From the desk of Tom Janicki,<\/p>\n
Past:\u00a0 This is the Super Bowl, so many great memories.\u00a0 I must admit that my 1st<\/sup> Super Bowl memory does not start with the Steelers.\u00a0 I may have been conceived after a 70\u2019s Steelers victory but the 1st<\/sup> Super Bowl that I can remember involved Marino vs. Montana and I had my 1st<\/sup> bad taste from the Niners. \u00a0Com\u2019n Man, growing up in Pittsburgh Marino was a God. \u00a0He made it look easy.\u00a0 I can remember him getting dismantled by SF that day.\u00a0 That was the start for me of a losing AFC tradition in the big game. I can remember being an AFC supporter and never winning.\u00a0 13 straight loses if my memory serves correct.\u00a0 John Elway letting me down a few times.\u00a0 Jim Kelly not being able to win the big game.\u00a0 Very few games growing up through the 80\u2019s were even remotely close.\u00a0 Icing on the cake was that the Steelers were rarely competitive.\u00a0 I must admit that the Steelers were not even in the thought process during those years. \u00a0I watched and remember the names but I was not a true fan. \u00a0Then the Steelers started fielding good teams (finally) right around the same time that I was new to the tailgate scene.\u00a0 You know, a Keg with no ice and some Solo cups, really all you really need!!\u00a0 Anyway, back to the Super Bowl\u2026My 1st<\/sup> really impactful pre Super Bowl memory was Stan Humphries to Alfred Pupunu and grown men crying and not leaving the stadium after the loss to the heavily underdog Chargers in \u201994-\u201995.\u00a0 If that was the agony of defeat then the thrill of victory was the following year as the Colts and Jim Harbaugh\u2019s pass fell to the ground.\u00a0 I thought I would never see a larger group of men hugging as I did that day. \u00a0Because I was not accustomed to the winning tradition, winning an AFC Championship game at home seemed to be the greatest feeling in Sports. \u00a0I took a few weeks off of college to travel to Tempe with money I really didn\u2019t have.\u00a0 No chance to get in but was able to experience the atmosphere non the less.\u00a0 Steeler nation took their 1st<\/sup> Super Bowl defeat that day but the love for the atmosphere was the tip of the iceberg.\u00a0 Beer We Go was born shortly thereafter.\u00a0 The following years were filled with winning teams that just couldn\u2019t seem to win the big game again. \u00a0Then we drafted Big Ben and the rest is history!!\u00a0 Super Steeler Bowl # 5 was less than spectacular, freezing cold Detroit and a Seattle team that was happy to be in the game. \u00a0We were coming from the 6 seed having beaten the Bungals, the Colts (Best game that I had attended up to that point in my life, 1st<\/sup> time that I was in a dome and that building was loud!) then the Broncos. \u00a0Winning that Super Bowl seemed to be a foregone conclusion being that the \u201cBus\u201d was retiring and the game was in his home town. (eerily similar to this years plot).\u00a0 The best part about the game was that I made a failed attempt at sneaking into the game prior to kick-off but was successfully in the 4th<\/sup> quarter with the bearded King Joey Harkins. \u00a0My advice to all that are going to a Super Bowl in the future and can\u2019t afford it\u2026hang out by the exit of the stadium and be patient. \u00a0What a celebration that was.\u00a0 We finally got one for the thumb.\u00a0 I could remember back to the Mean Joe commercials and shirts pushing for one for the thumb. \u00a0Fast forward toTampa a few years back.\u00a0 At this point, I was able to afford an over priced Super Bowl ticket.\u00a0 This memory rivals everything that I had done up to that point.\u00a0 \u00a0It would have a hard time believing that there will EVER be a better Super Bowl moment than the silverback taking it the length of the field. \u00a0Then Santonio\u2019s catch totally trumped the interception.\u00a0 The last Super Bowl was our most difficult for personal reasons and the defeat did not help matters.\u00a0 Bottom line, the Past has been VERY GOOD to our Black & Gold.\u00a0 VERY GOOD INDEED. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Present:\u00a0 I have a distain for the Ravens because they are the Browns.\u00a0 If it was ever Brown it must be flushed down and the Ravens will always be an extension of Brown.\u00a0 I have a hard time stomaching either Harbaugh especially Jim just because of his antics on the sideline. \u00a0\u00a0I have see-sawed all week on whether to even pay attention to the game.\u00a0 How could I not, it\u2019s the Super Bowl.\u00a0 I was leaning towards rooting for the 49ers just because I did not want any joy to be felt by theBaltimorefan base.\u00a0 Further more, this Ray Ray media blitz is over the top and it\u2019s the Ravens.\u00a0 We as Steeler fans have a hard time rooting for our rival. \u00a0My thought was the Super Bowl would be buried on the West Coast and would be forgotten in weeks opposed to if the Ravens won they would play the Steelers on Thursday night and probably dump Gatorade on Harbaugh before kick-off.\u00a0 Man I hate the Ravens.\u00a0 But\u2026.flip the coin\u2026the 49ers are 5-0 in the big game \u2026Doesn\u2019t a Super Bowl in the AFC North build the divisions resume?\u00a0 I typically pull for the AFC.\u00a0 I must say that I would prefer a terribly played game (similar to the last Ravens Super Bowl victory) where the ravens come out on top. \u00a0It pains me to write that as well.\u00a0 I take \u201cSIXBURGH\u201d totally out of the equation within this thought process.\u00a0 I like to think Super Bowls are just a small part of the history of Championships in the NFL.\u00a0 We may claim to have the most Super Bowls but many other teams (Green Bayand NY Giants come to the top of the mind) have a greater championship tradition.\u00a0 This should not and does not take anything away from the \u201cSIXBURGH\u201d argument, just saying that argument is a bit short sighted\u2026dontcha think? \u00a0If the Ratbirds are to win, fast forward to next year, I hope that we play them on Opening night\u2026remember those cowards refused to play us the year after our last ring.\u00a0 There would be nothing better to release the pain of this season than to beat the paper Super Bowl Champs in there own building celebrating the ring.\u00a0 Again I dispise the Ravens but I would rather put it to the rival champs next year opposed to \u201ccouldn\u2019t win the big one again\u201d Baltimore Ravens.\u00a0 My final present Super Bowl thought, Randy Moss claims he\u2019s the greatest wide receiver of all time\u2026what a joke\u2026I would roster Hines Ward over Moss any day of the week and twice on Sunday\u2026I for one do not want to see that guy win a Ring!!\u00a0 You feel me? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Future:\u00a0 We, as Steelers fans, have been blessed with Championship caliber football for many years and I believe many more to come.\u00a0 We are getting long in the tooth though.\u00a0 We need to start doing a better job with the draft and potentially go away from the norm and bring in a free agent or two (Steven Jackson is at the top of my wish list).\u00a0 As long as we have a healthy Ben, we have a good shot to bring the glory back to the Burgh.\u00a0 This year has been forgotten and we will be counting down the days to another deep playoff run next year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To wrap it up, no disrespect to the Super Bowl participants this year; regardless of our likes or dislikes, they earned the right by getting into the playoffs and winning to this point.\u00a0 They both deserve the chance to lift the trophy (I just threw up in my mouth!).\u00a0 May the best team on Sunday win!!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n BEER WE GO STEELERS.\u00a0 Next up, draft day!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the desk of Tom Janicki, Past:\u00a0 This is the Super Bowl, so many great memories.\u00a0 I must admit that my 1st Super Bowl memory does not start with the Steelers.\u00a0 I may have been conceived after a 70\u2019s Steelers victory but the 1st Super Bowl that I can remember involved Marino vs. Montana and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-desk-of-president-tom-janicki"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bwgsteelers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bwgsteelers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bwgsteelers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bwgsteelers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bwgsteelers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1060"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/bwgsteelers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1063,"href":"http:\/\/bwgsteelers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions\/1063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bwgsteelers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bwgsteelers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bwgsteelers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}