The Blurgh

Last night, the Steelers played one of those rare Thursday night games, and it wasn’t pretty. The weather was cold and foggy, the Steelers were sluggish, and no matter what we did, nothing worked. And since this is Pittsburgh, the feeling of frustration and disappointment was tangible this gray, cold morning.

I wasn’t at the game myself, but my friend Tanya was, and she sent me an email this morning that really lifted my spirits. It was one of those games where, even though it was nasty outside and people had to work the next day, it was close enough that people stayed in the stands until the end. After the final seconds ticked off, Tanya said there was a strange electricity in the air–for some reason, the Steelers lingered on the field and only a trickle of people made their way to the exits. Everyone felt like they were waiting for something, but no one knew what.

After a minute, a low, dull chant started somewhere in the bleachers. “Here we go Steelers, here we go…Here we go Steelers, here…” It quickly spread, and in another minute the entire stadium was echoing the chant, and the Steelers were looking around in awe. It was like an emotional valve suddenly opened, and people were venting their frustration through collective praise…or more accurately, collective faith. If there’s anything I’ve learned about this town in my years here, it’s that Pittsburghers are NOT fairweather fans. Sometimes the team is on top, sometimes it’s on the bottom, but through it all, Steelers Nation always believes.

None of the national stations or media outlets picked up what happened, but even if they did, I doubt they would have understood.

Last night I was at my parent’s house, and my dad pulled out some old footage of one of the most ridiculous football games I’ve ever seen.  It took place 20 years ago, and it was the Steelers playing the Miami Dolphins on a nationally televised Monday night game.  At the time, the Dolphins were utterly terrible, and the Steelers were doing pretty well, but the amazing part of that game was how insanely terrible the field was.  I could hardly believe my eyes–it reminded me so much of some Turkey Bowl games I’ve played with friends of mine where by the end the game resembles a mud-wrestling match much more than football.  The game ended with a score of 3-0 Steelers, and it was a huge national embarrassment.

My dad told me that after that game the Steelers came under a lot of pressure to improve the conditions of their field.  They tried different things during the next few seasons with moderate success, but it still was never great.  It was an interesting watch and an interesting story, but I couldn’t help but ask my dad why in the world he kept the video for so long.

Then my Mom came in and told me about a friend of hers who was living in Pittsburgh at the time.  She was an engineering student at Pitt, and she was at that game.  After she got home and dried off, she suddenly got the inspiration for a totally new type of turf, and five years later, she developed it into the product that almost the entire NFL uses to this day.  It completely revolutionized the fields of the league, especially the outdoor ones, and it made her a very rich woman.

She told me that the company she founded is still in Pittsburgh, and since the initial breakthrough they’ve worked on a lot of other material science R&D which has produced other useful innovations.  It takes a lot of guts to take an inspiration and run with it, but man, when it works out, it sure is worth it!

This afternoon was one of the best times I’ve had in my life. Normally, at the Pittsburgh Women’s Foundation, I work with girls who enjoy creative writing, but occasionally I’ll pitch in with the girls on sports teams as well. (I was pretty good at volleyball and soccer back in my day, though the girls who come to PWF for sports could have wiped the floor with my fifth grade self.) Anyway, this afternoon I, along with two of my colleagues, got to take 10 of the PWF girls to the North Side to meet the two new female coaches for the Steelers.

We all rode the blue line together to the North Side. Once we got off the subway, we walked the few blocks to Heinz Field. It was kind of slow going, because Samara’s still on crutches, but we arrived just in time to be greeted by some very chipper Steelers representatives, who escorted us up to one of the luxury boxes. The girls were enthralled with the box and took turns sitting on every piece of furniture in it. Then they started pretending that half of them were hot shot sports agents and the other half were star athletes being courted by the Steelers, so there was a lot of silly exchanges about trillion dollar offers and all the Faygo pop endorsements you could dream of.

A few minutes later, the two coaches entered the box and a hush fell over the girls. The special teams coach, Maddie Byers, spoke first about her experiences playing high school football in rural Texas and the prejudice she encountered in the community as a black girl who wanted to play football with the guys. She ended up breaking her school’s record for longest punt return during her sophomore year, and everyone in her town stopped complaining about her and started celebrating her. In college, she excelled once again on her school’s football team, but during her senior year she decided that what she really wanted to do was coach, so she started out as a coach for her own college’s team and worked her way up from there to her present position with the Steelers.

Next we heard from Elizabeth McGraw, the defensive backs coach. She is one tough woman. Like Maddie, she was a star athlete during her high school years, although Elizabeth was a kicker who comes from northern Ohio. She received an athletic scholarship to college and played on her school’s team until halfway through her junior year, when she was injured. She didn’t want to lose her scholarship, so her school offered her the opportunity to begin working with the team as a coach. She learned more about the defensive side of things in football and became really interested in it. After college, she coached a women’s football team in Ohio and then came to Pennsylvania to coach for the Pittsburgh Passion. A few years later, the Rooneys approached her about the defensive backs coaching position and she accepted it.

After the women spoke, lunch was served and the girls peppered the coaches with tons of questions. They were so excited to be sitting with women who were living out their dreams of one day making a living in the world of professional sports. The coaches were very gracious and patient with the girls. After lunch, we all trooped down to the field, where the coaches helped the girls with their techniques. We left to go back to the PWF around 4 and made our way to the subway, the girls chattering the whole way about what teams they want to coach for when they grow up.

Yesterday in History of Pittsburgh, the three main points of discussion were:

1. How ridiculous the city was after the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2005.
2. How crazy people got when the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2009
3. How BATSHIT INSANE the city got when the Steelers did a three-peat from 2014-2016.

There was a bit of a slump after that, but this year’s been looking pretty good so far. We have a new coach, so that always brings some uncertainty to the season, but I have faith. And in keeping with the progressive Rooney tradition, the new coach is a very awesome guy–he hired the first TWO female coaches in the NFL. One’s the special teams coach and the other is the defensive backs coach.

Their backgrounds are very interesting, and somewhat similar. Through Title IX, they both got the chance to become star athletes in college, and after they graduated, they got into coaching in college football. They’ve been working their way up since then, and the Steelers decided gave them a shot.

It’s nice to live in a city where even the football team is socially innovative!