Pittsburgh Steelers – Baltimore Ravens (27-12-2009)

As I had to drive back from New York to Indianapolis after Christmas, and Pittsburgh is roughly halfway, I decided to watch a game of the Steelers on the way back. Obviously, the game was sold out weeks in advance – people can be on the season tickets waiting list for years without ever getting one – I got quite a good deal on Stubhub -- $150 (including tax and service charges) for a fantastic seat – undoubtedly helped by the fact that I needed only one single ticket.

I had stayed the night in a hotel around Pittsburgh airport and left Sunday morning around 11 as I had read a lot about terrible traffic and the impossibility of finding (affordable) parking spots. However, traffic wasn’t too bad and around 12 o’clock I parked for free at a side street at a less than 15 minute walk from Heinz Field (and virtually next to a $40 tailgate parking lot).

The weather was perfect: sunny but cold. I walked in a sea of black-and-yellow Steelers fans to the stadium, which I entered half an hour before kick-off. Heinz Field is a big open football stadium with a capacity of 65,050; home to both the Steelers and the Panthers (University of Pittsburgh). Inside the stadium is a large plaza full of high-quality eateries (including a Primanti Bros with consistent long lines) and with the record six Super Bowls on display. In addition, there was a live band playing metal covers.

Although the Steelers, last year’s Super Bowl winners, were having a bad season, a last-second touchdown in last week’s game put them back into wild card contention. The Baltimore Ravens were on course for a wild card, but lost the week before. In other words, this traditional rivalry was even more important than normal, and you could feel the tension among the home fans. The stadium was sold-out, as always, and I guestimate some 500 Ravens fans had been able to get a ticket.

Just after 13.00 the game was started, after a fairly original national anthem by local band B. E. Taylor, and the home fans directly showed that I was in a real city. Most comments were negative and full of profanity. The guy behind me, a police detective in Washington DC, shouted at the Ravens quarterback “He, Joe Flacco, You Sucko”, which became an instant classic. Not much more need to be said about the quality of comments from the people around me. So, let me turn to something more positive, my seat, at the 45” line! This is a picture take without a zoom!

The first period was quite poor: no touchdown, just field goals, and a score of 6-3 for the Steelers. I was amazed by how critical the fans were to their own team. Clearly, they had expected much more of the season so far. The one thing that Steelers fans are known for is the “terrible towel”, a yellow towel with which they wave when singing, very similar to the scarves that German football fans use.

The second period brought more entertainment. Both teams score touchdowns, keeping the game close. Then the Ravens get an interception, but the first play after that the Steelers have an interception; typical for the game. But just before half time the Steelers score a second touchdown and finally create some space between the two teams: 20-10.

After some half time entertainment by Cello Fury, three cellists and a drummer, the game starts again, but I miss most of the third period being in line at the Primanti Bros. The Ravens score a touchdown early on, which brings the score to 20-17. On the monitors I see an interception by the Ravens which is followed by a 50 yard touchdown… only to be recalled because of a defensive foul. A field goal a bit later does bring the two teams together at 20-20.

The fourth period remains really tight. With some five minutes left on the clock, and me starting to worry about overtime (as I still had a 6 hour drive in the snow ahead), the Steelers kick a field goal and get three points ahead: 23-20. As I start to leave the stadium, making sure that I won’t get stuck in the postgame traffic, I see another Ravens interception with a 50+ yard touchdown on a monitor. And would you believe it, it is again overturned because of a dumb holding foul. So, in the end the Steelers win 23-20 and keep their hopes for a wildcard open.

There is no doubt that people in Pittsburgh, and miles and miles beyond it, love the Steelers. No, they live for the Steelers. As the big team in the league, many people hate them, and their own fans are very demanding. Hence, a Steelers game gives you a great insight into the NHL: big, boisterous, and brutal.

Indianapolis Colts – Denver Broncos (13-12-2009)

As soon as we moved to Plainfield, just outside of Indianapolis, we noticed that Indy is crazy about its Colts. Everywhere you go you see men, women and kids wearing blue-white gear. As I got more and more into the NFL, while remaining loyal to college football too, I couldn’t resist the Colts temptation and became a fan. While the fantastic season did help – before the Broncos game the Colts were 12-0 – it was the heroic comeback against the hated New England Patriots on 15 November 2009 that sealed the deal. However, being a Colts fan in the Indianapolis area can be quite frustrating, as all games are sold out virtually before the season starts. And tickets through scalpers are expensive. In the end, M. treated me to our first Colts game for Christmas, buying two tickets for $200 each (!) on eBay.

We parked the car in the center of town and walked to the stadium, surrounded by the blue-white army. The massive Lukas Oil Stadium stands just outside of the lively part of the city center and is one of its key landmarks. Excited we entered the stadium and could hardly believe our eyes.

From the inside the Lukas Oil Stadium is unlike anything I have ever seen. With the roof closed it is a gigantic indoor arena but with the atmosphere of an outdoor stadium. Absolutely amazing! Opened only in August 2008, it can hold 63.000 – while not impressive compared to many college football stadiums, the setting is much more comfortable and the acoustics are phenomenal. Moreover, the $200 were well spent, as our seats were absolutely fantastic. This is a picture without zoom!

Obviously, nothing could be started without the obligatory national anthem. And, as Indiana is definitely among the more patriotic states, this was combined with rolling out an absurdly large American flag, spanning the whole field.

In the pre-game tv show, most pundits favored the Colts, but expected a tight game against the Broncos, who are still playing for their division championship or a wild cart for the play-offs. The Colts have already clinched the AFC South division, but would get play-off home game advantage if they would win this game. And they started like possessed. Within a couple of minutes they were 1^st and goal. After two attempts, Payton Manning throws and…. touchdown Colts!

With 7-0 up, the defense was putting the pressure on the Broncos offense and within seconds the Colts were back in possession. Again the offense showed its strength and within minutes it was 14-0, still in the first period. In fact, shortly into the second period the Colts were up 21-0 and the Broncos had hardly had a first down. What power! Unfortunately, that was also the extent of the Colts offense. Fortunately, the Broncos offense wasn’t that much better and, more importantly, the Colts defense played fantastic.

In the second period the Broncos finally score a touchdown, making it 21-7, while the Colts increasingly fail to get a first down. The third period is even worse, with Manning throwing his second and third interception of the game (!), and the Colts scoring virtually no first downs. It is only the defense that keeps them in the game.

Like the other Colts fans around me, I am not so much worried about losing the game, but rather increasingly frustrated by the extremely poor performance of the offense in general, and Manning in particular. In the fourth period the Broncos score a field goal and a touchdown, coming back to 21-16.

This finally wakes up Manning and the offense, who with some difficulties score their first first down in ages. This awakens the crowd too, who are again starting to cheer and shout for their offense. As so often this season, the Colts (and Manning) come through when it is really needed, and they run out the time as well as score a last touchdown: 28-16 and game over.

While I am no fan of commercial use of religion in American sports, I must admit that I did like what I saw after the game. Various players of both teams came together in the middle and prayed together in a circle. It seemed sincere.

While I am far from objective, the Colts are a must see for any (American) football fan! Even when they play bad (at least offensively), as today, they are a powerhouse with stars like Manning, Wayne, Addai, Clark, and Freeney. Moreover, Lukas Oil Stadium is worth a visit by itself. What an amazing sports arena. I cannot wait to go again! Perhaps for the play-offs?

Notre Dame – Michigan State (19-09-2009)

After missing the opening game against Nevada because of a conference out of town, it was finally time for my first Fighting Irish home game. For those who have never heard of American football; first, the Fighting Irish are the sports teams notably the football team, of the University of Notre Dame, where I work this academic year, one of the most famous football schools in the US – even though their heydays are already more than 20 years ago. Second, college football is huge… and when I say huge, I mean H-U-G-E!

For every home game of the Fighting Irish, which is roughly 6-7 per season, around 200.000 (!) people descend upon the university campus. Mind you, the stadium hold ‘only’ 80.000. The rest come just to experience the atmosphere, which includes tailgating; i.e. putting a grill in front of your truck and having burgers etc. with your friend on the parking lot. Weird? Yes! But also fun. Not impressive enough? The game I attended was sold out… which made it the 207^th sell out in a row… in other words, all home games of the Fighting Irish have been sold out since 1973!!! And sold out means, just to remind you, 80,795 people (at a university of just 11.733 and in a town of just over 100,000).

Most of the people are alumni of the university, who come from all over the US to rekindle their college experience. All over campus students sell foods, while the Notre Dame Bookstore sells for more than $1.000.000 in that weekend alone! Add to that the revenue from the tickets and from the tv right, all home games of Notre Dame are live on a major national network (NBC mostly), and you will understand how the Football team brings some $25.0000.000 per year to the university budget!

In August I bought two season tickets at $770 for 7 games, which includes a 20% discount ($55 per ticket). This is one of the privileges of being an employee of the university. In fact, this privilege used to be presented as a plus when offering jobs to faculty, who were allowed to sell them with huge profits. This is no longer allowed and those who are caught will loose their ticket privileges for 5 years. As you can see above, our tickets are different and, to be honest, uglier than those for the regular public (who buy tickets through a tombola).

Roughly 10 minutes before kick-off (15.30), M and I take our places behind one of the goals. On the pitch is the Notre Dame band, the biggest university band in the US, which plays everything from Beyonce to Notre Dame’s famous Victory March. Before the game starts, we do not only get the obligatory national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, but also the equally patriotic “America the Beautiful” – both are sung by large parts of the audience. After that, it was time for the game. However, before the Fighting Irish start their game, they come to the crowd and get down on one knee for them. Respect!

As said before, the stadium was sold out. Opposite to us, in a corner next to the other goal, was the section of the Notre Dame students. Virtually all students will go to each home game and will wear “the shirt” – each year the University of Notre Dame makes a new, unique shirt for the season. This year the shirt is gold (one of the two school colors). After any score of the Fighting Irish, you will see students push up other students (once for each point scored so far).

There were also a remarkable number of away fans; I estimated some 2.000 white-green fans at least. True, East Lansing, home to Michigan State University, is ‘only’ 250 km northeast, but it is not very common that thousands of fans will travel with their team. I guess they were attracted by the fact that the Spartans won the last 6 away games at Notre Dame. And with both teams losing last game, they looked for a seventh.

The weather was perfect for a game. It was roughly 24 C with the sun at our back. Around us where locals and alumni, all of them with much more knowledge of the game then me. Most fans were tense and skeptical, after several poor seasons under coach Charlie Weiss and last weeks last-minute defeat against Michigan still fresh in their heads. Moreover, many were convinced that last weeks defeat was the result of biased refereeing; Notre Dame plays many teams of the Big Ten (including Michigan and Michigan State), but is itself one of only three non-divisional college teams. Hence, fans feel that Big Ten referees discriminate against them. And, to be fair, there were some very dodgy calls against both Michigan and Michigan State!

The game started very well for the Irish. After the first period, which consists of 15 minutes pure play which is stretched over almost an hour, the Irish were up 13-3. The second period went terrible, however: 3-14 for the Spartans. Most depressing, however, was a clear touchdown of the Irish, at the end of the period, and therefore the first half, which was ruled out. Not just no six points, which according to replays on tv were deserved, but the key receiver injured himself and will be out for the season. Half time: 16-17. :-(

After entertainment from both school’s bands, the MSU band played songs from Bruce Springsteen (although that was almost impossible to hear), the third period started around 17.45 (more than two hours after kick-off!). The Irish were able to grab the initiative again, but played extremely careful. Quarterback Jimmy Clausen threw almost no ball and it took them ages to get the 10 yards down. Still, after the third period we were 26-23 up; much less than we deserved.

The fourth period was going to be a tight one. With just over 10n minutes to go, the Spartans scored their touchdown and conversion: 26-30. Five minutes later, Notre Dame scored a touchdown and conversion: 33-30… but the ball with the Spartans. Slowly but steadily they advance to the endzone… letting the time tick away, so that if they score the touchdown, Notre Dame won’t have time to come back. With less than a minute to go, and less than 10 yards for MSU, the Spartans quarterback throws and… an Irish defender intercepts! Game over and everyone goes crazy. Not a great game for either team, but enough to keep hopes alive and Charlie Weiss in the coaching seat.

Football at Notre Dame is a special experience. The stadium is a huge, concrete arena filled with passionate fans. Mind you, with a capacity of just over 80.000, it is not even in the top 10 of college football stadiums! However, the descending of some 200.000 people upon the campus is unique. I can’t wait for the next games!