The Case for Rooting for the Steelers
by aerozeppelin on Jan 30, 2009 12:09 AM PST
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PrintWhile I know we all hate the Pittsburg Steelers with passion, I would honestly say, for the sake of our division, rooting for them is the best option.
Yes, we're reduced to rooting for our most-loathed team in the NFL (that's how much we're reduced to in this shitty season), but it remains clear: NFL teams that win the Superbowl often do very well in the following seasons and make it into the post-season. On the other hand, teams that lose the Superbowl often do not make it into the post-season and/or drop out of the 'elite' status the team once was. There are statistics that back this up (though, I can't find it at the moment). And, yes, I guess the Seahawks were sort of an exception.
That being said, I'd rather have the Cardinals lose and have a downward spiral that helps us get back to being the divisional champs.
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I would be really irritated if the 08 Cardinals could beat the Steelers but the 05 Hawks couldn't
Plus if (as increasingly seems obvious) the Cardinals took 3/4 (?) games off after they won the division that’s just an unlikable team. The Steelers have been good all year, they’ve earned it.
are you nuts,the refs made sure that the seahawks had no chance,like in the third,we were down 4 threw a 30 yard pass to stevens caught on the one,they called locklear for holding when the defensive end had cleary jumped the gun and was in the nuetral zone,we would have punched that in with wal’t hutch and strong and went up three,the next play hasselback threw a pick,and the steelers knew the refs couldn’t save them anymore and threw trhat trick play flee flicker and won the game.F—- the steelers and there fans,we were robbed,i can handle losing i’m a diehard since the kingdome hawks fan,but having the game stolen,i’ll never forget that,the nfl reveiwed the game and found nothing they said,hah,they could never admit there refs blew it,2 happened to be from pittsburgh,wow,go cards,no seahawk fan can like the steelers after 05,go cards.
I dont' know...
When it comes to that ‘game’, unintelligable rants is ok by me. I can’t stand to think of that superbowl still.
Agreed.
I hate just about everything to do with the Steelers. There wasn’t anything remotely likeable about them before XL, and there isn’t any now.
"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."
by Fearless Frog on Jan 30, 2009 11:16 AM PST up reply actions
Super Bowl XL was NOT the Steelers' fault.
It wasn’t particularly the refs’ fault either. Really, the Seahawks are mostly to blame. They played like shit most of the game.
I’m so tired of people blaming the “Stealers”.
I will smash your face into a jelly.
by Phil Hatzenbuehler on Jan 31, 2009 9:16 AM PST up reply actions
The Seahawks dominated in almost every statistic, had every big play taken away by penalties, and were a better team.
"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."
by Fearless Frog on Jan 31, 2009 11:16 AM PST up reply actions
You're right, Roethlisberger earned that ring
With his 23 QB rating
your full of it
phildopip,we had way better stats then the steelers did,i can handle the seahawks losing fairly anytime,i was raised on it but to be cheated out of it,i’ll never forget it,get yourself a terrible towel and hop on the steelers bandwagon.
First, don't be mean.
Second, please use better grammar. The lack of proper capitalization can slide for now but please use your spacebar correctly and try not to let your sentences run-on.
That post sucked.
I will smash your face into a jelly.
by Phil Hatzenbuehler on Jan 31, 2009 9:16 AM PST up reply actions
Punctuation and grammar are your friends.
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel, or the headlights of an oncoming train?
To be fair,
as far as punctuation is concerned, there were a few hundred commas in there.
by SeaTownBlueDevil on Feb 1, 2009 6:52 AM PST up reply actions
Nope sorry.
I can’t ever root for the Steelers.
I’d even root for the Cowboys against the Steelers.
"It's just one big guy against another big guy, both teams know what's at stake. The one of them comes out on top and it feels good."
-Chris Collinsworth, Madden 09
This makes no sense at all.
I don’t understand why us Seahawks fans should harbor any animosity to the Steelers or their fans over SB XL. It is not their fault that the officiating went in their favor. Based on your reasoning, whatever random team happened to be the benefactor in that game would earn your contempt? Are you upset they don’t all openly acknowledge that the refs handed them the game? Do you really expect that of any die-hard sports fan or athlete?
Please provide one argument for why there should be any ill feelings towards the Steelers as you have only condemned the officiating in 05…
The cards on the other hand are our actual rivals… I don’t really like or dislike the Steelers any more than the Saints or the Colts (two random teams).. I don’t really ‘dislike’ the cards or their fans at all either, but I acknowledge that they are our ordained rivals and make it a point to root against them.
The fun of watching sports is augmented when there is unity of direction in your fandom. I have a lot more fun watching a game when I clearly want one team to win over the other. If you have a little argument for yourself about why you want one team to win and that improves your viewing experience- go for it.
Please don’t tell others they should hate another group of people though.
As for the content of this post. You should really learn a bit more about statistics. Yes we all saw that stupid graphic on ESPN about super bowl losers tanking the season after. I recall that graphic being based on about 5 seasons or so. There are two problems with this reasoning that make it completely worthless:
1) small sample size
2) it defies common sense
Every team uses every offseason to reload and get ready to compete again next year. Superbowl winner or 0-16 it is the same story. A sensible argument is that it would be better to see the cards lose. Not that losing the game has some mystical power, but it tells us something about the cards. No one knows just how ‘good’ any team is, we develop a picture based on their roster on paper, weighted recent results, etc. A loss by the cards would be reason to lower our opinion of the cards somewhat. I would rather see the cards start looking human now, than have them exhibit another beatdown. i don’t think the superbowl loss is the cause, but rather the effect of the cards capabilities.
I harbor resentment to Steelers and their fans
primarily because of the fact that not only do they deny the officiating bias but that they outright sneer and mock anyone who suggests it. It’s the arrogance underlying their reaction that pisses me off. Obviously my main beef is with the refs, but when our legitimate grievances for what was the single worst sporting day most of us have ever experienced are met with nothing but ridicule from Steelers’ fans? Needless to say, it’ll take a while for that kind of resentment to dissipate.
Compared to that our former punching bag just can’t generate the same kind of dislike. If it was the Rams… maybe, but I simply don’t hate Arizona that much. They’ve only been good for one season, and we played so poorly that it was hard to get emotionally invested against the Cards. If they can keep this up for another season or two then we’ll talk.
by ningwers on Jan 30, 2009 5:47 AM PST up reply actions 2 recs
ningwers
You hit the nail one the head,there fan’s just mock when you mention that the seahawk’s had no chance with these pittsburgh fan refs,that stole our momentam all game long,vinny tesdaverde helmet touchdown that cost us the playoffs,remember?we can handle losing fairly,seahawks fans,but this super bowl 40 i’ll never forget,go cards.
by justicebeau on Jan 30, 2009 12:19 PM PST up reply actions
Well said.
One of the best parts about living in LA is the fact that wherever you are, you meet people from all over the country (more so than the other places I’ve lived). As such, to this day I still have random Dolphins, Browns, Jets, etc. fans apologize about Super Bowl XL after they find out I’m a Hawks fan. In fact, it just happened last weekend, again.
I know way too many Steelers fans, and not one has even acknowledged the fact that the reffing “played a role” in the game. The irony being that just several weeks before that game, the fans and even the players were crying foul about the Polamalu overturned interception against Indy. Not one time in my life have I heard even one Steelers fan or player acknowledge our pain, or even the possibility of several human judgment errors by the refs. Usually it’s just ridicule, as ningwers said, and that is why I will always hate the Steelers.
your kinda right but
I’ve had many encounter’s with their fans and they love to talk trash about the game,they can kiss my ass,worthlesberger went 9 for 23 with 123 or so yards,hah.
by justicebeau on Jan 30, 2009 12:12 PM PST up reply actions
Ok, since you asked
1. I hate the fact that “Big Ben” was lauded for “his” Super Bowl victory when in fact he was 9-22 and 2 picks. He was terrible.
2. The hoopla over Jerome Bettis. Was overrated, still overrated.
3. Hines “Smirey” Ward. He’s a dirty, arrogant prick.
4. The immense amount of degradation pointed toward my team in the week leading up to XL, especially from man-faced ESPN anchorthing Dana Jacobson. (No, she was not forgiven this even with her “blasphemous” rant at that celebrity roast.
5. The fact that the Steelers are one of the biggest bandwagon teams around. I live in Florida, and in the past two weeks, the number of Steelers apparel, car flags, license plates, and the like has increased about 500%. It was the same in 2005. Amazing how fast that stuff gets thrown away/put back in the closet when the regular season starts again. (The Bears had a similar revival last year).
6. The bad calls, but I’m over that. We could have won that game, even with the bad calls. I blame Josh Brown’s misses kicks, Jerramy Stevens’ hands, Holmgren’s interesting clock management, etc.
7. FInally: On the day of XL, I had a terrible stomach virus. So after about 20 years of waiting for my Seahawks to get to a championship, I had to lie on the couch, holding my 7-up in silence and disbelief, watching my team lose in the worst possible way in front of a crowd of those horrible yellow rags.
"It's just one big guy against another big guy, both teams know what's at stake. The one of them comes out on top and it feels good."
-Chris Collinsworth, Madden 09
by Wayward Llama on Jan 30, 2009 6:44 PM PST up reply actions
anecdotal,
it seems to me that after teams win the super bowl it gets a lot harder to retain their players. free agents with superbowl rings seem to get more money on the open market, regardless of how good they actually are.
my (admittedly limited) data points would be the Patriots receivers from the early 00s who were pretty clearly mediocre, but after winning a couple rings they got labeled as “winners” and signed big contracts and were never really heard from again.
Probably other examples (Colts DBs and LBs?) that I’m less sure of.
For example, what if Boldin has a HUGE game. Like huge, 200 yards on 12 receptions, 2 TDs. All of a sudden in the national image of him will go from ‘very good receiver, second fiddle to the amazing larry fitzgerry’ to ‘physical specimen, proven winner with strong leadership and years of solid production. makes everyone around him better.’
I’m rooting for the Cards in the hope that hype makes it impossible for them to retain key players.
And because i hate the Stealers.
The die has already been cast on that regardless of the Cardinals winning or not.
Look at our own Super Bowl team. Besides the well-publicized fiasco with a certain LG, Joe Jurevicius simply left to return to the home team. Other players wanted extensions and new deals because they felt like their values spiked (Mack Strong, Rocky Bernard among others). Even if the Cardinals lose, Kurt Warner, Karlos Dansby, Leonard Pope and Ben Patrick, among others are free agents who will be a considerable cost to retain. In addition, you have people like Darnell Dockett, Anquan Boldin, and Adrian Wilson who are due for extensions.
They won’t be able to keep everyone. But regardless, I’m also rooting for the Cardinals beacuse God help me if Pittsburgh wins.
"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."
by Fearless Frog on Jan 30, 2009 11:22 AM PST up reply actions
Interesting that people are more likely to root against a team
than for a team this championship. I’m for the Cards because they’ve bested us in the season and get to move on. Maybe if they win the NFC West will earn some respect and we won’t look so bad.
you guys are pretty sad.
get over it. The seahawk players wouldn’t admit refs handed them a game either. Steelers fans probably for the most part won’t acknowledge it but that is sports man. You guys are being really silly. I was upset about SBXL too, but I don’t blame Steelers fans or players at all. We also didn’t play well enough to guarantee ourselves a win with bad officiating so some onus is on the hawks as well. If u want to feel a certain way, then fine, its sports. None of us have any real connection to the Seahawks.. its a projection. Now, given that sports are a constructed fantasy, you can set up your little grudge matches however makes the games enjoyable for you..
BUT if you honestly think that there is an OBJECTIVE reason for seahawk fans to dislike steelers fans or players, you are a sad little man.
Pitt is a pretty, green, Seattle-like town with a rich football tradition (collegiate and pro), fantastic universities (pitt, cmu, duquesne, etc.) and was the birthplace of the late great fred rogers (mister rogers neighborhood).
Polamalu, Harrison, et al are the best defense in football and a joy to watch. If you don’t want to root for the Steelers ( I am not saying I do) thats fine. Saying others should not and that you hate a group of people is disturbing.
by michaelfox99 on Jan 31, 2009 8:35 AM PST up reply actions
here, have a cookie.
"It's just one big guy against another big guy, both teams know what's at stake. The one of them comes out on top and it feels good."
-Chris Collinsworth, Madden 09
by Wayward Llama on Jan 31, 2009 5:17 PM PST up reply actions
I'm rooting for the Steelers.
I guess I’m not a real fan any more.
:(
by Aaron Campeau on Jan 31, 2009 9:48 AM PST up reply actions
I've decided to just be ambivalent as to the outcome
Past history won’t allow me to root for the Steelers, but honestly the idea of Arizona winning a championship before we do makes me nauseous. I guess I ’ll just watch the game, eat some tasty snacks, and try not to care about the outcome.
I previously posted as "Man From Nantucket"
The Superbowl winner going to the playoffs the next year
I would say is correlation not causation. The team that wins the superbowl is the better team and therefore has a higher chance of repeating success. If for some reason that team loses (like us) which is VERY likely due to the fact that in a one game format anything can happen, then that team will still have success the next year.
I know last year’s patriots disprove my theory, but I’m not saying it’s a rule, but rather a guideline.
Divisision rivalries be damned....
I’d just like to see people in Phoenix have something to celebrate for a change. The Cardinals finally landing on the football map is a victory for the NFL, regardless of the game’s outcome.
Go Buzzsaw!
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel, or the headlights of an oncoming train?
That was the greatest World Series of my life.
Sniff
"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."
by Fearless Frog on Feb 1, 2009 10:27 AM PST up reply actions
It's always so upsetting knowing Randy Johnson could've spent his prime years here.
Yesterday's Pants
A blog-thingy about the Mariners and stuff.
by BrettJMiller on Feb 1, 2009 10:56 AM PST up reply actions
Good points.
The people of Seattle deserve a championship the most, and it’s not even close now that Philly won a championship.
And you're telling me to root for the team that condoned this:
I hate the fucking Stealers and I hope their team plane crashes or their starters all get tuberculosis or something.
"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."
You shouldn't joke about their plane crashing.
Because if it crashes and they all die, the media love fest will continue and they’ll be regarded as heroes. Everybody will be all over Hines Ward’s and Worthlessberger’s nuts about how the played the game the right way, blah blah blah.
I can get on board with tuberculosis. Better yet, staph infection.
by SeaTownBlueDevil on Feb 2, 2009 11:50 AM PST up reply actions
Flames be damned...
It’s a live play. He has every right to make sure the guy doesn’t get up. I heard someone say (I think it was Madden) that it was a punch, but I don’t see him striking him with a closed fist but a firm, open hand. Watch what happens to special teams gunners on nearly every play.
This shouldn’t have even been a penalty, unless there was something more to it than what it shown here.
I'm not going to flame you
I just severely disagree….
"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."
by Fearless Frog on Feb 2, 2009 8:45 PM PST up reply actions
I'm with you Azmeir
I don’t understand the uproar about this play.
The Cardinal guy went to the ground on his own, because he tried to block low. Harrison did what any ST player is supposed to do – keep him on the ground and out of the play. You can see in the background that when the Card tries to get up, the ball hasn’t even been downed yet. Still a live play. IMO, that’s not a penalty – that’s simply blocking.
I don't know...
That guy wasn’t realy even trying to get up, and he pretty much punched (or pushed closed fist) him in the throat. adn then pushed him again, the play was dead by then.
Even if it wasn’t illegal, I still hate the guy who gets away with as much as he can and then has that weasely smile and says ‘its not against the rules’. It reminds me of when people were fouling Shaq hard to make him shoot free throws. At some point you have to say its just a game, and to play it fairly while respecting the other players.
Hey's it's all good.
It’s the Steelers. Class of the NFL.
Oh, Defensive Player of the Year? Nice.
I was really hoping to see someone take a good shot at Smirey Woad’s knee last night. Those 30 seconds where I thought I would see Jesus Polomalu, Smirey, and the rest of those cocksuckers lose was pure bliss.
Then the Cards blew it.
They made Santonio Holmes the Super Bowl MVP.
Santonio Holmes.
Really, Arizona, that’s pathetic.
"It's just one big guy against another big guy, both teams know what's at stake. The one of them comes out on top and it feels good."
-Chris Collinsworth, Madden 09
by Wayward Llama on Feb 2, 2009 6:13 PM PST up reply actions
It's a testament to how garbage Roethy is
That he tied a record with Griese Sr. for Super Bowls won without winning MVP.
"Part, fools!
Put up your swords. You know not what you do."
by Fearless Frog on Feb 2, 2009 8:45 PM PST up reply actions
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