Lara shares her latte with a statue of Franco Harris making the Immaculate Reception, a play that will be forever celebrated in PIttsburgh sports lore. This was one of the first things to greet us after we landed at PIttsburgh International Airport. Beside Franco (and out of the photo) is a statue of George Washington, complete with tri-corner hat, that everyone at the airport was pretty much ignoring in favor of Franco.
The trip to the ‘Burgh brought back a lot of cool memories, including that day in 1972 when Franco saved the day, helping the Steelers beat the ugly and untalented Oakland Raiders in the playoffs. This happened on a Saturday in the days before every game was televised, and I remember forlornly leaning against the big stereo consule in our living room, listening to the game and awaiting impending doom when the radio announcer went nuts, the crowd started screaming and it slowly became clear that Franco had managed to grab a deflected pass and run for a touchdown to win the game 12-7. Everyone in the neighborhood poured out into the street, jumping up and down and screaming. Amazing.
One reply on “The Immaculate Latte”
Hi Bob,
Adrienne Martini over at http://www.martinimade.com referred me to you. I’m an old friend of her’s from college, and a fellow Pittsburgher. She mentioned Scripps in her new book, and it just so happens that I work for Fry Inc., which does the e-commerce sites for shopathometv.com (well, until today I guess!). Did you know Adam Rockmore or Fred Bergman? Just thought I’d drop a line.
Matthew Rush
Ann Arbor