Steeling My Heart

 

Emerging from the Fort Pitt Tunnel

Greetings from Fairmont.

West Virginia.

Yes, mountain mama.

It's a delightful burg we've landed in for the night. We have dinner and a room and we're settling in.

An early start will send us toward North Carolina in the morning.

But this isn't the burg I've come to talk about tonight.

Oh, no. A day that began in Buffalo, NY, with a glance into Ontario, drove by a Great Lake, and passed into Pennsylvania, and turned at Erie, where images of The Wonders and That Thing You Do! flashed by.

And then we were in Pittsburgh.

The Burgh.

While the Pirates were home today, our timing wasn't quite right to join them for their tilt with the cross-state Phillies. We were tucked into traffic for the game as we worked through the streets of Steel City, but it was steel that we were going to see.

Where the standard is the standard.

Off Art Rooney Ave, we walked into the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Honor Museum at Acrisure Stadium.

Incidentally, I brought us into town via the Fort Pitt Tunnel and I defy you to find a more breathtaking entrance to a city. I warned Sean and he though I was biased. Then he saw it and gasped. Yeah, dad knows a thing or two.

A kind woman helped us check in at Acrisure Stadium as we didn't have an appointment and were soon walked into a small theater for an introductory video.

The chills were automatic.    

Terry Bradshaw's display in the Hall of Honor

I was ready to twirl a Terrible Towel (if I had brought one). I'd run through a brick wall for Coach Bill Cowher. The Terrible Towels were, of course, available for sale in the Pro Shop.

The history was on full display. The humble beginnings with Arthur J. Rooney in 1933, through years of awful football before Chuck Noll was named coach in 1969.

Shockingly, I didn't realize that Sean didn't know what the Immaculate Reception was as we were driving to find parking. He soon got a full education, including Curt Gowdy's call of the NFL's top play in 1972.

He understood as we walked through the museum.

But we didn't linger. I couldn't do that to him and there were other things to do.

I did get to step into a broadcast booth where I could pick a famous Steelers play to call. The Immaculate Reception, Troy Polamalu's pick-six dash against the Ravens in the AFC Championship game, and two plays from Super Bowl XLIII (James Harrison's 100-yard pick-six and Santonio Holmes' game-winning catch) were among the choices.

I decided to be different, choosing Rocky Bleier's leaping touchdown against the Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII. Why? Well, because it's one of the best games I've ever watched, it was an important game when I was young, and because it featured Terry Bradshaw.

Sean sat next to me as I called it. Supposedly, the Steelers are supposed to email it to me but I haven't received it yet.

As for the Pro Shop, I walked out empty-handed. I hoped to find something somewhere else.

Besides, it was lunchtime, and we needed to hit one of the most famous of Pittsburgh's eateries. 

I've never been to Primanti Bros. until today.

I'd heard about it many times. You order a sandwich and, regardless of what you've ordered, it comes with tomato, french fries, and cole slaw on it. Those are the rules.

Sean got a "Pitts-burger" and I got a Rajun Cajun chicken sandwich.

Please note that I do not like cole slaw. But, when in Pittsburgh...

So I ate half of it with cole slaw and half without.

It was all great.

We walked the Strip district with the many shops, including quite a few dedicated to Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins merchandise. Alas, I bought nothing.

But, even with the Pirates playing on this warm Sunday, and the Penguins Stanley Cup success, do not be fooled.

This is a Steelers town.

It's also a University of Pittsburgh town, and we'd get there eventually, but first, we had a mountain to climb.

Or should I say, a funicular handled that for us?

We rode the famous Duquesne Incline to the top of Mt. Washington, where we took in the incredible view of Acrisure Stadium, PNC Park, and the Golden Triangle at the confluence of the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela Rivers.

I battled my fear of heights for something I admit I'll never forget.

Thinking our day might be over, we had one more trick up our sleeves.

The morning began back in Buffalo with a visit to the site of the old Rockpile -- the remainder of War Memorial Stadium -- where the Buffalo Bills once played, along with myriad others. It was also the site of "Knights Field" in the movie The Natural. The stadium, in the middle of a neighborhood, once held 46,000 fans. 

Now it's a high school facility, much like Balboa Stadium in San Diego.

We also drove by Highmark Stadium, the current home of the Buffalo Bills (and they're getting a new stadium).

But, back in Pittsburgh, we drove out to Pitt to find the outfield wall of Forbes Field. Not only did Babe Ruth hit his last three home runs there but Bill Mazeroski broke hearts and became a Pittsburgh God with a Game 7 home run to win the 1960 World Series against the Yankees.

The outfield wall remains. So does a flagpole. Inside nearby Posvar Hall is home plate. Boldly, we walked right in, with Sean hoping to not bail me out of jail.

That would not be necessary.

All of this was extra special for me because this was the very site -- 122 years ago this week -- where Harold Arlin called the first broadcast in MLB history.

Hallowed ground to me for sure. I felt honored to stand in roughly the same area where Arlin called the Pirates and Phillies on Aug 5, 1921.

On that note, I was content to depart Steel City for West Virginia.

And here we are, in a room that we're hoping to will get cooler. Oh, and I destroyed a pair of shorts somehow.

The rigors of travel, I guess.

We're just happy to be off the road for today and we'll jump right back to it tomorrow.

We're in the birthplace of Mary Lou Retton, for what that's worth.

In the meantime, there's still a push to get me to Virginia for the Babe Ruth World Series.

Plus, writing this has kept me from the Giants/Ravens football game.

Oh, wait, I'm being told the Orioles lead the Yankees 7-0. In the second inning.

Sean thinks I should move to Pittsburgh today. In fact, he loved it there also.

We're not moving.

But it was a great time in Steel City with a plan to go back.

We drove away with no mementos. Honestly, who needs them?

We have memories of a great day.