I have lived quite a few places in my time. All have been under the general Pennsylvania umbrella, but I have had sprinklings of “Stiller Country”, “Eagles Nation”, and “Ravens…whatever” I’m not really sure what Ravens fans call themselves that could remotely sound like a good thing. Anyway, the thing that I have discovered is that no resident of any city is as enamored with their football team as Pittsburghers are.

Pittsburghers LOVE their Steelers. Love isn’t even the operative word. Let me search the stalker manual to find the correct term. Ah, there it is-OBSSESSION. Pittsburghers are obsessed with their Steelers and rightfully so; even the people who have no clue who the players are, what a down is, how many points a touchdown is worth, or what year it currently is on the calendar.

There is such camaraderie amongst the fans as well. If you are out and about in the burgh, or even better yet, not in the burgh and you see a fellow Steelers fan, your eyes grow into huge emoji-like hearts because, well that person is FAMILY. This does not happen elsewhere, trust that. Especially with Philly fans (I’ll go ahead and call out my Philly-resident husband) when they see one another, there is no love. They are all just trying to avoid the wrath of the angry Eagles fan, because we all know they are unpredictable and have anger management problems.

Now being back in Pittsburgh permanently, it is such a cool thing to experience

One thing I love is that 95% of the city, both people and property are all decked out on game day in Steelers gear, and 70% are basically bleeding black and gold on a 24/7/365 basis. My neighbor actually has a custom made black and gold Steelers mustang. The front license plate proudly states “If you ain’t a Stiller fan, you ain’t shit”. Truer words have never before been written, my friend.