Why I am a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers

Welcome to the refreshed Behind the Steel Curtain! To celebrate the new look and feel of our sports communities, we're sharing stories of how and why we became fans of our favorite teams. If you'd like to share your story, head over to the FanPosts to write your own post. Each FanPost will be entered into a drawing to win a $500 Fanatics gift card [contest rules]. We're collecting all of the stories here and featuring the best ones across our network as well. Come Fan With Us!

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Why am I a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers?

Such an interesting question which is likely a different story for every black and gold blooded fan who ever put on a Steelers jersey on game day and waived their Terrible Towel.

Some will talk about heredity, some will talk about location while others might talk about just getting into football and picking the team they thought was the best! Either way, every single one of us has found our way to the same place...the Pittsburgh Steelers.

As for me, my fan hood was essentially a birth rite. When my grandfather immigrated to this country from Romania, his family settled in the Steel City. It was there where my black and gold roots originate. Although my family since left Pittsburgh, my father brought me up the right way...rooting for the best team in the NFL.

For my family, the Steelers aren’t just a team we follow. It is a religion. Growing up, Sundays in the fall were as follows: Breakfast, church, Steelers. In that order, no matter what. We clung to the games on our small television, feeling every hit, exalting in every touchdown and living and dying with each playoff victory or defeat.

Unfortunately, I didn’t grow up in the glorious 70s where the Steelers dynasty won four Super Bowls in six seasons. No, I grew up in the Bubby Brister and Mike Tomczak era. But to be honest, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. I remember watching the Steelers lose more than they won early in my childhood, and my dad taught my brother and me a lesson I teach my children to this day: No matter what, you stick by your team.

We endured through Neil O’Donnell, let’s try not to think about Super Bowl XXX, Kordell Stewart and Tommy Maddox. All leading up to the Ben Roethlisberger era. For outsiders, they think it is easy to be a Steelers fan. Yes, we are a spoiled bunch, winning six Super Bowls can do that to you, but we suffer and agonize with every defeat like any other NFL fan.

When I think about why I became a fan of the Steelers, it was more than just the team my father rooted for. There was something about this team I just loved. The personalities of the 1990s, Kevin Greene, Greg Lloyd, Levon Kirkland, Carnell Lake, Bam Morris and Yancey Thigpen. Listening to games where Myron Cope screamed nonsense into the radio speakers which were playing over the muted television, and the hair on the back of your neck still standing tall when you heard him say, “The Terrible Towel is poised to strike!”

The Steelers to me are much more than a team. It is almost like a giant fraternity. You wear your colors and logo proud, and when you see someone else wearing those colors, regardless of race, color or creed, you at least give a waive and a “Go Steelers” as you pass.

Come to think of it, maybe Steelers fans are more than a fraternity, but more resemble a family. You want your family to do well, no matter what, and when you lose one of your own, it hurts. This was on display this offseason when team chairman Dan Rooney passed away. I, like thousands of other fans, have never met the man, but you felt the loss deep down in your spirit. As if you lost your own grandfather, or father.

Why am I a fan of the Steelers? That answer has changed a lot throughout the years, but now to have the opportunity to run this fine website you are reading is certainly a gigantic feather in my fanhood cap.

We follow this team as if we were the coach or GM ourselves. We analyze every move they make, and ensure we have a full breadth of knowledge of each player, coach and water boy on the team. We live for this. It is a part of us. And for most of us, that part of us is one of the best parts of us.

I’m not ashamed to say I love the Pittsburgh Steelers. They are a huge part of me, my family and my life. And that, is the reason I am a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers!

Here we go!!

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