I have noticed a disturbing trend on the message boards lately and I do not like it. Steeler fans acting like Bengal and Browns fans. It is very sad and to be honest, it is embarrassing.
You know who I am talking about... whiny, clueless, overreacting fans who will watch one series in one pre-season game and declare the season lost. These people are so emotionally fragile that they have to set up a win-win situation at the first sign of trouble. If the Steelers win, they will be 'happily wrong' but if they lose, they get to say 'I told you so!' which then softens the psychological blow of their favorite team having a bad season.
Now every team has them only some teams have more than others.
Bengals and Browns fans haven't tasted victory for so long they have become like a abused dog who will begin flinching and predicting doom at the first sign of trouble. But for them, this behavior is expected and normal, they need it to survive and is infinitely better than the other end of the spectrum of their fans who think they have a chance to win it all every year despite decades of incompetence. But those are Bengals and Browns fans. They have a higher than normal percentage of the delusionally optomistic fan... they have to or they wouldn't sell any tickets at all.
I am talking about Steeler Fans though. There is no need for so many knee-jerk predicions of gloom and doom around here. The Steelers are one of the most successful teams in all of sports for a reason so they may just be deserving of the benefit of the doubt during the pre-season.
The big talk this year is the starting offensive line and how poor it has looked in the first three pre-season games. In the 2005 pre-season the talk was of how Bettis was too old and the offensive line was terrible and they couldn't run the ball at all in pre-season. (which they couldn't... in pre-season, but they sure could by the end of the year)
The key word of course being pre-season... as if it means anything at the end of the year.
Another possibility that I can come up with is that a lot of these 'fans' are younger fans, the type that play Madden with the Steelers as their team and they either create their own super-players with Steeler player names, or edit the Steelers or put the opponents on the easiest level (I have a nephew who does all of these things at once) and then dominate every single play.
Then the real world comes knocking and the Steelers don't all have 100 ratings in every catagory, the opponents aren't on 'easy' and the Steelers don't score every time they touch the ball, they don't blast through every block and sack the quarterback on every pass play and these fans are distraught because they don't understand real football. (I will admit that The Steeler defense of the 70's did sometimes play like an unfair videogame team.)
Did the offensive line look pretty bad against the Vikings? They sure did on some plays, on others, they actually looked OK but someone else screwed up (I'm looking at you Mr. Big Ben Throwitintothegroundfornoreasonburger.)
The highly rated Viking offensive line looked equally as bad against a not so highly touted Steeler Defensive line so do they now suck?
Well that got a little rambly there didn't it? I'll sum up now.
A football game is not decided in 30 minutes, and a football season is certainly not determined in two plays "OMG, we gave up two sacks in a row! Cancel the season!"
You know how on your favorite Steeler message board there will be threads started that link to a thread in a Bengal, Brown, or Raven board and they make fun of the overreacting moron fans? Guess what they post and make fun of on other teams boards?
You.
Now stop embarrasing the Steeler Nation with your whining Steeler Fans. Have some respect for the organization, the team, and most importantly, for yourself.
SteelMantis
PS - I will try to keep these things lighter in tone but this is one topic that get me going.
Keywords: Pittsburgh Steelers
