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Sunday, August 26, 2001

So this isn't PNC Park. Sure, you can still get a decent stand-up meal in Heinz Field, your walk-through window to cold beer and hot, though not haute, cuisine. If it's a dining experience you want, go down to the North Shore's other new playpen, the one that's five months older and $30 million cheaper and far less compelling on the JumboTron and on the grass. Table for 37,000? Right this way.

Football stadiums don't possess the same personality, the same aura, the same menu as baseball parks. Granted, you couldn't tell that from the announced opening day crowd of 57,829, who spent most of yesterday afternoon munching and sipping, gawking and walking. It's their new house. It's the preseason. In a Heinz Field twist, the players will give their fans time to get into Steelers shape.

"They were looking at the stadium like we were," Jerome Bettis said with a grin after this 20-7 preseason victory against disinterested Detroit. "But that's what the preseason is for. Go to the Great Hall and see all the little trinkets. Get it out of the way."

Kordell Stewart captured it best: "They looked like they were just out having a big picnic."

Hey, this Heinz Field isn't for eating. This is for beatings. This place is built for football, dadgummit. Coach Bill Cowher talks about wanting to "make it a special place," meaning loud and intimidating. Stewart talks about whipping up the fans so they "get it back to nasty toward" the visitors, rather than him, the starting quarterback. Most of all, the Rooneys talk about this place making them economically competitive -- NFLspeak meaning it is built for printing money -- and they have spent a franchise-record $30 million in signing bonuses the past six months.

The fans didn't care about all that talk yesterday. They just walked. They just wanted a beer, a seat and a look around, not necessarily in that order after the beer. They just wanted a Heinz Field experience to savor. (Thought I was going to say "relish," didn't you?)

Their opening day went almost flawlessly. There was no traffic problem, no parking problem, no tailgating problem. Some of the grass seed hasn't taken yet, some Aramark containers stood in for missing garbage cans, some trailers took up a few parking spaces in the unpaved lot that is the future amphitheater site. Otherwise, the place didn't scream unfinished, like Cincinnati's Paul Brown Stadium without railings last August.

Allow me to take you on a tour. An hour and a half before kickoff, you enjoy the Great Hall. Andy Russell did, and he's featured there. Even though I'm not sure you can officially have a Hall outdoors, this walk down Steelers memory lane and through a pun-filled food court -- want a beer at the First-Round Draft? -- will prove to be the most popular spot in Heinz Field.

By kickoff, you walk the long, six-level ramp and up the 101 steps to Section 528, Row LL, the very last row in the northwest corner of the end-zone bleachers. The metal seats are hot on this summer afternoon and, after a few quarters, provide a hard-earned definition to the term "bleacher bum." The view of the field is clear, down to the players' numbers at the field's far end, although you wish two of the sideline scoreboards showed the down and distance rather than a constant display of "Steelers" (as if you thought this was a "Panthers" game). The deck vibrates a tad -- the fellow next to me noticed "a little bitty bounce" when fans reacted to the Steelers' first touchdown in the end zone below. For the most part, it's a stadium pocket where the biggest concern is if the beer man makes it up here.

Second quarter, you walk up the 106 steps to Section 541, Row LL, the very last row in the southeast corner of the Ohio River-side upper deck, as high as the Hilton top floor. Yes, the beer man comes up here ... several times. The fold-down seats are relatively comfy, the view of Downtown plus the boat-clogged rivers is nifty, and the cupholders aren't as intrusive as those in the end-zone bleachers. For the most part, the biggest concern here is getting a TV, because the JumboTron cannot be seen from the final 30 rows or so.

Third quarter, you walk through the air-conditioned comfort of the premium-seats club to Section 210, Row M, six rows in front of the luxury suites. This area of charcoal-colored seats is fairly empty, just like it will be in cold weather, I'm betting. These patrons get escalators, bigger cupholders, crabcake sandwiches for $9.75 and an indoor escape, even though they have it made in the shade. Underneath the upper decks, it sounds louder in these sections, too. For the most part, the biggest concern here is finding a seat inside.

Fourth quarter, you stand two-deep along the rotundas' top three levels. Later you stand three- and four-deep in the south end-zone patio. There, underneath the league's largest JumboTron, is the coolest place to watch a Steelers game. That big-screen TV couldn't look any bigger, no matter how much beer you consume. The field stands about 10 feet below you, and the players appear soooo close. The stands yawn upward to the sides and front of you, the city behind you. Yeah, this is the place to be, until the beer runs out. For the most part, the biggest concern here is getting more scoreboard replays instead of Heinz Field Red Zone graphics, which raises the question: Do they have a Green Zone and a Purple Zone?

Game over, you watch a sea of fans collects under the bridge to await a Clipper Fleet boat ride. Myron Cope and Tunch Ilkin turn the food-court bleachers into Cope's Cabana. Fans leave fulfilled, mostly under the scoreboard through Gate A.

For the most part, the biggest concern with this new stadium as a whole is getting the novelty worn off and the scoreboard worked out and the brew chilled before the club's real NFL home opener, Sept. 16 vs. Cleveland. The name says Heinz, but the place isn't about food. It's about football, Steelers-style still.

In addition to The Big Picture, Chuck Finder writes a general-sports column exclusive to the http://www.post-gazette.com/ every Tuesday. He can be reached at cfinder@post-gazette.com