Please don’t get me wrong. The Steelers are a big part of my life, have been since I was a kid. I liked the post, it was heartfelt, stirring and all that stuff. But as I read I couldn’t help but think about all of our brave young men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Germany and South Korea, on the seven seas, in our heartland and on our coasts. And as I thought about them, so many of them barely more than kids, away from their familes, their sweethearts, some of them thousands of miles away from their homes with no promise that they will ever return… As I thought of them I couldn’t help but wonder, will there be a parade, will we gather by the tens of thousands to welcome them home should they ever safely return? When we see them at the airport or the bus station, or when we pass them on the street, do we take the time to thank them for their service? Do we tell them just how much they are appreciated? Do we anonymously pick up their tab at the local diner or take the time to send them cards or emails? Do we visit them in the military hospitals or donate to the many charities that support the families of fallen warriors?

War is hell, football is a game. Ask any pro athlete, they will tell you who the real heroes are. I have spent the last thirty years of my life following the Steelers. I’ve screamed, I’ve yelled until I couldn’t speak and I have lived and died with every snap, every tick of the clock, every moment of glory and pain. Life can be hard, pro sports can be a wonderful distraction. Sometimes it’s easier to lose ourselves in the lives and accomplishments of our local team than to squarely face the obvious problems that confront our nation and the price that is at this moment being payed by true heroes on the battlefields of the world.

No matter what you feel about the wars that we are currently fighting. There are men and women at this very moment who may never live to see another championship run, to toss the ball in the backyard with a son or daughter that they may have never seen before, because they chose to wear a uniform. The writer of this post is correct. I cannot argue with a single word they said. But in reading neither could I shake the feeling that maybe sometimes I should take a moment to acknowledge those true warriors whose uniforms represent more than team spirit, whose sacrifice makes it possible for me to hop in my suv, drive to the stadium or the local sports bar, and for a few hours forget that the world is a much more dangerous place than any football field will ever be, and if not for their service, if not for their commitment, their dilligence and their sacrifice, and yes, their blood and the blood of so many who came before them, their would be no victory parades, no luxury boxes, no million dollar contracts, no banners to wave, no freedom, no hope, and no glory.

The Steelers are the true measure of athletic excellence, as players, as an organization, they are indeed an institution of American life. And the Steeler nation is the most die hard and loyal collecttion of individuals in all of sports. But there is only one America’s team, and it damn sure ain’t the Cowboys. There is now and has never been a uniform that is worthy of the same respect or devotion as the uniform worn by the fighting men and women of our United States Military. I only hope to remind us all, self included, that there is a world beyond the Wide Wide World of Sports. Sunday comes but once a week. The fight for freedom and liberty endures day to day, hour by hour. In the perilous times that now confront the world and our nation I can only hope that we could all take but a little time to make ourselves aware of the state that we are in and to take some action, any action to stand with our fellow countrymen who have laid everything on the line that we might enjoy our pasttimes.