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Old 11-01-2011, 01:33 AM
 
Location: Due North of Potemkin City Limits
1,237 posts, read 1,941,906 times
Reputation: 1141

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Do you guys think that the in-your-face, year-round Steelers culture helps or hinders the region? Personally, I watch the games and all....but when I lived in Pittsburgh, I really couldn't relate to how over-the-top the people went with it. Everything seemed to have a Steelers theme tied into it somehow, and I found it annoying and tacky.

I've always been a Steelers fan and a Pirates fanatic, however I never felt the need to decorate my home and body with Bucs paraphernalia. People who do that with the Steelers give me the impression that they're filling some sort of massive void in their lives with it. It's just something that I always found aggravating about the region, and was curious if anyone felt the same way I did about it.
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Old 11-01-2011, 02:31 AM
 
Location: Beaver County
1,273 posts, read 1,632,309 times
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Yes...as a Ravens fan who moved here 4 years ago I find it quite annoying. I keep hiding my husbands Steeler stuff but he keeps finding it. One night after a nap in the recliner I woke up to find he had decorated ME!
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Old 11-01-2011, 02:52 AM
 
Location: Ohio
3,437 posts, read 6,058,625 times
Reputation: 2700
They are called fanatics for a reason.
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Old 11-01-2011, 03:51 AM
 
Location: Macao
16,265 posts, read 43,015,716 times
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I'd love to hear from some of the Michigan residents in Pittsburgh...just to see if it's at a whole other level or not.

Michigan took all it's sports teams quite seriously. You'd see all kinds of people with Pistons, Tigers, Red Wings, or the college teams, UM or MSU, etc.

My impression of Ohio people, it's basically the same.

Then you have Boston fans, which sound quite similar.

Is it possible it's just a greater regional thing....I'd imagine that Buffalo people would be just as similar.

Can any Pittsburghers comment on that....wouldn't mind hearing from the Michigan ones in particular, as I know there are a few on this board...or anyone else from a Boston, Cleveland, Buffalo, Detroit, Milwaukee type of place...
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Old 11-01-2011, 04:11 AM
 
Location: On the Chesapeake
45,025 posts, read 60,030,742 times
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Don't think that Pittsburgh is unique. I live between two football markets, the Redskins and the Baltimore Browns, and the things originally described are just as prevalent here, especially with the Redskins. Cars, houses and faces painted in team colors. I've seen one car where the guy changes the hood every year to reflect the team's roster (names and pictures of the players painted on it). He lives up the road from me so I see it fairly regularly.

I do have to say that Redskins fans would likely win the prize for the most deluded fans in the country. They win a game and it's Road to the Super Bowl time, even if they're 1 and 12. They're also obnoxious about it. The hockey fans are the same, the Capitals choke every year in the first round and you should hear the excuses. The excuse part is constant across the sports teams: bad officiating, cheap shots, the opposing fans are mean, etc.

So it's just not Pittsburgh, it's probably similar nearly anywhere there's a pro football team, and from what I've seen in my travels it is.

Tiger Beer, there's only 2 college teams in PA, Penn State and Pitt.

Last edited by North Beach Person; 11-01-2011 at 04:32 AM.. Reason: spelling, clarity
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Old 11-01-2011, 04:29 AM
 
Location: Perry South, Pittsburgh, PA
1,437 posts, read 2,862,532 times
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People up in Western New York go ape**** over the Bills.
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Old 11-01-2011, 05:01 AM
 
Location: ɥbɹnqsʇʇıd
4,599 posts, read 6,693,759 times
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I too have gotten the sense that people are filling a void in their lives with football. But honestly, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. What seems tacky to some makes a whole bunch of other people happy, and that's always a good thing. Granted, there are people who take it way too far but you'll get that with any sports related ultra fan culture.
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Old 11-01-2011, 05:45 AM
 
733 posts, read 983,326 times
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The only aspect of our football culture that has actively bothered me is the occasional mini-riots after big games. Those really make me question the collective intelligence of our populace, haha, but I'm sure most cities with major NFL teams have the same problem.

Other than that, I find it fairly obnoxious, but easily avoidable. If I dwell on it, I do find it upsetting that we (as a country) have developed this hero-worship culture around a group of men who often exhibit questionable to deplorable levels of ethics. I really don't understand the mentality behind accepting, let alone cheering for and being obsessed with, guys like Big Ben, but that's a bit of larger issue, I suppose, and certainly not a battle to be won any time soon, haha.

Mostly, I just ignore football entirely and don't have a problem, but I do secretly enjoy it when the Steelers lose because it results in people talking about them much less at work on Monday, hahaha.
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Old 11-01-2011, 06:23 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
1,776 posts, read 2,688,602 times
Reputation: 1741
I'm not a huge football fan, and it really doesn't bother me. At worst, it's still a good opportunity to hang out with friends at home, eat food, drink, etc. If you don't really want to follow it, just don't? It's not like you can't get away from it.
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Old 11-01-2011, 06:29 AM
 
Location: ɥbɹnqsʇʇıd
4,599 posts, read 6,693,759 times
Reputation: 3521
Quote:
Originally Posted by AaronPGH View Post
If you don't really want to follow it, just don't? It's not like you can't get away from it.
It's a bit tough at times though. For example I don't care about football whatsoever, yet there's a giant Steeler poster staring me right in the face at this moment in the office. Plus people talk about it all the time too.

I think that's why people get annoyed with the football culture, even when you aren't actively seeking it out it manages to sneak its way into your daily life.
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