http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06250/719709-53.stm

In Pittsburgh, a confluence of funeral and football
'The best way to approach the day is in the tradition of an Irish wake'
Thursday, September 07, 2006

By Robert Dvorchak, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



In the three decades or so that Mary Joyce Burger has tailgated prior to watching the Steelers play, among those who stopped by for game-day refreshment was Bob O'Connor, a gregarious city councilman whose term as mayor was abbreviated by death.

So her emotions will be markedly mixed today when the city lays to rest its fallen leader with a morning funeral and then marks the rebirth of the National Football League season with the champion Steelers in the national TV spotlight tonight.

"The best way to approach the day is in the tradition of an Irish wake," Mrs. Burger said. "There will be plenty of tears and prayers and reaching out to the grieving family, followed by food and drink and a celebration of life. It happens to be a wake with a football game. He was such a Pittsburgh guy. He'll be with us in spirit."

As if to underscore the distinctly Pittsburgh confluence of a solemn funeral and football festivities, tributes to Mr. O'Connor will extend beyond the parking lots to the official events of a special Thursday night.

Corey O'Connor, the late mayor's youngest son, will help escort his father's casket during the heavy-hearted procession from Mass to gravesite. Then, prior to the 8:30 p.m. kickoff at Heinz Field, he will lead the official twirling of Terrible Towels, just as his father led the Steelers faithful in the incredible playoff run of last season.

The gesture is symbolic of Mr. O'Connor's vision for the city. Although he served as mayor for a brief six months before he was stricken with a rare form of cancer, his dream was that the city pick itself up and move forward. That dream still lives on.


The NFL's glitzy premiere


In recent years, the NFL's marketing mavens have celebrated football's status as a national passion with a special Thursday night kickoff in the home stadium of the Super Bowl champs. This one is even more extraordinary because it marks the return of NBC to football broadcasts for the first time in eight years.

Befitting a network premiere, a bank of skylights has been placed along Point State Park to spruce up the telecast.

Jerome Bettis is suiting up for the game, but not in shoulder pads and helmet. He'll wear a suit and tie as an NBC analyst, completing his transition from The Bus to a chauffeur-driven celebrity.

It was Mr. Bettis who cradled the Lombardi Trophy during the city's victory parade in February. During this week's return to the city, he appeared at autograph sessions sponsored by a supermarket and was honored last night when the Steelers unveiled a replica of his locker inside The Great Hall at Heinz Field.

Tonight also marks the debut of new NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, a 1981 graduate of Washington & Jefferson College. His name will appear on game balls along with the return of the words "The Duke," a tribute to the late Wellington Mara of the New York Giants.

To highlight the status Pittsburgh enjoys in the world of football, Mr. Goodell received confirmation of his election from Steelers chairman Dan Rooney.

In essence, Heinz Field will serve as a TV studio for a national broadcast. Earlier this summer, PNC Park was the epicenter of the baseball universe during the All-Star game.

But Heinz Field is more than just the home of the Steelers. The Pitt Panthers play their games there, and four high school titles will be decided on the same turf in a season that marks the 100th anniversary of the WPIAL.


Finding a way


Tonight will be Mary Joyce Burger's first football game since that raw snowy February night when the Steelers won their fifth Super Bowl, and the franchise will pay tribute to all five championship teams prior to kickoff.

She and her husband, Fred, were among the thousands of Steelers fans who trekked to Detroit for the big event. While there, they scored a couple of tickets and helped turn a corporate event into a Steelers home game. And she still laughs at the memory of that traffic jam on the Ohio Turnpike on the return home.

So tonight means a reunion of her second family -- brother Chuck, Aunt Agnes, best friend Maureen, Steeler Connie, Wiz and Izzy, to name a few of the regulars who get together whenever the Steelers play.

Among those who have frequented her get-togethers is Luke Ravenstahl, the former president of city council who has succeeded Mr. O'Connor as mayor.

"All part of our Steeler family," she said. "A lot of our regulars work for the city and county and will be honor guards at the funeral, so we'll handle the occasion like a death in the family."

The off-season was a time of real-world issues -- births, deaths, weddings, diagnoses of cancers that were treatable and curable, and diagnoses of cancers that were not.

The same could be said of their football team. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, a victim of The Pittsburgh Left while riding his motorcycle without a helmet, has been shelved again with an emergency appendectomy. Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward returned to South Korea as a national hero and called attention to the injustices accorded to biracial children there, but he didn't play a preseason game because of a hamstring injury. Speculation is swirling about whether this is Bill Cowher's last year as coach. The Steelers were 0-4 in preseason games.

"There was a lot to keep up with. It's unbelievable how many things happened," Mrs. Burger said.

In the days of Three Rivers Stadium, her tailgate party was held in the same spot every week -- underneath the bridge overpass at the parking lot designation "4T."

Mrs. Burger's group has been moved several times during stadium and related construction, but they hope to occupy the same spot as last year. "They keep throwing obstacles our way. We'll find a way," she said.

Which is the way the Steeler Nation, the One Nation, approaches life's challenges and season openers.