Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go!

As most of you know that Andy and I are originally from Pittsburgh, so football is in our blood and we are Steelers fans through good and bad (although in recent years, there has been a lot of good). Last weekend was a huge game against the New England Patriots and we have a special dislike for them. Not only are they cheaters who falsely gained three Super Bowls and hardly ever punished for the offense, their quarterback, Tom Brady, is one of the most arrogant quarterbacks in the league. I get very offended when people asked me if my son is named after Tom Brady and it takes everything in me not to shudder. I usually say, "No!" before they even finish asking the question. Tom Brady also played college ball at Michigan, which is less than 30 minutes from where we used to live and hope to live when we get back from Germany. We will never let Brady play college ball for them because the associations would probably be made every game and I would have to be checked into a psychiatric ward after hearing 4 years of that. We managed to beat the Patriots last week and that put us in a very favorable position atop the AFC North.

Tomorrow night, we face our hardest opponent yet, the Baltimore Ravens. We played our season opener there and faced a very embarrassing loss. They are our main division rivals and we love nothing more than to beat them. They've been struggling the last two weeks, while we've been strong, winning our last 4 games after a shaky 2-2 start. We have something to prove tomorrow night and are on home turf. Whoever wins this game has the stronghold in the AFC North and will most likely go to the playoffs with a high seed, while the other will be left with a wild card slot. Another personal problem I have with the Ravens again stems from the quarterback, Joe Flacco. Flacco started at Pitt, my alma mater, but wasn't good enough for the starting job, so he transferred to a nobody FCS school (a step down from the bowl league). He wasn't good enough to be our starter, so I can't stand hearing the commentators talk about how amazing he is, even when he gets sacked or throws an interception. There will be at least one sign tomorrow at Heinz Field that says Flacco Sacco.

Ready . . . Set . . . Hike!!!!

A classic action shot. This kid loves to run!

Brady is unhappy in this shot because we all got our jerseys on and he assumed that meant we were leaving.

Yummy! Candy corn!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Being born in Pittsburgh, means you have no choice but to be a Steelers fan. Not that you would choose differently if given a choice. Six Super Bowl wins speak for themselves (the most of any team in the league if you're counting). Pittsburgh is often called "A drinking town with a football problem" and that pretty much sums it up. We bleed black and gold. Pittsburgh is also home to the Pitt Panthers, who have 9 National Championships (much more than Penn State's 2). It's also known as the city of champions and we don't take losing very well. I can't even begin to count the number of times Andy has walked out at half time saying the game was over, when we come back and win (mainly in our last Super Bowl victory season). We are coming off a tough year with a Super Bowl loss, but we can't be too upset, seeing how hard it is to even get there.



This is going to be an interesting year for Pitt football. This is the first year for a new coach since my sophomore year, which was 6 years ago. I was happy with the coach they fired last year, although there were times when I would have made better coaching decisions than he did. We watch every game all weekend and I swear the commentators have my house bugged because they repeat everything I say (opinion and otherwise), literally 30 seconds after I do. Maybe if I was a former cheerleader like Erin Andrews, I would have had a shot at a career in sports. We fired our coach before the bowl game and hired a new one. Unfortunately, days before our bowl game (he wasn't coaching it anyway), the coach we hired was involved in a domestic dispute that had him arrested. This threw us back into a state of chaos. Right after our bowl game, we hired a new coach. He wasn't the first choice, but everyone in the world of sports is saying he's one of the best coaches in college ball and turned around his last team, Tulsa, from one of the worst teams to winning 10 or 11 games each season he was there. I was still uncertain about him until I read an article about him and he's serious about no-huddle, high speed offense and expects our offense to snap the ball every 15 seconds. That's hardly any time to breathe for both sides, so we might just have the element of surprise and wear down the defense. He was also an assistant at WVU for a period of time, so that might help us when we play them. I can't wait to watch the first game on Saturday night and I wish I could be there. It's going to be wild!

4 Days old

6 Months - We hope that someday this will be shown on TV when he's playing for the Pitt Panthers

6 Months - First Pitt game and meeting Roc

7 Months - with Dubby on the ferry ride to the game

12 Months

Tonight marks the beginning of the college football season and next Thursday will start professional football. The Pens lost during the Stanley Cup playoffs in late April, so we've been in a sports drought even since then. It's time for some yelling and screaming. Brady was also born in Pittsburgh, so he's obviously a big fan (not that we don't help). He's been well equipped with the right sports paraphernalia since the day he was born. He was born two week after a Super Bowl, so it worked out that his first ever Super Bowl was this past one in which the Steelers played. That's quite monumental since I was almost 10 and Andy was almost 13 when we first got to see the Steelers play in a Super Bowl and it was a loss. We had to wait another 10 years to see them go again and this time win the one for the thumb, which they'd been working on for 30 years.

7 weeks - Gotta start them young

6 Months - Making some noise during a goal-line stand

7 Months - Excited to go watch the Steelers!

7 Months - Watching the Steelers play until he passes out.

11 1/2 Months (Day of the Super Bowl)

18 Months

The Steelers hat came to be in August of last year. We were buying Brady a Steelers jersey and he grabbed a hat off the rack. We tried to take it off of him to put back, but he wouldn't have it so I bought it. He didn't mind hats at that time, but later it was impossible. He has recently taken a liking to it again and wants to wear it all the time.

6 Months

7 Months

18 Months

Charlie Bear was purchased for Brady by my mom last September and he was named Charlie because Brady's middle name is Charles and we like to call him Brady Charlie. He has always worn his Steelers hoodie and I refused to pack him during our last move since it was the middle of playoffs and I felt it would be bad luck. Brady loves him and can identify him out of his pile of stuffed animals when we ask for him by name.

7 Months

11 Months (day before the Super Bowl)

18 Months