I remember my first Pittsburgh
Steelers game like it was yesterday. It
was December 22nd, 1996 in Charlotte, North Carolina. My wife was 8 months pregnant with our 2nd
child and I told her I had an important business meeting in Charlotte. Little did she know I went down to watch the
best football team in NFL history! Here we go Steelers Here We Go!!!! Now, I know you are wondering why I did not
make it to my first Steeler game until I was 32, and why my first Steeler game
was in Charlotte and not the Blue Collar Capital of the Blue Collar Nations
PITTSBURGH PENNSYLVANIA!
Well, I grew up in Kearnersville,
NC so I didn’t have an NFL team growing up.
But I can remember the day I became a lifelong member of Steeler
NATION. It was a Sunday in January 1976,
or so I later learned from my new "5 RINGS" TEE SHIRT. I was 12 years old and I was over at my
friend Tommy’s house. When I got over
there, Tommy’s parents were having a huge party. It was Super Bowl Sunday! I had never watched football before, so I had
no idea who was playing. Tommy was a big
Cowboy fan, and since Tommy’s house smelled funny I wanted to root for the
other team. That other team was the one
and only Pittsburgh Steelers. This one
guy who catches the ball made an amazing catch, and after watching the NFL
films video of that game I learned it is the HALL OF FAMER Lynn Swann. I knew I was hooked for life as a member of
STEELER NATION. I remember watching a
few more games growing up, usually when the Steelers were in the playoffs, but
I can’t tell you anything specific about that.
I did not watch many games in the
1980’s, but after the Steelers went to the Super Bowl in 1995, I WAS MORE
DIEHARD THAN EVER!!! I bought tickets
for the Steelers Panthers as soon as I could.
Well, I mean my boss had an extra ticket so I went. The game?
It was awful. Some guy named
Kordell played terrible. Carolina won, I
got real drunk and they showed my face on TV with my AWESOME TERRIBLE
TOWEL. My wife was watching the game and
dumped me. I didn’t care, she doesn’t
have FIVE SUPER BOWL RINGS like the PITTSBURGH STEELERS DO. Oh yeah, on the way home from the game, in a
drunken stupor I told my boss I spend 2-4 hours a day just pretending to
work. I was fired on Tuesday. I was so hungover I called in sick
Monday. From that moment on, I knew the
only thing I needed in my life was the Pittsburgh Steelers.
I make it a point to go to every
game in Washington, Baltimore, Philly, Charlotte, Atlanta and Nashville. That way, every time the Steelers play a road
game in one of these cities the announcers can talk about how “Steeler Nation”
and how we are the BEST FANS IN THE WORLD!!!
We travel in huge numbers everywhere!!
I know I don’t really travel from Pittsburgh, and I have never actually
been to Pittsburgh, but I BLEED black and gold!!!
I know what you stupid Bungal fans
will say. “You are not a real fan, you
just picked the best team when you were 12.”
Well, the Bungals suck! How many
rings do you have? I HAVE FIVE. I sold my car to purchase replica rings on
EBAY! We Dey gonna beat you stupid
Bungals. I know I used to own a Boomer
Jersey and wore it every day in junior college.
I know I used to do the Ickey Shuffle at every party that year. But that was just a phase; I have bled Gold
and Black my whole life. Thursday night,
we are going to DOMINATE again. I will be at the Greensboro STEELER BAR and I drink a Miller High Life for every
point my beloved Steelers score.
Hopefully I can sneak in one of the booths and crash for the night. But that’s a different story.