10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.....liftoff. You are now entering the mothership.
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| Me at the mothership! |
I am holding my breath and clenching my jaw. As soon as I realize I am doing this, I let out this huge exhale and feel a cold sweat rush over me. Becky is in front of me. She turns to me and smiles. I let out a shaky breath and smile. My eyes are darting everywhere. I can't focus. OMG I can't breath. I wish I was just exaggerating for good story telling but I seriously can't breath. I pray to god I don't pass out as the pit in my stomach gets heavier. Please god don't let me pass out and be taken by ambulance to some Pittsburgh hospital before I even step foot in this stadium. "Stop being a candy ass!" I tell myself.
I feel the tears welling up as I walk into the stadium. I blink them back. The smile on my face is so immense it is starting to hurt my cheeks. A young kid hands me a program book. I slowly take it from him while smiling and nodding. I am not in my body. All I see is smoke. OMG...I am in a haze. Is this what Jimi Hendrix was talking about? I look ahead of me. They are smoking ribs on a grill, hence the smoke. Seems legit....I guess. I prefer my Jimi Hendrix Purple Haze theory better to be honest.
Wait....is that the field right there?? The field is right there! Like right....there! Wow! So much was not expecting that. Wicked cool!!
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| That's the field! Right there!! |
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| See...the field! |
There are only a few rows of seats behind the end zone. You could literally stand here by the fence for the whole game and have one of the best views in the house. This is insane! I turn my head. I hear noises but they are clouded. I feel like my ears are buzzing and blocked all at the same time. My eyes are still darting around. There is soooooo much yellow. It is everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. I see players less than 50 feet from me on the field practicing....because the field is RIGHT THERE!! My stomach starts growling but I am so not hungry. I am excited to the point of hysteria. That must be why my stomach is growling. Hope I don't hit the concrete and bleed all over Heinz Field. That would suck!
I look in my hands. I have scratch off lottery tickets in them. How did they get here? When did this happen? I look up again. Yep...everything is still yellow. OMG the sun is so hot. I am sweating. I am hysterical. My face hurts from smiling. I don't know where to place my focus. Becky leads me over to this table to scratch our lottery tickets. I am trying to keep it together, pull myself back into my body but my eyes are spinning around in my head like a kaleidoscope. I lean against the table and scratch off tickets feverishly.
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| Heinz Field Scoreboard |
I am holding a conversation with Becky. I am laughing. Everything is yellow. Becky wins a coffee. Or did I win it? I have no idea. One of us won something on the scratch off. I smell smoke. I see smoke. I see players. Hello Chrissy? We went over this already. Becky tells me to stand by something. I walk over to where she is pointing. She takes a picture. I look at my camera to see what pic she has just taken. It is me standing in front of the Heinz Field sign, pictured above.
This is ground control to Major Tom. Strap yourself in cuz this girl is about to crash back into reality in 3.....2.....1. ...There she is! Houston....She is back with us. All systems go! I am back in my body. I no longer feel hysteria, just excitement. My eyes are starting to focus. I am here. I am in Heinz Field. I am where Bane blew up the field in The Dark Knight Rises. If he tries to do it again, he will have to deal with ME! Don't know why that comes into my head but let's go with it! I turn my head. The Red Zone? Are you kidding me? One of my favorite bars from back home is here....but not really.
I have to get a picture by it. Why wouldn't I? It's a conversation piece.
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| The Redzone? Say What? |
I edge my way through the crowd gathered by the fence to get a better look at the players. I am short so I can weasel my way through crowds and sometimes even security with ease. I occasionally take an elbow to the head unintentionally and I do have this huge fear of being trampled, but that goes with the territory. Everything has it's pros and cons right? Besides, my adrenaline is on overdrive! I probably wouldn't feel any pain right now.
I get to the front of the fence, camera in hand, snapping pictures but....I do not recognize any of the players. OMG I am not a real fan! I don't have a clue who these guys are. Seriously? Wow you really do suck I tell myself. I decide to blame the hysteria and my momentary lapse of reasoning. I start going through the player depth chart in my head. I do not know every single player on the Steelers for 2014-15 yet. I can name about 48 of them though. Let's go through them.
I am pretty sure that is Will Allen (center). Is Kelvin Beachum on the left? Daniel McCullers? Cam Thomas? Is that Antonio Brown in the back? I have no idea what Lance Moore looks like but I know it is definitely not Marcus Wheaton. There may be a few practice squad players out there too because the dude throwing the football is neither Ben, Bruce or Landry. I know it's not Troy out there. LOL! In my defense, if these guys were wearing their helmets, I would probably be able to recognize them. Weird but true. Partial face recognition is a real thing....I think. Has to be.
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| Some players without helmets? |
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| Almost positive ID for Will Allen in the middle. |
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| I'm not sure who this is. Just kidding!! LOLOLOL!! |
The one other thing I am really floored about is....how much smaller the stadium is in person than it seems on TV. On TV the field seems so gigantic and stretches for miles and miles and miles. They say being on TV adds 10 pounds to people. Guess it also adds five miles to NFL stadiums. Crazy! However, Becky and I were at Beaver Stadium the day before. That stadium is huge! 110,000 fans were there. Heinz Field is teeny compared to Beaver Stadium. Becky had told me this, most NFL stadiums average about 64- 65,000 fans, much smaller than college stadiums, but seeing it with my own eyes really put it in perspective. I think it is great. Not a bad seat in the house really.
Speaking of seats, let me take a gander at where we will be............
"Oh fuuuuuuuuuddddddddggggggggeeee!!"
We all know I swear like a sailor so "Fudge" wasn't the F word I muttered. It was the F.U.C.K. word I muttered, really loud. Now mind you, I did not care how high up the stadium my seats were, but, it is very sunny, cloudless day. It is also already 80 degrees....and it is only 11 AM. Yes, my wish for a gorgeous day came true. I can't argue that. However, we are sitting in the one part of the stadium that has zero, and I mean ZERO.... protection from the elements. I glance in my clear plastic Steelers bag and drop the F Bomb again. I forgot my sunblock stick. It's sitting on the nightstand by my bed.
Fabulous!
Becky and I are gonna be red hot messes by 4 PM. I point our seats out to Becky while informing her I forgot the sunblock. Becky said she didn't care. It was all good. Awesome! I don't care either because we are at a freakin' Steelers game dammit! Who cares if my face turns a nice shade of purplish red. It's not like I will be walking on the docks of Maine after the game where I might have melted butter thrown over my head because I was mistaken for a deliciously boiled, crustacean sea creature. I figure as long as I don't look like a fried egg, cole slaw, or any other weird sandwich topping that Pittsburghians like to eat, I should be pretty safe here.
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| Sunburn City Baby! Section 526 |
Now that the seating anxiety is over for now, Becky asks me if I am ready to go hunt for some Lombardi's.
Absolutely baby!!
We are about to enter the Hall of Greatness!
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| Great Hall Heinz Field |
Chrissy
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| Always A Steelers Girl |
The Free Spirit Bucket List Football Weekend Series
#1 Attend A Pittsburgh Steelers Game Part I: Prelude
#1 Attend A Pittsburgh Steelers Game Part II: The Morning of the Big Day
#1 Attend A Pittsburgh Steelers Game Part III: You Are Now In Steelers
#1 Attend A Pittsburgh Steelers Game Part IV: 3 Rivers Run Through It
#1 Attend A Pittsburgh Steelers Game Part V: The Mothership
#1 Attend A Pittsburgh Steelers Game Part VI: May The Lombardi Be With You
#1 Attend A Pittsburgh Steelers Game Part VII: Under The Bleachers
#1 Attend A Pittsburgh Steelers Game Part VIII: Pre-Gaming It
#1 Attend A Pittsburgh Steelers Game Part IX: Game Time
#1 Attend A Pittsburgh Steelers Game Part X: Game Over
