Devastation

I try not to reveal too much information to identify me, for the security and privacy of my family. I'm going to make an exception to that rule today and tell you this: my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers broke my heart and left it on the turf of Jerry Jones' temple. I was so devastated that I needed a day to recoup before I could even write about it. I am still utterly disconsolate over it, and the awkward well wishes of a multitude of colleagues and students today, while sweet and well meaning, in large part merely salted the wound. I know this seems like insanity, and quite possibly, it is. What rational woman feels so passionately about a football team that is in a city half a country away?
For me, loving the Steelers was less a choice and more a condition of my upbringing. I grew up in Pittsburgh at a time when there wasn't much to sell you on the town except the Black n' Gold. I was part of a family and a community that came together to slough off the pain of a slumping steel industry and become a part of greatness. Then, the year after the Steelers third Super Bowl win against, that's right, the Dallas Cowboys, I found myself abruptly transplanted into the belly of the beast - right into Dallas, Texas. I was beginning junior high school, and my love for the Steelers was just one more thing to make me some foreign, undesirable element in the scene, along with a strange accent, an entire vocabulary of strange idioms, and a weird fashion sense. Those were the days . . .
It's been many years since my family came to Texas, and in many ways it's become my home. I met my beloved husband here, and together we founded the Circus. The accent has faded, along with many of the strange expressions. And yet, one link to the past has remained for me and my family: a passion for my beloved Steelers. This passion rests latent much of the time, appearing on the walls of my classroom and on "sports jersey day" or some other school event. But this year, this year . . . my Steelers came here, HERE, to Dallas, to play in the Super Bowl. It was an amazing experience for me and for my family. I got to take my children to see first hand the fervent loyalty of the Steeler Nation. I got to see the iconic Steelers' logo splashed everywhere in my Texas community. And finally, I got to join together with my parents, my brother, and my amazingly supportive husband to wear the Black and Gold; to talk of Roethlisberger's arm and the loss of Maurkice Pouncey and the staggering oversight of Jerome Bettis by the Hall of Fame balloting; and to watch in ecstasy and agony the game of games. The loss was crushing: I want to weep even now with my disappointment. And yet, in my sadness I am whole: I wore the Black and Gold today, and I held my head up with pride. To you, it's just a football game. To me, it's the still-strong connection with the community that shaped me. Win or lose, now and forever, I shout to the world:
GO STEELERS!