Making Memories at Heinz Field

Last week was a busy week at our house.  Scott was on travel for three full days.  The girls had a big meet at their gym.  They had to score out of level 5 in order to be able to compete this year as level 6’s. Saturday the boys had a tournament.  It was the first one for our 5 year old.  Throw in the normal hustle and bustle of school and practices and scouts and you get the idea.  It was busy… in the midst of the busy my Dad called Wed afternoon and said he had been given three tickets to the Steelers game on Sunday.  He was offering two of us to join him.  Hmmmm….. can we tack on a 5 hour drive to PA and back that weekend? 

The answer Scott gave me when I texted him as he was boarding his airplane late Wed night was, “You know we will find a way to make this work.”

Oh how I love his willingness to embrace the crazy to make the memories! 

Two years ago when we were given this opportunity, Scott and my oldest son joined my dad.   This time, it seemed fitting for me and my oldest daughter to join my dad for the game at Heinz Field.

Sunday was perfection.  Seriously, it was a gorgeous afternoon.  Blue skies.  Sunny.  60 degrees.  You could not ask for a better environment to watch a football game in.

Heinz Field is magical.  I have been there 4 times.  Once for a preseason game.  Once for a  freezing, cold playoff game.  Once for a rainy regular season game which we lost to the Bengals.  And yesterday, for a picture perfect BEAUTIFUL day in which we TROUNCED on the Browns.

I enjoyed each of them immensely. 

I was not cocky going in.  I was optimistic that we would come out with a win, but not over confident.  We were starting with our back up quarterback and short many key defensive players.  And, often times our boys in black and gold fail to bring their A game when playing easy match ups. 

But, yesterday was magical!

In the first drive of the game our back up quarterback was injured.  As our kicker kicked the field goal, Ben was taking off his headset and grabbing his helmet.  Fans were cheering, “Ben, Ben, Ben!”  I didn’t know what to think, but Ben was going in.

I was so so excited that we got to see Ben play.  So so excited to see him and Antonio Brown connect. The game was just awesome.  We won 30-9.  We were up the entire game!  We had turnovers, defensive stands, and beautiful offensive drives.  It was just so so fun.   And my daughter followed it all.  She was waving her towel proudly throughout.  She was screaming like crazy when our defense was on the field.  She even made her own D- fence poster to hold up.  (which she proudly held up every time the Browns offense was out there, until someone's beer spilled all over it…. then she went back to her towel).   She was following it all and asking good questions.  She totally got the game and what was happening. 

I got my love of football from my Dad.  He raised me a Steelers fan from birth.  I loved getting to enjoy the game with him.  I loved having three generations of Steelers fans together enjoying the game.  It was a memory I know I will treasure for a long time.

We exited the stadium through the great hall.  We got to show my daughter each of the Steelers Superbowl trophies.  Here she is with the one that they one just a few days shy of her entering the world.

And meanwhile, the rest of the family, also had some precious memory making.  Right beside the stadium, they have a family friendly tail gating area.  Scott, my mom, and the other three kids got to watch the game televised on a giant screen outside, literally in the shadow of Heinz Field.

 

They were throwing the football, eating snacks, and watching the game, with the sounds of the crowd in the background.  It was a special experience for them too.  Scott said since televised games are on a 10 sec delay, they knew before the play finished what happened b/c of the sounds from the stadium.  How fun is that?? 

Afterwards we took the kids to Primanti Brothers for dinner.  It was so fun to walk in a restaurant with Steelers banners everywhere and people dressed in Steelers clothes.  This is not a common occurrence for us.  As we walked out, someone high fived us all and said, “Goooo Steelers!” My not at all shy 5 year old, ate it up, high fiving total strangers screaming, “Gooooo Steelers!”  Scott and I looked at each other and smiled as we said, “well, we couldn’t have ended the day any better than that.”  We hit the road and made it home by 11.  We were gone a little over 24 hours…. two late night turnpike runs.  But worth every minute of that drive.  I am so grateful for the opportunity we were given to make such special memories.