Wednesday, January 21, 2009

My Life Long Steelers Obsession


I have been high on life since Sunday night. My team is going to the Superbowl! To make things even better, if the Steelers win the Superbowl, I collect some cash from our office playoff bracket contest. Could life get any better???

My co-workers make fun of me pretty much constantly. I know this is just because they are jealous...envious that their teams are not playing well. They ask me lots of questions and one of the questions raised today has led me to write this blog. How on earth did I become a Steelers fan?

The simple answer is I don't know. I lived near Nashville, TN until I was 9 years old and my parents divorced and we moved to Oklahoma and then Missouri. I lived nowhere near Pittsburgh. My mom was a big football fan, but of the Oklahoma Sooners and the Miami Dolphins. The only thing I have been able to come up with is that I was a child of the 70's and the Steelers were awesome then, which must have meant they were on t.v. all the time.

For some reason it is hard for people to believe I have been a Steelers fan since I was a child, but it is the truth. For my 8th Christmas all I asked for was a Terrible Towel. I got a Terrible Towel and a helmet which I still have to this day. My 9th Christmas I didn't ask for anything specific and what was delivered to me completely blew my mind. It was my version of the "Red Rider BB Gun". When I rolled out of bed and walked into the living room I saw standing near the tree a Terry Bradshaw bicycle. Seriously. It was a boy's bike of course but I didn't care. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I started crying. I guess my parents thought I hated it so they were freaking out but I managed to utter, "This is the best gift ever." Truly I don't think I have received a gift to this day that meant as much to me as that bike did.

The picture above is one of my earlier Christmas gifts. A little Steelers jacket my parents bought me. My mom believes this was my Christmas present they gave me when I was 6. As you can see she has preserved it by placing it in a shadow box and it sits on the floor in front of my t.v. This is what I show people that don't believe I have been a Steelers fan since I was a child. You can tell it is old when you see it up close.

So when I say I have been a Steelers fan pretty much for life it is true. This Superbowl is like the icing on the cake for being a loyal fan. So many years they were not very good, so many years of getting close just to be beat in an AFC Championship game...all the jerseys I have bought, all the abuse I have taken...it is all worth it when your team makes it to the Superbowl. Win or lose, I will still love them and hold my head up high because my team did something right in 2008.

4 comments:

Grumpy said...

That is a great story. These two weeks are the payoff for your loyalty. Enjoy it all.

Unknown said...

Thanks Grumpy!

Unknown said...

Steeler Nation stretches everywhere...heck I just got 3 new terrible towels and a new shirt in the mail the other day..Casual Friday here I come!

Unknown said...

The Steelers have a HUGE following tbone. I went to their last AFC Championship game in Denver and they estimated that it was one of the largest attendence records for a visiting team...something like 15,000 out 70,000. It was super cool. Thanks for leaving a comment!