Have A Good Sandwich

My Dad - at my friend's wedding in Colorado

I haven’t written about my family typically, but I need to share how my father has helped engrain in me my love for the Steelers.

My father and I didn’t have a great relationship when I was younger – it was sometimes tenuous and distant.  We got closer over the years, especially after my parents were divorced during my sophomore year of high school.  Along with being a wonderful father, he’s become a trusted advisor and great friend.  If there’s been one constant in my relationship with my father, it’s been a love for football and the Steelers.

Some of my earliest memories of my Dad lay in the Sunday morning ritual of watching football.  I can vaguely remember waking up with a sense of excitement as I knew he and I would be spending the day together watching television.

I would put on my number 12 Bradshaw t-shirt and not only watch Steelers games with my Dad, but I’d also be re-enacting the great plays in team history in our dining room.  Folded oaktag yard markers would be set up (not to scale, of course) and I would regularly make 70-yard connections from Bradshaw to Swann or Stallworth.  My mother would yell at me when I would hit the floor hard enough to violently shake the china cabinet.  My father, all the while, would enjoy watching me play.

When I got older, my Dad constructed a goal post (again, not to scale) out of 2x4s in our yard so that I could practice field goals.  I vividly remember how excited I was when he gave me a football and a kicking tee. I would sit for hours setting up kicks and trying to nail 20-25 yarders.  I don’t know what my career average is but I don’t think it’s too good.  I think he was even my place holder on occasion.

My Dad is a subdued but dedicated Steelers fan.  He didn’t have black and gold gear or go to games (mostly because we lived in Erie) but he watched every Sunday.  He only went to his first Steeler game a few years with his companion – I got him tickets for Christmas.  He said how much they enjoyed the time and how it meant a great deal to them both.  The Steelers, fortunately, pulled out a victory.  Though, even since the 80′s and 90′s he never really had a strong desire to see a game in person.  He was always content to watch it on television.

Which made it even more surprising when he called me a week or so ago and said, “So, the Super Bowl is in Tampa this year?”  Normally he’d be calling to harass me about the current outside temperature as he sits in balmy Bradenton where he spends his winter.

I said, “Yep, it is.”  He said, “Wouldn’t it be great if the Steelers made it to the game?”  This was his way of my father saying, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could check out the game?”

Unfortunately, the economics of making such a thing happen are dire.  Current value of get-in tickets are about $2,600+ a piece – pricing it out of reach for a person who just had a child.  Nearly everyone I know personally who might even have a pair didn’t get drawn in the Steelers Super Bowl lottery.  And, let’s face it – tickets are (no pun intended) like gold here in the city and across the country.  I’d have better odds getting struck by lightning twice (once was enough) than getting tickets at face value ($800 a piece) or even a bit over.

I’d love to take him if I could.  He’s turning 76 in March.  He recently lost his companion of nearly a decade to liver cancer in April – I know it hurt him a great deal to watch her deal with her illness.  While we’ll be rooting for the Steelers while watching on television Super Bowl Sunday – It would have been really nice to see them in person with him.

Thank you, Dad, for all the great times and helping make me a Steelers fan.