On national media presence...some thoughts

often gets dismissed as “dirty” or whatever. most people have no clue what a beautiful city it is. not really much glamor in the steel city…heck, andy warhol spent his entire life evading the fact he was a native.

but i think the championships are the only national media exposure pittsburgh ever needs.

after these most recent SB wins for us, there hasn’t been alot of media coverage. “Steelers fans, your team just won the Super Bowl! You can commemorate this historic season with DVD’s of every game leading up to, and including the Big Game.” Nothing…Oh sure, there’s the Ben “Fathead” commercials, or the Beast’s Head’n’Shoulders ones…but where’s the rest of it? After the Pasties won their last one, 5 years ago (hehe, can’t help but LOL at THAT fact), I couldn’t turn on a TV without seeing Marsha Brady’s smug, prissy little grin. It seems like even when we win (ugly or not) everyone just passes us over. Why? Scratch that, I don’t care why. Ben will win us 2 more Lombardi’s, and put the SB winning record so far out of reach, nobody will be able to touch it. That will be enough “media attention” for me.

and the opinions of the general population who are not Steelers fans fall into one of two groups.
1. Believe that we win inspite of the fact that we suck.
2. It’s easy to make it to the playoffs when you play in the AFC north with the likes of the Browns, Bengals, and Ravens.

Either way I’m okay. The more we fly under the radar the easier it is to surprise people when we win it all!

When I wasn’t living in the ‘Burgh, the lack of coverage bothered me a lot more because I couldn’t get coverage at all unless the national media did a segment on the black and gold.

Now I am here, and get to watch Tomlin’s press conference and all of the post and pre game shows… and doesn’t bother me at all.

In fact, I like it.

But I get the guys on here who feel left out because of it…

10-15 years ago it was way more difficult.

They have other teams to cover as well. What if the media covered us as much as the Pats? Then fans of other teams would say that there is media bias towards the Steelers.

You guys have to understand that boring doesn’t sell. Covering the Steelers probably won’t get as much national coverage as covering the Pats or Colts. It’s about ratings and money.

I grew up in a suburb of Pittsburgh then left for the AF right after graduation. I’ve lived in many different States and 2 countries outside of the USA and if there was one thing that was an icebreaker no matter where I went, it was the Steelers. Wear a jersey and you find out that you are definitely not alone. My mom spent a fortune with the US postal service mailing me newspapers (before internet time) and I respectfully give her all the credit for keeping me posted. The media doesn’t like “blue collar”. They like flash (TO) trash (Ocho) and pretty (Tom). We don’t have cheerleaders. We have 65K, towel wavin’, football lovin’ FANS in the stadium week after week; year after year. We won’t ever be “media darlings” and that’s just fine with me.

I’m proud of my City (which will always be home) and proud of my Steelers.

not neilson rating trophies, or something to that affect, are on the way to Tomlins office.

I have never lived in Pittsburgh but I have been a fan since the 70’s. Once or twice a year I come in to town to watch a game, whether or not I have tickets. Just being in the City of Champions and surrounded by other Steeler maniacs is a treat I had a scheduling problem last week and missed watching on television for the first time in about 3 years. Usually I can find a bar or grill anywhere in the country that is loaded up with fans of the black and gold.

I have given lots of thought to the lack of national media attention given to arguably the best run franchise in professional sports. Considering the popularity of our team nationwide, not to mention globally it has always amazed me. Here are a few of my observations.

1. Steelers fans will always be there and we get taken for granted based on that fact. Cowboys and Pats fans are much like the fans of the old 49ers. When was the last time you bumped into a random stranger wearing a Niners jersey? Whiners need to be coddled to keep them happy and interested.

2. We may have a big trophy case but Pittsburgh is a small market town. The 2000 census records Pitt as 54th in population nationwide and that was a 9.5% decline from the 1990 numbers. The metro area is a little better but still ranks 20th nationwide and was also a decline from the 90 census but only of 1.5%.

3. Unless you have been there you wouldn’t have any idea what a cool place The Burgh really is. The city isn’t sexy, or perceived as so. There’s no Philly Cheesesteak, no Madison Avenue, no beach, and occasionally brutal winters, you get the idea.

4. Our team isn’t sexy, accept for Troy of course. We don’t have cheerleaders, who needs them? And even the ridiculous recent addition of a mascot is well, totally gay. I’m pretty sure he was in the Village People at one time but that’s neither here nor there. Our biggest rivalry is with the Browns, nuff said. And the second biggest is the Ravens, another equally unsexy team and town.

5. During our latest run of success (the Big Ben era) we have consistantly fielded one of the most fearsome defenses in the league which overshadows the play of our remarkably adept QB, and lately o-line and receiving corps. When the talking football heads do mention our offense they usually focus on the running game, which again, is not sexy but perceived as more of the pound it down your throat variety ala Jerome Bettis (sorry J).

6. The face of our franchise is not nearly as pretty or flashy as say Tom Brady or as affable and efficient as one Peyton Manning. The first Super Bowl win in the BB era was attributed solely to the defense though I think that there were a few plays that if Ben does not make them we have no shot at winning that game. And regretfully his performance in that Super Bowl detracted from the dominating performances he put up in the playoff run to get there.The one year that we needed Ben to light up the stat sheets, and he did just that, we didn’t make it to the Super Bowl. Lastly on Ben, what the media calls a big game and what are actually big games are usually quite different. The coming conference games with Baltimore and Cincy are huge but it’s only when the opponent is named Favre or Brady that games get noticed. Ben has let a few chances for notariety pass him by and frankly I am glad for it. Last years Titans game is a perfect example and yesterdays matchup also fits into that category albeit a far better result. But still, the guy just wins, unfortuantely he doesn’t usually do it in a dominating all out arial assault. It’s not Ben and it’’s not Steeler football, though I believe that may be changing.

7. With success comes lower draft picks. We are seldom if ever in the position to draft the big name and most of our real talent comes up through the ranks over a period of developement and hard work. We never make the big trade or sign the big free agent to the zillion dollar contract. We often let our bigger names go during free agency because they are too expensive or too much trouble. Our ownership is stable and low key. Basically we don’t get the attention because we do very little to garner it, other than winning Super Bowls that is, and as long as that trend continues it is perfectly alright by me.