Nothing united Steelers fans like rooting against the Tom Brady in the Super Bowl

I have grown to hate the cute saying: “Some of you have never (insert whatever here), and it shows,” but I think it’s appropriate for what I’m about to talk about. A lot of you Steelers fans aren’t used to rooting against the Patriots and/or Tom Brady in the Super Bowl, and it shows.

At least it showed in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl LVI matchup involving the Bengals and Rams at SoFi Stadium.

It used to be so simple; either the Patriots and Tom Brady were in the Super Bowl or Brady was all by himself (while being accompanied by 52 Buccaneers backup singers), and every single Steelers fan would band together to root against this evil empire and/or the classically handsome quarterback who had everything life could possibly offer—including an obnoxious appetite for more rings.

Let’s face it, Steeler Nation has diverse viewpoints and often disagrees on many things, including Mike Tomlin, quarterback stuff, draft stuff, {redacted}, {redacted} and The {redacted} Rule, and it’s hard for us to see eye-to-eye on these subjects no matter how much we try to talk them out.

But rooting against the Patriots and/or Tom Brady? Again, we’ve always been united on that front, which was why the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl were so darn annoying.

I mean, If I had to read even one more “I’m sorry, but I can’t root for the Bengals (or Bungals)” Tweet or Facebook post from a Steelers fan, I think I may have hurled.

Then, there were the people who were adamant they were going to root for a Bengals team that hailed from the same division as the Steelers, the AFC North, and once employed and tolerated Vontaze “Crazy Head” Burfict, and that nobody had a right to tell them otherwise.

Of course, you had Steelers fans who wanted the Rams to win for reasons that had nothing to do with the Bengals, which was nice. Aaron Donald being from Pittsburgh was a good reason, of course, but there were some who cheered against the Rams only because of Odell Beckham Jr. I’ll give you that, I suppose.

But at least the pro/anti-Bengals types and the pro/anti-Rams types picked a lane and stayed in it. What about those Steelers fans that spent the entire two weeks acting like some sort of independent {redacted} on the eve of an {redacted} and continued to waffle over who they would support in the Super Bowl?

What was up with all of those fans who made declarations stating who they would cheer for—“I’ve decided to root for the Rams”—like that time Michael Scott stood up and declared bankruptcy?

Do we really need a rooting interest to enjoy the most magical and awesome sporting event of the year? It’s the Super Bowl, damn it, not The Bachelor. Yes, that Joe Burrow was so smug—and did you see the outfit he picked out to wear before the game? Who did he think he was, anyway?—but I didn’t think it warranted spiteful anti-cheering.

Oh well, I’ve said my piece on this subject. Now that the Patriots dynasty is over (I think) and Tom Brady has retired (I think), we’re going to have plenty of opportunities to learn how to conduct ourselves during the Super Bowl, which will make the whole thing a much better and more pleasurable experience.

You can say what you what about the Patriots and/or Tom Brady (I know I will continue to), but you have to give them this: They could galvanize Steelers fans like no other.

That ain’t nothing.