20,000 Steeler Faithful in Jax

**BlitzburghRockCity** · 09-19-2006, 11:38 AM

http://www.timesonline.com/site/news...d=478568&rfi=6

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - No team in the NFL has a fan following on the road quite like the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Such was the case again Monday night, though there weren't as much black and gold in the ALLTEL Stadium stands as there was two years ago when the Steelers played here.

Even though Jaguars' management publicly frowned on Jags' season-ticket holders selling any tickets to Steelers fans, thousands of Pittsburghers were among the sellout crowd of 67,164.

"I think I saw half of Beaver County here," said John Fedko, the WPXI-TV sports director after interviewing several tailgaters from Pittsburgh. "I'm serious. They were everywhere."

No less than 69 Steelers fans at one tailgate party were from Beaver County. They came to Jacksonville on an excursion organized by Hopewell's Curt Martin, who owns Fred's Divot bar in Ambridge.

"We had an awesome tailgate," said Martin, who's also planning on taking groups to several other Steelers' away games this season.

Meanwhile, a tailgate hosted by Hopewell native Mike Harmotto had a 50/50 Steelers/Jaguars split.

"Hey, I've been living in Jacksonville for 21 years," Harmotto said. "I've lived down here longer than I did in Hopewell. So now I'm a Jaguars fan."

Two of the Steelers fans at Harmotto's pre-game party were Hopewell natives Michael "Chico" Verez and Ron Trentafellow, who's also been living in Jacksonville for years.

"They still cheer for the Steelers," Harmotto said. "I have no problem with that. They'll always cheer for the Steelers. They're my friends. They're always welcome here. It makes for some interesting pre-game discussions."

According to ESPN last night we had 20,000 black n gold faithful invade the land of the teal kitties last night! If that isn't something to behold, nothing is.

**Prosdo** · 09-19-2006, 11:42 AM

I always love hearing how many Steelers fan invade other teams' stadiums. On my way to the bar to watch the game I had WDVE on. I think Tunch made a very good point. The mayor of Jacksonville told everyone to wear teal. Tunch replied when have you ever had the Pittsburgh mayor have to tell Steelers fans to wear their black and gold?

**BlitzburghRockCity** · 09-19-2006, 11:50 AM

If you have to tell your team to wear its team colors, then there's something definately not right ! Jax is hardly what you would call a sports town or a football town for that matter, I guess their fans need to be reminded they actually have an NFL franchise!

**Friday133** · 09-19-2006, 11:55 AM

pittsburgh mayors have done that in the past. hell they did it for the miami game 12 days ago.

**BlitzburghRockCity** · 09-19-2006, 12:01 PM

If you watch a Jax game, a good majority of the fans are in street clothes instead of team colors. When you go to Heinz Field the vast majority are in some type of black and/or gold and most of them have terrible towels. The Steeler mayor may say it but it's not because he feels the need to motivate the city. You don't see Steeler fans selling their tickets to rival fans and having Heinz Field with 10 or 20 thousand rival fans !

**AZ_Steeler** · 09-19-2006, 12:13 PM

Originally Posted by Top Gun

If you watch a Jax game, a good majority of the fans are in street clothes instead of team colors. When you go to Heinz Field the vast majority are in some type of black and/or gold and most of them have terrible towels. The Steeler mayor may say it but it's not because he feels the need to motivate the city. You don't see Steeler fans selling their tickets to rival fans and having Heinz Field with 10 or 20 thousand rival fans !

You're right! I was watcing the misery again late last night trying to disect the game and a good majority of the fans were in street clothes! There is nothing more exciting though than tuning into a Steelers away game and seeing

in the home teams crowd! At the Cardinals preseason game August 12th, Steelers fans made their presence felt here in the desert!

**PITT23** · 09-19-2006, 02:56 PM

I noticed that the last section or two on each side of the upper deck was totally empty, thats horrible. Not coming to see your team, a playoff contender, play is one thing but against the champions is another thing.

House of Steel · 09-19-2006, 04:06 PM

I hated those foamy thing those fans were waving. Looked hidious.

**BlitzburghRockCity** · 09-19-2006, 04:41 PM

Those things belong in an NBA Arena !

**Hburg** · 09-19-2006, 06:40 PM

"Hey, I've been living in Jacksonville for 21 years," Harmotto said. "I've lived down here longer than I did in Hopewell. So now I'm a Jaguars fan."

What a pitiful excuse for a football fan! I don't care if you've lived in Jacksonville for however long you don't just become a fan of a different team like that, especially if you were a Steelers fan. This guy was never an actual fan of the Steelers, I don't actually think this man is an actual fan of the jags now, he just goes along wit the popular team where he at. If this guy moved to Seattle he'd be a seahawk fan within two years. Pitiful bullshit.

BuFu