pennlive.com | 01.24.2011
In Pittsburgh, the team’s quest is known as the “Stairway to Seven,” or “Knocking on Seven’s Door.” Customized song lyrics have been written and recorded to the melodies of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” and Bob Dylan’s “Knocking on Heaven’s Door.”
These tunes, along with the latest updates of old-standards such as “The Steelers’ Polka” and the “Here We Go” song, are but a few of the signs of the black and gold buzzsaw that’s revving up in this football frenzied city.
Yet, with the Steelers long ago having risen from lovable losers to NFL royalty, does Pittsburgh’s perennial playoff party ever get old?
And after converting basements to black-and-gold man caves, stuffing closets with countless Steelers coats, hats, scarves and jerseys and even redecorating bathrooms into Steelers johns, could there be any more room in fans’ lives for more memorabilia?
Might Pittsburgh’s football fanaticism have reached its limit?
“Do people ever get tired of celebrating New Year’s?” retorted Jon Rubin, director of the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University.
‘Pervasive Steelers culture’
The Miller Gallery is running an exhibit exploring Steelers fans’ seemingly boundless enthusiasm.
Steelers faithful do not simply cheer on a football team. They see themselves and their city reflected in the team’s mixture of blue-collar work ethic, family ownership and tough-as-nails mentality.
So when Steelers fans want to show their black-and-gold allegiance, they don’t just don jerseys and leave it at that. They make themselves part of the team, intertwining their own life experiences with those of the Steelers until the two are inseparable.
After months of trolling Steelers Nation for artifacts, Rubin and co-curator Astria Suparak assembled an eclectic exhibit of fan memorabilia that doesn’t just blur the line between fan and team, it obliterates it entirely.
here we go steelers, here we go, again... never underestimate what creating fan loyalty can do for your brand!
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