I’m not from the Pittsburgh area, nor do I have family there. I was not born into this fan base. No one taught me to root for the Black and Gold. My parents were horse people that did not play or watch sports at all, so football was never on in my house as I grew up.

I chose to be a part of Steeler Nation all on my own. Moving from Arizona to Arkansas at seven years old, I found myself in an isolated rural southern community that did not “take kindly” to strangers. I went from an innocent kid that never had been in an argument at school to physically fighting off multiple bullies on a daily basis. It was hard and lonely. Until I found a book in the school library, that is.

Franco Harris was on the cover, and the book had a chapter for each Super Bowl ever played, up until 1980 with the Steelers defeating the L.A. Rams. I already knew of the Steelers from my uncles and grandfather, who were Dallas Cowboys fans. They were giving me a hard time during the 1979 Super Bowl, and I had loudly declared that I hoped this other team in the cool black helmets and jerseys would beat their team. That would be the last of the Steelers I would see until I found this book.

Reading about the team made the Steelers players seem larger than life. Their toughness and grit that reflected the spirit of the city inspired me to stand tall in the face of the constant attacks and bullying I endured. When the next Christmas rolled around, instead of circling toys in the Sears catalog, I found the pages with the NFL licensed coats and shirts and told every adult that would potentially be buying me a gift that all I wanted was Steelers gear. It must have worked because this was me on that Christmas day.

Every birthday and Christmas after that just meant adding more Black and Gold. While every other kid at my school was either wearing Razorbacks, Cowboys, or camo hunting shirts, I was proudly flaunting the hypocycloids.

When I picked out a new bike, it was black and gold. Hell, when I went to the local Humane Society shelter to get a dog, I found one that had a black body with a gold head, and she was the best dog of my childhood.

The Steelers windbreaker I’m wearing here was my favorite and made me feel tougher than The Fonz. When I had that jacket on with the sleeves pushed up, and the bullies would come, it felt like Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood, Dwight White, and Ernie Holmes were all standing right behind me. I never felt alone wearing the Black and Gold, and I could face anything the bullies tried to do.

I would find the games when they were on local television and started watching as much as I could. I remember being so excited for a pre-season game in 1986 between the Steelers and Cowboys, even though this was well past the years of either team being particularly good. I didn’t care. I was just excited to see my team. The family that I had chosen.

Now I’m lucky enough to contribute articles for Steel Curtain Network, another extended family of Steelers fans that all have their own personal reasons to bleed Black and Gold. This will be my first Christmas with SCN, so it seems fitting to remember the first Christmas when I became a full fledged member of Steeler Nation.

As I write this, the Steelers have yet to play in Baltimore. It is a high stakes game, full of implications for the division title and playoff seeding. Soon after that, the Steelers will host the Chiefs on Christmas day. I have no idea how either will go, but both will be sure to be tough contests where the team could lose. 

I’ve used this famous quote before, but this is a good time to say it again. Out of all the unimportant things in life, football is the most important. The key word there is “unimportant.” In this age of social media and hyper-everything, no matter what happens in these two games, remember that it doesn’t really matter. We aren’t here because of wins or losses. I didn’t really start watching games until 1983, and the Steelers didn’t do a whole lot of winning that decade. That didn’t change what the team meant to me. We are here because we are all a part of this extended family that we chose to be in, and win or lose, we stick together.

The Steelers will be short handed going into Baltimore, and it will be tough to get a win. Playing the Chiefs is never easy, and playing on a short turn-around after Ravens week has never been a recipe for success. Try not to get caught up in negative emotions and go nuclear reading all the social media hot takes. It’s easy to sell rage and hate. Some people almost seem to take it as a personal insult if the team has a bad game. It is not. If things don’t go the Steelers way these next two games, remember to look around and take stock at what’s really important.

It might be the last Christmas with an elder member of the family, or it could be the last Christmas before the kids move off to college or to start their adult life. This will be the first Christmas without my grandfather, who helped me to root for the Steelers, albeit doing so against his team…hehehe. It will also be the first Christmas in 34 years when I don’t have a child living with me, as my youngest son moved out on his own not long ago. If the Steelers win either of these games, that’s great and I will be happy that they do. If not, I will still be here, wearing my Black and Gold, rooting on the team for the next one, and the one after that, season after season, until I’m the one that’s no longer around. Steelers Nation is the family we all chose whether we were born into it or found it on our own. Wins and losses won’t change that. As the flagship SCN show says, we are ride or die.