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I am always excited for the first game of the year. Who is going to sing the National Anthem? Is the NFL going to redo their opening credits? It is still going to be Faith Hill in the superwoman outfit, black belt and all?
This year’s opening game was no exception. The 2009 season opened at the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Heinz stadium; Steelers verse the Tennessee Titans. Pittsburgh, who won their sixth Super Bowl last year, the most of any team in the NFL, left nothing to be desired with their panache and glowing firework show. It was better than any fourth of July show I have seen in a long time and I live in Chicago! We shoot off fireworks for any and every holiday.
As I am writing this we are still in the first quarter, Ben Roethlisberger is not looking so hot, two sacks already. Maybe it is the civil suit for sexual assault hanging over his head, maybe it’s because he had a big meal before the game. I close my eyes every time he is hit in fear that he is going to hurt himself. Then I have to remind myself, “Self, these are professional football players and have at least a dozen pads on their upper body alone. Get over it.”
One of the most common remarks I hear about football from women is: “It looks like it hurts so much, it is just so violent.” And, where I can’t disagree that slamming into one another to get the ball away from the opposing team is rather vicious, isn’t basketball the same way, but without pads? What about soccer? Soccer players routinely kick each other for goodness sake, illegally and with dramatic flair, but they do!
There, it happened again, damn those Titans are quick! I shutter when Roethlisberger is hit, it is because I fear losing him for the season, not that the is going to go home tonight with bruises. There are massage therapists, ice baths and Advil for that. Here is my QB advice, “Run the other way!”
And let’s talk about Troy Polamalu, #43, THE best defensive linebacker in the league, but really, got to love the hair! It’s shiny, bouncy, fluffy, everything I have ever wanted my hair to be, but isn’t. Polamalu a Samoan. Despite Polamalu’s hard-hitting style on the gridiron, he is known as the off-the-field soft-spoken Christian family man and though he rarely gives interviews, when he does he talks about his spirituality. Got to love a man like that.
I am going to settle in for the second half with fingers crossed and my thin, straight brown hair tied back with a ponytail holder. Go Steelers!
