if you weren 't born or raised a steeler fan, how did you become one ??

[Steelstoned1972]

january 20th 1980 , i would soon be eight years old in less than a month. i knew about football but didnt really follow it until that fateful evening. i was spending the night @ my grandpa 's house. my dad called to shoot the breeze with me. during our conversation, my dad proposed a bet to me. he asked me if i wanted to bet a buck on the superbowl. ( dad and i would always have dollar wagers for bragging rights ) . i accepted the challenge. my dad said he wanted to bet on the rams cause he was a browns fan and hated the steelers. later that night as i listened to my grandfather bark @ the television everytime pittsburgh scored ( gramps was also a big browns fan and indians fan ) , i became hooked a steeler fan for life. after all, the steelers seemed to tick off my dad and grandpa and they just won me a dollar !!! a rivalry was born in my household that day, and i have bled black n gold ever since !!! now if i could only get the nfl to quit playing the browns on tv , i would be all good......it will be the third straight week i have to go to the bar to watch the " steel warriors " go into battle. .......here we go steelers ...here we go !!!! eradicate the ravens !!!!

[MikeHaullace]

Originally Posted by craignewhouser

january 20th 1980 , i would soon be eight years old in less than a month. i knew about football but didnt really follow it until that fateful evening. i was spending the night @ my grandpa 's house. my dad called to shoot the breeze with me. during our conversation, my dad proposed a bet to me. he asked me if i wanted to bet a buck on the superbowl. ( dad and i would always have dollar wagers for bragging rights ) . i accepted the challenge. my dad said he wanted to bet on the rams cause he was a browns fan and hated the steelers. later that night as i listened to my grandfather bark @ the television everytime pittsburgh scored ( gramps was also a big browns fan and indians fan ) , i became hooked a steeler fan for life. after all, the steelers seemed to tick off my dad and grandpa and they just won me a dollar !!! a rivalry was born in my household that day, and i have bled black n gold ever since !!! now if i could only get the nfl to quit playing the browns on tv , i would be all good......it will be the third straight week i have to go to the bar to watch the " steel warriors " go into battle. .......here we go steelers ...here we go !!!! eradicate the ravens !!!!

Cool story, bro. Thanks for sharing.

[Fire Arians]

i started playing football when i was 8, and naturally just starting watching. Growing up in hawaii, most ppl here are 49ers or Raiders fans mainly because they're the closest team and unofficially the home team here (mostly the 49ers). One day I was watching an NFL films special and it was on the Steel Curtain, was impressed with the history of the team. Been rooting for them since 1990 :)

[MikeHaullace]

Originally Posted by Fire Arians

i started playing football when i was 8, and naturally just starting watching. Growing up in hawaii, most ppl here are 49ers or Raiders fans mainly because they're the closest team and unofficially the home team here (mostly the 49ers). One day I was watching an NFL films special and it was on the Steel Curtain, was impressed with the history of the team. Been rooting for them since 1990 :)

I started up in '90 as well.

I 'liked' the Steelers before, only because I thought they had the best color combination. Gimme a break. I was a kid.

I really started asking my dad questions about the team and the game of football when I was 10. I still remember getting pissed off at Bubby Brister because my dad was pissed off at Bubby Brister.

I do have a picture of myself when I was in diapers, wearing a Bradshaw shirt, kicking a football though.

The kicker of the story? I have lived in TX all my life and my pops is *not* from the 'Burgh.

[PhantomJB93]

Well, my story is sort of weird. My parents are both from Pittsburgh and my dad is a die hard Steeler fan, but I was born and raised in Detroit. But I didnt really get into sports until I was around 9 or 10, and my family moved back to Pittsburgh when I was 8. So, Ive been a Steeler fan since I started actually caring about football, and I didnt really root for anybody before then, but had I never moved here Im not sure if I would have still wound up a Steelers fan because of my parents or if Id be a Lions fan right now (I do root for the Lions as my second favorite team but Steelers come first)

[StainlessStill]

I pretty much popped out of my moms vagina with a Terrible Towel in hand. Long history of Steelers diehard in my family.

I love reading these threads. Good stuff guys.

[GMU Steeler]

I was born in 1987. Wasn't really much of a football fan in my early years since my dad was more in to basketball and my main sport was baseball. My first real football memory though was Super Bowl XXX when I was 8-8/12 rooting for the Steelers over the Cowboys because I grew up in the DC area and everyone there mostly is a Skins fan and by default a Cowboys hater and this was of course at the height of the Cowboys 90's dynasty teams so I rooted for the Steelers. I started watching football more with my grandfather in the late 90's and my grandfather like all my family was originally from Western Pa. Him and my grandma were actually from Johnstown the same town as Jack Ham and to you history buffs the same town that has flooded a few times. He was a Steelers/Skins fan. I remember him talking about how the Steelers did everything right in football and as an organization. He was particularly proud of how the Rooneys treated their players. I remember loving Jerome Bettis because I liked watching him pound the ball. I could never be a Redskins fan since I hate how Dan Snyder runs his team and besides my other grandmother grew up in the part of Pittsburgh that became Three Rivers Stadium. Not sure who I would go for if I wasn't a Steelers fan. I as I said don't really like the Skins much since they're a team of mercenaries.

[Steelstoned1972]

Thanks for all the replies folks....that's my first official post topic !!!!! I will say one thing , and its very important oh wait a minute ....ill save that for my second official post topic ;)

[Steelstoned1972]

Ahhhhhh ....bubby brister ......I referred to him as bloody blister....... he had guts , was a leader .......but he ultimately forced an untimely blunder that usually hurt the steelers worse than a bloody blister......I liked him though , he was a blue collar tough guy qb from terry bradshaws home state......

[colescott1]

Mean Joe Greene / Coca Cola commerical at the ripe old age of 6. (Born and raised in MD, but that commerical hooked me for life.) I wondered how many Steeler fans were created by the Polamalu remake of it....but then again, it was no where near as good as the original.