Steelers fans: Stay away

[Reds/Flyers Fan]

Back in 2003, I traveled to Heinz Field in Pittsburgh with a couple of friends for the Bengals/Steelers game. The only team affiliation I was wearing was a black OSU hat. My friend wore a Bengals hat. We sat in the end zone that actually has seats.

We sat in the end zone opposite the river for the first half. We openly cheered for the Bengals, who played well and led at halftime. The extent of our cheering was clapping and shouting after Kelly Washington's TD, a couple of field goals and a fumble recovery.

We were subjected to nasty verbal insults, a lot of #$%@ Cincinnati, and a lot of other junk. We had empty beer cups thrown at us even during timeouts. The old man sitting to my left elbowed me hard at one point after a Bengals score and one really classy Steelers fan a few rows in front would just stand, turned toward us, and flip us off with both hands constantly.

We didn't feel comfortable returning to those seats after the half and watched the remainder of the game from one of the corner walkways - where we enjoyed a Bengals' come-from-behind win. After the game, while walking back to the car, we were subjected to more nastiness, and a lot of "Go Home A&*$^&#&!"

There were MAYBE 50 Bengals fans in Heinz Field that day and, of those I saw, all were treated rudely by Steelers fans.

But these Pittsburgh fans feel they can come here 10,000-strong and wave their ugly towels and tailgate with their Steelers flags flying. They will be sitting in all parts of PBS - lower deck, private boxes, upper deck, end zones. And they will expect to have their way both on the field and in the stands. They would not accept the treatment that Cincinnati fans receive in Pittsburgh.

Enough is enough. If you have tickets to this game, please don't sell them to Steelers fans. It's long past time that these idiots feel unwelcome and a little uneasy coming to Cincinnati to revel in Steeler-mania. It's long past time that they don't feel at liberty to walk down the middle of Fifth Street waving their towels hours before the game.

If you're a Steelers fan: Stay away.
If you're a Bengals fan: Be loud.

Who Dey!

[westofyou]

I know a guy who stood in front of a Steelers Fans bus at Riverfront in the late 70's and flipped them off.

They stopped the bus and a bunch of guys got off and kicked the crap out of him.

Not a smart guy he's also know for driving through the window at Frisches, a friend was in the back drunk and asleep, when they crashed through he awoke and tried to order a Big Boy.

[Redsland]

Not a smart guy he's also know for driving through the window at Frisches, a friend was in the back drunk and asleep, when they crashed through he awoke and tried to order a Big Boy.

Idiot.

He should have ordered the fish sandwich.

[Blimpie]

But these Pittsburgh fans feel they can come here 10,000-strong and wave their ugly towels and tailgate with their Steelers flags flying. They will be sitting in all parts of PBS - lower deck, private boxes, upper deck, end zones. And they will expect to have their way both on the field and in the stands. They would not accept the treatment that Cincinnati fans receive in Pittsburgh.

I would be shocked if the Steelers were able to bring that many people to town this year. This is the toughest Bengals ticket I have seen in YEARS....Last time I checked, tickets are going for 5-6 times face value. I believe that the entire season is nearly sold out at this point (still some tix available for the Bills?)

If I am not mistaken, Pittsburgh fans hoping to buy this ticket through the team had to buy it as a part of a three game package--making it even more cost prohibitive. Hell, if Maddox gets the start again, you may not see a single Terrible Towel on Sunday.

[OldRightHander]

I guess the NFL brings out the best in people. I have gone to quite a few games where I have been rooting for the visiting team, but I have never watched the Bengals away from Cincinnati. I go up to Columbus every year when the Blues play the Blue Jackets and the Columbus fans have always been cordial to me. I saw the Blues play the Avalanche in Denver once and had a good friendly chat with the Colorado fans all throughout the game. I have seen the Reds play at Wrigley and in Milwaukee and have been treated well in both places. Heck, a couple years ago I was at the Bengals/Browns game and had a Cleveland fan sitting next to me and nobody gave him any grief at all. We had a good talk during the game. I don't know if I'm just an agreeable person to be around, or I just haven't found the ugly fans yet. I know they're out there and I always hear about visiting fans going through various degrees of abuse, but I have yet to experience it. OTOH, it bothers me to see visiting fans behaving obnoxiously. If I am the visiting fan, I will clap when my team does something good, but I'm not going to be a jerk in the other team's building. Folks need to learn to show some respect, and part of that is knowing when you're in the other team's house and behaving yourself.

[savafan]

Hell, if Maddox gets the start again, you may not see a single Terrible Towel on Sunday.

No, my fantasy team needs Roethlisberger to start. Well, my team also needs the Bengals defense to do a good job against the Steeler offense...I'm not sure who to root for.

[Reds Fanatic]

The Steelers announced today that Roethlisberger is starting on Sunday.

[SunDeck]

I doubt Cincinnati fans are treating Steelers fans any better than we would get treated in Pittsburgh. I've been going to games since the mid 70s and I'm appalled at how the experience has deteriorated. Too much drinking, too much trash talking, too many fights. Heck, I saw two fights at the Houston game and all parties involved were Bengals fans. For the life of me, I can't see dropping $250 just to get smashed, punched out and hungover, but I guess that's their entitlement.
Almost makes me want to go to an OSU game. On second thought, no it doesn't.

[Chip R]

I doubt Cincinnati fans are treating Steelers fans any better than we would get treated in Pittsburgh. I've been going to games since the mid 70s and I'm appalled at how the experience has deteriorated. Too much drinking, too much trash talking, too many fights.

My guess is that the former leads to the latter two activities.

[SunDeck]

Yeah, you can watch it progress throughout the game. Unfortunately, stopping beer sales doesn't help because most of them are half lit when they walk in the gate. I watch guys in the parking lot before the game throw back 6-7 beers in an hour because they don't want to pay the prices on the inside.

[Blimpie]

Yeah, you can watch it progress throughout the game. Unfortunately, stopping beer sales doesn't help because most of them are half lit when they walk in the gate. I watch guys in the parking lot before the game throw back 6-7 beers in an hour because they don't want to pay the prices on the inside.

Hey...the next time you're near my car, you should stop and say 'hello'....

[SunDeck]

I did: you peed on my shoes. Don't you remember?

[Blimpie]

The Steelers announced today that Roethlisberger is starting on Sunday.

Must have missed that one. It's kinda unusual for a team to make an major depth announcement like that on a Tuesday. The league usually requires that they update their injury reports (basically a 'de facto' disclosure of their starters) by no later than Wednesday. Teams usually like to sit on these announcements as long as they can to make the game planning more difficult for their opponent.

When factoring in big rivalry games like this one, I expected Pittsburgh to list him as "questionable" tomorrow..then slide him in as an "upgraded to probable" later in the week.

[Blimpie]

I did: you peed on my shoes. Don't you remember?

Oh...yeah. Sorry bout that. I guess I still owe you a pair of orange Pumas, huh?

[Jaycint]

Funniest thing I ever saw was some Bengals fan just pummeling the hell out of a Steelers fan out on the concourse. The Steelers had won the game and the guy was talking a ton of smack and ended up pushing the Bengals fan. Needless to say the Bengals fan jumped on him and unloaded on his face for about 30 seconds before stadium security could break it up.

The best part is the Steeler fan had painted his face gold and black for the game and the Bengals fan's hands were all yellow and black from making repeated solid contact with the dude's face.

Icing on the cake: Security arrested the Steeler fan for instigating the whole thing and I believe let the Bengal fan go after taking down his information.