Here we go, Steelers – and watch out, High Street.
“Yeah, actually getting around in it is going to be interesting,” Olivia Young said Monday.
“My husband and I have never driven a truck before.”
They’ve especially never driven the Official Truck of the Pittsburgh Steelers before.
You know: that loaded, 2024 Ford F-150 Super Crew, wrapped with black-and-gold Steelers graphics that she got to claim before Saturday night’s Cincinnati game at Acrisure Stadium.
The annual giveaway is a longtime promotion of the Neighborhood Ford Store, that network of Ford dealers up and down the Interstate 79 corridor in north-central West Virginia and western Pennsylvania.
When Young found out she was this year’s winner among thousands of entries – well – you could have mopped her up with a Terrible Towel.
The Morgantown woman let out a decibel-laden squeak that would have made Myron Cope proud.
“I was shocked. I said, ‘Whaat?!’”
She and her husband, Ian, motored up Interstate 79 this past Saturday for the official gifting of the prize, which should be delivered to the University City sometime next week, given the weather.
Joseph Thurby, the Neighborhood Ford Store chairman, was there to greet them at halftime, along with No. 24: Joey Porter Jr., the stealth cornerback for the Steelers who said hello and posed for pictures.
“He even sat in the driver’s seat,” Young said. “That was exciting.”
So was the game. Well, except for that one thing.
The Steelers beckoned right down to the last 20 seconds, but the Bengals still drove away with it 19-17.
That’s four losses in a row – but don’t kill the ignition yet.
The spiraling team from Pittsburgh has still managed to procure wildcard playoff berth that just might turn into another cruise to the Super Bowl – for a franchise that’s already driven that route lots of times.
Porter and his crew will line up Saturday in Baltimore against the Ravens for said contest.
Young won’t be behind the wheel, but she will be on the couch, cheering.
Unless somebody intervenes.
She and Ian, who are already parents of one young son, are getting ready bring another baby boy into the world. His due date this weekend, in fact.
“We’ll see what happens,” she said.
“His big brother got here during March Madness. It’s apparently a sports theme.”
The theme for the Steelers truck in the Young family, she said, will be both hands on the wheel and all eyes on the rearview, while both drivers get checked out on the thing.
That includes motoring on the aforementioned High Street – known for gridlock, jackrabbit lane changes … and parallel parking.
Add a giant pickup with two novice (truck) drivers working out the navigational logistics of it all.
“I said to Ian, ‘Downtown might be a challenge.’ He said, ‘Yep.’”
