Photo from Google Images
The White family does it again! I’m so thankful they always invite me week after week and year after year to watch the Redskins play. So what did I say when they offered me tickets to go to Pittsburgh for the Redskins vs. Steelers game? HAIL YEAH! Who cares if it’s cold and raining with a little wind, all you need is your big girl panties and a poncho. And maybe layers and layers of burgundy and gold to keep warm.
For years I had named M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens, as the most unorganized stadium for fans to enter. That was until I checked Heinz Field off of my bucket list last Sunday. Hands down- it’s a debacle! After being “in line” an hour before kick off, I was confident we would be in our seats before the National Anthem with plenty of time for me to booooo as Roethlisberger was introduced. However, we were still waiting to get in and to our seats and I missed the perfect booing moment. Hello, front office; you are losing so much money from fans “waiting in line” when they could be inside ordering beers and hotdogs! Also, what stadium doesn’t accept credit cards at the concession stand?
Dan Snyder isn’t the most popular owner in the NFL, but he knows you have to get fans in quickly and they will spend money. Snyder figured out that teams can lose on the field, but don’t take a loss of revenue from not having the logistics strategy of how to get fans in faster. Now, if FedEx only had more Coors Light in the stadium, they would be a gold mine!
To the 6’3, 300 pound Hulk Hogan wanna-be Steeler fan with a beer gut bigger than me who kept pushing his way through the crowd with his gut: Just because you can see over me, doesn’t mean you’re getting in front of me. Like most 5th grade “line cutters” he was a big bully. At one point, I seriously contemplated jabbing my EpiPen right in his stones. And guess who made it in the game first- ME!
But for the most part, Pittsburgh fans were nice to us Redskins fans. Actually, they didn’t even care we were there and this was before they lit up the scoreboard. I’ve never seen so many Carhartt boots in my life; it’s truly a blue collar town and stadium. One man even asked me if I needed a hug at the end of the game- HA I laughed and said ‘nope, I just need a team that is able to CATCH THE BALL!’
I was more embarrassed to witness the temper tantrum from D-Hall than I was to lose the game. You can’t expect to win when you drop 10 catches, but I expect a team of grown men to have a little respect for the game. Fans in the nose bleeds could hear D-Hall’s F-bombs at the refs. It’s not the refs fault D-Hall can’t cover. I honestly don’t care if the head linesman Dana McKenzie missed the call that caused D-Hall to be taken down by Steelers receiver Emmanuel Sanders, there’s no reason your teammates should have to restrain you from trying to fight an official.
But let’s talk about the real embarrassment of the Heinz Field: who picked out the Steelers Uniforms? They looked like prisoner bumble bees who got scalped below the waist. Hey, nice nude pants, said no one ever! If this was an ugly Halloween costume contest, the Steelers won! Or maybe it was a wake up call to Big Ben of what he looks like in a prison uniform. Anyway you look at it; it’s a hideous look for Pittsburgh and an embarrassment to the game of football. Please, burn all of them!
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| The crowd wrapped around Heinz Field |