Mario Lemieux got to wave goodbye. Once.
When it was goodbye for good, though, it was a heart condition that closed his iconic career. Not a soul inside the Civic Arena for what wound up his final game on that night of Dec. 16, 2005 -- and I was there covering -- could've known.
Jaromir Jagr didn't get the chance, either, having been traded. Marc-Andre Fleury was given up in an NHL expansion draft and wasn't feted until after a return in another sweater. No one else with the Penguins ever enjoyed a scene like Mario's initial retirement on the magical night of April 23, 1997:
I covered that, too. Won't ever forget it. The old structure trembled.
The Pirates haven't had many, either. We can forever embrace Roberto Clemente majestically standing at second base after his 3,000th and final hit Sept. 30, 1972, at Three Rivers Stadium, but we all know what followed. Barry Bonds left via free agency and went on to disgrace. Andrew McCutchen was traded. No one other than Willie Stargell had any kind of farewell, with Chuck Tanner batting him at leadoff Oct. 3, 1982, at Three Rivers for a squibbed single, after which he was subbed out for pinch-runner Doug Frobel and received a standing ovation on his way off from the smallish crowd of 14,948, his teammates and even the Expos:
The Steelers?
Well, my friends, tonight might be it.
'Mean' Joe Greene didn't get a goodbye, nor even a bottle of Coke, when he crossed the Steelers' sideline for the final time. Neither did Terry Bradshaw, Jack Lambert, Rod Woodson, Troy Polamalu and so many others, their departures having come by injury, trade or waning excellence. Maybe the only one that'd qualify is Jerome Bettis, as it'd been known he'd retire all through the 2005 season, and his final game came with a storybook triumph in Super Bowl XL in his native Detroit.
This is different. This will be in our city. This will be in a Heinz Field that's packed for the primary purpose of celebrating Ben Roethlisberger's final home game after 18 NFL seasons, the longest single-team tenure of any player at his position in league history.
Adding to that, it'll be the Browns. And AFC North football. And 'Monday Night Football.' And for the home team, at least, a mathematical playoff possibility in the mix.
Upon Ben's "this could be it" semi-announcement Thursday that this'll be it for him at Heinz, he'd add, "I don't speak in guarantees or definites, so I'll address the definite answer to that at some point down the road. My focus is winning this game. This is going to be -- if it is, indeed, my last regular-season game here -- one of the most important games of my career. I've been so blessed to play in front of the best fans in all of sports at the best venue. And what better way to have a last regular-season potential game than 'Monday Night Football' against a division opponent. You know, it's just special."
Asked what might've contributed to the sentiment that led to this semi-announcement, he'd reply, "You know what? It's probably - it's a lot of things. It's 18 years, almost half my life I've given to this city and this team and the fans. The fun thing I know is that I still have it in the tank to go out there this week and next week and give it everything I have to do everything I can to get us in into the postseason. That's always the ultimate goal, to win a Lombardi, and that's still the goal. We're not out of this thing yet."
Sure they are. There's a better chance of a meteor striking Western Pennsylvania over the weekend than ... oh, wait:
The loud explosion heard over SW PA earlier may have been a meteor explosion. This GOES-16 GLM Total Optical Energy product shows a flash that was not associated with lightning. No confirmation, but this is the most likely explanation at this time. pic.twitter.com/ArtHCEA1RT
— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) January 1, 2022
All right, so they're not out of it.
But the script still doesn't change: It's about Ben. It's always been about Ben, this whole season, even if management didn't get that memo when assembling this sorry offensive line.
Certainly from his own perspective, it's been about Ben having this chance he's about to have.
To know Ben is to understand that he's always wanted, even needed to be loved here. That hasn't always been the case, of course. It hasn't always been deserved. But even in the darkest days of the motorcycle crash or even Milledgeville, as uncomfortable and unpredictable as he'd appear at times, the one stance that never wavered was that he wanted to be in Pittsburgh. He wanted to be loved in Pittsburgh. Not because he was from here -- he's from Findlay, Ohio, and never arrived until drafted -- but because he'd see leaving as giving up.
No one needs to be told about Ben and giving up, right?
Fifty-one fourth-quarter comebacks and all that?
I'll bet it would've been easier. I've spoken with him about that. I've spoken with his teammates about that. He just didn't believe in it. His faith was in a single franchise, and his loyalty was, above all, to a single man: Daniel M. Rooney.
Remember who took to Heinz Field with that fabulous flag after Mr. Rooney's passing?
KARL ROSER / STEELERS
Ben Roethlisberger walks onto Heinz Field with a tribute flag after the passing of Dan Rooney, Sept. 17, 2017.
This is what Ben wanted.
As our own Ramon Foster, his former guard and still friend, told us this week on his podcast for us, "He wanted to see and hear people on his way out. He wanted there to be fans. So many guys I've talked to in the past year, they couldn't handle those empty stadiums. It didn't feel right."
It'd feel that much more wrong in that setting to be seated next to Maurkice Pouncey for that sad scene a year ago through the playoff loss to the Browns.
"He tried to get Maurkice to come back," Ramon continued, "but once he saw that was happening, he still wanted to come back just to hear that sound one more time."
Now, this script isn't wholly Ben's to write, as we've seen. He's got Matt Canada's fourth-and-1 pitches to overcome. He's got precious few playmakers around him. He's got that line. And by the time this one's done, even if Baker Mayfield keeps passing out post-Christmas gifts as he had all through December, Ben's own performance, no matter how superlative, might not be enough.
As a result, "that sound" won't be up to him, either.
I'd imagine they'd be intertwined, though.
It's rare air. Enjoy it, Pittsburgh. Embrace it.
