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Sunday, August 19, 2001

By Liz Austin, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

If you think most parents shuddered at the thought of escorting their children to last night's 'N Sync concert, you haven't met Diana Ulrich.

	Moms as well as daughters turn out for the concert. (John Heller, Post-Gazette)

She and her 14-year-old daughter, Jessica, have seen the heartthrob boy band four times this summer, counting last night's show at Heinz Field. Originally from Beaver Falls but now living in Gettysburg, Ulrich also has caught shows with her daughter in Hershey, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., spending almost $2,000 on tickets, gas, accommodations and souvenirs.

"I have a lot of fun being with her," she said, as she watched Jessica vie for front row seats being given away by a local radio station. "It's all worthwhile."

Ulrich was in good company. Plenty of parents braved the traffic and the screaming teen-age fans to accompany their daughters -- and sons -- to the field's inaugural concert.

And, like Ulrich, most of them love 'N Sync as much as their children do.

"I really do like them," said Patti Carlin of Glenshaw. Carlin let her 15-year-old daughter, Erin, decorate the family car -- the 'N Sync mobile -- with pictures of the band members and paint the windows with messages for the group. "It's good clean fun, and the music is good, too. If she was to look at them as a role model, I wouldn't mind."

Other parents donned homemade shirts to support their daughters' quest for backstage passes or ticket upgrades.

Ken Elliott and his 11-year-old daughter, Lexie, of Sarver, Butler County, wore matching T-shirts with "I love 'N Sync and 96.1" drawn across the front. And Elliott thought nothing of it.

"I've done crazier things," he said. "It's the least I could do for my daughter."

Elliott said he even knows most of the words to the band's songs, because "she has it blasting all day, you can't help but pick them up."

Even some grandparents came out for the show.

Loretta Jeke of McCandless brought two daughters-in-law and three grandchildren to celebrate 11-year-old Kayla's birthday.

"I'm a 63-year-old 'N Sync fan," Jeke said. "I'm all excited, I'm like a little kid."

While most parents of young children planned to sit with them throughout the show, others visited the Great Hall, where stadium staff offered free coffee, chips and pretzels to those who needed an escape.

Others chose to drop their children off at the door and wait in their cars, visit the neighboring Carnegie Science Center or heading back to the hotel.

Though he drove 10 hours from Lexington, Mass., to take his 15-year-old daughter and her friend to the concert, Gerry Yurkevicz had no desire to see it for himself.

"I'm going back to the hotel, I'll have a nice quiet dinner, visit the gym, stop off at the bar for a beer and be back here in time to pick them up."