A test of our loyalty
Editor’s Note: This article was written by a fan named Paul Austin. I read it, and thought it was very timely. Our Steelers are going through a tough stretch. But because they’re going through tough times, they need Steeler Nation more than ever. Thanks for reminding me of that, Paul.
By Paul Austin
My remote control should have a safety wrist strap. Just like the Wii does. It’s only a matter of time before I fire the thing right through the center of my plasma screen TV in outrage. Let’s face it. This season, it has hurt to be a Steelers fan.
I love the Steelers! After all that I’ve been through this year, I love this team. There is nothing rational about this feeling – it’s either there or it isn’t, you either feel or it or you don’t.
There is something magical about this team, something that captured my imagination as a child. It’s a feeling where my chest swells with pride, and I get a lump in my throat as these men take the field…and do great things. It is a sense of sharing in the on-field celebration of a great play, a touchdown, a win. Seeing these “Brothers and Champions” over the years has been a moving experience for me many times. And I know I’m not alone.
Not to swipe the lyric, but yes sometimes love stinks. This season, it has hurt deeply to be a fan, and it is precisely because I care so deeply! It must be love, because only love can break your heart as much as mine has been broken this season.
Honestly, nobody could blame ANY fan for being disgusted, heartbroken, furious, or any of the range of emotions that would seem appropriate now as our team has lost yet another game …to a team that it so utterly inferior that it makes my teeth ache.
What we can do, and what we must do, is not allow ourselves to give up! I have been dismayed at our losses, but even more dismayed at how much our Steeler Nation seems to be fracturing under the pressure. I’ve been saddened by the negativity and in-fighting I have witnessed on fan boards and other on-line groups. We need to acknowledge that we are hurting, rather than lashing out at one another. We are not blameless if we abandon our team at a critical time like this.
Now, more than ever, we need to cheer for our team. S.O.S.! Support our Steelers! We need to wear our colors and exchange smack talk with such passion that it hides how much we’re worried! As fans, we have to hope – until there isn’t any more left to hope for. As fans – we have to keep cheering until the final second ticks off the final clock of the final game of our season!
Can I continue to feel this way if our losing streak continues? Is my love conditional? I’d like to think it isn’t; they say the real proof of your devotion is if you can love without reward.
Ask Browns or Lions fans how they do it year after year. They keep putting on their team’s colors, staying steadfast, even as the rest of the world mocks their teams.
Could I love a winless Steelers team? The answer is unreservedly, “yes”. A winless season would be hard. But as a fan, I would love this team and cheer for them every time they play. That’s a promise.
Seasons come and go, but our Nation, our Dynasty is enduring.
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Way to say it, Paul! Can’t agree more! I love the Steelers because they’re in my blood. It’s like having a disappointing kid. You can’t help but love him, no matter what!
1i completely agree i live in indianapolis and have been a die hard steeler fan my whole life and i really had high hopes for this year…. the hardest thing now is with every loss i take i hear it from these band wagon colts fans who know nothing of true tradition
2As 10 year old kid living in Mississippi in 1974, I started being a fan of the Black and Gold. I’ve been through the good and the bad with this team. And I aint done yet. I’m no fair-weather fan. Kick-ass Steelers
3one heck of an article paul
4I love God. I love family. And someday I will love a wife. But to say I love the Steelers cheapens the experience of love.
I enjoy the Steelers (most of the time). I have passion for the Steelers. I find great entertainment value in the Steelers. It ends there.
And speaking of love…No one has ever loved like Jesus Christ. And I love Him for showing up one evening wrapped in human flesh in order that we might know God intimately and ultimately know what real love is.
God Bless you guys and Merry CHRISTmas!
(By the way, I have asked for a miracle this season. But I doubt God cares much about our silly football.
)
5Kudos Paul. I couldn’t have said it any better. I may want to throw something at the TV as well but I certainly not hide who my team is. After every game I head back to work with my colors on win or lose.
6Paul, Well stated!! I too am a die hard fan and have been dismayed by the negative blogs etc. that have been posted after our losses. Steeler fans can be found everywhere and most are true believers in our team and in what they can do. I wear my black and gold proudly and choose not to listen to any fans who are ready to give up on our team. We need to stick together and let the team know that their fans are here for them thru thick and thin. HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO clap clap!
7It’s funny to see the other side of things. In Cleveland, we have been beaten down with loser after loser. To be 6-6 coming off a Super Bowl win, we would kill for that.
But, everything is relative. You guys have had success and now things aren’t going great. If anything, this should at least get rid of some of those annoying fair-weather fans that come with losing.
What will remain are some of the greatest fans in the NFL. Hopefully, the Browns can step things up soon and return this game to an actual rivalry.
Here’s to an actual competitive game tomorrow!
8Paul, very good article. I know how you feel. Last Sunday I was on my way home. I have Sirius in the car just for days like that when I am traveling. I was so looking forward to the Steelers tearing up the Raiders and unleashing hell. After the first half, and the emotionless performance, I knew we were in trouble. I dislike that feeling. Steelers fans are the greatest fans in good and bad times, and we are in the BAD time part. Hang tough and cheer loud. Its all we got left.
9Great article, I bleed Black and Gold no matter whether they win our lose, I use the saying, it’s easy to be a fan when your team is winning, the true test of a fan is the loyalty they show even when your team is losing! I will never give up on this team and also never bash them!
10When will the test be over?
11The Pittsburgh Steelers are an international joke. Seems like a true testament to an organization who sold out to the gangster administration who is destroying the former United States of America.
A good place to start…Coach Tomlin has lost his team. But who could call the hopeless Steeleers a team. Offensive line…the worst in the NFL. No different than last year but the major blame is that the Offensive line coach should have been fired by Tomlin last year. This idiot cannot even teach basic blocking schemes. The five hogs up front are just not very bright or talented.
Now talk about special teams and we have the most special in the NFL. Another fine coaching job with 10 guys who could not tackle themselves and a kicker whho can only tackle a bottle of booze.
Now we get to the secondary and it is not a secret that Ike Taylor has no business in the NFL. He can’t cover and he is a coward. No guts and no fire. Carter is the only man in the secondary who will stick his head into a play. The rest of the secondary is weak, timid and needs to be shipped out of town.
Now take our linebacking core….James Harrison and Lamar Woodly refuse to change their rush tactics. Ever hear about the spin move? Learn that and maybe you can someday tackle the QB before he beats you for another big play.
And Mr. Worthlessberger. Will you pull your head out of your backside one day and learn how to get rid of the ball? That is why you are not in that group of elite QB’s. You can make a case for having an offensive coordinator who calls a horrible game. Coach Bruce needs to be shown the door real soon Mr. Tomlin.
There you have it football fans. The 2009 Steelers are one horrible organization but they must have worked real hard to earn the stature. THEY STINK AND HAVE NO HOPE FOR REDEMPTION!!!!!!
12Sounds like you need some therapy:
http://www.drphil.com/shows/page/contactdrphil/
GO BROWNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
13Cry me a River!!
14@ Captain Sank – Are you even a Steelers fan? I sat here and thought long and hard, and that is the only thing I can say without being negative towards you. I will though, reply to your comments.
1. The o-line is bad but this is the result of not placing a priority on the unit (by that I mean using lower draft picks or undrafted player). But they are actually improving (not hard to do after last years debacle).
2. I will concede to you as I don’t know how our team or any team can effectively stop run backs as it has always seemed fluky when going against good returners. Also if Jeff Reed has to tackle then that can’t be a good thing. But they have failed collectively.
3. The secondary is the only part of the team that I feel is greatly effected by Troy’s absence. And it’s not that the d-line or linebacker didn’t miss his presence he allow the DB’s to take chance and know that he is going to have their backs if the mess up. They have mostly failed like a clock missing a gear.
4. I think Lamar has been playing well but not having Aaron Smith will change the dynamics of the front end and cause him to not be as dominant as last year. In regards to Harrison you probably haven’t been watching many game as he usually ends up in the cross-faced chicken wing every time the ball is snapped. Learning a new move would be great but not wholly necessary. Failure is similar to the DB’s.
5. Yes Ben does hold on to the ball too long but look how many seasons it took Favre to stop throwing so many INT’s. You take the good with the bad and there is more good than there is bad so we have to live with it. Maybe by season ten and his fourth super bowl he’ll correct that, only time will tell. But also I blame Arians for wanting to pass so much. His failure is related to the o-line as well as the coaching failure.
Now if you look at each of my responses you’ll see that the collapses of the team this season are not from one single person or one single position. I hope if you are a Steelers fan then you will realize things will get better, just not this season. Football is about winning as much as possible but there is no reason that we can’t do what we did last year, next year. Now, if nobody minds I’m going to enjoy my other defending champs.
Go Steelers!! Go Penguins!!
15Boo hoo, Steeler fans! MANY of you couldn’t hold a candle to a Browns or Lions fan with what we have been through! You cry over losing a few games after winning a Super Bowl??? Try going 45 years, or more, of not winning a championship, (or a even a playoff game for the Lions). Add to that NEVER seeing a championship from ANY major sports team like Cleveland has gone through, THEN tell me what “Great” fans you are!! THEN you will have something to cry about. Steeler fans are SPOILED!! Go cry in your Terrible Towels.
16T.G.,
You make valid points. Very valid.
I think it would be hard to argue that Steelers fans aren’t spoiled. Just look at how upset they were about being 6-6. For some teams, having a .500 record would be cause for celebration. But some Steelers fans have called for Mike Tomlin’s resignation over it.
17Yes, I am a Steelers fan however reality is what it is. This team, and I use the word very loosly, suffers from horrible coaching. Look at the draft picks in the past three years. There is not one aspect of the offense or defense that has gotten better. If you call the O Line improved, you are not living in the real world. These duds cannot even figure out who to block when two defenders line up in the gap. That Benny is as basic as it gets for an o lineman.
Troy is the greatest athlete in all of football and he makes the defense however in his absence others need to step up and they never do. Ike Taylor is as timid as a 5 year old in a snake pit. He is a defensive joke and could not cover an 80 year old in a wheel chair. Carter is the only defensive back who ever sticks his head into a play. The rest are soft as ice cream on a hot summer day.
James Harrison better figure out how to avoid locking up with blockers or his career is over. If he cannot learn to spin out of a block he is dumb as a board. We are completely weak up front on defense and spend 85% of the time being rolled over like snowmen. The writing is on the wall. Coach Lebeau, the smartest defensive mind in the NFL, has had it and will not come back next year to waste time with the loosers he has to work with and he has come to realize that Tomlin is pure PR and BS. No genius involved.
Special teams is an extremely big part of the game which always determines who are the winners and who are the loosers. I would be embarrased to admit I was the Special Teams coach for the Steelers. If Tomlin had a clue, he would have made a change by week 6. Special Teams cost us at least three games already. We have no tacklers and no head-hunters which is an absolute must for Special Teams play.
Bottom line….If the current Steelers played the late 70′s Steelers, they would loose by 40 – 50 points.
And for you Browns and Lions fans, give me a break. You guys need to find another sport or another town to take pride in because you guys live in combat zones that make Baghdad look like a day-care center. Your owners are brain-dead and hiring guys like Eric Mangini is like sticking a needle in your eye. Get real!
18Ok so you’re a Steelers fan but you do realize that we’re not going to win a championship every season. And as much as I would like it we won’t go to the playoffs every season either. I’m not going to go through every point because you clearly see things differently than I do. The only thing I do want to bring up is the o-line. Yes from the outside looking in all you have to do is block the man in front of you but if all we do is use bottom tier players to protect the offense as opposed to other teams that put a much higher priority on protecting the offense than what we will have is the current results and that is regardless of how much you want to simplify the problem. So ultimately I believe it has to do with Pittsburgh’s philosophy of taking the best player available instead of addressing needs when it comes to the draft. It seems like year after year I look at the results of the draft and it usually leaves me wondering what the guys upstairs are doing.
In the end yes we are a better team and franchise than say a Cleveland or Detroit but we are going to go through ups and downs.
P.S. – I agree that this team would lose to the mid to late 70′s Steelers teams but throughout history not too many teams would beat those teams. (And I hate doing those team comparisons from different eras :-
19))
Benny, you are a true fan and I salute you. I am a lifelong fan (saw my first Steeler game in 1957 at old Forbes Field) but I am a realist. We cannot expect to win championships year in and year out but we can do whatever it takes to always be competitive and insure that our on-field product is the best it can be.
20What we have on the field this year is not a good product and there is no ‘team’ amongst this group of athletes. We have weaknesses that have been ignored each of the last two off-seasons by Tomlin and company. Yes, drafting the best athlete is OK but you better fill obvious holes or you will quickly be on the outside looking in like we are right now. I really do not think that Tomlin ownes this group of players. Certainly not in the realm of Noll and Cower. Tomllin talks a good line but when he claimed he was going to make poor performers accountable, he was lying through his teeth. That tells me he is a weak leader.
The season is over for the Steelers. Bench the guys you need to cast-off in the off-season now and let some players go on the field and see if they have a future in the NFL.
We screwed up when we let Russ Grimm get away and what you have seen in our O-line the past two seasons is a direct result of Grimm’s departure.
Our Special Teams is only special in that they are not athletes, thay are afraid to stick their head into the opposition, they cannot tackle and they forget that the object is to take down the guy with the ball. The easiest coaching position in football and we are the worst in the entire NFL. That is unacceptable and our kicker is a guy with a serious ‘head-problem’ who has zero guts except after he has spent the night sucking down booze.
Im a lifetime steeler fan and yes things are going down. I hate losses but accpt some but not these.It wouldnt be that bad if it were not for them making mistakes learned in midget football. Ben get rid of the ball you see the sack coming get rid of it and stp costing the team 25 yards every time. Front line block somebody your missing people with no contact left and right. Ike Taylor if I see you miss another tackle or dive into someone and fall on the ground without hitting anyone again,Im sick of the childish mistakes. And Tomlin their not listening to you and if they are you need to go. This is now Tomlins team and he alone must be responsable for the results. Cowers team lived for a couple of years now you see the coaching of Tomlin. Coach Lebeau should havew been made the head coach. He has been and still is the most copied man in the NFL.
21Another loss coming today Steeler fans. There is absolutely zero reality coming from the Tomlin Turd-Pack that indicates he has a clue as to why the players on the field suck big time. Right now Tomlin could not find his own butt using both hands in a well lit room. He is baffled which means loss number six in a row sports fans.
22If Ike Taylor and Larry Foote start the game, it is over before it begins. Both of these guys should be benched and released. They are yellow-bellied coward bums.
Harrison and Woodley better learn quickly how to rush the QB or they will be has-beens before they know it. The way they lock up with blockers make me wonder about their manhood.
And Ben, realize for once in your life that it is not only OK, but shows a degree of intelligence to throw the ball away when you know you are in trouble. Quit trying to think that you are invinceable because you are not.
With the Steeler season ending with 8 consecutive losses, we can only hope management realizes that Mike Tomlin was never the answer. You will all see the proof.
Well said Paul! I have had the pleasure of rooting with you on many occasions at The Fox and Hound. I even had my thumb nearly broken by you after a TD high five. Steeler Nation has the most passionate, loyal fans of any team in the NFL. I’m sure your words are words of prophesy for the fan base of this incredible team! Here’s to another successful year in 2013! What’s done is done and I’m sure we’ll be back at it when training camp starts in August.
23This needs to be posted up on all steelers sites.. win or lose, black n gold til I die!
24well said!!!…I have been a fan since 1971…I will ALWAYS love my STEELERS…up or down…win, lose or tie…until I die…and that’s all I’m going to say
25We are all disappointed, as Steeler fans. I could never, however, talk about my team the way that Capt. Sank does. Holy cow. That is just terrible. I see the good and the bad, and am depressed all week after a loss. But, they’re my team, win or lose.
26I HAVE STEELER PRIDE INSIDE, LOVE MY STEELERS!
27I am an enormously proud true blue Australian, I started following the mighty steelers in the early nineties. When you support a team, you back them 100%, and I am proud to be a part of steeler nation, albeit thousands of miles away. We were just shaded too many times this year, WE WILL be back bigger and better next year, and stand as one!!!
28plain and simply well said!! S.O.S…. always!!!!
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