COACHING OUT OF BOUNDS: Super Bowl Bound!

I have some big news to report!! My wonderful wife decided to purchase a Super Bowl ticket for me, so I head out tomorrow for Tampa Bay to fulfill a lifelong dream of mine. My beloved Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing to play in their 7th Super Bowl and I get to be a part of this whole experience. This gift from Estalita came as a complete surprise to me. I got the approval from my boss to miss a day of work, so now I am preparing for my big trip. As an added bonus, I will be writing a short feature article to be published in the Aberdeen News which will focus on a fan's experience at the "Big Game." The article will run the week after the contest. I will be sitting somewhere up in nosebleed heaven where oxygen may be required, but I am certainly not complaining. Many of you know that the Steelers use my high school field (Latrobe High) for a scrimmage every year. My hometown of Latrobe is considered the birthplace of professional football and the Steelers hold their summer training camp at a small Catholic college in the town called St. Vincent College. As a kid, I used to hang out at Steelers training camps and pester the players for autographs and pictures. Things were alot more open in those days and the accessibility to the players was not a problem. My autograph and picture collection includes many of the past greats from the 70's and early 80's teams including Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, Franco Harris, Mike Webster, and even one with Tony Dungy. Dungy played defensive back for the Steelers for a few years back in the mid 70's. He was, and still is today, a very class act. Latrobe is also known for many other things including being the hometowns of both children's television icon Fred Rogers from the TV series Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and the world famous golfer Arnold Palmer. I will discuss Latrobe more in depth in a later post, so for now it is back to the game. I have a unique connection to this game. As I've said before, I grew up in Pennsylvania near the city of Pittsburgh and I lived in Phoenix for nearly three years before our family moved to North Dakota. The Cardinals fans have been accustomed to years of losing and frustration, so it is nice to see them make it this far. My final connection is that I lived in Sarasota, Florida for a short time as a kid, which is about an hour down the road from Tampa. I plan on doing some posts from Florida to include my attendance at the "NFL Experience." This event is for the fans and it includes card shows, interactive games, coaches clinics, picture and autograph sessions, etc....