Rousing rally sends the Steelers off to Tampa in quest of sixth NFL title

Saturday, January 24, 2009
By Sadie Gurman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

Lake Fong/Post-Gazette

Members of Pittsburgh Poison All-Stars Dance Team, from left, Chelsic King, Erin Tobin, Chelsea Steigerwald and Karlie Hartman, cheer for the team during the Steelers pep rally at Heinz Field last night.


From the Fort Duquesne Bridge last night, Heinz Field looked like a roaring ocean of black and gold, of swinging Terrible Towels and winking camera flashes.

A line of cars wound around the stadium, horns honking, a traffic jam even the Steelers had to fight through to make their appearance on the pep rally stage.

This was an aerial shot of Steelers Nation, a bird's eye view of the tens of thousands of loyalists who crowded together to send their beloved team to Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa next Sunday.

Inside, fans waved signs, donned jerseys, and raised their voices, screaming during Super Bowl highlights on the Jumbotron and waiting for the Steelers to dart across the field. A group of girls from the Pittsburgh Poison All-Stars Dance Team jumped up and down, ponytails bobbing, snapping pictures with their cell phones when the team finally appeared.

"This is almost like groupies at a rock concert," said Dave Green, of Baldwin, who, along with his son, Tyler, hasn't missed a game this season. Or ever. "This is Steeler Nation, right here."

The pair waited, cameras in hand, outside the stadium hoping to snap a few shots of the players as they made for their cars. A flood of other hooting and hollering fanatics paraded down the sidewalk behind them.

"It's just insane," Tyler said.

Lake Fong/Post-Gazette

The Steelers' Deshea Townsend greets fans during the pep rally.

In the throng, clutching hands, were Chuck and Vickie Knox, of Washington, Pa., and their granddaughter, Alyssa, 8, who unzipped her puffy winter coat to reveal a Troy Polamalu jersey.

"It's fun," she said of the rally before grandpa interrupted. "I don't think she's quite into it yet," Mr. Knox said. "She'll get there."

A closer look revealed the entire family was covered in Steelers' gear from head to toe. Vickie Knox, with Steelers stickers on her cheeks, tugged off her gloves to display tiny Steelers emblems on ruby red nails, which she used to point to tiny Steelers' earrings dangling from her lobes.

And about those nails? They were probably the only spot of red in sight.

"You don't lay a hand on a Steelers fan," she said. "It's black and gold all the way, baby."

The fandom seemed contagious.

"It's almost like a cancer," Mr. Knox said. "It starts little but it ends up big."

He stood out in the crowd with a mohawk cap of neon yellow-and-black hair, a souvenir he acquired after the Steelers' Super Bowl victory against the Dallas Cowboys in the 1970s.

Back in the stands, Renee Fullum held a bright yellow sign declaring, "Puerto Rico has Steelers fans, too!" She moved to Mount Washington two years ago after 29 years in Puerto Rico, where she watched games on television at Steelers bars, which she said were plenty, even abroad.

"There's a Steeler Nation," Ms. Fullum said. "There's a Steeler World."


Sadie Gurman can be reached at sgurman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1878.
First published on January 24, 2009 at 12:00 am