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High in the Titans' stadium will sit contingent of the lucky

Thursday, January 09, 2003

By Shelly Anderson, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

This wasn't a lunch rush. It was a lunch crunch.

	Michele Austin of Brighton Heights can't contain her excitement at Vento's Pizza in East Liberty yesterday after learning she was one of 19 people winning a chance to purchase two tickets to Saturday's playoff game. (Martha Rial, Post-Gazette)

Kathy Steiff, one of those shoehorned into Vento's Pizza in East Liberty yesterday, looked down and spied a circle of shiny copper.

"I found a lucky penny on the floor, and I told my husband, 'This is it,' " Steiff, of Brighton Heights, said an hour or so later after winning the chance to buy two tickets to Saturday's Steelers playoff game Saturday against the Tennessee Titans in Nashville.

"So I won, and here it is," Steiff said, pulling the penny out of her pocket. "My husband's a big fan. I'm not that big of a Steelers fan -- but I am now."

The Steiffs bought one of 19 pairs of "hospitality" tickets put up for sale at Vento's by Jeanne Hanchett of Oakland, who bought a block of 50 tickets Monday from the Titans. Each ticket included a seat at The Coliseum and entry to a private, catered tailgate tent outside the stadium before the game. She kept tickets for herself and her husband, Jim, and sold 10 to family members.

That left 38 to be sold yesterday for $150 per ticket, the same price she paid.

Vento's was packed hours before the 2:30 p.m. drawing.

	Related Stories Steelers: Scott takes part in drills, says he'll play Saturday Although the 38 extra tickets Jeanne Hanchett had are gone, there are ways of getting into the Steelers' playoff game Saturday against Tennessee in Nashville. Just don't count on getting seats at face value. Several Internet sites -- including www.ebay.com, www.titans-tickets.com and www.sftix.com -- list tickets for sale. As of yesterday afternoon, the prices seemed to start around $140 each and reached upward of $500 each. The Post-Gazette has been running a handful of classified ads for tickets in print and at our online classifieds at the announcements subcategory (check the "tickets" group for listings) . According to the newspaper's policy, prices are not listed in the ads. Undoubtedly, there will be self-employed ticket agents -- also known as scalpers -- outside The Coliseum Saturday selling seats. -- Shelly Anderson

The scene was hectic inside and outside, where fans checked out a bus from DeBolt Unlimited, which is offering a $99 round-trip fare to Nashville. An Iron City truck pulled up, and, with some fans' help, 25 cases of beer were loaded onto the bus for the trip.

By 2:30 p.m., 905 raffle tickets had been distributed. Restaurant owner Al Vento Jr., Hanchett and a few others gathered in a fenced-off courtyard outside the shop with the crowd on the other side of the fence.

Using a sound system donated by a local country radio station, Hanchett addressed the crowd, telling everyone her story of buying the block of tickets from the Titans and wanting the 38 extra to go to Steelers fans, although she noted that the seats were "kind of up in the nosebleed area."

The first winner was Lamar Milton of West Mifflin.

"It caught me off guard, it really did, but I'm glad I've got these tickets and I'm ready to go to Nashville," Milton said. "My wife and I were going to drive down there anyway and try to get tickets down there."

Milton said he occasionally got the chance to attend Steelers games and had this prediction for Saturday: "Steelers, 28-3."

A few minutes later, Milton's friend from West Mifflin, Brandon Sparks, had his number called.

Unlike Steiff, Sparks didn't think he would have much of a shot at buying two tickets, especially after someone from his group had already won.

"Slim to none," said Sparks, who will be taking an uncle to the game. "But everyone had a chance, and I actually won. I can't wait to go to Tennessee."

After the 19 winners had come forward, the crowd quickly broke up.

"Everyone who won was coming down screaming and yelling," Jim Hanchett said. "It was great. Everybody seems to be happy that they had a chance."

The Hanchetts could have made a profit selling the tickets, but they didn't consider it. "That would have been no fun," he said.

For the exchange of money and game tickets, Jeanne Hanchett met with the 19 winners in the basement of Vento's, surrounded by boxes of pizza sauce and bottled water.

"All we had were people saying thank you and thanking me for making the tickets available, and that just makes me feel good," she said. "It was reassuring to see what Pittsburgh's all about."

She'll see the winners again Saturday in Nashville.

"We'll all be sitting together," she said. "This is better than just my husband and me going. I hope everybody brings their Terrible Towel and waves it."

Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721.