A True Fan's Beginning...

"Every passion borders on the chaotic..."  Walter Benjamin

        Sports fans are a different breed.  When watching a game, we process information as if we ourselves are on the field.  Our passion for our favorite team, sport, or player will often exceed the limits of what are considered reasonable, but we don't care.  It’s all a part of what being a fan is about.  

        I am a fan of one team that has a history of excellence and championships and one team that, well, does not.  Both teams have brought me my share of heartache and pain.  My history as a part of “Steeler Nation” is one that many true fans can relate to.

        I became a Pittsburgh Steelers fan after the first Super Bowl I remember watching, Super Bowl XIV.  I was six years old and I don’t remember all the details of the game, but I remember that the Steelers seemed bigger than life to me.  My whole life to that time had been filled with Steeler championships.

My favorite Steeler was Joe Green.  Not only did he have a commercial, but his name brought about one of the greatest lines my mother has ever uttered:

        “Why did his Mom name him Mean?”

        I didn’t know, at that time, that they wouldn’t even get into the Super Bowl again until 1996.  There was no way I could have comprehended how that could be possible.  I was six.

They finally won the championship again in 2006, but it was 3 years later that reminded me how connected we make ourselves to our teams. 

        I had watched the first half against the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII in near euphoria.  Not only were the Steelers playing great, but the Cardinals were not playing well at all.  Everything seemed to be going right for us. 

        The last seven-and-a half minutes of the fourth quarter of that game was probably the most excruciating and exhilarating I could imagine.  The range of emotions was incredible, but I was being physically affected by every play.

Warner to Fitzgerald…stomach cramp.

Holding in the End Zone, safety….intense migraine and a sense of bewilderment.

Another long TD to Fitzgerald…. I thought I was going to pass out.

 

        

I remember when the Steelers got the ball back for that last drive I was shaking my head, staring at the screen.  The announcers sounded like they were on another planet.  I literally had the cold sweats. 

        As the team started moving the ball down the field, I still felt like crap but I could start to hear things normally.  I wasn’t jumping up and down with each completion…just sitting there nervously wringing my hands together.  It wasn’t until Roethlisberger’s unbelievable pass to Santonio Holmes in the back of the end zone that I finally let a loud “YES”.

         And then the endless replays.

 I kept on saying (whether to myself or out loud I can’t be sure) “They are gonna take this from US”. 

Us.

I have never cried watching a game that I wasn’t playing in before.  But I cried when the official came back and said that the call stood.  I felt exhausted, emotionally and physically, and I thought I could have just witnessed one of the greatest football games in history.  I remember thinking about being that six year old kid who thought the Steelers won every year and listening to his mom ask “Why did his Mom name him Mean”? 

I felt like I was on the field with the team.  I felt like I could have been wearing one of those “Super Bowl Champ” T-shirts with confetti falling out of the sky like rain.

I felt like “Us”.

That’s the thing about being a fan.  You aren’t a fan because you like sports or you like that team. 

You are a fan because you feel like you are part of that team. 

You feel like you are part of something bigger than the normal everyday world we live in.  For a couple hours, you ARE a Steeler, or a Jet, or even a Raider. 

You are a part of us.