I thought the other article was fluff, but I’m not smart enough to have thought of the benefits of a solid widespread fanbase to actually playing the game. If 25% of the fans in jacksonville were steelers fans, then that means that there was 25% less noise for Ben to deal with and much more noise for david to deal with.

Of course, you could also take into account how large a stadium is, how full it is, and how its acoustics are. Having a solid fanbase is one of those intangibles.

i went to the raiders-steelers debacle in oakland in 2006, and, while i’ll never go back to that God-forsaken city, i must say that even in oakland, about 25-30% of the fans were steeler fans. there were steeler tailgates, and a traveling booster-type club. so not only do steeler fans travel well, they have balls for showing up in black and gold gear in public jail cells like the oakland coliseum.