From the Couch To the Field-A Tale of My Time In Latrobe

What’s it like going from a lifetime Steeler fan, following them as close as you possibly can from the outside to being granted media credentials and getting to cover them on an up close and in person basis?  It’s an exhilarating feeling.  How many of you would like to be on the field during a scrimmage or practice?  How would you like to get to interview and talk with former players Joey Porter and Willie Parker or any current player you’d like?  As a part of the media I was able to do just that.  How would you like to eat in the dining hall in Latrobe and see Dick Lebeu next to you getting an ice cream cone?  It’s phenomenal to experience, yet humbling. 

As soon as I found out that I was going to be permitted via Steel Nation Magazine (www.steelnationmagazine.com) to have media access to Steelers camp I told myself I needed to approach this from an extremely professional manner and decided to follow an old cliché “act like you’ve been there before”.  I’m sure glad I did.  My first experience was on Latrobe Night at Latrobe Stadium. It was the annual scrimmage in front of a rather large crowd.  I was able to walk down on the field and look into the crowd, the crowd where I used to be. While in some instance it was only a matter of 50 yards that separated me from that crowd, it may as well have been 5,000,000 yards. The difference is immeasurable. I was able to walk anywhere on the field that I wanted to go, take pictures of anything I saw and talk to the players as they came in and out of the stadium. 

To start the night; a parade of about 8 or 9 school buses, yes the yellow and black elementary school buses, pulled up with the Steelers inside them. The Steelers, lead by coach Tomlin walked through the gates to the roar of the crowd. I was standing on the track next to the team along with the rest of the media snapping pictures and standing just feet away from Tomlin, Troy Polamalu and Ben Roethlisberger to name a few. 

After the players entered the stadium they proceeded to spread out around the field and begin to sign autographs for the droves of fans lined up against the fence separating them from the field.  Being on the players side of the fence I was able to see it from a different perspective. There are hundreds if not thousands of people screaming their names and begging for autographs, they just can’t reach everyone, there isn’t enough time.  The players seem to largely reach out to the kids to give them autographs and avoid the adults more often than not, and who can blame them?  This may be a man’s game but the kids are the ones who look up to and idolize the players. They deserve the attention on this night if not every other night. Sure I was tempted to get an autograph from Troy or Harrison or any other Steeler super star but I never thought about breaking that professionalism.  There was an individual in the media next to me who did break that code and got a few players and coaches to sign some merchandise for him.  He was promptly scolded by Steelers brass and told to never do that again.  Bottom line in that scenario is pretty cut and dry, you can’t do that, you shouldn’t do that, so don’t do that. 

After a good 20-30 minutes of players and coaches signing autographs they hit the field for warm ups and drills before playing some offense vs. defense.  Being able to walk up and down the sideline during all of this was as exciting as it gets for a Steeler fan.  I was snapping pictures of everything in sight from Ben tossing the ball to Antonio Brown to Heath Miller grabbing a drink of Gatorade on the sideline.  I didn’t want to miss a single thing with my own eyes but felt the need for my camera to not miss a single thing either so I could share as much of this experience as possible with the Steel Nation.  At one point as I was crouching down on the 20 yard line to snap a photo of a helmetless offense vs. defense drill I was run into by a walking James Harrison who was texting on his cell phone and walking down the sideline at the same time.  The guy is a rock and he easily moved me back a few yards by simply bumping into me. I can’t imagine seeing that man come at me full speed if I were a quarterback or running back.  Harrison was as friendly as could be and we exchanged a few pleasantries and then went our separate ways.  As I walked up and down the sideline I was able to stand next to or walk right by just about all the big names you can think of.

The Steelers also had a small ceremony for some retired players including Joey Porter, Willie Parker and Aaron Smith.  Porter and Parker both granted media interviews and I was right there with my microphone in hand. To stand next to these guys who helped bring Pittsburgh the Championship in 2005 and actually talk with them was an experience in and of itself.  To hear Joey Porter speak about his time in Pittsburgh glowingly was great. He said Pittsburgh had a special place in his heart and “that void wouldn’t be filled if I didn’t come back and retire as a Steeler”.  He was still the Joey we’ve all seen and heard about as he made a pretty funny wise crack about one of the reporters he had known for years. 

Standing next to Fast Willie and talking with him was a blast as well. He’s surprisingly small but we all know that man could fly. He told us that he was interning as a Tight Ends Coach at West Virginia Wesleyan and had aspirations of learning the trade of coaching.  He also mentioned that no player on that team can outrun him as he still has his speed.  Parker discussed his time as a Steeler and on more than one occasion stated “It was the best six years of my life”.  We all enjoyed those six years too Willie!

The day after the scrimmage I was back at Latrobe for practice. I started off by going into the media room and sitting with some local media members discussing nothing but sports and getting their opinions and thoughts on the upcoming season.  Right around lunch time we were escorted up to the player cafeteria where the players would come in periodically for lunch on golf carts. They’d walk through media members and we’d grab them as we wanted to, to discuss whatever we wanted to. Sometimes I’d get my microphone in on some players such as Baron Batch and the great Lamar Woodley.  Woodley was asked if any young players had impressed him yet;  at this time the team had not played a pre season game so he said “Not yet, we’ll see, we’ll see when the game comes and I’ll tell you different”.  I thought that was pretty cool, just a straight and honest answer.  I learned pretty quickly that Lamar Woodley was a good guy to talk to and friendly as could be.

After interviews with some players I headed into the players cafeteria for lunch.  They had a spread fit for a king and not only did it look good, it hit the spot too.  As I’m walking down one of the rows I saw Dick Lebeau getting an Ice Cream right next to me. Folks it’s not just TV, the guy truly does look young and he is full of energy. 

I came back to camp a few days later and started the day the same way; outside the players cafeteria getting my microphone in on players such as Jonathan Dwyer who had just been activated off the PUP list the day before. He was excited to be back in pads and when asked about getting a bigger opportunity in the running game with both Mendenhall and Redman hurt he said a classic Tomlin line “The standard is the standard here”.  Meaning he’ll be ready to go. He also stated he’s taking care of himself and leaving the rest up to fate.

Max Starks also stopped by before lunch and discussed how excited he was to be back in pads as well and he expected to get better and better each day.

After a good two hours of players coming in and out on their golf carts I headed in for lunch and again enjoyed the spread.  From there it was back to the media room to begin writing this very article and peruse the Steelers press releases that go to media members first.  That was a privileged feeling.

Around 2:45 pm I, along with the rest of the media headed down onto the practice fields to watch the team do several drills. I was ON the field! I was able to snap some close up pictures as drills were being run right in front of me. As I’m walking up and down the field  I could hear and see the fans (side note, it really is true, there are no better fans in the world, they were all into it and to quote Allen Iverson “we’re talking about practice”) yelling and screaming for autographs and cheering throws made by Big Ben and catches by Antonio Brown.  I could hear the coaches scolding players who messed up and lauding the players who did well.  I was very close to Mike Tomlin when Jonathan Dwyer made a nice run out of the backfield and Tomlin yelled in to him “Nice Cut two Seven, Nice Cut Two Sev”. I felt like I was in the game.

Later on I was standing there taking some pictures when Chris Collinsworth walks down the hill, slaps me on the back and starts talking with me about the Steelers for a minute or two. He was in town for the NBC Sunday night game. 

After about 2.5 hours of practice the Steelers left the field and we were able to grab them as fast as we could to talk. I got my microphone in on Isaac Redman first and he discussed his injury stating he thought it wasn’t too serious and hoped to be back soon.  The information, as expected was limited and nobody really knew what to think on his injury. 

Tomlin then came over to us and talked for a good six minutes. He was asked about Redman’s MRI (which is one secret that was poorly kept as we all knew he had one) and he half jokingly said to us “I’m not acknowledging that maybe that exists but I’ll just characterize him as day to day at this point”.  He was great to listen to up close and personal. Tomlin’s very matter of fact and down to business, as one might expect.

After Tomlin’s mini press conference we headed back to the cafeteria to try to grab players as they walked in and out from dinner.  Some players were with their wives and kids and it didn’t’ seem right to bother those guys. They had a long day and wanted to spend time with their families, I stayed out of any of those interviews out of principal.  Troy Polamalu was there with his family and he rolled up hanging out of the front of the golf cart and talking on the walky talky, great stuff and it’s obvious he’s just a fun loving good guy.

Lamar Woodley was there again and with the news recently breaking of his generous donation to his home town school system for athletics everyone wanted to talk to him, including me.  He discussed how he gave money to help the kids play sports back home and he doesn’t do things like that for publicity but rather form the goodness of his heart.  Woodley said he made the donation through his foundation so I asked him how people in the public could learn more about his foundation and help out, he responded to me that you could visit “ www.lamarrwoodleyfoundation.com it’s going to be great, I’m hands on with it and you’ll be amazed I’m hands on with it, always coming up with different programs……I put together most of the programs too you’d be amazed” 

After that several more players walked in and out of the cafeteria, Ike Taylor, Casey Hampton, James Harrison and one Ben Roethlisberger.  Ben went in and came out alone so I decided to pull him aside for a quick question or two. Ben was kind enough to talk to me. I asked him how he felt everything was going with camp coming to a close soon and he said “We’re still early in the process but I know we’re all ready to break camp, getting ready for these games and get the pre season over with” and “Every day we’re learning new things and getting a little bit better”. Talking one on one with a 2 time Super Bowl winning QB and in my opinion future Hall of Famer was enough for me to call it a day and head into the player cafeteria for dinner.

Eating dinner with some other media members I was in line behind Heath Miller to get all you can eat shrimp and I was sitting at the table next to Troy Polamalu and his family. 

For a lifetime Steeler fan who’s cheered the black and gold for as long as I can remember, purchased their jerseys and souvenirs and been to countless games, this was the ultimate experience.

I took it seriously and didn’t act like a fan who was on the inside, I kept it cool and professional while there but as I reflect on all of this; it was a story that I’m happy I can share with all the fellow fans out there. It’s a story of a fan of a team who has actually obtained the ability to cover that team and to me that’s a rarity that can’t be found daily.