by J Hutcherson | May 9th, 2006
A few months ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers became the second team that I claim to actually win a championship while I was actively supporting them. The ‘98 Fire was the first. I was a fan then, months out from earning my first money as a sports writer.
The immediate hit in Chicago should have been tame compared to seeing a team I had fluctuated between obsession and intense interest since second grade win the Super Bowl. Blame it on whatever, but I haven’t worn anything with a Steelers logo since the night of the Super Bowl, shrugged off the “you must be happy” and the slightly odd congratulatory emails immediately following said grand event.
Not to play contrarian gloryhunter… honest. I’m just unable to consider that game anything other than an embarrassment. I don’t want to see Bettis retiring with a big smile in his home city after that game, I don’t want to see Cowher’s celebratory chin after that game, I don’t want a commemorative issue after that game. I wanted a championship that felt legitimate, something I wasn’t aware of until I didn’t get it.
I’m not a football obsessive. I don’t watch the draft. I can barely fake interest in games not involving Pittsburgh. It’s one team, not a league, not a sport. It’s been that way for so long that it’s become an identity factor. Not the obsessive Euro model, but something that people who know me take for granted. I’ve had the Starter cap and jacket combo in middle school, the dime face digital watch in elementary school, and the Sears catalogue uniform complete with helmet.
I can run down where I watched the great games of my lifetime, even if I never saw Three Rivers in person.
Maybe it’s just me, but I have this thing about connection. I’m not a legit baseball fan for any one team. I was too flippant with it as a kid, too susceptible to the superstations. My favorite team is unapologetically the ‘77 Yankees. I was two at the time.
Given that totally ridiculous connection, I have no problem with the Yankees logo turned fashion statement. I understand the ideal that shoes match caps. Done right, I even respect it.
But the Steelers passed by in the eyes of the glory hunt decades ago, and they were never the object of the fashion focused. I could literally count the number of Steelers shirts and caps I’ve seen in my own part of Maryland’s suburban wasteland before January 2006, adding to the grand total of none I saw in Chicago the seven years prior.
Now, the nice new Steelers decals on too many cars with Maryland and Virginia plates? Wasn’t that supposed to be reserved for your 2004 World Series champion Boston Red Sox?
This isn’t ESPN Page 2 and we don’t need rules, but if you’re going to suddenly remember you really like the team that just won a championship, shouldn’t there at least be a question of subtlety?
The out of state tags with the new Steelers plate holder they were selling at the big box sporting goods store the day after the game ended? The Steelers sticker making friends with those other celebratory stickers? The gas station parking lot version of the championship T-shirt?
There’s got to be some way of reporting that to the appropriate authorities. Especially when the championship wasn’t won well.
What I’m Watching
Palace flops around for two hours trying to make back the three goals they gave up at home to Watford, live on Setanta at 2:30pm. Not that I’m already bitter or anything. Yes, I will be looking for internet options. One lonely Libertadores playoff, Chivas - Velez Sarsfield live on Fox Sports en Espanol at 9pm. All Times Eastern
Quote Of The Day
“I don’t think Walcott or Arsene Wenger thinks he is going to play seven games (of) 90 minutes in the World Cup. If you expect him to have the impact Pele had in 1958, we are talking about the wrong things, but I am excited about it.” England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.
The Wonderful World of Soccer Media: Europe
Bravo! Eriksson finally permits instinct to supplant logic — from The Guardian’s Richard Williams.
Spurs may seek replay of final game to defuse controversy — from The Guardian’s Jason Burt.
Leeds emerge from the gloom to rekindle hopes of glorious return — from The Times’ Rick Broadbent.
The Wonderful World of Soccer Media: USA
Soccer legend Ace Ntsoelengoe dies — from Business Day.
Donovan: ‘I’m different than most players’ — from Soccernet’s Andrea Canales.
The USA’s 12th Man — from Soccer America’s Mike Woitalla.
Big Picture
One to forget — from The Miami Herald’s Dan Le Betard.
Off Mound, Mets’ Ace Loosens Up in His Garden — from The New York Times’ Juliet Macur. Registration Required
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.