I have come to the conclusion that if you are a sports fan living in Pittsburgh everybody assumes that you love the Steelers. I go visit my parents in Ohio and when people hear that I live in Pittsburgh they always ask about the Steelers. I live in Pittsburgh. I am a sports fan. But I am not a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I am a New England Patriots fan.
There is a certain stigma surrounding being a Patriots fan. Everybody assumes that you are a bandwagon fan. Everybody assumes that you believe that Tom Brady is God. All you ever hear about is how much the Patriots have cheated to win their Super Bowl titles. In Pittsburgh, it almost seems to be worse than in other areas of the country.
I say this as somebody who has lived in six states, including Pennsylvania, over the past eighteen years. I have lived in Pittsburgh for five and a half years and never had to hear so much about the Patriots in any other place that I have lived. In all of the places that I have lived, there has been a professional football team. Somehow Steeler fans seem to be the worst about it.
For some reason, Steeler fans always like to bring it up. We could be talking about something completely different and they somehow bring up football. I was in the middle of a sentence earlier this week and a friend interrupted me to mention that “his Steelers” were playing “my Patriots” this weekend. I am pretty sure that we had been talking about a painting before he interrupted me.
I have walked around Pittsburgh in my Patriots attire and been harassed. I have been getting my mail and my neighbors have had to mention the Patriots keychain. I can have both headphones in and people will try to get my attention in order to say something about my Patriots sweatshirt. These are sometimes people I do not know and have never seen before in my life. Others have been friends or neighbors.
This past week has been particularly unpleasant. With the Patriots and the Steelers playing in the AFC Championship game, it is all I heard about. Friends of mine would go on and on about the game even after I said that I did not want to talk about it. People that I follow on social media have been mentioning it every chance that they get.
Oh, well. I guess I got the last laugh. On to the Super Bowl! #OneMore
Life As Alexa 