Jessica

Vozel

Read Jessica's bio and previous columns here

February 2, 2009

Times are Tough, But Steelers Show Reason to Hope . . . and Cheer

My hometown team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, just won the Super Bowl. Now, I’m not what one would consider a football “fan” but there is, admittedly, some black-and-gold in my blood.

Where I come from, no one is not a Steeler fan. I mean it. A quick perusal of my hometown Wal-Mart parking lot this Super Bowl Sunday will undoubtedly reveal a Steeler bumper sticker ratio of 10-1.

Once inside, one will be faced with a sea of black-and-gold patrons hoisting frozen pierogies, kielbasa and chicken wings into their carts and singing along to the endless loop of Steeler fight songs that replaced the holiday rotation – including such hits as “The Steeler Polka,” “Here We Go Steelers” and the “Polamulu Song.” It’s probably true that something similar is happening at Wal-Marts in Tempe, Phoenix and Tucson today. What makes Steeler fans unique, however, is that the scene I described would not look much different on a Sunday if the team was off to an 0-10 start in the middle of the season.

I point this out not to make fun of the Steeler-fan fervor of my hometown. In fact, a part of me wishes I could have been in Pittsburgh yesterday, where I could have watched the game with my crazy family and where everyone – even strangers eyeing the last case of Iron City beer – will smile at one another. I say this because Steeler fans offer a lesson for the rest of us. Sure, they can be obnoxious, especially this time of year and especially if you’re not a Steeler fan, but there’s a sense of unity and perseverance in Steeler country that I think our nation could benefit from.

Their faith is not conditional. They are, in fact, convinced that no matter how grim the outlook, the Steelers will pull through somehow. And you know what? They actually do a lot of the time. Pittsburgh may have overzealous fans, but the team actually succeeds. Last night’s victory means they are the first team to have won six of them. This success seems, in my unproven opinion, to be a result of the fans instead of the other way around.

OK. I admit, there’s a lot to hate about Super Bowl Sunday. The sometimes entertaining but almost always sexist commercials (the National Organization for Women found a remarkable lack of women with speaking roles in 2008’s ads). The overconsumption and the spectacle of fireworks and expensive lighting and face paint (and probably body paint, too, given the Super Bowl’s balmy locale this year). The fact that the money spent on preparing for the big game could be better spent in a hundred different ways, especially right now.

But in these hard times it’s nice to have something to distract us for a few hours, and football’s tried-and-true fans show us that good things do come to those who wait. Maybe it’s sad that we have to turn to football to escape our troubles, but it would be even sadder if times were so tough we had to call the whole spectacular, gluttonous, chauvinist thing off.

© 2009 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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