Happy Campers :-)

If you know me, you know one thing for certain, I am, always have been and always will be a HUGE Pittsburgh Steeler fan! It's really not saying too much being as EVERYONE from Pittsburgh is a Steeler fan (really, I'm not over-exaggerating...if you were born and raised in Pittsburgh you ARE a Steeler fan!). But I do look forward to the start of the season each year, it's kinda like Christmas coming a little early andddd it's that time of year again!! :-)

As ya'll may or may not know, my boyfriend Patrick is a linebacker for the Steelers. He's entering his third year in the NFL and is also partaking in his third football camp - all have been with the Steelers. Through him I've gotten to see some things up-close and thought I'd share my findings with with ya'll...one fan to another another fan :-)

Camp always starts at the end of July and wraps up sometime in August and for the past 44 years it has been held at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA. Latrobe is about an hour away from the city so it's not too bad of a drive for Pittsburghers to take a day trip to watch their team - and oh boy do they! Thousands of fans from the city and really all over the country head to St. Vincent and canvas the rolling hills of the campus. Take a look at these shots...

Family members of the team and booster-club fans (we think) get to watch practice from the sidelines. With this special access I'm able to follow Patrick as he switches places for different drills - which allows me to take some very nice photos :-) Below are a few of my favorites!

Patrick facing Rookie OLB Taddius Gibson while injured OLB James Harrison and Defensive Assistant, Jerry Olsavsky look on...

This would have been a sack by PB on Mr. Dennis Dixon...

PB applying some pressure

PB going against TE Matt Spaeth

PB facing OT Max Starks

I know people like to see players other then PB so I included a few of some of the other players...

Antwaan Randle-El goofing off with the fans while awaiting a punt

Hines Ward and the famous smile we all know and love!

Stephan Logan being Stephan Logan haha! Such a fun guy!

Big Ben signaling that the Offense got a rushing TD during the goal-line drill

After the guys finish up practice they head up what I so lovingly nick-named "Autograph Hill". I'm not gonna lie, I kinda feel for them here...They were just running around in 90-something degree weather for 2 hours, they're hot, they're tired and then they have to hike it up this hill while being hounded for autographs. I will say this though...no matter how tired they are, they ALL take the time and sign for the fans - which is nice to see! And I'm not talking about just the Rookies signing their way up the hill...you'll see the biggest star players out there signing for the fans...

The fan favorite for sure!

PB :-)

The "Big Legursky" AKA PB's Roommate...another GREAT guy!

Once at the top of the hill the players head into their training facility. I don't know about the other players, but Patrick always takes some time to hit up the hot tub/cold tubs and the swimming pool. He then showers and heads to dinner before meetings start at 7. When I'm there I get to go to dinner with him which I'm so appreciative of. It's so nice to be able to spend a little bit of quality time with him while he's away. In all we get about about 45 minutes together because he CAN'T be late! Any guy that is late for a meeting is charged a hefty fine!

Yesterday was "Family Day". It's my favorite for a lot of reasons :-) One of the reasons is because the guys are given the night off, meaning no meetings! They had a special dinner for everyone with a few activities for the kids. Being kids at heart our gang took part in the caricature drawings...

My hair was down when it was drawn...not too bad!

Sweetheart move...Tyler's wife Maggie couldn't be there as she was out of town so he showed the artist her picture and had him draw her in...TOO CUTE!

The Harris'

As you may notice, our friend Tuff is wearing a sling in the above picture. Unfortunately he was injured on Friday night at a practice at Latrobe High School. Gosh, as a girlfriend or wife of a player you try to prepare yourself and ANYTHING that can happen, and trust me I try to do so because so many things could happen in this game. Last week Tuff's wife Mary and I were talking about what if one of our significant others showed up anthers in a play...for example if Tuff intercepted one of our friend Tylers catches. Well the unthinkable happened on Friday night. Patrick actually was the one to cause the injury to Tuff. It happened during a special teams drill where Patrick was to charge at Tuff and Tuff was to push Patrick away. During the drill Tuff's elbow was out and Patrick ran into it and a shoulder injury resulted for Tuff. Currently Tuff is rehabbing his shoulder but a big question mark was put on his immediate future. Patrick feels so bad! But both guys understand it was nothing intentional and it's the nature of the game. Tuff had to come back to Pittsburgh and get X-Rays. This picture says exactly what Tuff's attitude is like regarding the inury...

To end this blog on a light note, check out this picture...our caricature artist thought Patrick and this guy looked alike and in a creepy sort of way they do resemble each other lol

Ta-Ta for now boys and girls! :-)