The title “My Worthless 2 Cents” that I came up with isn’t one I feel I can take full credit for, but is a story in itself, so here it is. I was in the 8th grade at the time, and found myself tagging along with my older sister (a senior in high school), as she was a part of the high school theatre group who would work as ushers for local community theatre productions. Working as an usher at a production of “Harvey”, the dad for one of my baseball friends came up to me at intermission and handed me two pennies and asked me to go back to the dressing area and find the lead actor in the play. I was to give him the pennies and tell him “this is from the guy with the big nostrils, giving you his two cents worth”. I thought this was funny so I agreed to do it, especially since I knew the two were friends. I go to the dressing room and deliver the message and the “gift”. The response I was given was even better. The actor told me to return the pennies and I was to “tell the guy with the big nostrils to take his worthless 2 cents and shove the right up those big nostrils”. So that’s it. This is my 2 cents after sitting on the latest Steelers game for a bit. You might tell me to take my worthless two cents and shove them up my nostrils, and that’s okay, because we are friends and I don’t look at it as personal.

I am going to break things down into three categories: One, something I feel stronger about. Two, something I have softened on a bit. Three, something that didn’t really change.

SOMETHING I FEEL STRONGER ABOUT

Pittsburgh Steeler fans. I am looking at this from what I consider to be three perspectives: The good, the bad, and the ugly ( for Clint Eastwood Western fans ). There are a lot of fans out there like me, that no matter how mad or frustrated they get with the team or the front office or the ownership, they will always bleed black and gold. Some people call us homers or apologists, and that’s okay. There are also fans that seem to only have one mode and that mode is always critical. What I’ve come to discover is that there are people like that in all areas of my life, not just Steeler fans. I have been working on and trying to be better at the way I talk to and work with those fans to understand their frustrations. The third type are some folks who I feel are critical, but for all the wrong reasons. I am not going to go into all those reasons here, but what I have tried to learn to do with that group is to understand that they might be frustrated but just haven’t figured out how to communicate their frustrations properly. What I have also noticed about all three types of these fans, is that every NFL team has these three types of fans. Actually almost every sport every team has these three types of fans. So we as Steeler fans aren’t necessarily unique, but we are unique within our own bubble of being Steeler fans.

SOMETHING I’VE SOFTENED ON

NFL announcers and color commentators. Sometimes watching games on television can get frustrating by listening to some of what is being said by the announcer or the color commentator. I think in the past several years these groups of people are being put in more precarious situations while on the air. There are so many camera angles and information that is available to them, and although we would think that is better there are times where I think it actually paints them into a corner. They work for a network, but the network answers to the NFL. So when it comes to things like officiating or scheduling or rule changes, they have to be very careful about what they say as it could potentially cost them their job. It is at a point where sometimes I’m expecting the commentators to address a topic happening in the game or comment on a call by the officials and we end up getting nothing. I think they would like to say something, but understand that if they do it could cost them dearly. I don’t know about you, but I’m glad that with my job I do not have to walk on those types of eggshells at work.

SOMETHING THAT HASN’T CHANGED

I love the Pittsburgh Steelers unconditionally. Are there times where they frustrate the crap out of me? Sure there are. But I consider the Pittsburgh Steelers to be like family. Do families fight? They do. Does my family fight? Yes we do. Everybody thinks Dave and I get along so well and agree on so many things on our shows, what you feel to realize is there are plenty of times when David I don’t see eye to eye. And sometimes we really fight. But the thing is because we’re family we always get over it. That’s the way I look at my relationship now with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Sometimes I get mad sometimes I get angry sometimes they make me want to cry, but I will always get over it and keep my relationship with the Pittsburgh Steelers going strong. Being a father, my children sometimes do things that really frustrate me. But sometimes I step back and allow them to make mistakes or to learn things on their own. As frustrated as they can make me I will always love them and I will always get over whatever issue we are having in the moment. Sometimes I don’t understand some of the decisions that are made within the Pittsburgh Steelers, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that sometimes I have to let those things go if I want to continue being the kind of fan I want to be.

There you have it. My worthless 2 cents. Maybe you liked it, maybe you didn’t. Maybe you want to tell me to shove my worthless two cents up my big nostrils. Maybe you have your own worthless 2 cents you would like to share. If so please feel free to share it in the comments below, I might look at it and tell you to shove it up your big nostrils…but that’s okay, because we are still friends.