Steelers Training Camp is finally here: Here We Go

It starts around the end of June each year.  It's a murmur at best, not even a small rumble.

...here we go...

Free agency was but a blip on the radar. It's never much bigger than that, really. That's not how this team works. The draft is what we all waited for, chomping at the bit to get a glimpse into the future of the team. Still, it's merely a time to take stock and await the upcoming season.

...here we go...

May seemed interminable. There was rookie minicamp, and not much more. It was agonizing. It's not until the end of the month that we finally got something resembling football, when organized team activities start. It's...something.

...here we go...

June has team minicamp, and the reports from beat writers begin to trickle in, then flow.

Here we go, Steelers...

Suddenly, the silence is deafening as the final break of the off-season begins. Players go off on one last jaunt with friends or family. We follow Twitter feeds, Instagram, Facebook, anything for something! We long for every last tidbit of information, every morsel of even roundabout gossip. We start to follow the other teams, looking for another player to diss our team, our players, our coaches, just so that we have even the slightest grain of something to hold on to until the end of July.

...here we go!

Four weeks out, then three, then two. With each passing day, the momentum slowly builds. Previews, insights, even just Madden ratings become pure gold. We read of the defensive line invading Kennywood and we hang on it as if it was our lifeline, our last hope for survival, through the doldrums of summer. Someone else gets paid millions of dollars to stay in town a few more years, and we celebrate it as if he was our best friend. These are our Steelers. These are our guys, This is our family. And it's like we're seeing them for the first time in years, so we rejoice in the prodigal return!

Here we go, Steelers, here we go!

The end of July is nigh, my friends! To borrow a phrase, we've made it through the long, dark tea-time of the soul. We've traversed the abyss that is the NFL off-season, and our boys are returning to town! They arrive in their Mercedes and BMWs and Lexuses and Hummers and even, once upon a time, a John Deere tractor. They come bearing the gift of football, and we shower them in return with our enthusiasm that, once more, their arrival has heralded a new beginning and vanquished our anxious, impatient downtime, spent rehashing memories of bygone football glories again and again and awaiting the moment when the team begins making history anew.

Here we go, Steelers, here we go!

The eve of training camp is upon us. The moment is near when these gladiators begin again in earnest their preparations for the upcoming season, wild and hungry for the chance and honor of donning the most revered of crests, the tartan of the true football warrior, the mighty Black and Gold. There will be victories won and battles lost as teammates conquer teammates, whittling the group down to the absolute best of the best, so that those fifty-three battle-hardened fighters can begin their quest against the best competition the NFL can bring.

Here we go, Steelers, here we go!

So let us converge on the college of Saint Vincent and raise up with our brothers the call to arms! Let us partake in the fury, let us dream of victory over Ravens, Bengals, Browns and others! Let us watch these 90, then 75, then 53 men take to the field, but let us dream of Renegades and a seventh Lombardi! Championships are won in February, but legends are born in July and August. We will watch them fight and watch them grow, and we will see. Them. Win. Victory is coming, my friends, and it all starts here and now. This is when it all begins. This is the inception of a championship.

HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE...

Go.