I'm from Wisconsin. Lived here all my life; live here still, and will for the forseeable future. I grew up surrounded by 'green and gold' and TitleTown legend and lore, and as a result have always been, in some measure, a Green Bay Packers fan - out of obligation (and logic) if nothing else. Through the Lynn Dickey years, through Majkowski 'Magic', the advent of the Cheesehead, the (now-tainted) Favre dynasty...all of it as integral to who I was, how I identified myself, as anything.
But I've always been just a little bit more of a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, since the days of Terry Bradshaw and the 'steel curtain.' I don't know how or why it happened, but sometime during my stint as the quintessential tagalong to my older brother and his friends, as they vociferously, sometimes violently, staked their allegiance to either the Packers or the Minnesota Vikings (or at least another division rival), Pittsburgh became my team...in as far as I've followed football, that is; which, admittedly, until the last couple of years, was not nearly as closely as baseball.
That is a whole other blog post: my shift as I age from baseball to football. Suffice to say I have found a new passion for the gridiron of late, come to recognize more than I ever did before (or thought I would) the various physical talents of the game's players, coordinative talents of its coaches, and the drama that is, or can be, created when two teams collide.
But in any case, it's been Pittsburgh for me since Jimmy Carter was president. Maybe Charlie Daniels had something to do with it. No joke. It's entirely possible that his song In America was shrieking tinnily from the AM radio in my dad's store back then...the line, 'just go and lay your hand, on a Pittsburgh Steelers fan/and I think you're gonna finally understand' provoking something in me.
But now, the quandary: Green Bay or Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh or Green Bay? Head or heart? It's a toughie, but I think I have to follow my heart on this one. It's the Pittsburgh logo that adorns the wallpaper of my phone, after all (I don't think I've ever sported the Packers logo, or colors, on anything (sure as hell never donned a Cheesehead...sober). The crafty little bead lizard my son made for me when he was 10, which still hangs from my rearview mirror, is made of black and yellow beads, not green and yellow.
It's Pittsburgh I have stood by in lean times, like last year, when they started to fall apart in November and faded from reality before Christmas after a solid first half of the season.
It's Pittsburgh I have stood by in spite of Ben Roethlisberger's scandalous off-season behavior, for which, I got to be honest, I don't think he should be allowed to play. Seriously. (That too is a whole other post.)
And it's Pittsburgh I will stand by tomorrow morning, even if Aaron Rodgers and crew find a way to pick apart the 21st century steel curtain.
I predict a low scoring game...decided perhaps by a field goal...Pittsburgh victorious.
UPDATE (2/6/11): *sigh...*...at least it was close.
