Super Bowl Eve

OK, so it's not quite Super Bowl Eve yet ... close enough. Maybe it will be by the time I finish and post this. The game carries an extra meaning for me this year because I grew up in Pittsburgh and have lived and died (mostly died) with the Steelers for years. Sure, the Steelers have a great history -- the 1970s, four Super Bowl wins in six seasons. I was in second grade in January 1980, the last time Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl.

Things got bad for the Steelers after that. We're talking Mark Malone and Bubby "I ain't no mop-up man" Brister. All the while, we lived in the past. We rested on the laurels of those great Super Bowl teams and we expected the impossible of the mediocre squads the Steelers put on the field through most of the 1980s. There were nice playoff runs in 1984 and 1989. But we all knew it wasn't the same.

Then came Cowher and things finally got good again in the 1990s. But not quite good enough. How does Neil O'Donnell throw those two interceptions in Super Bowl 30, with the game on the line? How do you lose the AFC championship game at home four times?

It's all been leading up to this season. That's the thing about sports -- sometimes you don't understand things fully until enough time has passed -- until there's a chance to look at things with some perspective. When the Steelers became a force in the 1970s, it came after decades of futility. It was the reward for enduring years of frustration. It wasn't meant to come easily for Pittsburgh. It was meant to happen the way it did. Now, these last two seasons -- the rise of Big Ben and the development of the team into a multi-faceted threat -- this is the reward for so many playoff losses. It wasn't meant to be easy for this generation of Steelers either. They're a chip off the old block.

I only wish I could be home to experience what these last few weeks have been like. I'm sure I didn't have an appreciation for it when I was a little kid. But I think I got a taste of what it must have been like during the Penguins' Stanley Cup years. I remember during the summer of 1991, the city was still buzzing. I remember walking through downtown that July and so many storefronts still had their windows decorated with Penguins' stuff. Nobody wanted to let that feeling go. It's probably 100 times more intense these last few weeks for the Steelers. The place must be electric.

Wish I was there.