The scene is as predictable as Old Faithful. It’s a west coast away game on a late Sunday afternoon, across the entire country from Pittsburgh. It might be Los Angeles, Seattle, Arizona. The camera pans out on a wide shot of the crowd and it’s a sea of terrible towels, black and gold jerseys, even a sign or two. If the game is going well, you might even have the “Here We Go” chant echo across the stadium. Just as predictable is what the announcers say next. “Steeler fans sure do travel well!”

Now, I don’t know about you, but I seriously doubt a family living in the Pittsburgh area is loading up the family truckster for a cross country drive to attend a late Sunday afternoon road game against the Cardinals. I would also doubt they are dropping the insane amount of money it would cost to fly there and back as well, not to mention the cost of attending the game. If you can afford all that, congratulations. I, however, work for a living, and I’m not dropping a house payment for an airplane ride. I would wager that there are more fans that travel from far away to attend a home game than native Pittsburghers making a trek for a road game.

No, the truth is that those people live there, or within driving distance, and they bleed black and gold. Some may have ties to Pittsburgh, others like myself have none at all. It’s not that Steeler Nation travels well, it’s just that we are everywhere. My wife went to China on a school trip as a part of getting her doctorate in Physical Therapy, and she sent back a picture of her standing with a young kid wearing a Hines Ward jersey. So I do mean everywhere.

I grew up in Arkansas, deep in the heart of Cowboys country. I never thought I’d get a chance to see the Steelers play. Three Rivers Stadium might have well been located on the moon, as far away as I felt from it. Then, while stationed in San Diego while in the Navy, I had two chances to see the team. They came out to play the L.A. Rams on Sep 12th, 1993. There were two problems with that. First, being a lowly airman in the Navy, I wasn’t exactly making bank and could not afford the tickets or the gas money to drive up to L.A. The other was the Rams had this new big bad running back named Jerome something or other…and I didn’t want to drive that far for my first ever game just to see a rookie running back run over my beloved team. Final score – Rams 27, Steelers 0. Bettis had 16 carries for 76 yards and a touchdown, with a long run of 29 yards. Good call on my part. I wonder whatever happened to that Bettis guy?

The next year they came right to me in San Diego, but again, I was eating ramen noodle soup for dinner and shifting the car into neutral when going downhill to save gas, so game tickets were not in the budget. Another missed chance.

Years later in 1997, I’m out of the Navy and back in Arkansas. The Houston Oilers had left for Tennessee, but I guess they ran out of gas money themselves for a while and played a season at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis before making it to Nashville. The Steelers were coming to play late in the season, and I wasn’t missing my chance. It’s a little less than a 3 hour drive from my house, I had slightly more money then than I did in my Navy days, and the Oilers weren’t pulling a crowd at all there. I could have the stadium to myself practically, and finally see the Steelers in person.

My brother and I hit the road and as we merged onto Interstate 40 leaving Little Rock, we saw a sight that made our jaws drop, Every car was covered in Steelers gear. Team flags were flying, windows were covered in decals, license plates, you name it. Everyone in the cars were wearing jackets and jerseys, faces were painted, people were honking and waving. I-40 was transformed into a river of black and gold, deep in Razorback and Cowboys country. It was amazing, and being well before the age of social media, completely unexpected.

You know who else didn’t expect it? The people managing the stadium. The Oilers were averaging around 10 – 13k attendance for their Memphis home games, and Steeler fans showed up 60,000 strong. They didn’t have enough parking lots open and ready, and traffic was an absolute nightmare. They ended up parking us in a field, and it rained during the game, turning it into a mud pit. A 1996 Mustang GT is not the car to be driving in a mud pit, just fyi.

And the game? Well, the Steelers had locked down their playoff spot the week before and played backups most of the game. They lost to the lowly Oilers 16-6 that day. It was a sloppy, field goal fest of a game. But…I was in Steeler Nation live for the first time. The stadium was filled with black and gold, we were doing the “Here We Go” chant, waving terrible towels, and I finally felt like a part of something bigger than myself. It was fantastic, and I loved every second of it.