Super Bowl XL: The Steelers Won It for the Bus... and My Dad

Super Bowl XL was special for so many reasons.  It was the Steelers’ first Super Bowl win since the 1979 season, it was Jerome Bettis’ last game, the Steelers won three road playoff games to get there, and the Steelers’ had been close so many times, so to actually get over the hump brought so much meaning.

But I wouldn’t truly know how much it meant to me until the following season.

I was born and raised a Steelers’ fan.  The first baby pictures were taken of me in Steelers’ attire.  My Dad taught me how to bleed black & gold. 

My parents divorced in May of 1986 when I was six years old.  It was then when Steelers’ Sunday took on a whole new meaning.

My Dad had visitation rights to see me every other weekend.  But when football season came around, everyone around us knew that every other weekend would not cut it. 

Sitting in the living room, watching the Steelers game (and during the off season it was NASCAR) became a tradition for my Dad and me.  It was our time.  Now the divorce paper work said that I was only supposed to see my Dad every other weekend.

It was hard for me to watch the first game of the season without my Dad and I was determined that I would not have to watch another one with out him.  I went to my Mom and told her that I wanted to see my Dad every weekend. 

Her response?  “What took so long?”

From that point on, I saw my Dad every weekend.  And during football season, if the Steelers were playing, we’d watch the game together.  It didn’t matter if it was a preseason game in the middle of the week.

We went through several frustrating years.  Thanks a lot Mark Malone!

Then in 1992, the Steelers’ hired a new, young coach.  Some guy named Bill Cowher.

During the first game of the 1992 season, that Bill Cowher guy won over my dad and me.

A fake punt?  Versus the hated Houston Oilers, in the Astrodome?  Warren Williams!?!  Yes!!!

On came the winning seasons and plenty of high-fives, hugs, and chants of “Here we go Steelers, here we go!”

As I grew older, my relationship with my Dad grew stronger.  Not only was he a great Dad, he was a great friend.  At the same time the Steelers were growing into a Super Bowl contender.

Then came the 1994 AFC Championship game versus the San Diego Chargers. 

There was no way the Chargers could beat the Steelers.  We had Neil O’Donnell playing well, Barry Foster, Greg Lloyd, Kevin Greene, Rod Woodson, and Cowher power.

Well, somebody forgot to tell the Chargers.

When the pass to Barry Foster hit the ground, so did I.  I was lying on the floor, in front of the TV, almost in tears. 

My Dad was just standing there, completely speechless.

The next season, the Steelers made it to the Super Bowl and my Dad and I were in heaven.  The heck with the Dallas Cowboys, the Steelers were getting the “One for the Thumb.”

After the final Neil O’Donnell interception, I was once again on the floor, but this time in tears.  My Dad promised me that the Steelers’ would win a Super Bowl soon.  He said he’d bet his life on it.

Years went by; the Steelers had their ups and their downs.  And as a teenager that knew it all, so did my Dad and I.

I went to a local college, worked a part time job, and had a girlfriend.  But every Sunday I was with my Dad watching the Steelers game.

By 2005 I had a full time job, bought a house, and was about to get engaged.  But my Dad and I still watched every Steelers game together.  Sometimes at his house, sometimes at mine.

I’m rather superstitious when it comes to sports.  So after the Steelers beat the Bengals in the Wild Card game and we watched it at my house, I decided that we’d watch the rest of the playoffs at my house. So not only were the Steelers on the road, my Dad was too!

The Steelers then beat the Colts and the Broncos. 

“I’ve got a feelin’, Pittsburgh’s goin’ to the Super Bowl!”

“Here we go Steelers, here we go!  Pittsburgh’s goin’ to the Super Bowl!”

My Dad and I celebrated with high-fives, hugs, beer, along with those chants.   As the night wore on and we became drunker, the chants became louder, and my fiancée became annoyed more and more.

It was Super Bowl Sunday and my Dad arrived several hours before the game.  We were talking about anything and everything.  Mostly about the memories from all the Steeler games we watched together.

As the night went on and we realized that the Steelers were about to win, we called friends and high-fived. Then, as the clock expired, we hugged and just kept saying to each other:  “They did it, they did it!  The Steelers won the Super Bowl!”  

I thought it was one of the greatest sports moments of my life.

In June of 2006 my Dad was diagnosed with cancer.  By July Fourth, it was terminal.  And on July 16, 2006, my Dad passed away.

Later that year, as I sat alone and watched the Steelers play the Dolphins on Thursday night, it hit me. 

Not the fact that I was alone, it hurt.  But that isn’t what hit me. 

What hit me was all of the memories.  The fact that I remember him saying to me that the Steelers would win another Super Bowl before he died.  And they did; it was the last game that he and I would ever watch together. 

The last game that he ever watched was the Steelers winning the Super Bowl.  He kept his promise.

Now, I know that game was the greatest sports moment of my life.