So Close!

Well, my lucky shirt ran its course and fell--splat! But then, maybe I expected too much.

The Rams weren’t playing for a playoff position, but I still wanted them to win, even though the odds were pretty slim--they were playing the Seahawks. That 8-8 season I had hoped for turned into 7-9 instead. My shirt wasn’t much help, I guess. Still, they played better than they had last year, so it wasn’t all bad.

Now, the Steelers still had a shot at making the playoffs. They not only had to win, but THREE other teams had to lose: Ravens, Dolphins, and Chargers. The experts (?) said it was a 3% chance for that to occur.

We had tickets to see the Penguins play the Blue Jackets (Hockey) in Columbus at 6pm. The Steelers played at 1pm. Since they were not on local TV, we went to B-dubs to watch the game. By the time we had to leave for Columbus, the Steelers were winning rather well (made leaving easier, that’s for sure!). Not only that, the Ravens were getting their butts kicked by the Bengals and the Dolphins/Jets game was pretty close. Chargers weren’t playing until 4:15.

On the drive to Columbus, we discover both the Ravens and the Dolphins lost. Dang! That meant we only needed the Chiefs to beat the Chargers to make it into the playoffs. Of course, we didn’t have our hopes up too high, since the Chiefs weren’t playing their key players (they are already in the playoffs and winning wouldn’t get them anything extra).

We arrived at Nationwide Arena and you’d think we were going to a Penguins game, that’s how many Penguins fans were around. Not only that, most of them were also Steelers fans. I think we all had our eyes on the Chargers/Chiefs game.

With EIGHT seconds left in the game, the Chiefs only had to make a 20 yd field goal to break the tie and win the game. It missed. They went into Overtime. Argh!

One of the TVs behind our section changed the channel to that game (yeah, we were sitting in the nose-bleed section). Almost everyone turned around to watch it! Sure, the hockey game was currently in intermission, but I honestly don’t think it would have made a difference.

Unfortunately, the Chargers held on and won. So close! I thought for sure my shirt was working overtime. Of course, it was covered in TWO jerseys. I wore the Steelers jersey at B-dubs and then put the Penguins jersey on over that for the hockey game.

But on the good side, the Penguins beat the Blue Jackets 5-3, so maybe my shirt still had a little juice left. J

Tomorrow night we’ll be spending New Year’s Eve with our friend in Columbus. We’ll play games until midnight and then head on back home. No drinking for us, but then drinking tends to make me sleepy anyway!

Do you stay up for the New Year or go to bed early?

Happy New Year!!

Stacy