Finn McCool’s:

1992-2007

By Mike Batista

Steelahs.com CEO

July 6, 2007

For a while there, it looked like we’d actually make it to training camp without any bad offseason Steelers news. No such luck.

Last summer, it was Ben Roethlisberger’s motorcycle crash. This summer, it’s the closing of Finn McCool’s. Finn’s, located in White Plains, N.Y., was a special place. I watched the Steelers win Super Bowl XL there. First “The Sopranos” ends and now this. How much more can I take?

They say Pittsburgh’s a shot-and-a-beer town. I did it the other way around on Feb. 5, 2006. I drank a few beers while watching the Steelers win the Super Bowl. Then, after the game, I did a shot with a guy I met from Connecticut who, like me, has that rare Steelers-Red Sox fan blood type. Can’t remember his name. Who knows if we’ll ever cross paths again. All I know is it won’t be at Finn’s. A (Steelers) Nation mourns.

This sad day brings to mind some of the goofy, off-the-wall, sometimes annoying (to others, not me) things this out-of-town (out-of-ton for you Pittsburgh readers) fan has done to watch the Steelers. Rarely is it as simple as turning on the TV at home. Usually it involves going to a sports bar with a satellite dish. I’ve compiled a list of the 10 most entertaining stories that demonstrate the lengths I go to in order to watch the Steelers. Such dedication will be crucial in bringing my loyal Steelahs.com readers a fresh take on every Steelers game this season. Or it will just prove that I’m a sick bastard who needs help.

10. Ravens 30, Steelers 13 (Sept. 19, 2004)

I had one eye on my Red Sox and one eye on my Steelers. The Red Sox were on their way to winning their first World Series in 86 years, and the Steelers were on their way to winning 15 straight games and reaching the AFC championship game. Neither of those outcomes seemed possible as I watched on that Sunday afternoon at Tickets in Newport, R.I. The Yankees beat the Red Sox to take two out of three in the series. The Steelers not only lost their game, but they lost Tommy Maddox, who hurt his elbow. But history was at a turning point, for both of my teams. Maddox's injury allowed Ben Roethlisberger to make his debut. Four weeks later, he led the Steelers back from a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Cowboys 24-20. Later that night, the Red Sox, down 3-0 to the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, won Game 4. Neither of my teams would lose again in 2004.

9. Ravens 31, Steelers 7 (Dec. 24, 2006)

Strange things happened in 2006. The Steelers were losing and I had a girlfriend. We’re still together, but that doesn’t mean it's OK for the Steelers to keep losing. Pittsburgh’s playoff hopes still flickered, so I wanted to see the game, which was at 1 p.m. My girlfriend was hosting a Christmas Eve party at 2 p.m. Damn. I had to use the dreaded “C” word: Compromise. I didn’t have to show up at the gathering until 3 p.m. That gave me time to see the Steelers fall behind the Ravens 21-7 in the third quarter. I could tell there was no way the Steelers were coming back. So it was relatively painless for me to leave Finn’s. I wasn’t the only guy trying to squeeze in a little football before honoring holiday obligations. Standing next to me was a Patriots fan from Woonsocket, R.I. I lived in Woonsocket before I moved to Newport. This guy married a White Plains woman and was watching as much of the Patriots game as he could before going to his holiday party. Another example of the magic of Finn McCool’s. Strangers … had so much in common. You thought I was going to break into a rendition of “Don’t Stop Believin,” didn’t you?

8. Steelers 34, Patriots 20 (Oct. 31, 2004)

Four days after the Red Sox won the World Series, the Steelers ended the Patriots’ 21-game winning streak. New England sports fans couldn’t have everything. But I could. No letdown for me. Earlier in the week, I was jumping for joy with fellow Red Sox fans. But those Red Sox fans were also Patriots fans. I couldn’t play with them anymore. Yeah, I felt a little guilt, but that passed as soon as I saw Tom Brady on his ass.

7. Steelers 26, Oilers 23, OT (AFC wild-card game, Dec. 31, 1989)

Some big brother I am. My sister and her friend went out in the early evening and needed me to give them a ride home. I did, as soon as the game was over. After the game, I had plans to go out for New Year’s Eve with three friends, none of whom were sports fans. They came to pick me before the game was over. Of course, I wasn't leaving until the end of the game. Fortunately, two of my friends were entertained by a Playboy magazine I had in my bedroom, and the other one was simply entertained by my antics as I watched the game. The Steelers ended a mediocre decade on a high note. The next decade turned out a little better.

6. Steelers 34, Ravens 31 (Dec. 29, 2002)

Steelahs.com readers who have been with me since the beginning (all two months) know that I attended this game at Heinz Field. It was supposed to be about a 10-hour drive. It took me a little longer. I left Newport at about 8 or 9 in the morning and didn’t get to the hotel until about 10 at night. A couple of wrong turns and a dozen or so rest stops conspired to make the trip longer. But it was worth it. The Steelers were down 31-20 with seven and a half minutes left in the game when Tommy Maddox led a comeback. He would lead another comeback against the Browns the following week in an AFC wild-card game. By the time I got to Western Pennsylvania, it was dark. I drove through a seemingly endless stream of hills and tunnels with a snow squall thrown in. But when I got out of the last tunnel, I looked to my left and saw the bright lights of Pittsburgh across the river. I felt like Andy Dufresne when he came out of the sewage pipe. Apologies to Bill Simmons. I’ll keep these “Shawshank Redemption” references to a minimum.

5. Patriots 24, Steelers 17 (AFC championship game, Jan. 27, 2002)

The Steelers, and at least one of their fans, took the Patriots too lightly. Kordell Stewart talked about how he was looking forward to going back to New Orleans and hanging with his buddies before playing in the Super Bowl. Bad idea. This Steelers fan thought he could stroll into Tickets, which was packed with Pats fans, in full Steelers regalia and watch the Steelers win in the company of disappointed Patriots fans. Another bad idea. “The Bus has square wheels, man,” one drunk Patriots fan said to me. If Stewart had just kept his mouth shut, and I had stayed home to watch the game, maybe the Steelers would have won and beaten the Rams in the Super Bowl. Maybe by now they’d be working on One for the Other Thumb. Ah, what could have been.

4. Patriots 30, Steelers 14 (Sept. 9, 2002)

I was working for a traditional media outlet and was able to get a credential. Because I had to be back at work at 7 the next morning (it was a Monday-night game), I went about 31 hours without sleep. But that was the least of my problems. I’m mildly claustrophobic and hate elevators. I’d always been afraid to be stuck in one. Well that night, it happened. Gillette Stadium was brand spanking new and we were told there were still some kinks to be worked out. Apparently, the elevator was one of those kinks. Another reason to hate the Patriots. Eventually, I made it to the press box, where there's supposed to be no cheering. That didn’t matter, because I had nothing to cheer about. After the game, I sat five feet from the podium when a humbled Bill Cowher, followed by Kordell Stewart, came out to talk to the media. Cowher looked like he had just learned a family member had died. When reporters put their tape recorders on the podium just before he started speaking, he looked at each one as if he was mesmerized by the contraption. And Stewart’s eyes were red when he got to the podium. He looked like he had been either smoking pot or crying. It wouldn’t be long before he lost his job to Tommy Maddox.

3. Steelers 34, Ravens 15 (Sept. 7, 2003)

I had just spent a week in Las Vegas, where I bet on the Steelers to win the Super Bowl. They went 6-10 that year, but the odds were 7-2, so I wouldn’t have made much money, anyway. We left Vegas on Saturday and arrived in Boston in the wee hours on Sunday morning. I drove from Worcester, Mass., to Newport, which took more than an hour, and went to bed. Jet-lagged, I woke up and drove to Tickets, but it was almost 1 p.m., and the parking lot was blocked off. Tickets was full. I had to scramble to find another place. So I found a hole in the wall called Oddball’s. I met a couple of other Steelers fans there. But the place was kind of dinky. There were less than a dozen people there. Not nearly as rockin’ as Tickets. And there was way too much NASCAR memorabilia on the walls for my taste. To get there, I drove across a parking lot with more cracks than a nude beach. There was construction, so I was directed to the place by orange, spray-painted arrows on wooden panels. The bar was in a complex that also housed a seedy nightclub and a bowling alley. It was a far cry from the glitz and glamour of Vegas 24 hours earlier.

2. Steelers 27, Bengals 13 (Oct. 23, 2005)

Having just moved to New York, I was visiting family in Rhode Island on Saturday, and I embarked on the three-hour drive back to New York Sunday morning. I got to the dearly departed Finn McCool’s just in time for the 1 p.m. kickoff. Tired from the drive, I ordered a coffee. I met another Steelers fan, and he wondered what the hell I was doing ordering a coffee at a sports bar. I found out this guy, who was from Pennsylvania and had been a Steelers fan since long before the dynasty years, worked at the same place I did. We’re both looking for another place to watch the Steelers now. The highlight that day was Hines Ward mimicking Chad Johnson’s Riverdance after scoring a touchdown. Good times. And they would just get better.

1. Steelers 41, Browns 0 (Dec. 24, 2005)

I felt like shit. I still don’t know what the hell it was. I had a sore throat, muscle aches and for some reason one of my ears was blocked. But I still worked until 2 a.m. the night before, got about three hours sleep and drove four hours (This included the Rhode Island Time Trial. I think I got through the state on I-95 in 42 minutes. A friend of mine owns the record of 37 minutes) to Massachusetts for the Christmas Eve gathering at my father’s house. But first there was a game to watch at the Charlie Horse in West Bridgewater. Probably a good thing it was so one-sided. I was so sick that any intensity might have killed me. With a cotton ball wedged in my ear, I sipped on sodas and enjoyed the third of the eight straight games the Steelers won on their way to finally getting One for the Thumb. Nice place, the Charlie Horse. But it’s no Finn McCool’s. Moment of silence, please.