A Glorious Day In Pittsburgh

Ah, a kind of day that only a Pittsburgher can fully enjoy!

On the same brutally cold, windy, snowy day, something beautiful happened that makes most people in Pittsburgh truly happy. In the afternoon, the Penguins had a completely awesome shutout against the New York Rangers on the ice of the Mellon Arena. Only a few hours later, the Steelers beat the feathers off of the Baltimore Ravens for the third time this season. And, oh yes, gained a berth in Super Bowl LXIII. This gives them more Super Bowl appearances than any other team except for the Cowboys, and this will give them the chance for the ability to win a 6th Super Bowl....more than any other franchise. It was made even sweeter that it was against Pittsburgh most loathed rivals.....there's no team we like to beat worse than the Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens.

All week long, I was reading articles about how hard it was going to be for the Steelers to beat Baltimore for the third time this season. Kept hearing how unflappable and perfect Joe Flacco was in the postseason. Kept hearing how these two teams knew it each other so well that the Ravens really stood a good chance, even though the game was in Pittsburgh. And to be honest, if there was one team I would not have wanted to face as the Steelers in the playoffs, it would be the Ravens. The schemes of the two teams are so similar, they're basically identical, and they are designed to play against each other. But there were two things I think that led to the victory we saw today.

First was experience. The vast core of the Steelers has been around since the Super Bowl run 3 season ago, to include our QB, Ben Roethlisberger. They've been there, done that, gotten the Tshirt. They know exactly what its like to be in those big games with everything riding on the line. Although the Ravens have a good number of vets (most notably Ray Lewis, who I think is one of the best alltime LB's in Football) that have been there, done that too, their leaders QB Flacco, and coach John Harbaugh have not yet. At that makes a big difference. Not to knock what Flacco has done this year.....he's truly been amazing, really reminiscent of what Ben did himself 5 years ago. But the AFC Championship is almost as big a game every year as the SB itself.

Second is where they played. Yes, I know that the Ravens have played in Heinz Field, and they do. But I will tell you as a Pittsburgher.....a Pittsburgh arena during the regular season and the same arena in the postseason are two completely different animals. Yeah, they're always loud because of the fans, but something about the playoffs amps our fans up even more. Heinz Field gets on order of 3 times as loud. You're seriously talking about a town where its basically an excused absence to attend a game or to call out sick cause you yelled yourself hoarse. Heck, the only reason your boss wouldn't give you the time off is because he's jealous you got to go to the AFC Championship and he didn't!! The Steelers feed off of this. They love their fans, and the fans love them, and they love the fans back.....its a brutal cycle for playoff opponents. I can't imagine what traffic in the city was like today, with a hockey game, and a major playoff football game taking place less than a few hours apart and within 3 miles of each other. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that some people went from the Mellon to Heinz Field.....that would be Pittsburghers for you.

Now I wait patiently over here for the next football game. I can't wait to watch the Super Bowl this year.....it will be a truly enjoyable event.