Way to go Steelers!
When I was a younger man, a much younger man, something strange happened. I was in the basement of the elementary school I attended, awaiting practice for the instrument I played. There was an industrial sized fridge thingy down there that we wee ones filed past every day at lunch to pick up our carton of milk before heading in to get our trays of food. On that day, on the top of that fridge was a football almanac.
Now, I wasn't always disinterested in football. I was a huge Steelers fan. I was in awe of Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swan and Mean Joe Green. So I picked up the almanac and perused it a bit before practice.
It was a weird book. Weird because it was talking about teams that didn't exist, like the Ravens and the Titans. The Oilers weren't even mentioned. This strange book said that the L.A. Rams were in St. Louis, when everybody knew that the St. Louis home team was the Cardinals. But apparently they were now in Arizona.
My young mind could not comprehend any of this. After all, teams didn't move around! None of the players listed were right either. So I put the almanac back on the fridge and dismissed it as a fictional work.
When I heard that the Cards and Steelers would be playing for all the marbles this year, a chill ran up my spine. I remembered the almanac. Sitting on a milk crate and reading through some of it. I remembered that it had said that the Cardinals would make their first appearance in the Superbowl against the Steelers. I remembered a black and white photo of a Cardinal running back leaping over some Steeler bodies on the ground. I thought it had mentioned that the Cards had won the game with that run. It said the game was a close one. I remember that because back in those days a close game between the Cards and Steelers was about as likely as a close game between the Cards and my flag football team. It just wasn't realistic.
So thank goodness the Steelers won! I'm off the hook for setting down an almanac that could have made me rich! No guilt for me! Woo Hoo!
...
But why was I reading about the Cardinals? I was a die hard Steeler fan. I would have been reading the Steelers section, right? Is that right? Was it the Cards who won with a last minute play? Or was it the Steelers?
I think I should have kept that book...
More Later
1 comment:
You aren't the only one who was a little jittery there toward the end. After telling my son-in-law your story, we sat down to enjoy the game. When it appeared the score could be tied with a field goal from the Steelers in the last minutes, I really became nervous. I thought I remembered you saying the game was tied until the last few seconds... and it seemed VERY possible it COULD happen just the way you remembered reading it. Although I was really routing for our "home town boy" Kurt Warner and his team, I was almost happy to congratulate the Steelers.
They really DID play the best game, I think. :)
WHEW!
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