December 2001

Sunday 9th December 2001
Pittsburgh Steelers 18 New York Jets 7

My very first trip to Pittsburgh finally came roughly 16 years after I starting following their fortunes. It was back in 1985 at the age of 13 that I became aware of the NFL, brought to my attention by a friend at school, who was a Chicago Bears fan. They were far and away the best team in the NFL at that time and went on to win the Superbowl that season. As the game was just starting to take off in the UK many fans tended to follow the Bears because they were the best team to watch. But not me!

Tending not to go with the flow I decided that if I was going to take an interest in this game, I needed a team to follow. There were 27 other teams (at that time) to choose from, and I knew nothing about any of them. My Bears supporting friend had been collecting a weekly or fortnightly magazine all about the NFL and it's teams that he had almost completed, so I started flicking through the pages.
The teams were listed alphabetically and each had a 2-4 page spread all about their history, famous players, logos, jerseys and helmets. I looked at the Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, LA Raiders, Miami Dolphins & New York Giants but none of them interested me. Then I turned the page to a team I hadn't really heard much about. A team that had apparently won more Superbowls than any other team at that time (4), a team with an interesting logo, the only team to have the logo on only one side of the their helmet, a team that wore a striking black and gold uniform and a team that to me at only 13 years old had a great name for an American Football team - PITTSBURGH STEELERS.
At that time they were on a little bit of a slide, six years on from their last Superbowl win. But it didn't bother me, it was too late, THEY were going to be my team no matter what. Little did I know then, that over 20 years later my support would be stronger than ever and that I would find myself travelling across the pond nearly every season to watch them play.

So back to 2001, when I could finally afford (or rather the credit card could), to travel all the way there to actually see them in the flesh. This was the year the Steelers moved into their brand new Heinz Field stadium, after spending 30 years in their previous home, Three Rivers Stadium. I will always regret not being able to see a game at Three Rivers, but I was determined to visit this new state of the art stadium that I had read and seen pictures of on the net.
My best friend Jay, whilst not as devoted to the game as myself, is a follower of New York Jets. So as the two teams were to meet at Heinz Field in December, it was decided that this was to be the time to go. (Against the wishes of our respective wives it has to be said).