[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

[[Page S779]]

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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