There’s A Reason Why Franco Harris Looks Like Jesus

November 1st, 2004

I’m on an airplane leaving Pittsburgh. I just got the bum’s rush from the 1902 Tavern I’ve been frequenting all week. I wonder how much money I dropped on the floor in that place. I’m not sure why they kicked me out. One thing I’ve learned over my many times many years of life is that when you get kicked out of a bar as a transient it’s time to leave the whole damn town because more than likely your instincts and behavior are deteriorating.

It’s been a harrowing and disturbing week in this great land of ours and the only good thing I can really say about it is that I made a swiftboat full of money on the Pittsburgh Steelers. I bet large on the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday in their football contest against the New England Patriots. I flew to Pittsburgh to watch the boat come in from the shore. Being back in Pittsburgh brought back some wonderful memories.

I almost lost my life the last time I was in Pittsburgh. The year was 1972; it was Christmas Eve Eve. I was in Pittsburgh covering the divisional playoff game between the Oakland Raiders and the Steelers. The night before the game I was with my old friend and colleague the Houston Harold. I remember we were drinking at The Original Oyster House. We were talking about how the Steelers weren’t going to be able to handle the lightning fast Oakland WR named Cliff Branch. “I wouldn’t count on that.” The man next to us said with such conviction that I thought he might have a trunk full of vacuums. His name was Gary Pupnick, he was a member of the Three Rivers Stadium ground crew. He was a strange looking man, kind of looked like a pirate, wearing a yellow frock and had a pair of mutton chops that would have given ol’ Scoop a full head of hair if placed on my bald head. When Scoop Miller and Houston Harold were together, we’d seemed to just stumble into a huge scoop and the scoop that Gary Pupnick dished up would have served the entire state of Rhode Island.

He leaned in close and whispered, “Ya see, the tarp over there at the stadium, it ain’t exactly covering the whole field.” It was freezing that night and what Gary Pupnick was telling us was that the field was going to be too icy for a Northern California offense to handle. A handful of boilermaker’s later we were on the phone with our respective bookies making $10,000 plays on the Steelers.

I woke up the next morning with Oyster Breath, a headache and my entire bank account bet on a team that had NEVER EVER won a playoff game in their 40 year history. I drank about two pots of coffee in the lobby of the hotel before Houston Harold stumbled into the room. I was so hopped up from the coffee and nervous from the bet that I suggested we run to the stadium. Houston Harold had a better idea and that was to head to the 1902 Tavern and have some drinks to calm the nerves. We were sitting at the bar when kickoff approached. We decided to watch the game on a small black and white television in the bar.

The score at Halftime was 0-0 and we weren’t feeling any better about the bet. Things then began to look up after a couple of turnovers and a couple of field goals gave the Steelers a shaky 6-0 lead. With about three minutes to go the Raiders started their last gasp drive. With every first down I felt a pang in my heart as the Raiders moved the ball to the Pittsburgh 31 yard line. On the next play Oakland quarterback Kenny Stabler snaked his way into the end zone on an improbable and ridiculous scramble. With 1:07 left in the game Oakland had taken a 7-6 lead. As George Blanda made the extra point I left the bar in a daze and crossed the street to my hotel. I took an elevator to the top floor and made my way to the roof. I sat on the edge and could see Three Rivers Stadium in the distance. I stood on the edge contemplating the loss $10,000 and in my stupor I wondered if that was the price of my suddenly fragile life. I lit up a cigarette and looked into the frozen Pittsburgh air and wondered how I had wandered so far from home. I began to feel dizzy when I heard a thunderous eruption from Three Rivers Stadium followed by 10 minutes of silence. I stood mesmerized in a state of caution and hope. Then again the stadium erupted and minute’s later people streamed out of Three Rivers Stadium in a state of euphoria that I’ve never witnessed from such a high place.

Yes, this was the day that a feeble throw on 4th and 10 by Steelers QB Terry Bradshaw was headed toward a Steeler named John “Frenchy” Fuqua. The ball and the games most feared hitter, Raider CB Jack Tatum arrived simultaneously. Tatum, laid out Frenchy and sent the ball sailing through air towards Franco Harris’ waiting arms. Franco “Jesus” Harris made the immaculate reception just an inch off the carpet and ran into the end zone giving the Steelers their first playoff victory in history.

I raced off the roof in search of my colleague. Crossing the street through a spontaneous parade I thrust myself into the 1902 Tavern. Houston Harold was on the floor next to his bar stool holding a sign that read “Franco Saves.”

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Surfing around digg.com I noticed your website bookmarked
as: Blogger: Scoop Kjos Register. Now I am assuming you bookmarked it
yourself and wanted to ask if social book-marking gets you a good deal of traffic?
I've been contemplating doing some social bookmarking for a few of my sites but wasn't
sure if it would generate any positive results.
Thank you so much.

Feel free to surf to my web-site ... Click On this page

Anonymous said...

Hello, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues.
When I look at your blog site in Chrome,
it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping.

I just wanted to give you a quick heads up!

Other then that, wonderful blog!

My web page ... Extra resources

Anonymous said...

I know this if off topic but I'm looking into starting my own blog and was wondering what all is required to get setup? I'm assuming having
a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I'm not very internet smart so I'm not 100% positive.

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Appreciate it

Feel free to visit my web blog ... Read This

Anonymous said...

I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your sites really nice, keep it up!

I'll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back down the road. Many thanks

my site :: just click the up coming web site []

Anonymous said...

Hey there! This post couldn't be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my previous room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this post to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!

Also visit my blog post; car insurance []

Anonymous said...

Greetings. I'm wondering if you may be interested in doing a website link swap? I see your website: http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1736954943279587672&postID=8648757281337282163 and my blog are based around the same topic. I'd love to switch links
or perhaps guest author a post for you. Here is my personal contact:
chongquintero@fmgirl.com. Be sure to contact me if you're even slightly interested. Thank you.

Here is my website; Read Alot more

Anonymous said...

Hey there! Someone in my Facebook group shared this website with us so
I came to give it a look. I'm definitely loving the information. I'm bookmarking
and will be tweeting this to my followers! Excellent
blog and excellent design.

Feel free to surf to my homepage auto insurance los angeles

Anonymous said...

Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your post seem
to be running off the screen in Chrome. I'm not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with browser compatibility but I figured I'd post to let you
know. The design look great though! Hope you get the issue solved soon.
Thanks

my homepage; resource for this article (blog.boribook.com)

Anonymous said...

Howdy! I hope you do not mind but I decided to publish your site:
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1736954943279587672&postID=8648757281337282163
to my internet directory website. I used, "Blogger: Scoop Kjos Register" as your weblog title.
I hope this is okay with you. In the event you'd like me to change the title or remove it completely, e-mail me at dwainlemke@inbox.com. Thanks a ton.

Feel free to surf to my site; visit the up coming article (http://www.kernu.edu.ee/author/CarloIriz)

Anonymous said...

It is not my first time to pay a quick visit this site, i
am visiting this site dailly and take fastidious data from
here every day.

My webpage: link building service - http://getbacklinksnow.tumblr.com/ -

Anonymous said...

Hey! I just noticed your site: Blogger: Scoop Kjos Register when I was surfing around delicious.
com. It looks as though someone appreciated your blog so much they decided to bookmark it.
I'll certainly be coming back here more often.

Here is my weblog: auto insurance in michigan

Anonymous said...

Gday! I hope you do not mind but I decided to publish your
website: http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1736954943279587672&postID=8648757281337282163 to my on-line
directory. I used, "Blogger: Scoop Kjos Register" as your web site title.
I hope this is ok with you. If perhaps you'd like me to change the title or remove it entirely, e-mail me at preciouslassiter@snail-mail.net. Thanks for your time.

Feel free to visit my web page; link building outsourcing

Anonymous said...

When I initially commented I clicked the "Notify me when new comments are added" checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four e-mails
with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service?

Bless you!

Also visit my blog effective link building service

Anonymous said...

彼の手が露を通じて両腕を広げ、一瞬立って手すりに横たわる、私に非常に近い位置している。
。露は怖がっていた、あなたがトイレに行きたいと言う。ナイキ エアマックス 。すぐに優しく一瞬。





その後、戻って彼の横に、意図的に遠くに立っていた。



彼はやって来露、ホリスター 日本背中に装着露、手立てかけ手すり、リングの真ん中にある露の後ろに周りに行きました。





露の心は素晴らしいああ、アグ ムートンブーツジャンプ、ガンガン。 。 。時制死んだああ。 。
彼はよく?の音楽に合わせて動きにそれを言った



音楽に合わせて動かすあえてデュー。 。だからゆっくりNuebu息子、ニューバランス コーディネート横に移動しました。 。
彼の腕を脇に設定しようとし



あああなたにこの動きを教えていないので、彼は優しく私を引っ張っ:彼は笑った。 。





私は動作しないために緊張してきた、ルイヴィトン キーケース言った:私は家に帰りたい!



彼はその後、露を差し出し、露リリースを置く。 。 。 。



Also visit my blog post; シャネル バッグ

raybanoutlet001 said...

ray ban sunglasses
michael kors
oakley sunglasses
tiffany and co
pandora jewellery
nba jerseys
miami heat jersey
omega watches for sale
moncler outlet online
pandora charms

John said...

air max shoes
adidas
adidas outlet online
coach factory outlet online
gucci outlet online
ray ban sunglasses outlet
chi flat iron
nfl jerseys
nfl jerseys cheap
jordan shoes
20170801yuanyuan

John said...

nfl jerseys
canada goose jackets
mlb jerseys
kate spade handbags
michael kors outlet clearance
canada goose jackets
mbt
ugg sale
coach factorty outlet online
michael kors
20171123yuanyuan

chenminghui said...

coach outlet
michael kors outlet online
kate spade
ralph lauren polo
pandora outlet
pandora charms
ralph lauren polo
ralph lauren outlet
uggs outlet
pandora charms
chenminghui20180331

chenminghui said...

coach outlet
michael kors outlet online
kate spade
ralph lauren polo
pandora outlet
pandora charms
ralph lauren polo
ralph lauren outlet
uggs outlet
pandora charms
chenminghui20180331

Wayne said...

Jesus don't look like we think.

Bongol said...

By taking the time to read a lot of information like this to add my insight . cara menggugurkan kehamilan

chenlili said...

jordan 4
christian louboutin
stussy clothing
red bottom shoes
soccer jerseys
dior handbags
versace clothing
curry jersey
birkenstock sandals
juicy couture outlet
20188.27chenjinyan

Unknown said...

omega watches
nike outlet store
nike mercurial
air jordan 4
tommy hilfiger outlet
jordan clothing
adidas outlet
oakley outlet
arcteryx jackets
ralph lauren
20189.25huangliyue