Pilgrimage
Posted 8 months ago at 01:56. 1 comment
Kev and I went to Pittsburgh last weekend to take in the Steelers game. We stared down the worst snowstorm in 60 years and said, “We’re too stubborn to change our plans!” This year’s pilgrimage was especially meaningful for me because I’ve been a Steelers fan since the early ’80s when the only NFL football you could get on TV in Canada were games that featured either the Steelers or the Cowboys.
We used to do this every year: pick an NFL team, preferably within crashing distance of someone we knew, and then go see a game. We’ve been stymied the last few years by the logistics of choosing a city and a time that worked for the 3 or so other participants that normally joined us in this venture. We were almost stymied again this year until Kev and I realized that the logistics for just 2 people were much easier to figure out.
Things that were reaffirmed to me this past weekend:
- If you can’t establish a running game, especially outdoors in winter, a) you suck, and b) you’re not going very far in the playoffs.
- Going to NFL games is a lot of fun, and a completely different kind of fun than going to CFL games or even hockey games.
- Traveling over the winter holidays for fun should only be attempted by trained professionals. Do not try this at home!
- Weather happens. Deal.
- Acting nice to airline staff gets you on to flights you might not otherwise get on. This works exceptionally well if the people in front of you in line try to blame the airline staff for the weather.
Kev and I will definitely be doing this again next year, and we’ve even picked a city: Seattle. As much as we love travel delays, we’ll be aiming for a game much, *much* earlier in the season though. Hopefully this will be enough warning for our slacker friends who were unable to join us this year.
Said slacker friend raises hand.