabama, when we barely were able to order lunch. We had regained a little of our voices by the time we reached home that night, but not totally. I was flat broke, but the Sugar Bowl experience was priceless. I was on a high like I had never felt before. The high became a low the next day when I heard that Tony Robinson had been arrested for dealing cocaine, ending a very promising football career. I only saw or heard of him once after that, as a replacement player for the Washington Redskins, during the NFL strike. A few weeks later my brother came with bad news. The university was making it a policy that season ticket holders had to contribute a minimum of $5000 to keep their tickets. We had to give ours up for we knew the reality of the situation. In their never ending need to increase revenues universities were beginning to turn more to the wealthier alumni. I understood, for the competition among universities for recruits was to the point that a program had to be constantly updating its facilities, and indoor practice feilds and new weight rooms don't come cheap. Still it felt as if we were giving away our children. I have only been back to Neyland Stadium once since, for a meaningless game against Utah, the following season.

  I eventually married, raised a family and watched my beloved Vols on television. Dale Jones is now a coach at Appalachian State University and Daryl Dickey is the quarterback coach under Bobby Bowden, At Florida State. It has been twenty years since the team that has been dubbed in Tennessee as "The Sugar Vols" played that magical night in New Orleans. The two strapping young men that my brother and I were have become middle aged men, grandfathers with grey on their temples. We have seen the Vols claim the ultimate prize in the 1999 Fiesta Bowl, but it was only on TV. It was nothing like the experience of seeing a live college bowl game and having your team win. I watch my games from my own home now and he does the same. A couple of grandpa's babysitting grandchildren and trying to explain our devotion to a team and a game we both love.