Football Games - Honorable Mention (Guest Post)

This is a guest post by my husband, Dave, with another one coming in a week or so of his top 5 football games he's attended. I posted my top 5 on opening day and asked him to do a guest post with his top 5. As usual, he went above and beyond and I have 2 posts from him related to my request.

Photo Credit: crazywebsite.com

Jen asked me to do my top 5 football games I've been to. First off, let me start off by saying that I've (and we've) been really fortunate to have been able to go to so many games over the years. And that I married a sports fan, especially a Steelers fan who grew up in upstate NY. I'm sure that Jen and I have some games that overlap the list. However, I will do a few honorable mentions to start off my list (Jen wont have any of these on her list). So this post will be all these. I'll do another post with my top 5. Hope you enjoy!  

Honorable mention 3a and 3b:

Woodland Hills vs North Allegheny 1996 (two games: regular season and WPIAL Championship) 

Yeah, I know these aren't NFL games, but it's the beginning of high school football season as well, so I figured I could throw this in there. 1996 was the first year that Woodland Hills (WH) made it to, and won, the WPIAL (Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League) championships. I want to say that WH has won 5 WPIAL titles with 9 or 10 trips to either Three Rivers Stadium or Heinz Field (where the WPIAL holds all the championship games). Both the regular season game and the championship game against North Allegheny (NA) were both good, and both very memorable (in more ways than just winning). I was an instructor with the marching band at the time, so I went to pretty much all of the games.  

The regular season game was labeled "The Mud Bowl". It was played at The Wolverina, the home stadium for Woodland Hills Wolverines. Before full renovations of the field and stadium a few years ago, it was a grass field and the drainage was terrible. The corner of one of the end zones was pretty much a swamp, and I've seen a number of kids get shoes stuck. It was even when it didn't rain, so this night it was especially bad due to the weather. The whole field was a mess this game, thus being dubbed "The Mud Bowl" (as you can see how muddy it is in the video below). We were the underdogs, and we won. We had 2 running backs, and they were nicknamed "The Smurfs" because they were a little undersized for running backs, but were pretty fast. NA was more of a passing team. So, we ran the ball much better than they could throw that night, and we came away with the win. After the game, NA was complaining saying that if the game was on turf, they would have won.  

Well, they got their rematch (and on a turf field), at the championship game. Being a part of the band staff, I got to go down on the field at Three Rivers Stadium, and it was pretty awesome. Three Rivers Stadium is where both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pirates played, before they built Heinz Field and PNC Park. We were again the underdog. And we won again, "despite" it being on a turf field. We won the game with both running and passing attacks. It was great beating them twice, and on a turf field which they cried about during the first game  I also remember one of the band staff looking up at the scoreboard at one point, saying that it seems so real. haha! Yeah, it was real.  

There is also a tragic memory from these games. Jim, one of my buddies that I graduated with and was in the drumline with me (he also helped out the marching band), his mother died the night of the first NA game. During that game, she had a fatal aneurysm in the stands at the Wolverina, and died that night. I remember seeing flashing lights outside the stadium during the game, but not knowing what it was for, and then later that night finding out what had happened when we got back to the school. It was a hard time, and totally unexpected. Jim's younger brother Joe actually played for the team, and his family went to all the games and were big supporters of the team. The team dedicated the rest of the season to their family. They kept saying that she was looking over them, and WH went on to the state championship game in Altoona, PA. We lost, but it was a memorable run (in more ways than one).  

Honorable mention 2:

Steelers vs Cincinnati Bengals first regular season game at Heinz Field 10/07/2001

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/200110070pit.htm

Let me say that I bought these tickets off of my buddy John (who has season tickets) prior to the season starting to take the girl I was dating at the time. The game was actually the second regular season game scheduled. The regular season home opener at Heinz Field was supposed to be Sept 16 against the Browns (John and his brother were supposed to go to this game), but the NFL postponed all games this week due to the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Because of the game being rescheduled, I actually got to go to the first game. They handed out coins commemorating the first season at Heinz Field. Heinz Field is a totally different stadium than Three Rivers Stadium.  Heinz Field is open air, and Three Rivers was kinda like an ashtray shape and kept the sound in (and was louder in my opinion). Also on this day, the United States went to war in Afghanistan, and the mood at the game was odd. It wasn't a real excited crowd, and wasn't really all that loud like how it got at Three Rivers. I do think that Three Rivers was a louder stadium in general, but the crowd on this day was definitely affected by the events going on at the time. The Steelers won 16-7. They made the playoffs this season, advancing all the way to AFC Championship game in which they lost to the New England Patriots. I actually got to go to a lot of games this season, which they were all memorable for one reason or another.  

Pre-season game 2 against the Bills: the first game I went to at Heinz Field

First regular season game against vs Bengals: mentioned above

Oct 29 against the Titans: I took my nephew to this game, the second game I took him to (ironically the first game I took him to was also against the Titans, but at Three Rivers Stadium during the 1999 season)

The rescheduled game vs the Browns played on 01/07/2002 

AFC playoff game 1 against the Ravens: I went with my uncle, who was able to get tickets.  It was a great game!

AFC Championship against the New England Pats

Honorable mention 1:

My very first Steelers game

It's a shame that I don't remember the date or who we played. My uncle took me to my first Steelers game, and it was a night game (possibly a Monday night game or maybe even a 4pm game, I remember it was a little chilly out but not enough to be totally bundled up). I do remember the atmosphere, and it was awesome! I remember everyone booing after a passing play and I asked my uncle why is everyone booing, that was a pretty good play. He said that they aren't booing, that are saying Looooo. Louis Lipps was the receiver. HA! I don't even remember if we won or lost. My uncle bought me a Steelers hat that night, and I had nachos. If I remember correctly, I think I was in either 4th, 5th or 6th grade. So that would have been 1984, 1985, or 1986. I probably shouldn't even include this game as an honorable mention since I don't remember much from it, but it was my first game and I do remember the atmosphere. Looking through old stats, it could have been one of the following games: 

Steelers vs LA Rams 09/16/1984: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198409160pit.htm

Steelers vs Bengals 10/01/1984: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198410010pit.htm

Steelers vs Bengals 9/30/1985: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198509300pit.htm

Steelers vs Broncos 9/15/1986: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198609150pit.htm

My next post will be the actual top 5 games that I've attended.