Time Warp

The Steelers' trip to Super Bowl 40 comes ten years after their appearance in Super Bowl 30 (see how that works?) in 1996. I just saw clips on TV of Neil O'Donnell throwing candy-armed interceptions in a loss to the hated Cowboys. In January 1996 I was less than a year out of college, living with my parents and working on my uncle's dairy farm. The weekend of the Super Bowl I was in Pittsburgh visiting friends and trying desparately (and failing) to get a woman to like me. I savor the memory of being in the city that weekend, though: at the South Side Diner, eating pancakes served by a woman with the Steelers logo painted on her fingernails; attending a show by Pittsburgh favorites The Clarks that featured a stunning version of the Stones' "Paint It, Black." The lead singer wore a Chad Brown (or was it Greg Lloyd?) jersey, and the crowd erupted spontaneously and repeatedly in chants of "Here we go Steelers, here we go." It's not often that I feel caught up in something like that, but I did that night.

Here we go, Steelers.