Make a Wish!

During the regular season, on every Friday before a home game, the Pittsburgh Steelers host a Make A Wish family here at our complex in the South Side. With our first home game (and home WIN) of the season yesterday, we hosted our first family of the season this past Friday. 17 year old Jerardo is battling leukemia and his wish was to meet the Pittsburgh Steelers. When arriving to the complex, we greeted Jerardo and his family. We found out his favorite players were Ben Roethlisberger and Bud Dupree. To start things off, Jerardo got to watch the practice (which is closed to the public). When practice ended, he got to go on the field to meet all of the guys. Ben (who wanted to act like he was leaving) ran off of the field without saying anything to Jerardo (who became visibly upset). Jerardo got to take pictures, get autographs and have conversations with the whole team and coaching staff. He filled up his football, terrible towel and jersey with signatures galore! Then we took Jerardo and his family inside to stand outside of the locker room, where Ben was. Ben then walked right past all of us but then laughed with a big smile and spent a lot of time with Jerardo and his family, as well as gave them their tickets to Sunday’s game. Last to be met was Antonio Brown, who Jerardo is also a big fan of. Last but not least, Jerardo got to take pictures with all of the Super Bowl trophies, which is always a favorite part of the day. I had a great experience with my first Make A Wish through the Steelers, and I am looking forward to the rest!

So, is social media trolling still a thing…?

….I’m asking for a friend! Okay, no not really. I’m definitely asking for myself, but I swear it’s for a good reason! So, when you walk into the office one day and your director says “so I need you to troll or stalk or whatever all of the players on social media” you don’t really know what to expect. But it’s actually kind of fun! So, with our Rock Steelers Style 2017 coming up next month, there’s a lot to prepare for. In the formal part of the fashion show, the players (if wanting to) are allowed to have their significant other participate with them. But with the guys busy with practice, meetings, etc., we try to basically talk to as little of them as we can about things like this (also me going up and asking “hey, so, do you have a girlfriend or fiancee or wife that you’re planning on bringing to the fashion show” to around 60 guys probably wouldn’t look great on my part). So, instead, we decided to see what we can find with the great thing that is social media. And let me tell you, between Twitter and Instagram, you can find out a lot! Some of the guys are open with their relationships (a plus for me!) but some guys (the ones that we end up having to ask) like to keep things private (I don’t blame them). But do you know how long it takes to find out about relationships for around 60 guys?? In case you were wondering, I’m on hour 3 and about halfway down my Excel spreadsheet….. and I thought my social media skills were pretty great!

Regular Season Hustle

With the regular season in full swing and our first regular season game this Sunday, things have gotten busy around the office! Between the guys running between practices, interviews and meetings, to every department getting prepared for game day, there’s always something happening! One of the first things we have to do as a department, which we did today, is go through the players’ appearance jerseys that we have to see who we still have, which jerseys just simply need a name plate change, or which numbers we have to order for the new guys. The appearance jerseys are worn by the guys at the Steelers Rock Style Fashion Show as well as any other event appearances. Although this may sound like an easy task (which don’t get me wrong, it’s not super hard), my director says it never really gets easier to look at jerseys of the guys who have been let go or traded that were great to our city. Even with me being here a few months, I get that. Some of these guys care more about their communities and making them better than having their name on a jersey. That speaks volumes to me about who they are as people. With events coming up almost every week (and sometimes more than one on a given day), we’re all hustling and bustling to get the last minute tasks prepared for the season!The Steelers have a great group of guys this year and here’s hoping we get ring #7!