6:56 p.m. - 2009-01-30
STEELERS
So, have you heard that President Obama (damn, that feels good to write) is a Steelers fan? Well, Dan Rooney (majority owner of the franchise) backed him in the election as did Mike Tomlin (coach for you non-football people out there.) Plus, he said they've been his favorite team besides the Chicago Bears for a long time.
I believe him, but even if that wasn't the case, he should back the Steelers. For one thing, Pennsylvania has more electoral votes than Arizona. Also, while different polls have shown a few different teams to be "America's favorite team" (Cowboys, Patriot, Steelers) Steelers fans can be found worldwide.
A little history: when the region was hit by economic woes and the steel mills started to wane, the Steelers were charging through the 70s with a vengeance. Many families relocated throughout the country during this time because the jobs just disappeared. But they were all cheering the Steel Curtain on during their Super Bowl wins in 74, 75, 78 (year I was born - woot!) and 79.
So Steelers-themed bars cropped up in every major city. I went to one recently in Queens, NY just across the river from Manhattan.
The footage from those games is amazing - not neccessarily the actual super bowls, but the home games leading up to them, where you see all these people freezing their asses off in the stands, snow pouring down, fans cheering wildly. It's interesting to think they were going though similar economic times as we are today - but it was felt more distinctly - everyone knew people getting laid off left and right. As for me, currently, I still only know of a few and only one local. Even if we aren't all losing our jobs (yet) our stock portfolios have taken nose dives and the dow jones industrial average makes me a little nauseated each time Kai Risdal from Marketplace on NPR tells me the bad news. Regardless - the Steelers have always come through, to give this once dirty, gritty town a reason to cheer.
