Coming from the guy who brings you Steelers writing year round but my affinity grew out of a simple spite for the Cowboys growing up in Austin, TX. Being forced to watch the Cowboys each and every week prior to Sunday Ticket, while the Cowboys were at the height of their greatness in the 90s, I grew sick of them quickly.

I swear, even at like age 8, I knew Michael Irvin had serious personal issues. My mom always used to say Jimmy Johnson was ‘tacky and vile’ or something along those lines.

So, after reading about or watching one of those NFL films shows, about the Steelers and the Cowboys rivalry from back in the day, I adopted them and the rest was history. Sure it’s not as wholesome as growing up listening to the team over the radio with my pops, but it’s better than bandwagoning the Cowboys for georgraphy’s sake alone if you ask me.

Of course, once I started to like them, there were plenty of admirable qualities about the team, its players, and the ownership.

from 4th grade to 6th and I guess that’s just when I started paying attention to sports. I have been a huge fan of all Pittsburgh sports ever since. I still to this day remember beating the crap out of my little brother for laughing when we lost to the Chargers in the ’94 (i think) AFC championship. I was 12. :)

Age 9 in Oakland…across from University Of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral Of Learning after basketball league…huddling around a teammates transistor radio…we’re listening to Jack and Myron call the first in Pittsburgh playoff game against Stabler’s Raiders. Immaculate Reception. Pandemonium. Jubilation. Heart Stopping. Spine Tingling. Car’s honking. Dancing in the streets…I saved the Pittsburgh Press the next day and followed the Steelers religiously every week since. I have maybe missed a couple games (mostly preseason) since but have seen/heard virtually every snap since 12/23/72.

my dad grew up in baden, pa (went to ambridge area hs and carnegie mellon u), and my mom grew up in mt. lebanon, pa. they moved to california in 1984 and i was born three years later. my first sport was baseball, so i became an a’s fan. when i started following football, i remember watching the niners because we never got any steeler games, and who wants to be a raiders fan? it was a treat when the steelers would be on tv, and i was screamed at by raider fans when the steelers came to town. i went to the game when the steelers were out here when i was like 13, and just did not hear the end of it. my first steeler memory is, sadly, neil o’donnell in the super bowl. i was hooked ever since, for some reason. ;)

I was born in the early seventies in South Carolina… I’m not sure exactly when I became a Steelers fan, but my earliest memories are of seeing the Steel Curtain and Terry Bradshaw on the few games they were televised on TV – probably the playoffs/SBs then. Just like SteelBuckeye I loved Joe Green’s Coke comercial – “Hey Kid!” I had a Bradshaw ’signature line" football when I was a kid, and got to visit the Burgh once and touch Three Rivers (not during a game unfortunately) that was during the 50 seasons celebrations. Some of my favorite memories of games back then were against the Raiders – rough as they come.

I’m back home in SC now, and cleaning out my Dad’s house of a lot of old stuff the other day I found a pair of gold corduroy pants with a Steelers patch sewn on the back – I tried them on my two year old boy (who’s a brute) and my three year old daughter (who’s dainty) and they can both fit into them. Dad (who followed the Redskins sort of as they were on radio and then TV when he was growing up) doesn’t remember where that came from or when the patch got sewn on, but there was an early start from somewhere – I guess it was meant to be.

Growing up I was always geting pressure from friends and family to switch allegiances – I even was given a hideous Dolphins jacket one Christmas by some relatives (in the trash!). People don’t understand why a guy from SC gets to be a Steelers fan. I say the are the best and we had no home team then. I wasn’t going to pull for Atlanta or Miami or Baltimore or Washington and everyone else was a Cowboys fan and obnoxious so I picked the Steelers through providence and the rest is history.

was the first game that I remember watching. I’m sure I saw some others before that, but it was first that paid attention to. I was 6, and we were watching it at a friend of my Dad’s. All of us were pulling for the Steelers (we lived in Meadville, PA, about 30 miles south of Erie), except Dad, who just liked to irritate people and see what happened. I remember wondering why they were having such a hard time in the first half, and being so happy that they pulled away in the second. I can’t say I’ve always watched every game since then, or even wanted to, during some of the down years. But, the Steelers have been the team I’ve identified with since I was 6 years old. I also remember reading about the SBs and the Immaculate Reception. It just seemed almost like a fairy tale story how the Steelers went from the worst team in the first 40 years of the NFL to the greatest dynasty in NFL history. The Immaculate Reception just added to the lore.