De Jags

Woo-hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Go Steelers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE ARE THE WINNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem.  Sorry.

So, we drove up to Jacksonville for the Sunday night game…and emerged victorious!  Awwww, yeeeah!  So much for that 4-game winning streak against us, eh Jaguars?  Awesome. 

We had such a fun time at the game.  CK’s Dad got us some tickets through his magical ticket friends (I don’t know; they seem magical to me), and they were good ones, too.  We had to wait outside of one of the gates, though, to meet the couple that we’d be sitting with (aka, the magical ticket deliverers).  So, somehow we ended up being the official Steeler greeting crew in front of Gate 4.  Oh, Steeler Nation, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.

I met so many awesome people.  People down from Pittsburgh…  People originally from the ‘Burgh who’d moved down to Florida…  “Where’d you grow up?”  “Ellwood City.”  “GET AHT!  I went to Seneca Valley!”  Sigh.  I love my people. 

But, it was my first time in Jacksonville, and I have to say, it’s a gorgeous city.  My friend Mark, who now lives in Atlanta, is originally from Jacksonville.  When I told him I was going to the game, he gave me some awesome pointers about where to park, what to expect, etc.  I wish we would have had more time to explore.  Driving past the city was impressive, though.  Mark had told me that it would feel a little bit like the ‘Burgh, what with the stadium being on the water and all.  The river is MUCH bigger, though, and everything seemed so new and clean.  The stadium was nice, and most of the Jaguars fans were really cool to us (well, at least BEFORE the game started.  Don’t even get me going on the obnoxious guys who sat a few rows in front of us…). 

We were - by some miracle - in our seats well before kickoff, which never happens, so we got to see some pre-game stuff.  There are a couple naval bases in Jacksonville, and they did a whole military plane fly-over (I’m sure it has a much more official-sounding name than that) after the National Anthem.  It was really impressive.  Rock on, Jacksonville. 

Oh, and check out this pic I snapped of one of the stores inside the stadium (sorry it’s a little hard to see, but it was just starting to get dark at the time). 

Jagwear.  JAGwear.  It’s like they knew I was coming SPECIFICALLY to make fun of them!  Dem jagoffs wear jagwear.  It’s too easy… 

But, back to the obnoxious fans in front of us.  Thankfully we were right, smack in the middle of a section of at least 50 Steeler fans, so we were nicely insulated.  Ok, I get it.  We’re the visiting team.    But, dudes.  They have this cheer that they do every time (to be clear, that’s EVERY TIME) they get a first down.  It’s permanently tatooed in my brain, and it goes like this:

“MOVE THOSE CHAINS, MOVE THOSE CHAINS, MOVE THOSE CHAINS, BLUE!”  (Ok, I think they say “blue” at the end, but don’t quote me on that.  I was mostly just holding my poor, blessed, bleeding ears by that point).  So, you can see how that alone would get under one’s skin, correct?  Well, imagine people turning around in their seats to chant it AT YOU.  Me no likey (cyou tell this was my first away game?).

Oh, and you know what else?  I had two local celebrity spottings while I was there!  I so wish I had pics to show, but my camera died literally one second after the Jaguars took the field (coincidence?).  The first one was Kevin Greene, specimen of defensive awesomeness.  And, the second?  Luke, specimen of mayor-needs-a-bodyguard.  For reals.  He “had a guy” with him on the shuttle ride back.  Whatever.

Anyway…  I guess my assessment in a nutshell is:

Jacksonville?  Good.

Jacksonville Jaguars fans sitting in section 241?  Not good.

Steeler win?  FLIPPIN’ AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Rest it up this week guys, we have some Bungals comin’ at us after the bye!!!!

P.S.  Apologies for the exclamation points.  But, we beat the Jags.  Enough said.