Football Culture (Pittsburgh, State College, Manchester: denominational, deal, catholics)
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Ehh, i'm not so sure. The Yankees and the Cowboys probably are the two most hated teams in American sports, but the Steelers are on that level as well. I frequent a few sports message boards, and the Steelers get a lot of hate. Like others have mentioned, it's a success thing.
Honestly, I think hatred of the Steelers goes beyond hatred of the Cowboys. Nobody wants to retroactively strip the Cowboys of any of their Super Bowl championships the way they do the Steelers. Lots of people love to imply that the Steelers are "undeserving" of their unprecedented success since the AFL/NFL merger, as if they have any authority whatsoever to judge, or to repudiate the scoreboard, for that matter.
There's so much about local football culture that I've tried to understand but just can't seem to "get". For instance:
- If you insult the Steelers it's as if you insulted someones mother. Why do people treat a sports team like family?
- Every reference to the Steelers is always inclusive with "we". "We should done this...", "we are the best team" etc. Why do people act as if they're on the team themselves?
- Why do people attempt to rationalize others disinterest for football or the franchise? Just in this thread "jealousy" was cited as the reason people don't like the Steelers.
- Why are the Roonies praised so much as if they can do no wrong? People act like they're saints but have never actually had a conversation with any of them.
- Honest question: Why are the off-field antics of ball players always defended? If a school teacher was accused of rape multiple times would they be greeted by a cheering stadium of fans upon their return?
I know people will get offended by these questions but I'm honestly curious as to what the public's perceptions are at large.
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"Pittsburgh: America's Most Livable City"
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Location: Polish Hill, Pittsburgh, PA
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As an individual who grew up in an area where my high school peers who played football were exalted onto pedestals by the entire community and were practically immune to disciplinary actions I grew to dislike football at a very young age. That disdain for the sport has not waned since I moved to Pittsburgh.
My opinion? Let people love the "Stillers" as much as they want. It is annoying to not be able to go anywhere here without having to slip around a morbidly obese person on the sidewalk who is wearing a Steelers jersey and chain-smoking while waiting for a bus (sometimes yelling obscenities into their cell phones, too, after having had one too many), but if making football a religion here helps to forge a better sense of "community", then so be it. I usually work on Sundays delivering food to people, and I have to be subjected to the Steelers fanatacism incessantly as I duck in and out of bars and restaurants that are packed to the gills with rowdy and loud fans and arrive at the doorsteps of people having "Black and Yellow" parties, which is irksome; however, I just keep reminding myself that football season will be over soon enough.
I really wish baseball and hockey were given the same amount of coverage support here as football. I've never understood why football is by far the most dominant sport in this county.
Honestly, I think hatred of the Steelers goes beyond hatred of the Cowboys. Nobody wants to retroactively strip the Cowboys of any of their Super Bowl championships the way they do the Steelers. Lots of people love to imply that the Steelers are "undeserving" of their unprecedented success since the AFL/NFL merger, as if they have any authority whatsoever to judge, or to repudiate the scoreboard, for that matter.
I disagree. Perhaps recent success has caused a spike in Steeler hatred, but I think a much larger and diverse group of fans hate the Cowboys. I can think of a couple of causes: 1) Dallas' division rivals are concentrated in the northeast media markets, which always get more national attention. Fanatical Redskins, Giants and Eagles fans likely outnumber fanatical Browns, Bengals, and Ravens fans and their national exposure is undoubtedly greater. 2) The Cowboys are perceived to be arrogant (declaring themselves "America's Team", building a billion-dollar stadium, Jerry Jones' outspokenness). Much like their city, the Steelers are thought of as blue collar, working-class team despite whatever current evidence there is to the contrary. I think the Rooneys' reputation as owners is more of quiet strength as opposed to Jones' bluster, which also positively affects people's perception of the Steelers. There may be a small group of Holmgren disciples and Seattle fans who want to strip the Steelers of the Super Bowl XL title, but I think they are nothing more than a vocal minority among football fans.
There's so much about local football culture that I've tried to understand but just can't seem to "get". For instance:
- If you insult the Steelers it's as if you insulted someones mother. Why do people treat a sports team like family?
- Every reference to the Steelers is always inclusive with "we". "We should done this...", "we are the best team" etc. Why do people act as if they're on the team themselves?
- Why do people attempt to rationalize others disinterest for football or the franchise? Just in this thread "jealousy" was cited as the reason people don't like the Steelers.
- Why are the Roonies praised so much as if they can do no wrong? People act like they're saints but have never actually had a conversation with any of them.
- Honest question: Why are the off-field antics of ball players always defended? If a school teacher was accused of rape multiple times would they be greeted by a cheering stadium of fans upon their return?
I know people will get offended by these questions but I'm honestly curious as to what the public's perceptions are at large.
I'm not offended; I agree with you. I went to my first Steeler game in 1957 ( !!), as my uncle was a season ticket holder since the early 50's. I was a season ticket holder from 1973 to 1985. The " we" reference to any team from a fan always struck me a ludicrous; unless you were a former player, or a current one, you ain't we!
I've been as strong a fan as any over the years, but the team does not control my life, nor do I view the players, owners, or coaches through rose colored glasses.
There's so much about local football culture that I've tried to understand but just can't seem to "get". For instance . . .
So none of those things is unique to local football culture, or really to football culture specifically. These are all predictable attitudes associated with the tribalism that is still a large part of how humans behave. So, when humans start seeing themselves as part of a certain tribe, they take insults to the tribe personally, identify themselves with other members of the tribe in a collective sense, show contempt for non-members of the tribe, lionize other members of the tribe, defend members of the tribe when they are perceived as being under attack, and so on.
Of course if you aren't a member of the relevant tribe yourself, you might view all this as irrational. And some people are not really "joiners" in general (although most humans do in fact join one or more tribes, even if they don't think of it in those terms). But if you are sincerely just trying to understand the behavior, that's the basic explanation.
There's so much about local football culture that I've tried to understand but just can't seem to "get"....
Just a wild speculation, but I wonder if it doesn't have to do with Pittsburgh's immigrant culture. A great many working-class or lower-middle-class Pittsburghers are third- or fourth-generation descendants of peasant immigrants from places which, when their ancestors left for America, were quasi-tribal and still distinctly feudal in culture: southern Italy & Sicily and the Hapsburg and Russian empires.
Maybe it's a wild long shot, but I wonder if modern Pittsburgher's allegiance to the Steelers isn't a cultural mutation of the the Throne-and-Altar loyalty of Catholic-Feudal (or Orthodox-Feudal) simple loyalties which were a bedrock feature of their grandfathers' native peasant cultures?
The colors of the Habsburg Empire's flag were yellow and black, after all:
So none of those things is unique to local football culture, or really to football culture specifically. These are all predictable attitudes associated with the tribalism that is still a large part of how humans behave. So, when humans start seeing themselves as part of a certain tribe, they take insults to the tribe personally, identify themselves with other members of the tribe in a collective sense, show contempt for non-members of the tribe, lionize other members of the tribe, defend members of the tribe when they are perceived as being under attack, and so on.
Of course if you aren't a member of the relevant tribe yourself, you might view all this as irrational. And some people are not really "joiners" in general (although most humans do in fact join one or more tribes, even if they don't think of it in those terms). But if you are sincerely just trying to understand the behavior, that's the basic explanation.
Arguably some of things are unique (such as Roonie worship). But if your theory of tribalism (and basically sub-cultures) is correct, then why does this particular tribe have such thin skin? For example, I'm part of the information technology and/or nerd "tribe" and in many ways self-depreciating humor, self criticism, and accepting of stereotypes goes with the territory.
There are other tribes/sub-cultures/groups that obviously are partial to one another, but not at the extent I shared above. I'm curious as to why that is.
Last edited by Aqua Teen Carl; 11-04-2011 at 07:50 AM..
I'm a big sports fan but most of my friends are not. I have a hard time explaining my devotion to sports, since there is something absurd about being a sports fan. This Nytimes article sums up how I feel - that sports fandom is fun precisely BECAUSE it has no importance - one can be emotionally invested in something but it's not a disaster if things don't work out the way you want (of course this has not been a problem with the Steelers much lately, but I am also a Red Sox fan)
A great many working-class or lower-middle-class Pittsburghers are third- or fourth-generation descendants of peasant immigrants from places which, when their ancestors left for America, were quasi-tribal
ALL human societies are still "quasi-tribal" in one way or another. Sports fans in particular exhibit tribalism everywhere there are league sports (note that Steelers have absolutely nothing on soccer hooligans), behavior which is deliberately encouraged in part because that is how sports league can become so lucrative.
So you don't need an explanation for why people in Pittsburgh exhibit tribalism, other than to note they are members of the same species as other humans. And you don't need much more of an explanation to explain why people in Pittsburgh exhibit tribalism about sports--that sort of thing is deliberately encouraged by sports leagues and their affiliates (including in the media) as a way of competing for entertainment dollars.
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