No game this weekend, as I am touring Ireland, post the Steelers victory over the Vikings. We have enjoyed the Emerald Isle immensely in the last few days with one exception. Driving in this country is like being forced to play free safety when you usually play strong safety. You know how to play the position and the skill set is relatively the same. However, you’d much rather be aggressive but laying back and being defensive is the way to go. The wife basically explained that to me, but with a lot more screaming and expletives. Actually, come to think of it, she sounded a lot like some of my defensive back coaches.
Last Week: It was almost a walk in Croke Park
Some day, I may do a more in-depth review of the experience, but here’s a summary review.
Minnesota Vikings vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, 9/28/2025, 2:30pm
Score: Steelers 24 – Vikings 21, Attendance: 74,512
Weather: Partly Sunny, 60 degrees; Ticket: $182 (Ticombo), Face $140, Parking: $0
Location:
Dublin, Ireland is a fun city. We flew direct for about seven hours. With the game in town, the hotels really took advantage to raise the rates. We paid roughly $600 a night for a very small room. We were definitely late in booking, but Dublin is always a more expensive city to visit. On the plus side, we were pretty much city center and we walked everywhere, including to the stadium (about 40 minutes). We hit some museums, did a food tour and visited a number of pubs.
The Site
Croke Park seats about 80,000 and it was nearly at full capacity. We had bought our seats about a week before the game on a site called Ticombo. Tickets sold on the NFL site in the U.S.A were running at least $350, and we were quite happy to snag the tickets at about half that.
Ticombo did a nice job with the transaction – the NFL/Ticketmaster, not so much. Our tickets did not get released to us until Friday afternoon which was a bit concerning. I know I was not the only one. We met someone on Saturday who had still not received their tickets yet. Having bought hundreds of tickets from third party sellers, I know the NFL must do better. It is unacceptable to fly halfway across the world and then have to chase them to makes sure your tickets show up. No one should have to deal with that mess on game day or even two or three days before.
Tailgating
There was a big Steelers marketing type tailgating / experience on game day. We didn’t find it on Sunday, but we didn’t look too hard either. Instead we toured a tenement house museum. Seventeen families in one house, makes a football locker room seem like a spa. Since it wasn’t traditional tailgating, we did not see much sense in attending the white washed corporate version. We left that to the die hards and the European fans who don’t know any better.
The Steelers also had special events both Friday and Saturday. Both were free, but you had to sign up for a ticket. Each day we were waitlisted and ultimately did not get to attend. It did feel like a bit of a slap in the face to come all the way over to Ireland to support the team and then not get to those events. However, we did hit the Steelers official pub each night and that was a lot of fun. We saw friends from both high school and college there and it was good to hang out with them and hundreds of other Steeler fans.
Croke Park itself was nice with seat backs all around and rain cover for the entire upper deck. I was worried about our seats being too high up. They were in the dreaded corner end zone, where good game watching goes to die. However, we loved our seats. We could easily see the whole field and both the video boards. I did use my binoculars a bit more than usual, but they did get me very close.
The concessions inside were pretty normal. Lots of booze (it is Ireland after all) with standard food options. No souvenir cup but that wasn’t a big deal. There were plenty of bathrooms, all with troughs. The sound system was more than adequate.
They tried to make it feel like a Steeler home game, and they came pretty close. There were two notable gaffes. One was playing Renegade with the Steelers up by 18 early in the fourth quarter. You knew they were going to play it at some point and I am sure they were afraid it would be a blowout and playing it later would be worst. Of course, after Styx came on, the Steelers promptly gave up a long drive. Live by Renegade, die by Renegade.
Worse yet though was a Sweet Caroline sing along very late in the game as the Steelers were trying to run out the clock. I could see all the Steeler fans stop singing, knowing the offense needed silence. Meanwhile all the European and Viking fans were blathering away during the snap.
The Game
Honestly, the Steelers dominated this game for the most part with the defense creating a ton of turnovers. The Steelers got to 4th and goal from the 2 and Tomlin elected to go for it instead of kicking a field to go up by 10. They didn’t get it and Vikings then scored to cut it to three. That meant another two nerve racking minutes to see the Steelers seal the win. The Europeans got a great finish. I got heartburn again.
Personal Notes
We had a great time with no regrets. We did manage to get some souvenirs at the NFL store to commemorate our trip. The Steeler store was a complete bust. It was an hour wait to get into a store that had stuff you could get at home. Luckily, I did some surveillance work with fans as they left store so we only wasted about fifteen minutes. Again, the Steelers could have done that better.
In the end, it is a minor criticism. The main thing with this trip was to see Ireland. The game was a bonus. We didn’t want to spend $500 a piece on tickets for a game with no playoff implications. It was a roll of the dice on the tickets and that turned out to be a very good strategy. Tickets were available right up to kickoff. Perhaps not the best seat, but if you wanted to get in to the stadium it was doable. It was great seeing all the Yinzers and even better was the Steeler getting the win.
The Picks
Last Week’s Picks
If not for the bonus Steelers pick, I would have gone 0-4. I did not see one college game last week. My observations were from box scores and the random, intoxicated blurbs I heard while at Temple Bar.
- Just when I think Houston has turned it around, they burn me. They won in OT but did not come close to covering. I harbor similar sentiments for Kansas.
- Either Duke is really good or Syracuse is really bad. Hard to imagine anyone in the ACC making noise in the playoffs.
- The Hoosiers win but don’t cover. Awesome, just awesome.
- At least the Steelers took care of business.
This Week’s Picks
Doing these picks in Belfast, Ireland. Not surprisingly, I can’t use the Fan Duel app. Hello, bookie.
- Baylor should have enough to cover against Kansas State. The Wildcats have been up and down. This week it is down.
- I really want Vanderbilt to beat Notre Dame. Accordingly, if you are smart, you will take the Irish.
- Oklahoma will destroy Kent State, but they will lay off the throttle early with the Texas game coming up.
- The Miners have one win, a squeaker against Monmouth. South Florida should light them up.
Other observations for Week 6
- Was really surprised to see the Hokies beat the Wolfpack. Wake Forest will be another good test.
- Franklin and PSU will stomp all over UCLA – winning big in game with little or no importance
- Delaware continues to look good in their jump to the FBS. I like them to continue the trend against Western Kentucky.
- WVU fans are going to feel like they are in an alternate universe when the go to Provo to play BYU. No moonshine or couch burning this weekend.
Enjoy the games,
Tree