Gate A, Section 540, Row W, Seat 2

As I stated in a previous blog, I scored a ticket to a Pittsburgh Steelers home game. Well this past Thursday was the game and I must say, it was a spiritual experience.

When driving into downtown Pittsburgh from the south side you have to go through the Fort Pitt Tunnel. I've driven through this tunnel on numerous occasions and every time I do the experience is awe inspiring. Upon exiting the tunnel the first thing you see is the Pittsburgh skyline. Every time I've been to downtown Pittsburgh has been during the day, which is impressive enough, but on this most recent trip I was greeted by that familiar skyline after the sun had set. What made the view impressive is that on this particular night the city was positively glowing. While traveling across the aptly named Fort Pitt bridge a quick glance to the left afforded me a view of Heinz Field, lit up like a miniaturized halogen powered sun. I was excited about this evening for months, but this sight was spiritual to me.

After sitting in traffic for what seemed like an eternity, we finally got a parking space about a block from the field. We got a late start so we didn't get to do any tailgating but that's alright, I really didn't want to get drunk an hour and a half from home. After parking and making sure we had everything we needed we start walking the block or so to the field. The streets were a sea of black and gold. Thousands of people streaming to one location, all dressed similar, all abuzz with anticipation for the upcoming contest between the Steelers and the Bengals.

At the gate we get frisked by security, I tried to get the gentleman's phone number that frisked me as he had a gentle touch (just kidding!), and after that we began the trek to our seats. The walk was long and treacherous, and every bit of it was uphill, but there was electric in the air and now that I was in the confines of Heinz Field I could care less.

The title of this blog were where our seats were. They weren't the greatest but they were semi protected from the elements, which was a good thing. Just sitting there, seeing the green of the field, smelling the cooking of bratwursts and chili fries, hearing the buzz of the crowd and the announcer on the pa system. Whoa. The ambiance was intoxicating.

Kick off was at 8:15pm. Attendance around 53,000. Game time temperature was in the upper 30's. Winds steady out of the northwest at about 10 miles an hour, there was a 20% chance of flurries. Perfect football weather.

I won't give you a play by play on what happened during the game itself, that's what Sportscenter is for. Cliff notes version is the Steelers fell behind early then went ahead in the 2nd quarter and finally turned it on to blow out the Bengals. What I will tell you about is the beginning of the 3rd quarter.

It started to snow. I don't mean flurries, I don't mean just "spitting snow." I mean full on, fat ass snowflakes the diameter of a dime. The best way to describe what it looked like is that we were sitting inside of a snow globe. The view was breathtaking. The snow enhanced the view, it didn't detract from it. I'm not a religious person but this was as close to a religious experience as I can get.

That's pretty much all there is to tell. The fans were great, the game was great, it was all great. After the game was over we walked out of the stadium, got in the car, and drove home discussing the evenings events.

I'll be back again someday. It was a good time.

-Twiz