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Scene and views from Heinz Field Their field of dreams -- almost Sunday, August 26, 2001
Yellow seats. Tailgate parties. A busy first aid station. The noise level controversy. Breakfast with the boss. A proud mom. An exciting day.
Yesterday's inaugural Steelers game at Heinz Field had it all.
They (mostly) like it
Two years of speculation ended yesterday. The verdict: Most of the fans liked their experience at Heinz Field.
"I like the expansiveness of the stadium. I like the color of the seats--it's dramatic and it speaks of the Steelers and the Pitt Panthers," said Jeff Johnson of Washington, Pa. "I also like the view from the south end."
But some fans who sit in the bleachers in the north end complained of the lack of escalators in that end of the stadium. Only the south end has public escalators--covered by the white plastic "cocktail umbrellas."
This story was written by Post-Gazette staff writers Tom Barnes, Mackenzie Carpenter, Joe Grata and Michael A. Fuoco.
In the north end, unless you sit in the club seats, which do have escalators, you have to walk up six levels of the switchback ramps, and then climb stairs up into the bleachers.
Another complaint came from Sam Rudman of Beaver Falls, who sits in section 505, in the upper deck of the southeast corner. He said people in his section and several nearby sections can't see the gigantic scoreboard--they're too far off to one side. And there are no TV monitors on which to see replays.
"I'm very disappointed about that," he said.
Heat keeps medics busy
It seemed everyone working at Heinz Field was busy yesterday. Ticket takers. Vendors. Concessionaires. Doctors and medics.
In fact, city EMS doctors and medics treated three times the fans they normally see at a Steelers game--121 in all.
Roy Cox, EMS patient care coordinator, said the main reason was simply the heat. Whether fans were dehydrated or existing medical conditions such as diabetes were exacerbated, the heat was to blame.
At kickoff, the temperature was 79 degrees and the relative humidity was a relatively low 52 percent. By 4 p.m. the heat had climbed two degrees to 81 and the relative humidity remained the same.
Six fans had to be transported to hospitals--three for heat-related conditions, two for diabetes and one for heart problems. Another 32 had "moderate" medical problems, Cox said, and most of them were a result of the heat. The remainder were treated at the first aid station for relatively minor conditions.
So busy were the 20 EMS medics and doctors staffing the first aid unit that 10 more medics had to be called to the stadium to help out.
"From the time I got here at 9:30 a.m. until now I haven't stopped," Cox said, nearly 90 minutes after the game ended.
Of course, few Steeler games will be played in 80-degree temperatures, Cox said, so medics at Heinz Field normally won't be as busy as they were yesterday.
But, cooler temperatures won't eliminate one problem medics have seen in the first two events held at Heinz Field--"razor-sharp edges" on the plastic cup holders attached to the seats.
Medics treated three adults yesterday for cuts caused by the cup holders. At the 'N Sync concert a week earlier, 12 young fans were cut by the holders, Cox said.
Proud mom in the stands
Sitting about five rows from the top of section 522 in the north end zone bleachers, Lynn Batch of Homestead proudly watched her son, Charlie Batch, the Lions' quarterback.
Lynn, wearing a Lions shirt, was there with about 100 family members and friends, with tickets Charlie had gotten. He's the famous 1992 graduate of Steel Valley High School, who went on to play football at Eastern Michigan University and now the Lions.
He never played football at Three Rivers Stadium, but did play at the former Pitt Stadium once, when he was in college, his mother said.
"Charlie ate with me at home [Friday]," Lynn said. "He had one of his favorites, a hoagie and french fries."
Even though her son's team lost yesterday, she said, "I'm just glad to be here. I enjoyed it."
Fans in the lots
It didn't take long for Steelers fans to break in the new parking lots with tailgate parties yesterday.
"My name is Mad Dog --first name 'Mad,' last name 'Dog'," said one joyful fan, who later admitted his real name is Tim Dougherty of Cranberry.
He was dressed in full Steelers regalia-- a yellow construction hat with a 1976 Iron City Steelers beer can on top and a yellow shirt reading "Mad Dog Steeler Fanatic." For the women at his tailgate party, he had extra shirts reading "Mad Doggette."
"I haven't missed a Steelers game since 1972," said Dougherty, who drives a yellow Mustang--make that a "Steelers gold" Mustang.
Not far from him, in the parking lots between Heinz Field and PNC Park, was Jim Gross of Wexford with his car that has a mockup of a football field bolted to the roof. He calls it his "Bettis Powered Steeler Mobile," after running back Jerome "The Bus" Bettis.
The playing field consists of a wooden platform, with green artificial turf (with yard lines) and small plastic players on the "field." One group of players is in white, for the offense, and another in black, for the defense, with fallen players in blue marking the Steelers victories in the 2000 season.
Gross said he drives his car with the "playing field" on top nearly year-round.
Note to the Steelers: He's been seeking season tickets for six years, so far unsuccessfully. He buys individual game tickets two or three times a year.
Noise in the neighborhood
Linda and Larry Ehrlich, 28-year residents of Allegheny West, stood outside their home on Beech Avenue yesterday and listened hard for any stadium sounds.
"It does seem louder than it was [from Three Rivers Stadium]," said Larry Ehrlich, "but this isn't so bad."
In fact, during the game, a Radio Shack sound level meter never picked up decibel levels higher than 63 on Beech and North Lincoln avenues, two residential streets in this eight-block community of 500 people. That's lower than the 65 to 68 decibels that were found to have come out of Three Rivers Stadium, but it's higher than the 55 decibel limit residents have been seeking.
"The worst is at night," said Jim Wallace, another Beech Street resident. "You should really come back here then."
"I think this should have been negotiated better," said Larry Ehrlich.
"It really has divided the neighborhood, which is too bad," added his wife.
In historic Calvary United Methodist Church on Beech, you could hear a pin drop 15 minutes after kickoff.
"This isn't half as bad as I thought it might be, "said Alice Fowler, who was coordinating a wedding that was to take place at 2 p.m. "I thought it would be much louder that it is. But when you go outside, there are all those helicopters. They're making the racket."
While the church's thick stone walls seemed to be impervious to noise, over on Galveston Street , just after the game began, an announcer could be clearly heard saying Bill Cowher's name.
But for the handful of Allegheny West residents tending their gardens or strolling the leafy sidewalks during a hot, breezy afternoon, it wasn't the new stadium's controversial sound system that shattered the quiet. It was the crowded skies.
There was the Goodyear Blimp, helicopters and an airplane or two, circling relentlessly, creating a noise that could certainly compete with any decibel levels from the stadium.
Going the distance
Talk about going the distance for the Steelers --the Souffrant family from Charlotte, N.C. certainly did yesterday.
It took Dean Souffrant, the father and a Pittsburgh native, 10 years to get Steelers season tickets, but he finally got them for Heinz Field. So he drove the 81/2 hours up from Charlotte to see yesterday's preseason game, bringing his wife, Sheila, daughter Ashley, 4, and son Corey, 3, with him. They were seated up high in the north end zone bleachers but no one was complaining.
Dean sees a lot of football because he also has season tickets to the Charlotte Panther games. Because of the distance involved, they won't use their tickets to every Steelers home game. They plan to sell some tickets to family and friends here, but will be back for most of the games.
Feeling at home
Steelers President Dan Rooney started yesterday by eating breakfast at his North Side home and then attending 8 a.m. Mass at St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, Downtown. He may have recited a few extra "Hail Mary" prayers.
"This is an important game for us...very important," said Rooney, who was sitting by himself in the media lunch room at Heinz Field and appearing contemplative about 90 minutes before kickoff. "This is one we just have to win."
From his seat near floor-to-ceiling windows on the fourth floor media center, he could see fans converging on the North Shore by bus, boat, car, RVs and foot.
"Excellent," he said, a portable radio at his side squawking what sounded like gibberish. "Things seem to be going excellently. I think people will be happy [with Heinz Field]."
So what did the Steelers boss eat before one of the biggest games in his life? A tossed salad, with a plain, plump sausage link on the side. He finished both of them before politely excusing himself.
A terrible issue to Cope with
J.D. Fogartyleaned on an upper deck railing and sensed trouble for the future of the "Terrible Towel."
Fogarty, assistant director of the Port of Pittsburgh, also is the long-time spotter for the WDVE radio broadcasting team of Myron Cope and Bill Hillgrove.
"The sea of yellow seats are the same color as the Terrible Towel," Fogarty said. "You won't be able to see them. They're not going to be a threat. Their magic may be lost."
Some sections at the new North Shore venue have black seats. Ergo, here's the deal: If you sit in the sections with black seats, wave yellow Terrible Towels. If you sit where most people sit, in the sections with those yellow mustard-colored seats, you're going to have to find black Terrible Towels to twirl, wag and wave.
Getting to the field
A hit of the most unwelcome kind -- backing into his neighbor's pickup truck -- is how the trip to the game began for Clyde Chappel and his 11-year-old son, Devon.
"I've barrelled down that driveway a thousand times in reverse, [so] I do it automatically," Chappel said. "This was the day he chose to cut his grass and park at the end of the driveway we share. I didn't look. His truck got the worst damage, but he was cool about it."
The father-son team had put the experience behind them by the time they boarded "Miss Pittsburgh" at 11:45 a.m. at the Mon Wharf parking lot, a shuttle operated by Pittsburgh Cruise Lines.
"Neat," Devon said as the boat passed under the Fort Pitt Bridge and a river-level view of Heinz Field began to emerge.
But Devon, wearing a No. 36 Jerome Bettis jersey, predicted a 17-10 victory by Detroit. "He likes the Steelers but he says he's a realist," Clyde Chappel said.
Yesterday, he also was happily wrong.
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