COURTESY PHOTO FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown (84) runs after a catch against the Kansas City Chiefs during the first half of an NFL divisional playoff football game Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017, in Kansas City, Mo.
By STEVE KRAUSE
Ed Bouchette is a football writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and as such, covers the Steelers.
But he has a unique connection to Sunday’s game. He spent the first seven years of his life living on Webster Street in East Lynn, and went to St. Joseph’s School for the first grade. His mother is a St. Mary’s alumnus and his dad went to English.
However, when he was seven years old, his father, who worked for the old Hoague-Sprague shoebox manufacturing company in Lynn, found work in a small town outside Hershey, Penn.
But that didn’t end his relationship with Lynn. He still visits his aunt, Theresa Vincent, who lives on Flax Pond, every summer, and is still in contact this his cousins, all of whom grew up in the city but now live in several different locations.
“And,” he said, “they’re always giving me grief about the fact that the Patriots have beat up on the Steelers in the past.”
He feels he may have the last laugh on them Sunday. But more on that later.
Growing up, Bouchette was a big Red Sox fan, and he loved the Patriots when they played at Fenway Park and when fellow Pennsylvanian Jim Nance carried the rock for them.
“But once they moved and became the New England Patriots, they lost me,” he said. “So there’s no love there.”
His one memorable Red Sox story occurred in 1964, when he came back to the area to go to a game during Tony Conigliaro’s rookie season. On its way back home, the family stopped at a pizza parlor in Revere. The waitress could hear Bouchette and his brother talk of nothing besides Conigliaro, and she told the boys that he was sitting in a nearby booth.
“So we looked over and there he was, no socks, feet up on a table, and he was with a woman,” Bouchette said. “My father said go get the (Red Sox) that was in the car. I didn’t want to go over there to get his autograph for him, but my little brother did. It said, ‘to Rick (his brother). Best Wishes. Tony Conigliaro.’
“I still have it,” Bouchette said.
That was long ago and far away. These days, as a Steelers beat writer, “I’m a journalist. I’m just along for the ride,” he said.
His prognosis for Sunday’s game is simple.
“Both teams have difficult problems on defense,” he said. “The Steelers defense has to do the impossible and get after (Tom) Brady and somehow force him into errors. But they also have to stop (LeGarrette) Blount and (Dion) Lewis.
“(The Steelers) are fortunate that (Rob) Gronkowski not there,” he said.
On the other hand, “if you’re the Patriots, what do you do? Ben Roethlisberger? Antonio Brown? Le’Veon Bell? Pick your poison.”
As for how this is going to go, “they (the Steelers) are on a roll, and I think there’s a chance they’re going to flip this thing around. I say Steelers, 30-27.”
Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].
