:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/26696757/180664253.0.jpg)
I long for the days of relevancy.
Forever ago, the Steelers were playing in the divisional weekend. They hosted games and were touchdown favorites to win. It was easy to look past whatever sap was on the schedule toward the conference championship where the real test was waiting.
I remember a time when things like this would set fans on fire with discussions, attacks, trash talk and the like.
The Seattle Seahawks announced tickets for their upcoming NFC Championship game would be sold only in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Alaska and Hawaii, as well as the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta.
Surely not by coincidence, the states of California and North Carolina are not on the list - the locations of the 49ers and Panthers, one of which will be the visiting team in that game.
This naturally has set the fans at SB Nation's 49ers site, Niners Nation, ablaze. The fine folks at the Panthers site, Cat Scratch Reader, appear to be avoiding this travesty of justice, this intentional marketing gimmick meant to instill more Jingoist pride in a franchise that retired a jersey to show their love for their fans.
But Niners Nation is hot in pursuit - while still acknowledging they must get past the Carolina Panthers before really laying into their newfound rivalry, which, in the eyes of many, supplanted the Steelers/Ravens rivalry as the foremost display of intensity between teams and fanbases combined.
While the (ahem) outrage certainly felt across the state of Pennsylvania is sure to begin percolating shortly, we're left with the comfort of knowing the Steelers could never enact such a policy.
The Steelers' ownership knows there are more Steelers fans in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and Hawaii, and across the entire frozen tundra of Canada, than there are Seahawks fans in the world. And Steeler Nation kicks the tar out of their 12th Man any day.
