Kicking off

I’m not waiting another 26 years for the Pittsburgh Steelers to win their sixth Super Bowl. Fortunately, no one will have to wait another day for Steelahs.com. What started out as a marble rattling around my brain is finally here.

No, I’m not from Pittsburgh, I’ve only been to the ’Burgh once. But that doesn’t make me a milk-and-water Steelers fan. If you follow my work on this site, you’ll find that out. Hey, I think growing up in New England should earn me a badge of honor as a Steelers fan. It wasn’t easy, especially since that Sunday afternoon in January of 2002. You (or shall I say yinz) know what I’m talking about. I won’t go there. Not now, anyway.

In 2005, I moved to New York for career purposes. In this age of DirectTV, of course, it doesn’t matter where you live. There are Steelers fans all over the country, and all we have to do is go down to the closest watering hole to watch the Steelers. That helpless feeling of checking for score updates on the 10-Minute Ticker has gone the way of the rotary phone, unless you have a prior commitment, of course. I hope I’m not in that situation a lot, but when I am, it could make for some interesting reading.

I hope fans in Pittsburgh and all over Steelers Nation will check out my Steelers musings. My goal is to express my opinion while not taking myself too seriously. I hope to be insightful, entertaining and unique enough to carve my niche among the tons of Steelers Web sites out there. Even though I’m going to be writing from the perspective of the fan, my columns won’t be without a journalistic instinct.

For those of you from Western Pennsylvania who still aren’t convinced they’re interested in what this New Englander-turned-New Yorker has to say about the Steelers, let me talk about my pilgrimage to Pittsburgh.

It was December of 2002. I rented a car and drove from Newport, RI, where I lived at the time, to see the Steelers beat the Ravens 34-31 in the last game of the regular season. Hard-core Steelers fans can remember that game like the back of their hand, but for those who need a refresher, here it is. It was the Tommy Maddox year. The Steelers were down by 11 with 7½ minutes left and came back to win.

I stayed at the Four Points Sheraton in Coraopolis the night before the game. It was the same hotel the Patriots stayed at before the 2004 AFC championship game. I can’t help but wonder if I had the same room Tom Brady had when he was sick in bed with a thermometer in his mouth the night before carving up the Steelers’ defense in 11-degree weather.

After checking into the hotel, I ate at Quaker Steak. Then after the game, I ate at Max & Erma’s (if I had gone two years later, I could have had a Roethlis-burger). I had some Iron City beer (“Vitamin I” they call it, right?) and still have one unopened bottle in my fridge. I delighted in hearing people drop the “u” in pronouncing the “ou” sound, like soth instead of south and 16-onse instead of 16-ounce. (Just like New Englanders dropping the “r” as in “pahk the cah,” “Hahvid Yahd” and “Steel-ahs”)

And I was at Heinz Field to participate in the chanting of that time-honored mantra of Steelers fans: “Here we go, Steelers! Here we go!” (And I did shout “Steelers” rather than “Steelahs.” I pronounce my r’s now. Well, most of the time, anyway.)

Not a bad way to end this kickoff column. Welcome to Steelahs.com. Here we go.