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Why Steeler Nation Is The Best NFL Fan Base

Here we go!

Alexis Klumb

Aug 01, 2016

Tampa, Florida

253

Why Steeler Nation Is The Best NFL Fan Base

Sportingnews.com

I won the luck of the draw. I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I know what some of you may be thinking. Pittsburgh? How is that winning 'the luck of the draw'? It's cold for six months out of the year, driving is dangerous and the constant overcast skies in winter can make anyone depressed. While you may be right, the citizens of Pittsburgh have one thing that gets us through the dark days: the Steelers.

The Steelers, Pittsburgh's football team, are our ray of sunshine during the winter months. When you are born in Pittsburgh, Steeler blood is immediately a part of you. And it is a common saying around Pittsburgh that us Steeler fans often say: 'I bleed Black and Gold.' And though many of us end up moving all over the world, being a Steeler fan doesn't change.

You may be wondering how Steeler fans are better than any other NFL fan base. All football fans can get pretty crazy when it comes to their loyalty but Steeler fans take it to another level. I currently live in Tampa, Florida and I am part of a large Steeler club in my community. I know now matter where I go, I can find a large Steeler community even if I choose to live outside of the country.

Steeler's fans are willing to travel any distance to see their boys play. Many struggling teams such as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may experience local black outs due to lack of ticket sales. But if the Steelers come to town, many of those games end up selling out. It was said by a columnist for ESPN.com that in Superbowl 40 when the Steelers played the Seahawks, it's estimated that Steeler fans outnumbered Seahawks fans 25-1.

The co-founder of NFL Films spoke at 75th anniversary gala in Pittsburgh and made a bold statement: "The Steelers don't need a mascot. Their fans are their mascot...There were Gerela's Gorillas, Franco's Italian Army, Lambert's Lunatics, people dressed up like a bumble bee. You don't need a mascot when you have fans like that. When we'd go to Pittsburgh to do the game for NFL Films we never brought enough cameras."

A 2008 article done by ESPN.com ranked Steeler fans as the best in the NFL, with a game sell-out streak of 299 games. Steeler fans have such a following and a will to travel, that many teams refuse to sell tickets to people from the Pittsburgh area when their team is hosting them.

Being a Steeler fan is a surreal experience. My life revolves around their wins and loses and their tears are my tears. I am a part of something so awesome and global that I feel blessed to be from the greatest sports city in the world. GO STILLERS! How could I write an article and not put at least a line of Pittsburghese in there?!

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Why Steeler Nation Is The Best NFL Fan Base

Here we go!

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No one best represents the struggle like our favorite 90s squad.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

2. When there is only one section of a popular course.

3. Receiving the 18,000 emails reminding you to register ASAP.

4. When you need to see an advisor, but they are too busy/unresponsive.

5. Trying not to dress like a bum for your appointments with your advisors/department heads.

6. When you have a perfectly planned out schedule, and one class ruins it.

7. Carefully moving things around to accommodate a different class/section.

8. Waking up at 6:00 a.m. for your enrollment time.

9. Concocting a new schedule at your enrollment time after your original plan gets changed.

10. Getting into a class and filling the last available seat.

11. When all of your classes finally go through.

12. Realizing that you forgot a class that was a pre-requisite for everything else.

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

"Nobody living in one of the most influential nations in the world should be worried about making ends meet."

What is the current minimum wage at the federal level?

What are the benefits of raising the minimum wage?

What are the states that have set a $15/hour minimum wage?

Told through Parks & Recreation GIFs

Because who understands your bitterness better than April?

1. When you have to provide an "interesting fact" for your first day ice-breaker.

2. When your professor is babbling on and on in his lecture.

3. When you edit your friend's paper and they get an A.

4. When it's 2 AM and you remember you have a test tomorrow.

5. When you finish taking the test and you're pretty sure you failed...

6. ...but then you get the test back and somehow passed.

7. When you've been up for 12 hours straight writing a paper.

8. And then you manage to stay awake in class the next day.

9. When you have to butter up your professor for an extra credit opportunity.

10. When you're assigned a group project.

11. And your group-mates are trying to chat about life instead of the assignment.

12. When it's your last class of the day and you're about to go home.

13. But then you remember rent is due tonight and the anger comes back.

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