We’re running our own-two-minute drill here, rushing to get this written and posted before the Steelers-Browns game kicks off in less than an hour.
But first, a little anecdote. When I covered the Steelers for the local Woke Gazette, I flew on the team’s charter flights to road games – except Cleveland. The Steelers rode buses to the Cleveland games then and I preferred to drive myself. Otherwise, I flew with the team.
On one return flight from San Diego, whose airport had and likely still has a curfew due to the city having grown up around it, we throttled up and raced down the runway toward takeoff, only to throttle down and return to the gate.
A lift truck was dispatched to position a mechanic who, I swear, seemed to be looking at an engine with a flashlight.
It was a flight from the now defunct Pan Am airline, which went out of business in 1991. The flight attendants explained that a warning light had lit and the pilots had decided it likely was nothing, but . . .
And so, the mechanics were rushing to make a final determination as the clock ticked until takeoffs no longer were allowed.
Quipped Steelers radio broacaster Myron Cope at the time: “They’re running a two-minute drill with my life and I don’t like it.”
The final decision was made there likely was no problem, albeit after curfew. The Steelers gave the order to go, regardless, and they’d pay the fine.
The fact that I’m writing this indicates the flight was uneventful.
Now, to the matter of Cleveland. It’s raining here, but it could be worse. I could be in Cleveland. Past visits produced a lot of miserable experiences, including a car tire flattened – likely intentionally due to my Pennsylvania license plate – in the media parking lot. There also was a lost raincoat, hairy travel and some pretty uninteresting games to chronicle.
Today’s game has it all there for the Steelers, playing yet another certifiable putrid Browns team. There is growing sentiment to pick the Browns at least to cover a point spread that has oscillated between 4.5 points and three.
Maybe, but the big thing for the Steelers is they wrap up the division with a win and spare themselves a must-win game next week vs. Baltimore.
In a way, this game epitomizes the lowly state of the AFC North, where only the Steelers at 9-6 have a winning record.
If you’ve been with us from before the season, you might recall that I anticipated a soft overall schedule and a weak division would conspire to give the Steelers playoff life, a postseason life that would end in typically early fashion for them.
It’s too late to change horses now. The Steelers will win, despite the absence of wide-receiver DeKaylin Zecharius Metcalf, despite their ancient quarterback, despite the race toward sack history of Cleveland’s Myles Garrett.
It likely will be ugly and I won’t be watching, but now I’m on the record and it’s 12:42 p.m. as I type this final word, 12:47 as I hit the publish button.
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