This season, FanHouse writers take their cameras to NFL stadiums to document what happens when you stop being polite and start getting real. Or something. We've cleverly titled it "FanHouse in the Stands."
Steelers and Ravens Fans Aren't the Best Mix
Forget everything you've ever heard about Steelers-Browns games, because it's no longer a rivalry. The Steelers chief rival right now is, without question, the Baltimore Ravens. When the Browns moved to Baltimore following the 1995 season they took the rivalry with them, and it was quite obvious on Monday night. Couple of reasons for this, I think: (1) The series with the new Browns isn't competitive, while the series with Baltimore is usually a split, and a pair of games that usually end with people leaving the field on golf carts. It's not for the weak or faint of heart. (2) When Art Modell made his dash from Cleveland, a lot of people in Pittsburgh felt a great deal of anger. Not quite the anger people in Cleveland felt, obviously, but we didn't like it. Not one bit.
While we hate to admit it, Cleveland fans aren't all that different from us (though, our sports teams play for championships slightly more often ... zing); hard-working, blue-collar town that's very, very passionate about its football team. They're kind of like our distant (very distant) cousins. And when somebody messes with family, well, you tend of take it personally. We don't like them very much, but we respect them. And when the Browns left for Baltimore, people in Pittsburgh felt it because it not only took the team we loved to hate, it made everyone stop and think that if it can happen to them, it can happen to anybody. I think with that, a hatred of everything Raven was born. And it's still burning.
Sports
There's something about the Baltimore game that tends to bring out the worst in everybody. There was a heavier than normal police presence, and I'm not sure what was more frequent: a player leaving the game injured, or somebody getting hauled out of our section by security.
There were two Ravens fans sitting behind us, which made things slightly more interesting. The guy on the left was wearing a Ray Lewis jersey, while his buddy was wearing a Willis McGahee jersey. The fact they were very vocal, of course, led to a lot of spirited trash talk (a lot of swearing) back and forth. After the game, the guy in the Lewis jersey was willing to lick his wounds, shake hands with the people around him, and share a laugh or two. His buddy, however, was having none of it. He was looking to fight, and fight anything that moved. Our friend in the Lewis jersey had to walk up behind him and pull him away from two Steelers fans in a bear hug fashion, screaming at him, "Dude. It's me and you versus 60,000. We can't win." Sound advice. Trouble is, they then started fighting with one another. And I'm not talking verbal fighting, I'm talking pushing, shoving, and on the verge of throwing left hooks and upper cuts. It's this sort of infighting between fans of the same team that leads to losses.
Aside from the handful of people getting carted out by the police, the Heinz Field crowd was stellar in the second half. One of the biggest complaints about Heinz Field is that it doesn't have the same atmosphere Three Rivers Stadium once had. Not quite as loud, not the home field edge they had in the big concrete cookie cutter (though, the records disagree with that). There are times, however, when the new stadium feels like the old one, and Monday night was one of those nights. It was absolutely deafening, especially in the second half when the Steelers realized they had a pretty big game to play and actually showed up. It was one of those nights where you knew the person next to you was talking, but you couldn't hear a word they were saying. Just the type of atmosphere you want for a rookie quarterback playing his first road game in the NFL. Though, for Joe Flacco, it wasn't his first time in Heinz Field. He began his college career at the University of Pittsburgh before transferring to Delaware when he wasn't good enough to beat out Tyler Palko for the starting job.
The Steelers have this video the play at certain points to fire up the crowd. It's basically a highlight reel of big hits, quarterbacks getting sacked, receivers getting destroyed, etc. etc. etc. And it's played to the tune of the Styx song, Renegade. Now, I've never pictured Styx as the type of music that would get 65,000 people to start bouncing of the walls and screaming until their throats bleed, but they've certainly carved out a nice little niche for this song (example here). Anyway, they blasted it following Santonio Holmes' 38-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Very next play on defense? Lamar Woodley's touchdown. Hey, it works.
Pictures and Stuff
One of the biggest drawbacks to Monday night football is the fact you have to drive into town during rush hour. It's madness. If you've ever driven in Pittsburgh, particularly on what is known as the "parkway east," you realize it goes from three lanes down to two as you get closer to the city. This, of course, creates a bottleneck and backups ensue. Making matters worse, there's a huge tunnel along the way, and since Pittsburgh drivers have this maddening habit of hitting their brakes prior to entering a tunnel you get even more backups. And accidents. On Monday, there were separate accidents on the inbound side causing us to use alternate routes. As we were exiting the parkway, I noticed yet another vehicle pulled off to the side of the road, and some guy wearing a Joe Montana jersey. My first thought? Clearly he hasn't been reading the FanHouse jersey guide.
As we're driving, we noticed a hearse in front of us, and as we got up behind it, we realized it had Maryland plates. I wonder if Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh was driving it, seeing as he basically killed any chance his team had of winning the game by sitting on the ball with over a minute to play in the fourth quarter. It's tough to make out the plate, but trust me, it's Maryland.
Here's a new one. Outside the stadium we noticed a guy dressed in a full blown Terry Bradshaw uniform. Not just a jersey, but a jersey, pants, shoulder pads, leg pads ... the whole nine yards. I'm not sure I'd want to sit in my seat for three hours wearing a football uniform, but I admire this guys dedication to dressing like Terry Bradshaw.
Then, out of nowhere, we spotted everyone's least favorite mascot, Steely McBeam. The positive thing is he's nowhere to be found inside the stadium during games. He pretty much just hangs around outside, posing for pictures, scaring the crap out of unsuspecting kids, creeping the heck out of me ... you know, stuff like that.
After the game, as everyone is filing out of the stadium, I noticed a guy wearing a Pittsburgh Maulers shirt, paying some sort of homage to Pittsburgh's forgotten football team. The Maulers played in the USFL during the 1984 season and won only three games, led by Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier. The most memorable game probably wasn't any of the wins, but the day Cliff Stoudt returned to Pittsburgh as a member of the Birmingham Stallions. It was the only game the Maulers sold out, mainly because fans wanted to boo Stoudt and pelt him with snowballs whenever he entered the red zone. The man wearing the shirt, Jeff Holt, was pretty sure he was the only guy in the stadium sporting Maulers gear, and I'd have to concur. I asked him if he was at the Cliff Stoudt game and he said no, but he did attend the week eight game against Denver (the Maulers lost). This, my friends, is unique.
Continuing our trip back in time, here's a meeting of 1970's-1980's quarterbacks as current Steelers assistant coach -- and former Bengals signal-caller -- Ken Anderson is shaking hands with former Eagle Ron Jaworski. Anderson looks like he's about 140 years old, but man, he can still throw a football 40 yards on a line.
I decided to take this picture of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger while he was in a rare position ... standing up.
The Steelers return home on October 26th against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants, and we'll be there.
