Super Memories Finale

Thanks for joining me in my new home. The myspace blog was giving me problems. I will not get rid of it since I have 200 blogs posted there, but I figured I would start blogging elsewhere. It's kind of like what David Letterman did when he left NBC for CBS. He didn't screw around, he just walked down the street. That's what I did here.

Onto my blog, if any of you read my previous blogs about my favorite Steelers Super bowl titles, you probably know what number one is.

Number one:

Super Bowl XL.

Steelers vs. Seattle Seahawks.

Before I really get into the game, I want to talk about what an incredible and fun time I had following the Steelers at the end of 2005. I really had the time of my life and it was the most fun I've ever had following sports. I'm not sure if anything can ever top it. During halftime of the game, my uncle turned to me and said, "It's weird. I can't believe we're sitting here watching the Steelers in the Super Bowl." It really was unbelievable. The two months that led up to that Super Bowl were great. The do-or-die football that Pittsburgh had to play; the weekly trips I took to the Strip District to watch tapings of "the Joey Porter show"; watching the city's enthusiasm grow with each victory; the helmet cakes from Dave's Terrace bakery, etc, etc.

I knew even before the game was over that I would remember those weeks forever.

For those of you who don't know, the Steelers were dead-to-rights with four weeks left in the regular season. They didn't appear to have much of a chance at a wildcard spot, but somehow, someway, they managed to make it in as the number six seed in the AFC. People didn't give them much of a chance to advance very far.

Advance, they did, as they became the first 6th seed to make it all the way to the Super Bowl. They defeated the top three seeds in the AFC, and they did it all on the road. Pretty impressive.

The Bengals were first up. They were the 3rd seed and the team that beat out the Black and Gold for the AFC North crown.

Final score: Steelers 31 Bengals 17. Who dey? We dey.

Next up were the number one seeded Indianapolis Colts. The team that was the odds-on favorite to win the Super Bowl that year. The Colts won their first 13 games and there was talk of them going undefeated. Well, even though they eventually lost in the regular season, their Peyton Manning-led offense still seemed pretty invincible. The game was one for the ages. Pittsburgh jumped out to a 21-3 lead, but had to hold on for their lives as Jerome fumbled, Ben made the most famous tackle in team history, some guy had a heart attack, and some drunk, idiot kicker missed very wide right.

Final score: Steelers 21 Colts 18.

I was pretty nervous for the AFC championship game played in Denver against the Broncos, but deep-down, I just knew Pittsburgh would win. Even though the Broncos were the number 2 seed, they had Jake Plummer and Pittsburgh had Big Ben. No contest.

Steelers 34 Broncos 17.

Onto XL.

Even though Pittsburgh was the 6th seed in the AFC and the Seahawks were the 1 seed coming out of the NFC, the Steelers were favored by as many as six points. The AFC has been superior to the NFC for many years, and this was the most glaring example of that.

The Steelers were the designated home team for this game, but since Detroit was the host city and Steeler Nation travels quite well, this was pretty much an actual home game for Pittsburgh. I'd say about 75% of Ford Field was waving Terrible Towels. As I said, Pittsburgh was the home team, but since they had such a great run on the road wearing their white jerseys, they decided to wear them for this game.

The game was pretty controversial with a lot of crucial penalties going against the Seahawks and Seattle fans like to whine about that to this day. "Oh, Daryl Jackson didn't push off Chris Hope. That was crap!" The fans, players and coaches of the '05 Seahawks love to complain about those penalties but they always forget about 3rd and 28, Willie's 75 yard run, and Randle El's option pass to Hines.

The Steelers made the big plays in that game when it counted and that's why they won it all.

Final score: Steelers 21 Seahawks 10.

Besides, Seahawks fans. Your team was pretty blah. Nobody wanted to see the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Not to sound too cocky, but it was all about Pittsburgh.

Anyway, the Steelers finally won that one for the thumb after 25 years of trying. I, along with the entire city, was in party-mode for weeks.

I will post more later. Welcome to my new blog home.