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Cleveland isn't Steelers country
(by Dave Lange - February 17, 2011)
COUNTY LINE, BY DAVE LANGE
Cleveland isn't Steelers country
All right, all you Pittsburgh wannabes with the Steelers caps and jackets can take them off now. Lower those yellow flags from your porches, and remove those terrible towels from your aerials.
Most people are familiar with the Mason-Dixon line, the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland that separated the free states from the slave states prior to the Civil War. Well, if you live in this region, you should know about the Conneaut-East Liverpool line, the boundary between Steelers country and Browns country. And, remember, just because Maryland did not secede from the Union does not mean Ohio can secede from the Midwest.
Now, if you happen to have been born in Pittsburgh and spent the early years of your life there, before moving to Greater Cleveland, as I did, you get a pass. You can claim connections to the Steel City and its sports teams without being a traitor to your place in this world -- although I personally would not do that. Where you live is where your loyalties should lie.
If you were born and raised in the Cleveland-Akron-Canton-Youngstown region, you are not connected to Pittsburgh, and you cannot be a Steelers fan. Oh sure, you can pretend. You can claim to like the city on three rivers, or that you like the team colors, or that the quarterback went to the same university you did, or even that you go to all the home games in the stadium named for ketchup.
Well, I like the city of San Francisco -- to visit. My favorite color is blue, but I have no affection whatsoever for the New England Patriots. A couple of fearsome linebackers played for my alma mater and wound up in Pittsburgh. So what? The only home games around here are in Browns Stadium.
Technically, you can be a fan of anything you say. You can be a fan of Brazilian soccer, Barcelona bull fighting, communist Chinese economic stimulation, Iranian nuclear proliferation or North Korean torture techniques, if you wish. But you can't really be a part of it unless you are there.
Professional sports teams, like world-renowned orchestras, great art museums and wonderful geographic amenities, can be appreciated and enjoyed by out-of-town visitors. But they are part and parcel to the cities where they are located and to the people who live there.
You can say you are a Steelers fan, but, if you don't live in Pittsburgh and never did, you are not part of them.
That being established, the people of Pittsburgh are rightfully proud of having one of the best franchises in the National Football League. Their six Super Bowl championships are legendary, and their recent loss to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV does not diminish their historic success.
My father, who spent the first 35 years of his life in Pittsburgh -- minus his World War II years -- died with a Steelers smile on his face. But his son will not do that.
And neither will anyone who was born and raised west of the Conneaut-East Liverpool line and who lives out his or her life in the greater land of Cleve. You can live with deception, disloyalty and denial. But in the end, we all must face reality.
Several years ago, I wrote that a local basketball star's publicly expressed affection for the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys was sad reflection on his character. I rest my case.
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