Tampa Raymond James Stadium

Tampa weather was perfect. It had rained earlier in the week. It would rain in a downpour on the next day - but for the Superbowl, it was perfect.

Everyone entered through one section of the gate so they could pat us down and have us go through metal detectors. They had put new Security Measures in place. Some were OK. Some made about as much sense as a Patriot's fan complaining about the tuck rule.

You could have a camera - but no camera case. People had to either throw them away, or take them back to their cars and get back in line. The trash cans by security were full of camera cases - some no bigger than a wallet.

Meanwhile, women could bring Hobo Purses in.

They also told us we could only have "small" binoculars - which made no sense... until you got in and realized they rented binoculars. Ah ha! Terrorism is a convenient excuse sometimes...

Once in, the zigzagging pattern takes you into "The NFL Experience" which is a mini-carnival set up NFL style. There are some cool things there if you are football fan. Anyone with NFL network  saw the different things you can do like kick field goals, and throw a football through a tire.

They also had displays that were perfect for photo ops. Here was a great time to be a Cardinal fan. The line for the Cardinal "Football Outfit" was maybe three people. The line to take this one stretched back pretty deep.

Some Steelers fans went over to the Cardinal line which made several of the Steeler Nation nervous. "They better be planning something funny" one burly fan in a faded jack Lambert Jersey warned. "Or we may have to pull their Steeler card."

Fortunately, the fans were way ahead of us. When they got to the Cardinal Uni, they draped it with a Terrible towel and Steeler Beads then posed with a dumfounded expression - it even cracked up the Cardinals fans standing in line.

After walking around for a while, we decided to get to our seats and settle in. We sat in Section 334, row DD. I'll save you from looking it up: We were in the last row of the Stadium. And it was great.

(Your Humble Correspondent) 

We had binoculars (I don't know that I would call them small... but...) which gave us a perfect view of the action when we wanted it. And when just looked with naked eye, we could see the whole field at once.

The downside was getting there... someone said they counted 74 steps to our seats. It seemed like 774. I probably could have made a fortune by selling oxygen at the top... $5 a hit. The point is, once we were there, we pretty much stayed there.

I guess Cardinals don't fly high. There were - MAYBE - 10 Cardinal fans in our whole section.

Here are some random shots taken in the concession area. No... this is NOT Heinz Field... But it is damn close...

Pre-Game

Besides catching my breath, being at the stadium early was great just to watch everything unfold. The Cardinal fans seemed a lot more interested in the NFL experience outside than getting to their seats early. Steelers fans started filling in, meeting all of their new friends, and setting up their stations - Towels, Costumes, flags, Banners - to be a Steelers fan takes some preparation.

I got a kick out of scoping the field and watching the people come and go off of the NFL network set. Jerome Bettis made an appearance, and drew some cheers from the Steeler faithful - who didn't need to see him in a 36 Jersey to recognize him.

The first player we saw was Jeff Reed (AKA Skippy) who was out early and getting stretched out. He was joined by the long snapper.

Then the crowd near the end zone started cheering wildly, and I scoped the glasses down... there was Ben Roethlisberger, walking around the stadium capturing it all with his camcorder. He was talking to some fans, and smiling and waving and my brother, standing beside me, summed up my thoughts: "Ben doesn't look nervous at all."

After Ben was done getting the shots for his video scrap book, he headed back into the tunnel. Shortly afterwards, Hines Ward trotted out on the field, to the roar of the crowd.

 He ran a lap around the field, which made us all feel great. I know it wasn't full speed, but just to see him running was a great sign. As he finished his lap, he saw Jerome, who was still on the field giving an interview. Hines dashed over and hit him with a fake tackle. The two spent a long time reminiscing, and you had to wonder if Jerome asked Hines if they had a 36 Jersey handy. I know the Steeler Nation around me would have happily taken up a donation to get him one - we all wished we had him in this game (and of course, we had no idea at the time how right we would be...)

All of the players eventually came out and did some stretching. The kickers would practice from different spots and at one point, Jeff Reed and Neil Rackers has a little "Kick Off" where they alternated kicks from a spot and kept moving back.

It's too bad the game never came down to a field goal. Jeff was out-kicking Rackers by a margin of ten yards or more.

Finally, the build-up is over, and the Teams leave, only to be re-introduced to the crowd. The Terrible Towls are waving and the crowd is in full throat.

Forget who is wearing the home Jerseys. The Steelers are the home team. I would estimate the crowd as: 60% Steelers Fans, 20% Undecided, and 20% Cardinals fans. For three quarters of the game, the 40% non-Steelers fans are mute.