Finally Getting Over The Hump: Memories of the Steelers Victory Over the Colts in the 1995 AFC Championship Game by Anthony Defeo on Jun 19, 2011



Recently, I wrote about some devastating losses by the Steelers and Pirates that were pretty hard to swallow for me as a fan. Well, today, I'd like to share a collection of memories that will always be some of my fondest memories: The day the Pittsburgh Steelers--one of my teams--finally got over the hump and made it to the Super Bowl.



Growing up as a Pittsburgh sports fan in the 80's, it was slim-pickin's around here. The Steelers were mediocre to below-average for the better part of the decade, and the Pirates were one of the laughing-stocks of baseball in the mid-80's.

The Penguins were also one of the worst teams in the NHL, but they did have an exciting, young player named Mario Lemieux (maybe you've heard of him) who would eventually lead the Penguins out of their long-history of failure to the top of the mountain with two-straight Stanley Cup victories in 1991 and 1992. That would have been great for me, but the only problem was I wasn't much of a Penguins fan back then. In-fact, I barely followed the sport of hockey. No, my teams were the Steelers and the Pirates. (For those counting at home, I also had a great love for the Pitt Panthers football and basketball programs.)

Speaking of the Pitt basketball program, in 1987 and '88, the Panthers were considered one of the favorites to make it to the Final Four, particularly in 1988 behind the stellar play of NBA players, Charles Smith and Jerome Lane. Despite being a top 5 team the entire season however, the Panthers were upset in the second round by Vanderbilt. That upset loss started what seemed to be a trend of my teams falling short time and again. read more....