[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 13 (Tuesday, February 7, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S778-S779]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONGRATULATING THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now
proceed to consideration of S. Res. 367 submitted earlier today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 367) congratulating the Pittsburgh
Steelers for their victory in Super Bowl XL.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, it is an honor for me to be here today
to speak on behalf of a great organization and a great group of men who
accomplished the heights of their profession. The Pittsburgh Steelers
were victorious in Super Bowl XL on Sunday. As I speak right now, there
is a parade going through downtown Pittsburgh of our warriors, our
champions who have brought back the Super Bowl trophy, the Lombardi
trophy, to Pittsburgh for the fifth time, which ties a record with the
San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys, having won five Super
Bowls.
During the 1970s, we won four and got comfortable with the fact that
Pittsburgh was a city of champions, winning both football titles and
two World Series titles in 1972 and 1979; and in 1979 we won both the
Super Bowl and the World Series. It has been a long time--26 years--
since we were able to get, as the saying goes in Pittsburgh, ``one for
the thumb.'' We didn't yet have the one for the thumb. But the time for
the one for the thumb has come. We have, in fact, gotten over the hump,
and we have a lot more to look forward to, in my view, in the years to
come with this great squad.
I congratulate, obviously, the team. I also congratulate some other
folks who I think deserve particular recognition--and, by the way,
Senator Specter and I have put forth a congratulatory resolution, which
we brought down to the floor and I am sure will be cleared and we will
be able to get that passed today.
I congratulate the Rooney family. This is a family enterprise that
has been, since 1933, running the Steelers. I don't know of any other
team in the NFL that has had the kind of stable ownership and closeness
with the community that the Rooney ownership has brought over the past
73 years. They are a great Pittsburgh family. Art Rooney, who bought
the team back in 1933, was one of the founders of the NFL. For years
and years and years, he was one of the great men of football but never
won a championship for over 40 years being in the league, and then they
had a great run in the 1970s.
After his passing, Dan, his son, took it over, and has been a
tremendous pillar of the Pittsburgh community. This is a man who is as
humble as any man I have ever met. In contrast with some of the high-
flying owners of the NFL, this is a man who still flies around in a
little single-engine plane. They have a training camp well out of town,
so instead of having to drive from his home, he takes this little plane
and flies out to the airport near St. Vincent College. He still
remembers his roots and does so much for the community. One of the
things he does most for the community is he keeps the beloved Steelers
a local community team, a team that is good to its players and good to
the community and puts the community first. That is one of the reasons
the Steelers are so beloved in Pittsburgh--because they are so much a
fabric in the city because they participate in community organizations,
and their players have great relationships throughout the Pittsburgh
area and make a difference in the community. That is really what
professional sports should be more about.
We have true role models in people like Jerome Bettis who have added
so much to the texture of Pittsburgh. Over the years, we have had many
great players in and out, and because of the leadership of the Rooney
family and the stability of the coaching ranks, from Chuck Knoll to
Bill Cowher, we have seen that stability, that bond with the city that
has been transferred to the players. They feel that special
relationship and obligation to be role models in the community.
Overwhelmingly, they have lived up to that.
So it is a very proud moment, not only because they won a football
game--in fact, they won four improbable games against worthy
opponents--they were a team that barely made the playoffs, but they
went through and not only got to a championship game and won the AFC
championship, they then won the Super Bowl. They are truly a remarkable
team, inspired by this great family, the Rooney family, and a great
coach, Bill Cowher, who has been, again, another important piece of the
Pittsburgh family now for better than a dozen years. He continues to
show that a hometown boy can come back, somebody who wasn't a star in
the league but a solid guy from Pittsburgh who understands the
importance of the Steelers to the community and lives by that ethic and
the code the Rooneys have established very well and makes Pittsburgh a
better place as a result.
It is great to see Coach Cowher get a Super Bowl, it is great to see
the team back on top, and it is great to see Pittsburgh, a town that
has gone through a lot in the steel industry in the 1970s--they have
seen pretty dark times in the 1980s in particular as a community. We
have been going through a renaissance in Pittsburgh in the last 10, 12
years, a tremendous transformation of that city. It is nice to see that
the Steelers put a punctuation mark which, hopefully, draws some
attention and makes us feel better about ourselves because not only
have we made the transformation, but we have a winning team and a good,
positive attitude about how we go forward.
So I am proud to be a Pittsburgher, and I am proud particularly to be
a Pittsburgh Steeler fan today. I congratulate the entire organization
and all of the people in Pittsburgh for the tremendous support you
continue to give the Steelers and the great attitude you bring to our
fair city.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I rise to compliment the Pittsburgh
Steelers on a phenomenal season and a great Super Bowl victory. I
regret I could not go to Detroit to see the game. But a session had
been scheduled many weeks ago to bring in Attorney General Gonzales on
the electronic surveillance issue at 9:30 yesterday morning. I checked
it out, and the earliest I could have gotten back to Washington would
have been the middle of the night. I thought it more sensible to attend
to those important duties for the hearing with the Attorney General and
to watch the game on television.
I was very heartened to see that game, to see that 75-yard run, the
longest in Super Bowl history, to see that phenomenal catch,
practically a ``hail Mary,'' on the 3-yard line, to see the young
quarterback Ben Roethlisberger carry it over on the replay and the
great dispute about whether there was a touchdown, and it was a
touchdown. The earlier touchdown was nullified when a Seattle receiver
had pushed off and been called with an infraction. And then when the
Steelers were driving at 14 to 3 toward a putaway touchdown, the
intercepted pass and long runback, and the Seahawks came within 14 to
10. Then the Seahawks mounted a drive and were closing in on a
touchdown which would have put them ahead 17 to 14, and then came the
Steelers' interception. So, it was phenomenal and thrilling game. To
have the Steelers, from a wild-card position, go on the
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road and beat Cincinnati and then go on the road and beat Denver and
Indianapolis and that phenomenal tackle made by Roethlisberger, which
may be as important in Steelers' lore as the ``immaculate reception''
by Franco Harris many years ago--as you can tell, I am a diehard
football fan.
The Steelers have brought great credit to Pennsylvania with their
victory, great credit to America with their sportsmanship and
accomplishments.
A special tribute to the Rooney family which owns the Pittsburgh
Steelers. I had the privilege of knowing Mr. Art Rooney, who bought the
Steelers in about 1933 for reputedly $2,500. I have had occasion to
work with his son Dan Rooney, who is now the family patriarch, and his
grandson Art Rooney. They are a wonderful family.
Bill Cowher is the coach. I know him, to some extent. It is a great
tribute.
I have taken these few moments to comment about the great victory and
to offer congratulations. I am sorry that I couldn't be in Pittsburgh
today to attend the parade. But we have a parade on the Senate floor
which takes my attention. I don't think I will be missed in that crowd.
Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the
preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the
table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 367) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 367
Whereas, on Sunday, February 5, 2006, the Pittsburgh
Steelers defeated the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 21-10,
in Detroit, Michigan;
Whereas that victory marks the 5th Super Bowl Championship
for the Steelers organization, tying Pittsburgh with the San
Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys for the most Super
Bowl wins in the history of the National Football League;
Whereas, after losing a game to Cincinnati on December 4,
and dropping their record to 7 wins and 5 losses, the
Steelers won 8 consecutive games, the last of which earned
the team an overall record of 15-5 and the right to be named
Super Bowl Champions;
Whereas the path of the Steelers to the Super Bowl included
road victories against the Cincinnati Bengals, the
Indianapolis Colts, and the Denver Broncos, making the
Steelers the 2nd team in NFL history to win 3 playoff games
on the road;
Whereas Bill Cowher, a Pittsburgh native and the longest
tenured head coach in the NFL, was a steady presence
throughout the season and earned his 1st Super Bowl victory
after 14 seasons at the helm of the Steelers team;
Whereas Jerome Bettis, who is affectionately known as ``The
Bus,'' and is the 5th leading rusher in NFL history, was the
emotional leader of the Steelers team and was able to return
to his hometown of Detroit to participate in his 1st Super
Bowl, after which he announced his retirement from the game
of football;
Whereas Hines Ward, who caught 5 passes for 123 yards and 1
touchdown, was named Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XL,
joining Franco Harris, Lynn Swann, and Terry Bradshaw as the
only Steelers to earn that prestigious award;
Whereas, at the age of 23, Pittsburgh quarterback Ben
Roethlisberger was the youngest starting quarterback ever to
win a Super Bowl;
Whereas the defense of the Steelers, led by Pro-Bowl
performers Troy Polamalu, Joey Porter, and Casey Hampton,
held the highest scoring team in the NFL, the Seattle
Seahawks, to more than 18 points below their season average
of 28.3 points per game; and
Whereas the Rooney family, who have owned the Pittsburgh
Steelers since the founding of the team in 1933, have
provided the Steelers organization with a level of stability
and commitment to community that is unmatched in the modern
sports environment and have created a team that is as beloved
by its hometown as any in the world; Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate congratulates the Pittsburgh
Steelers on their hard-fought, well-deserved victory in Super
Bowl XL.
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