The More You Know: Random facts about your Steelers, Disposition edition

It’s the offseason for the Pittsburgh Steelers and there are so many topics to talk and write about. Free agents, the GM conundrum, the starting quarterback, training camp, and breaking news will all be covered here at BTSC. But who’s going to give you little-known-facts out of the 500 Level?

Luckily, your one-stop, and non-stop, shop for everything Steelers employs a Steelers fan that was allegedly dropped on his head as a one-year-old during the Immaculate Reception. Useless and somewhat fascinating facts are his forte. So, here we are with off-the-wall thoughts from the dark side of a black-and-gold brain that nobody asked for. But the joke’s on you as you’ll be telling your peeps something you read here later.

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412 Forever

The late Rush Limbaugh was often outspoken and controversial as a conservative political commentator who hosted television and nationally syndicated radio stations from 1984 until his death in 2021. As passionate as Rush was when it came to his political views and the Republican Party, he was equally proud of being a member of Steelers Nation.

The following is an excerpt from the written transcript of the October 19, 2018 episode of The Rush Limbaugh Show.

“I moved to Pittsburgh. I left home. My first job away from home was when I was 20. It was 1971, I moved to Pittsburgh, it was actually a suburban station called McKeesport. And I worked there for a year and a half and then went to an ABC owned and operated station in Pittsburgh. When I got to Pittsburgh, I was 20 years old. The closest football team to where I had grown up was the St. Louis Cardinals, and they were eh. I really, I was a baseball fan. I liked football, watched it now and then, but was not really into it.”

“But I got caught up as a resident of Pittsburgh when that dynasty was forming. I got caught up in it. And I was there through 1975, and I just got… Like everybody in that… it’s amazing to me, that’s why I first evolved the theory of how the performance of a sports team can have so much impact on the self-esteem of the population of a city. The Steelers owned that city. Well, they did even before… They were lovable bumblers. But then when the Super Bowl years came, it hasn’t dropped off. It hasn’t evaporated. It’s incredible. I got caught up in it and that’s why I became a Steelers fan. I lived there.”

*Note: Featuring a political figure in this column is merely to focus on a famous Steelers fan and in no way a political statement or and endorsement of any particular political views or party. The author remains politically ambiguous and subscribes to the “ignorance is bliss” policy.

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BTSC Steelers Jeopardy

(Answer at bottom of article)

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Middle Name Madness

We love citing the second name of members of the Men of Steel here at Behind the Steel Curtain. We always cite Benjamin Todd Roethlisberger, Christopher Lynn Boswell and Trent Jordan Watt, but who else? Hence, the “More You Know Middle Name of the Week”. This week we feel compelled to feature the Steelers player that was drafted second by the Steelers in the 2022 NFL Draft. There’s plenty of excitement surrounding Pickens in Pittsburgh, so BTSC feels that we should all know the full name of No. 14.

George Malik Pickens Jr.

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This Week’s Birthdays of Steel

5/22 - A.Q, Shipley (1986)

5/23 - Stephon Tuitt (1993)

5/24 - Rian Wallace (1982). Jeff Zgonina (1970)

5/25 - Joe Skadanly (1911)

5/26 - Crezdon Butler (1987), Greg Lloyd (1965). John Malecki (1988)

5/27 - Chris Conrad (1975), Sean McHugh (1982)

5/28 - Cy Caspar (1912)

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Steel Stats

Mike Tomlin, with 154, is three wins away from joining Chuck Noll (193) in having more victories as a Steelers coach than the first 13 Head Coaches in franchise history combined. Collectively Forest Douds, Bill Austin and everybody in between from 1933 to 1968 were victorious a combined total of 156 times. Coach Bill Cowher fell short with 149 total wins.

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Disturbing Sights

Greg Lloyd may have never won a ring in his Steelers’ career, but he’s one of the baddest of all of the men ever to don the black and gold. Drafted in the sixth round and as the 28th linebacker selected in the 1987 NFL Draft. In eleven Steelers seasons, No. 95 was three times a First-team All-Pro from 1993–1995, a five-time Pro Bowler from 1991-1995, a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers All-Time Team and a 2020 inductee into the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Honor. With 53.5, Lloyd ranks eighth all-time in team sacks. After a knee injury in 1996’s Week 1 took him out for the season, the man not hired for his disposition returned for his final Pittsburgh season in 1997. After that year, Greg Lloyd was a shell of his former self in a season with the Panthers. Despite his career winding down, the sight of the Blitzburgh legend in Carolina colors is still difficult to digest.

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Hypocycloids Gone Hollywood

Bill Cowher was always animated on the sidelines in 15 seasons as the Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. but in his movie career that includes 1998’s The Waterboy and 2021’s Home Team, the man with the pronounced chin has been more reserved. In the Adam Sandler NCAA football vehicle, Cowher had a cameo arguing with Jimmy Johnson regarding Sandler’s Bobby Boucher’s play being more reminiscent of Greg Lloyd’s versus that of Johnson’s Miami Dolphin, Zach Thomas. The movie included Happy Days legendary Fonzie actor, Henry Winkler... but Cowher was the coolest on entire movie set.

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The Cliff Clavin Corner

Three times from 1979 to 1982, the Steelers drafted three running backs from Baylor, including two in Round 1. Of Greg Hawthorne (No. 1 in ‘79), Frank Pollard (No. 11 in ‘80) and Walter Abercrombie (No. 1 in ‘82), Pollard was the best Bear with 3,989 yards and 20 TDs in nine seasons.

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So, there you have it. Anybody can spout out stat after stat, but not everybody can embrace the colorful and personal side of the Pittsburgh Steelers. So, the more you know, the more you can stupefy your friends, family and neighbors with your big, black-and-gold brain. By the way, “What is Kent State?” is the correct clue in BTSC Steelers Jeopardy.

Joe Greene (twice), Mel Blount, Jack Lambert, Rod Woodson, Troy Polamalu, James Harrison and T.J. Watt all won the NFL AP Defensive Player of the year. Two of that magnificent seven, Lambert and Harrison, played collegiately as Kent State Golden Flashes.

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We’ll see you right here next week. Until then keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the hypocycloids.