Super Bowl Posts--Part I--A Few Memories
Super Bowl Posts--Part I-- A Few Memories
(maybe the real title of this post could be, "Question--When did the Super Bowl become such a media event? Answer--In betwween Super Bowls X and XIII, 1977 -1979.")
It's Super Bowl Sunday, breakfast time, and no, my Super Sunday breakfast isn't going the same way that Hunter S. Thompson's was as fictionally-immortalized by Bill Murray in the 1980 classic "Where The Buffalo Roam," but hey, it *is* Super Sunday breakfast, and why not celebrate it by blogging a few posts about Steeler Super Bowls past and present. I have a ton more memories of the four Steeler championships and one Steeler loss than I will be able to post here, but lte me share just a few now:
Super Bowl IX, the first one the Steelers were in, was in January 1975. The Steelers had made it somehwhat unexpectedly, having beaten the dreaded Raiders in the AFC Championship on the road in Oakland, and were peaking at the right time. They were up against the Minnesota Vikings, the "Purple People Eaters" who'd been in the Super Bowl twice before (twice out of eight previous Super Bowls up to that point, not too bad), and at least some of us guys in the pre-junior-high expertise that we all had were saying that, hey, it would be OK to make it to the Super Bowl this year and make it again next year and win it that time. See, that pattern had happened several times previously, with a team making it to the big game only to lose, then coming back the next year and winning--cf. the Miami Dolphins 1972-1974. The Steelers were the type of team that was getting better year-by-year, and their 10-3-1 record in the 1974 season was pretty good but not what football fans had come to expect for a champion--the 1972 Dolphins, undefeated all season long, had set the standard and the Steelers weren't quite there yet. So, as a kid, I'm thinking that maybe the Steelers are in the Super Bowl this year and, consistent with the regular progression that they had shown over the last several seasons, they'll be champs next year.
However, the Steelers, and especially their coach Chuck Noll, had other ideas. In comments that in that day wouldn't be allowed to make it into the media, he apparently called his team aside after the first round of the playoffs and commented on the "other" playoff game that had happened that weekend. The Steelers had easily defeated someone, some team in their first game, and were advancing to the AFC Championship Game against the winner of the Dolphin-Raider game. That game featured the Ken Stabler/John Madden-led Oakland Raiders, by that time already becoming Steeler rivals after the "Immaculate Reception" game, against the Miami Dolphins, victors of the previous two Super Bowls and somewhat weakened by defections to the World Football League (remember that!!!) but still one of the better teams in football. In a classic matchup that came down to the last play, the Raiders pulled it out to advance to the AFC Championship. The "mistake" that the Raiders made was after the game, when Raiders coach John Madden was interviewed and as a compliment to the Dolphins made the comment, "It's a shame that someone had to lose that game, we both were so excellent" or words to that effect. Well, in what was probably one of the first "motivational" speeches in the modern NFL, Steelers coach Chuck Noll took the newspaper clipping containing that quote and brought it into the Steelers locker room the next day, read it to the Steelers and held it up in fornt of them, saying, "Hey, lookie here, they just think that they won the fucking Super Bowl!!! They think they're the best fucking team in football!!! Ha ha, what do they know, WE'RE the best fucking team in football, and they're going to find that out this Sunday!!!!" Steelers linebacker Andy Russell later remembered that speech as a real turning point in Steelers' history, as up until then they were a team with nothing but a losing tradition who finally were starting to get good. To be told that they were not just a good team, but their coach thought that they were the best fucking team in football, was a real shot in the arm for that franchise and those players, literally almost every single one of them had never played for any other team than the Steelers.
That was one of the great things about the Steelers of the 1970s, the entire team for like four seasons was composed of players who had been drafted by the Steelers and who had played for no other team than the Pittsburgh Steelers. No trades, no free agents, all homegrown talent. (that didn't apply to the 1974 team, I don't believe, but maybe kicked in around the seasons 1976-1979, but still, *most* players on the Steelers four Super Bowl victories were Steeler draftees.)
So anyhoo, the Steelers make it to the Super Bowl after having been told that they were the best team in football, and end up playing the team that may have been the best team in football--the Minnesota Vikings. The Purple People Eaters were probably heavy favorites, and rightly so, but the Steelers had some weapons that nowadays are standard on any NFL team but back then were kind of novelties. The Steelers had offensive linemen ALL OF WHOM who could pull and trap, not just one or two who they would use as a novelty. The Steelers had a running back whose primary job was as a blocker--Rocky Bleier. The NFL had just come off of the Dolphins' two Super Bowl wins, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Csonka and Kiick) were the first two backs in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in the same season (I think they were the first two). The Steelers went the other direction--sacrifice one of your backs so that the other can shine. (Ironically, after several seasons of that approach, their "blocking" back, Rocky Bleier, ended up with over 1,000 yards himself, along with Franco Harris, their prima donna, thus joining that elite crew). Finally, the Steelers had a defense. No, not just a defensive line, although they had that. No, not just a linebacker corps, although they had that; not just a secondary, although they had that. The Super Steelers of the 1970s were the first team in modern NFL history who had a full-scale, complete defense that was as integral to their overall gameplan as was their offense. They would try to dominate the line, and usually did. If that failed, though, their linebackers would eat up any running backs who came through, and any attempts to pass would result in (a) a quarterback sack from the defensive line or (b) the inability to find any open receivers as cornerback Mel Blount had put one WR on his butt right at the line of scrimmage and any open areas deep in the field would be covered by one of their linebackers, middle linebacker Jack Lambert sometimes being seen 40 yards (!) downfield on pass coverage. This was the key to the Steelers success in the 1970s, at least the first half of the decade--their comprehensive, all-bases-covered defense.
Super Bowl IX was played on January 12, 1975 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. The game and the ambience that surrounded it was at that time so low-key that we--along with everyone else I knew--didn't even have a Super Bowl party!!!!!! Wow, how could that happen??!?!?!?!? My father invited our next-door neighbor over, along with his son who was roughly my age, and the four of us sat down and watched the Super Bowl!!!!! That was it--no parties, no pizza, no betting pools, no pep songs, no house decorations, no phone calls from out-of-town relatives, no nothing--just a Sunday afternoon football game with your next-door neighbors over to watch it!!!! Guys only, not that the women weren't welcome, they just weren't interested!!!!! Four guys sat around and watched a football game on Sunday afternoon--no big deal whatsoever!!!! (MY how times have changed!!!!)
I can honestly say that I don't remember much about the game. I remember that the Steelers were playing well, and that they deserved to win, and that it was a "Steeler" game insofar as it was a defensive, "field position" game that favored the Steelers' approach. I also remember that the TV that we had at the time [airwaves TV, of course, no cable back then] was very temperamental, and since I had figured out the fine-tuning mechanism that would make it work I was ordered by my father to sit close to the TV and fix it immediately if any problems arose. (None did, by the way, but I was ready in case it had).
The Steelers won, of course, but that's about all there was to it. No parades, no celebrations, no victory shots, no nothing--just a win, we all cheered, Kerry and Brian Aquadro went back home next door, and we all woke up the next morning and went to school/work. That was it--Steelers win the Super Bowl, yippeee!!! now let's get back to what we were doing.
Scary thought, but the next year, Super Bowl X, was *very* similar. Kerry Aquadro returned the favor, inviting my father and I over to their house to watch the game, with a few more guests this time from the host's family, and my mother and Mrs. Aquadro now took an interest in watching it too, but sort of sat in the background and only watched when things got interesting. I think that they had gotten the bowls out too for the potato chips, and not just passed around the bag like we'd done the year before. Still, I wouldn't say that that event was a "Super Bowl party." We just watched the game, rooted for the Steelers, and hoped for the best-- an awful lot like the year before.
Another thing that was similar to the game the year before--and here at long last we're finally getting to answer the question that I asked above, "When did the Super Bowl become such a media event?"--was the time of day when the game was played. See, one of the things that I remember about Super Bowl IX in Jan. 12, 1975 was after the game, when we won, Kerry and Brian Aquadro went home out our back door, a sliding glass patio door, and walked home next door into their back, sliding-glass patio door, all in braod daylight. Super Bowl X, against the Dallas Cowboys, ended with a Hail Mary pass from Roger Staubach into the Steelers end zone which, ahd it been caught, would've led to a Cowboys' victory. Instead, it was intercepted by a Steelers d-back named Glenn Edwards, and instead of walking home next door out the back door, I ran out onto the street out the front door and screamed, "The Steelers won!!! Glenn Edwards you're our hero!!!!" BUT STILL...all in broad daylight!!!!!!! I doubt it was even five o'clock Eastern time when the game ended--if it was still light outside, it must've been early, as sunset in Pitsburgh in early January is just after 5 pm. Another football game, another Steeler victory, yippeee, wasn't that nice!!! The Campbells, across the street and a few houses down, also had some people over to watch the game, and we all met out on the street and high-fived each other, but not a whole lot more than that.
The 1976 and 1977 Steeler seasons, after winning two in a row and being the favorites for a third, were somewhat disappointing, with the injury-riddled 1976 Steelers losing to the hated Oakland Raiders after the team's best all-around defensive season of their dynasty, but too exhausted by early January to take it all the way. The 1977 season had the Steelers back into the playoffs and lose their first-round game, which they shouldn't have even been in at all. So, the end of the road????
No, not so fast. A re-tooled approach, now focusing on offense instead of defense, got the Steelers back into the Super Bowl after the 1978 season, and on January 1979 the Steelers went to to play the Cowboys again.
You all know the rest of the story, "Steelers first team to ever win three Super Bowls," blah blah blah, and I don't have time to fill you in on all the details of the game if you don't, but I will say this--I watched the game at a Super Bowl party that my parents threw with about 25 guests, a full spread of food, snacks,and drinks, TVs tuned into the game in every room including the bathroom, and my father having hooked up the speakers on the family stereo to blast the Steelers' fight song (the Pennsylvania Polka with different, Steeler-oriented words) after every Steelers score. I daresay that everyone else I knew was watching the game in the same fashion that year--VERY different than it was a mere three years earlier. Also, the game was at night, at least in Pittsburgh's time zone, and by the time it was over, it was pitched black--well after dark. Furthermore, there were all sorts of events associated with the game that had N-O-T-H-I-N-G to do with football, like on the network that was televising the game a "Super Bowl Saturday Night" special that I naively thought was a preview of the game but was nothing more than a cheesy, tacky variety show with no entertainers from either Pittsburgh or Dallas or for that matter no references whatsoever to the two teams that were actually in the game!!!!!!!
Tons, tons, tons more memories of Super Bowls past from the city that won four times in the 1970s (and lost once in the 1990s, in what was maybe the best of their five games actually), but that's enough for now, especially since I've already answered the question, "When did the Super Bowl become such a media event??" The answer--sometime in between the Steelers' first two and last two wins in the 1970s :)
(maybe the real title of this post could be, "Question--When did the Super Bowl become such a media event? Answer--In betwween Super Bowls X and XIII, 1977 -1979.")
It's Super Bowl Sunday, breakfast time, and no, my Super Sunday breakfast isn't going the same way that Hunter S. Thompson's was as fictionally-immortalized by Bill Murray in the 1980 classic "Where The Buffalo Roam," but hey, it *is* Super Sunday breakfast, and why not celebrate it by blogging a few posts about Steeler Super Bowls past and present. I have a ton more memories of the four Steeler championships and one Steeler loss than I will be able to post here, but lte me share just a few now:
Super Bowl IX, the first one the Steelers were in, was in January 1975. The Steelers had made it somehwhat unexpectedly, having beaten the dreaded Raiders in the AFC Championship on the road in Oakland, and were peaking at the right time. They were up against the Minnesota Vikings, the "Purple People Eaters" who'd been in the Super Bowl twice before (twice out of eight previous Super Bowls up to that point, not too bad), and at least some of us guys in the pre-junior-high expertise that we all had were saying that, hey, it would be OK to make it to the Super Bowl this year and make it again next year and win it that time. See, that pattern had happened several times previously, with a team making it to the big game only to lose, then coming back the next year and winning--cf. the Miami Dolphins 1972-1974. The Steelers were the type of team that was getting better year-by-year, and their 10-3-1 record in the 1974 season was pretty good but not what football fans had come to expect for a champion--the 1972 Dolphins, undefeated all season long, had set the standard and the Steelers weren't quite there yet. So, as a kid, I'm thinking that maybe the Steelers are in the Super Bowl this year and, consistent with the regular progression that they had shown over the last several seasons, they'll be champs next year.
However, the Steelers, and especially their coach Chuck Noll, had other ideas. In comments that in that day wouldn't be allowed to make it into the media, he apparently called his team aside after the first round of the playoffs and commented on the "other" playoff game that had happened that weekend. The Steelers had easily defeated someone, some team in their first game, and were advancing to the AFC Championship Game against the winner of the Dolphin-Raider game. That game featured the Ken Stabler/John Madden-led Oakland Raiders, by that time already becoming Steeler rivals after the "Immaculate Reception" game, against the Miami Dolphins, victors of the previous two Super Bowls and somewhat weakened by defections to the World Football League (remember that!!!) but still one of the better teams in football. In a classic matchup that came down to the last play, the Raiders pulled it out to advance to the AFC Championship. The "mistake" that the Raiders made was after the game, when Raiders coach John Madden was interviewed and as a compliment to the Dolphins made the comment, "It's a shame that someone had to lose that game, we both were so excellent" or words to that effect. Well, in what was probably one of the first "motivational" speeches in the modern NFL, Steelers coach Chuck Noll took the newspaper clipping containing that quote and brought it into the Steelers locker room the next day, read it to the Steelers and held it up in fornt of them, saying, "Hey, lookie here, they just think that they won the fucking Super Bowl!!! They think they're the best fucking team in football!!! Ha ha, what do they know, WE'RE the best fucking team in football, and they're going to find that out this Sunday!!!!" Steelers linebacker Andy Russell later remembered that speech as a real turning point in Steelers' history, as up until then they were a team with nothing but a losing tradition who finally were starting to get good. To be told that they were not just a good team, but their coach thought that they were the best fucking team in football, was a real shot in the arm for that franchise and those players, literally almost every single one of them had never played for any other team than the Steelers.
That was one of the great things about the Steelers of the 1970s, the entire team for like four seasons was composed of players who had been drafted by the Steelers and who had played for no other team than the Pittsburgh Steelers. No trades, no free agents, all homegrown talent. (that didn't apply to the 1974 team, I don't believe, but maybe kicked in around the seasons 1976-1979, but still, *most* players on the Steelers four Super Bowl victories were Steeler draftees.)
So anyhoo, the Steelers make it to the Super Bowl after having been told that they were the best team in football, and end up playing the team that may have been the best team in football--the Minnesota Vikings. The Purple People Eaters were probably heavy favorites, and rightly so, but the Steelers had some weapons that nowadays are standard on any NFL team but back then were kind of novelties. The Steelers had offensive linemen ALL OF WHOM who could pull and trap, not just one or two who they would use as a novelty. The Steelers had a running back whose primary job was as a blocker--Rocky Bleier. The NFL had just come off of the Dolphins' two Super Bowl wins, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Csonka and Kiick) were the first two backs in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in the same season (I think they were the first two). The Steelers went the other direction--sacrifice one of your backs so that the other can shine. (Ironically, after several seasons of that approach, their "blocking" back, Rocky Bleier, ended up with over 1,000 yards himself, along with Franco Harris, their prima donna, thus joining that elite crew). Finally, the Steelers had a defense. No, not just a defensive line, although they had that. No, not just a linebacker corps, although they had that; not just a secondary, although they had that. The Super Steelers of the 1970s were the first team in modern NFL history who had a full-scale, complete defense that was as integral to their overall gameplan as was their offense. They would try to dominate the line, and usually did. If that failed, though, their linebackers would eat up any running backs who came through, and any attempts to pass would result in (a) a quarterback sack from the defensive line or (b) the inability to find any open receivers as cornerback Mel Blount had put one WR on his butt right at the line of scrimmage and any open areas deep in the field would be covered by one of their linebackers, middle linebacker Jack Lambert sometimes being seen 40 yards (!) downfield on pass coverage. This was the key to the Steelers success in the 1970s, at least the first half of the decade--their comprehensive, all-bases-covered defense.
Super Bowl IX was played on January 12, 1975 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. The game and the ambience that surrounded it was at that time so low-key that we--along with everyone else I knew--didn't even have a Super Bowl party!!!!!! Wow, how could that happen??!?!?!?!? My father invited our next-door neighbor over, along with his son who was roughly my age, and the four of us sat down and watched the Super Bowl!!!!! That was it--no parties, no pizza, no betting pools, no pep songs, no house decorations, no phone calls from out-of-town relatives, no nothing--just a Sunday afternoon football game with your next-door neighbors over to watch it!!!! Guys only, not that the women weren't welcome, they just weren't interested!!!!! Four guys sat around and watched a football game on Sunday afternoon--no big deal whatsoever!!!! (MY how times have changed!!!!)
I can honestly say that I don't remember much about the game. I remember that the Steelers were playing well, and that they deserved to win, and that it was a "Steeler" game insofar as it was a defensive, "field position" game that favored the Steelers' approach. I also remember that the TV that we had at the time [airwaves TV, of course, no cable back then] was very temperamental, and since I had figured out the fine-tuning mechanism that would make it work I was ordered by my father to sit close to the TV and fix it immediately if any problems arose. (None did, by the way, but I was ready in case it had).
The Steelers won, of course, but that's about all there was to it. No parades, no celebrations, no victory shots, no nothing--just a win, we all cheered, Kerry and Brian Aquadro went back home next door, and we all woke up the next morning and went to school/work. That was it--Steelers win the Super Bowl, yippeee!!! now let's get back to what we were doing.
Scary thought, but the next year, Super Bowl X, was *very* similar. Kerry Aquadro returned the favor, inviting my father and I over to their house to watch the game, with a few more guests this time from the host's family, and my mother and Mrs. Aquadro now took an interest in watching it too, but sort of sat in the background and only watched when things got interesting. I think that they had gotten the bowls out too for the potato chips, and not just passed around the bag like we'd done the year before. Still, I wouldn't say that that event was a "Super Bowl party." We just watched the game, rooted for the Steelers, and hoped for the best-- an awful lot like the year before.
Another thing that was similar to the game the year before--and here at long last we're finally getting to answer the question that I asked above, "When did the Super Bowl become such a media event?"--was the time of day when the game was played. See, one of the things that I remember about Super Bowl IX in Jan. 12, 1975 was after the game, when we won, Kerry and Brian Aquadro went home out our back door, a sliding glass patio door, and walked home next door into their back, sliding-glass patio door, all in braod daylight. Super Bowl X, against the Dallas Cowboys, ended with a Hail Mary pass from Roger Staubach into the Steelers end zone which, ahd it been caught, would've led to a Cowboys' victory. Instead, it was intercepted by a Steelers d-back named Glenn Edwards, and instead of walking home next door out the back door, I ran out onto the street out the front door and screamed, "The Steelers won!!! Glenn Edwards you're our hero!!!!" BUT STILL...all in broad daylight!!!!!!! I doubt it was even five o'clock Eastern time when the game ended--if it was still light outside, it must've been early, as sunset in Pitsburgh in early January is just after 5 pm. Another football game, another Steeler victory, yippeee, wasn't that nice!!! The Campbells, across the street and a few houses down, also had some people over to watch the game, and we all met out on the street and high-fived each other, but not a whole lot more than that.
The 1976 and 1977 Steeler seasons, after winning two in a row and being the favorites for a third, were somewhat disappointing, with the injury-riddled 1976 Steelers losing to the hated Oakland Raiders after the team's best all-around defensive season of their dynasty, but too exhausted by early January to take it all the way. The 1977 season had the Steelers back into the playoffs and lose their first-round game, which they shouldn't have even been in at all. So, the end of the road????
No, not so fast. A re-tooled approach, now focusing on offense instead of defense, got the Steelers back into the Super Bowl after the 1978 season, and on January 1979 the Steelers went to to play the Cowboys again.
You all know the rest of the story, "Steelers first team to ever win three Super Bowls," blah blah blah, and I don't have time to fill you in on all the details of the game if you don't, but I will say this--I watched the game at a Super Bowl party that my parents threw with about 25 guests, a full spread of food, snacks,and drinks, TVs tuned into the game in every room including the bathroom, and my father having hooked up the speakers on the family stereo to blast the Steelers' fight song (the Pennsylvania Polka with different, Steeler-oriented words) after every Steelers score. I daresay that everyone else I knew was watching the game in the same fashion that year--VERY different than it was a mere three years earlier. Also, the game was at night, at least in Pittsburgh's time zone, and by the time it was over, it was pitched black--well after dark. Furthermore, there were all sorts of events associated with the game that had N-O-T-H-I-N-G to do with football, like on the network that was televising the game a "Super Bowl Saturday Night" special that I naively thought was a preview of the game but was nothing more than a cheesy, tacky variety show with no entertainers from either Pittsburgh or Dallas or for that matter no references whatsoever to the two teams that were actually in the game!!!!!!!
Tons, tons, tons more memories of Super Bowls past from the city that won four times in the 1970s (and lost once in the 1990s, in what was maybe the best of their five games actually), but that's enough for now, especially since I've already answered the question, "When did the Super Bowl become such a media event??" The answer--sometime in between the Steelers' first two and last two wins in the 1970s :)
posted by Greg Yoest at 12:48 PM
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