I grew up in Pittsburgh, but was more into the Pirates than the Steelers. Football held little appeal for me until last year. I used to pride myself on going 36 hours without learning who won the Super Bowl. Last year, though, I got hooked when I watched the Bills lose to the Broncos in the season opener by one point after leading the whole way. Since then, I've watched the Bills go 7-9 twice. Sigh.

So today the Steelers are playing the Chargers. I haven't watched the Steelers play since the Super Bowl a few years ago. If you'd asked me two years ago, I would've scoffed that at this distance from Heinz Field, nothing I do today can possibly influence the game. Now, not so much. Am I showing support for the Steelers by wearing a Bills shirt because the AFC North is closer to the AFC East than the AFC West? Am I jinxing the Steelers by wearing a shirt for a team that last had a winning season in 2004? Should I hit a store and buy a yellow dish towel to wave around the living room? Can I be confident that if the Steelers win today, they'll also be able to beat Baltimore next weekend?

Update: I found a shirt that's as close to the black and gold as I could've hoped in an emergency. And the Steelers won! Woo hoo!
( see the print )

I arrived at work today eager to discuss football. I got in before the usual suspects this morning, one of whom because she was at the game and probably didn't get home until 1:30. I just had to tell a non-football-watching co-worker about the game to get it out of my system.

Who am I, and what have I done with me?

Two years ago, I was astonished that I ended up watching the Super Bowl. Most years, I try to see how long I can go without knowing who won. Not knowing who was playing was even better. That year, I was visiting mab42, and I ended up catching a decent chunk of the game, including the best part: the wardrobe malfunction.

This year, I was out of town again. Astonishingly, I cared about the game. The last time Pittsburgh was in a Super Bowl, I was still a junior in college. That game didn't go so well, and I don't recall watching a substantive portion of it. This year, I'd watched the Steelers' last playoff game, and the amount of football talk I'd absorbed from co-workers helped boost my understanding and interest enough that I found myself explaining aspects of the game rather than asking. I found the Super Bowl itself to be a nail-biter, though not as impressively so as the game against Denver. In another reverse of my usual, the commercials didn't come even close to eclipsing the game.

I doubt my Fall Sundays are in any danger, but I can see why people get worked up about it. I suspect football has joined golf as a sport I can watch on TV, but won't follow and won't go out of my way to watch. I can get really worked up about baseball and hockey games when I'm in attendance, but not on TV.