Steelers Make Themselves at Home

[seth_westover]

OH I CANT WAIT FOR DEC. 21ST! I WILL BE IN THE STANDS WAVING MY TERRIBLE TOWEL CHEERING OUR BOYS ON AS WE PLAY THE TITANS! HOPEFULLY I WILL HAVE SOME FELLOW STEELER FANS BESIDE ME!

[Steelerchick]

Last night was one of my best experiences to date at an away game - phenomenal Steeler Fans in DC - taking over the stadium! The Redskin fan next to me moaned and complained that the Steeler fans were too loud for the Redskin offense - and I laughed all the way! How great is it to be playing an "Away" game, and the Steeler D motions for Steeler fans to turn up the noise, AND IT HAPPENS!!! So proud to be part of this fantastic Steeler nation and the pride keeps growing. I stayed until the final second of the 4th quarter just so I could keep waving my towel and adding to the chant: HERE WE GO STEELERS HERE WE GO!!!!!

[BlitzburghRockCity]

Like I already stated in the Gameday thread I was at the game last night and I've never seen a "Stadium Take-Over" of likes that Steeler fans did to the Redskins at Fed-Ex Field.

In my rough guess of a total attendance of 92,000 last night there were between 35,000-40,000 Steeler fans.
It was Amazing!!

Redskins fans were in a true state of shock and horror to see there home get invaded and over-run.

It just doesn't get any better than that man, I bet you had a blast!! Just watching on TV you hear as many boos and cheers from black n gold faithful as you could for the Skins.

[NOVA STEELERS]

During MNF, Redskins Offense Had to Use Silent Count ... in FedEx Field


As the Redskins faced a fourth-and-goal from the Steelers one-yard line during last night's game, I remember seeing Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison standing in the end zone imploring the crowd to make noise. It's a common site across NFL stadiums; defensive players exhorting fans to yell, scream, and get crazy to make it tough for the quarterback to communicate with the rest of the offense prior to the snap.

Except the Steelers were the visiting team.

The Monday Night Football crew mentioned the spectacle throughout the telecast (when they weren't mesmerized by spurious statistics; hey, Mr. Tony, don't sleep with your shoes on!) and it was hard to miss: FedEx Field was full of terrible towel-waving Steelers fans. In fact, things got so bad that the Redskins offense had to go to the silent count. Via WaPo Redskins Insider Jason La Canfora:

"We had to go silent at least a couple of times," one veteran player said. "It was loud down there, especially on third down. I never seen anything like that, at home, with 90,000 people there. It seemed like they had more fans than we did. That was sad. They had guys like Troy [Polamalu] raising his arms on third down and all these people are yelling and screaming for the Steelers. It was pretty sad, man."

Sports Bog's Dan Steinberg was also on the case:

"Uh huh," said Pete Kendall, who said that [going silent count at home] had happened to him elsewhere but admitted he was a tad surprised last night. "I mean, that's not the reputation or the expectation I had of the fans here," he said, "but who am I to begrudge somebody from making a profit by selling their tickets? I'm playing for money, and they're watching, and it's their right to do what they want with their tickets."

Fair point, Pete, although it has to be a tad disconcerting nonetheless. It's not like the Redskins are the Lions or the Bengals; they have a long, storied history and a wide-ranging fan base. And while Steelers supporters are known to gobble up tickets to away games, this is the first time I've ever heard of the home team having to use the silent count because of it.

[steelerschick1220]

Holy crap.......that is amazing that when our guys told the fans to get louder they did. No wonder the Skins fans were so pissed.

[LarryNJ]

From the Redskins board:

I think I got lost last night..... After 10 years of having season tix I thought I knew how to get to FedEx field..... Somehow I ended up at Hienz field.....

A new rule should be instituted for the Dallas game.... no entry with out presenting your ticket ID cards.....

ON A POSITIVE NOTE.... although I was completly sourrounded by Steeler fans they were all cool and didn't act like complete A-holes..... just excited fans


Even though many of their fans said it made them sick, embarassed ect...there were several who pointed out that the Seeler fans were cool. Unlike the Eagles fans that they have to deal with every year!

Here's some comments from the Skins players.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcs...urnout_di.html

We talked about it on the bench. The fans got into their heads!

[Deb]

The Pittsburgh Sports Fan Phenomenen and Why We're Seemingly Everywhere

Posted Nov 4th 2008 5:15PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Steelers, NFL Fans

There were a number of big stories to emerge during Monday's night's Pittsburgh Steelers win over the Washington Redskins. One of them appears to be the overwhelming contingent of Steelers fans that took over FedEx Field, forcing the host Redskins to actually use a silent count in their house.

The opening discussion on the post-game Sportscenter wasn't the play of the Steelers defense, or even the job Byron Leftwich did coming off the bench in relief of of Ben Roethlisberger. Instead, it was the two hosts looking at each other, jaws agape, discussing the thousands of Pittsburgh fans that made FedEx Field seem like Heinz Field East.

Ryan Wilson wrote about it this morning, and points out a piece by Dan Steinberg at the D.C. Sports bog on this very topic.

My original guess was 15 percent, but I was mocked for going too low. Was it 20 percent? Was it 25 percent? Some writers guessed as high as 30, and the Washington Times went with 33 percent, although I still say that's way too high. Your guess on the percentage? And as long as I'm asking questions, why does this happen? Why does it happen with Penguins games? Do Pittsburgh fans have more money? More passion? Fewer outside interests? Fewer job responsibilities?

Continue Reading The Pittsburgh Sports Fan Phenomenen and Why We're Seemingly Everywhere

[HUNT4SEVEN]

The Steeler Nation represents where ever we go, the best fans n the N.F.L period

[DBR96A]

We're everywhere because a shiatload of us left the Pittsburgh area between 1975 and 1995, got married, had kids, and raised them to be Pittsburgh sports fans too. That's the simple explanation.

I told somebody after Super Bowl XL that if Steeler fans were HIV, the rest of the United States acquired us early in the 1980s, and now the whole country has full-blown AIDS. As morbid as the comparison is, it is surprisingly accurate considering a) the mass exodus from the Pittsburgh area began around the time AIDS was discovered, and b) when we get married, we convert our spouses to Steeler fandom and replicate, much the same way HIV causes white blood cells to manufacture more viruses.

[ARKIESTEEL]

I was at the game and the folks that I travel with come from Cali. The tailgating was pretty good and it looked like there was a bunch of Steelers fans outside. When I got inside I was blown away with the amount of Black and Gold. The Redskins fans was shocked to say the least. It was a great trip !!!!!!!!!!!!