A little reminder to Steelers Nation on why we watch

The year was 1994. HC-1, the helicopter rescue squadron I had been assigned to at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, had been decommissioned. My new orders came in, and the Navy was sending me to the middle of the Mojave Desert to become a VX-9 vampire at China Lake.

That is a strange sentence filled with weird words that usually do not go together, but trust me, it will make sense.

Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake is home to VX-9, nicknamed the Vampires, which is a weapons test squadron. At the time I was there, we flew F/A-18 Hornets and EA-6B Prowlers, along with a Marine detachment that tested AV-BB Harriers and AH-1 Cobra helicopters. Nested at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains near the small town of Ridgecrest, CA, the remote location and lack of population make it a perfect location to test bombs and air to air missiles. It sits around 180 miles from the beaches of Los Angeles, but it feels like you might as well be on the moon.

The NFL, however, deemed the moon to be in the viewing area of all Los Angeles based teams back then. That meant I was stuck in the fresh hell of having the Rams on my tv for the early game and the Raiders for the afternoon game…over and over…weekend after weekend. This was long before NFL Sunday Ticket, so getting to watch the Steelers was a rare treat. When Pittsburgh defeated the Raiders that year, I enjoyed it more than you can possibly imagine.

The next year for the 1995-96 season, the Rams moved to St. Louis, and the Raiders moved to Oakland, but the NFL did me dirty and decided that now I would only get 49ers games most of the time. Once again, getting to watch the Steelers was a rare and special treat. My only sure bet was a Monday night game against Cleveland.

There was a problem. Monday night games start early on West Coast time. We only had one car at the time, and my wife didn’t get off work until A FULL THIRTY MINUTES after the game would start. As soon as the schedule came out, I showed her the date and asked her to find a ride home from a coworker. No problem, she said. Audra would be able to do that, easy peasy.

I circled the date on the calendar and highlighted it with exclamation points and arrows. I reminded her weekly. I got it, my wife insisted.

Week eleven of the NFL schedule arrived on Monday, November 13th…just as the highlighted calendar said it would. I settled onto the couch, snacks on hand and shoes off feet, legs kicked up and happy. The first quarter was scoreless, but I could tell the Steelers were dominating and it was just a matter of time before they would break the game open.

The phone rang loudly on the wall.

I eyeballed it with dread. This could not be good news. I debated not getting off of the couch.

It kept ringing.

I sighed, brushed chip crumbs off of my lap to my grateful dog and walked over to the phone. It was, as I had feared, the person I had promised to spend the rest of my life with in sickness and in health yada yada yada.

I’m off work, so I’m ready for you to pick me up.

My hand tightened on the receiver, but I somehow managed not to pass out from the sudden rise of blood pressure.

The Steelers are playing. Right now. You were supposed to get a ride, remember?

Oh yeah…I must have forgotten. Everyone has already left, so you will have to come.

Must have forgotten??? I had literally reminded her twice a week for months. Now I had a choice to make, didn’t I? I could turn off the tv, miss a large portion of the game to pick her up, or I could take my chances and live with an angry wife for weeks or possibly years to come.

Kordell Stewart connected with Ernie Mills for a touchdown.

It’s not too far and it’s a nice night. Can you just walk home?

That prompted angry yelling…something about how many miles or something or other…I wasn’t paying attention as I needed to make sure Norm Johnson made the extra point.

The game went to commercial and now I definitely could hear all the yelling. Marriage is a compromise if it is anything, so I proposed a deal.

Call Audra and see if she will pick you up. If not, I will come get you…at halftime…but you need to be standing in the parking lot ready to jump in Duke Boys style as I will not be coming to a full stop. I will have the passenger window down.

Luckily, for my sake, Audra came through and drove back to get my wife, and I was able to enjoy the game in its entirety. I can’t say for certain how the rest of that week went, as I seem to have blocked it out for some reason, but the Steelers won the game 20 – 3, so whatever happened, it was worth it.

I tell that story, because we of the Black and Gold faithful have been in a funk since the season ended. A five game losing streak, followed by the empty promise of major change followed by almost no change at all, will have that effect. It’s easy to take watching the team for granted now with Sunday Ticket, entire game replays, and All-22 film just a click away. I will start games late on purpose just so I can skip commercials. Back in the day, it was a different story. Getting to watch the Steelers live on TV was a rare treat for anyone not living in the 412, and it didn’t matter how good or bad the team was doing, I was going to be there…even at the risk of bodily harm or the silent treatment for weeks.

The NFL combine is coming up soon, free agency will be starting, and the Steelers have a boatload of cap space cash to spend. The team isn’t where any of us want it to be right now, but the offseason is about to ramp up and exciting, unexpected news will be on the way. Before we know it, games will be here again, and we will all be watching. Don’t take it for granted. Some of us remember the days when one or two games a year were all we got, and some of the risks we took to make sure we didn’t miss it were monumental.