Now That Was a Game

With the economy tanking, the environment collapsing, and Christmas carols polluting the air, one looks for bright spots wherever he or she can find them.

And yesterday, I located my happy place at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, where the Pittsburgh Steelers crushed the hated New England Patriots led by their vile and fashioned-challenged coach, Bill Belichick, 33-10, ending a streak of way too many losses in a row, including, I’m pretty sure, an AFC Championship game in there somewhere.

I managed to cajole Mimi into coming with me to the local Steelers meet-up spot, the Irish bar, Fado, downtown near Pioneer Square, on the condition that we would leave by halftime. As we pulled up on the bike, I was listening to the game on the radio and almost decided to turn around back towards home as Roesthlisberger, on something like the third play from scrimmage, threw an interception that led to the Patriots scoring first and going up 7-zip.

But, we persevered, and after finding seats inside thanks to a nice fellow from Butler, PA who offered to share his table with us, settled down with some food and drink while the Black and Gold eventually got back into the game, tying the score 10-10 by the end of the second quarter.

Keeping my end of the bargain, we then left Fado, stopping for a caramel apple that the kid said I now owed her for her patience. My generosity as a dad must have paid off, because right about the time she bit into her treat, the Steelers began an impressive run where they absolutely shut down the Patriots’ offense, forcing turnovers, while running off 23 unanswered points to seal the victory.

The game wasn’t on TV, but I could listen to the radio broadcast as we pedaled, and at home, tune into the internet feed from Pittsburgh; so, too bad about the stock market, but at least the Steelers are 9 and 3.