Ira Kaufman

My trip to Pittsburgh for the Steelers’ first home playoff game in eight years was quite eventful.

In order to go to the game on Monday night, I flew from West Palm Beach to Washington D.C. because there are limited flights to Pittsburgh, rented a car, was almost arrested in D.C. for a traffic violation and then drove four and a half hours to Pittsburgh.

I parked in my favorite lot near the Andy Warhol museum, changed into 10 layers of clothing, walked 15 minutes to the stadium and taped my radio show right outside Acrisure Stadium with tens of thousands of fans walking by.

Then I went into the stadium through a secret entrance not many people know about, purchased my gameday pins and watched warmups in the perfect seat — 45-yard-line, first row of the club.

The first row of the club is the only safe row from terrible towels getting slammed into your head, even though the guy next to me was wearing a huge Steeler blanket that he kept dropping over me while he was drinking what looked like a two-liter can of Iron City.

He was enthusiastic to start the game and then slumped back into his seat for the second half.

I had so many layers on that I was not cold at all during the game and even sat with my jacket open with no gloves.

I like to get to games very early to watch the warmups, and I wait for the court or field to clear before leaving. Some of my best pictures have been the scenes before and after the game.

I have never seen a stadium and field clear faster than Acrisure did on Monday night.

What ended up being Mike Tomlin’s final game and could be Aaron Rodgers’ final game saw those two and the entire Steelers and Texans teams leave the field faster than they played during the game.

The usual postgame prayer session lasted a second. I saw very few players exchange jerseys. There were no postgame interviews or players talking to ex-teammates or friends.

Within just a few minutes after the game, the entire field was clear.

Suddenly a security guard appeared, and said she would have the police arrest me if I didn’t leave my seat.

I looked around, and not one person was in the entire club seating — just a sea of gold seats.

I was listening to the radio, and the announcers were just going over the postgame stats.

When I went back into the club, it was almost empty. Usually it is packed when Tomlin gives his postgame press conference because the bars stay open for an hour after the game.

I went downstairs into the team store, which usually has a long line after the game. It, too, was empty.

As I exited the stadium, the parking lots were virtually empty, and except for trash on the ground, it looked like the 30-6 loss.

Tomlin’s 19 years as head coach, Aaron Rodgers’ 21-year career and the entire season was just a dream.

Ira Kaufman, an Altoona native and traveling sports fan, hosts IRA on Sports on trueoldiesfla.com on Monday night from 7-8 p.m. It is available on Soundcloud & iTUNES, search Ira On Sports. His column appears occasionally in the Mirror.