How can one be a fan of both

[rich4eagle]

Interesting, that I get questioned a lot about being a fan of both the Browns and Steelers. Well that is not all of it, it is the Indians and Pirates as well. This great article below about the Pirates happened after I was a solid fan of all four franchises. So please no more you cannot be. Enjoy the slaughter of the Giant by Maz and the Buccos. The similarity between Cleveland and Pittsburgh the sports teams and workers and everything is strong.

 

<H3 class=byline>By JOHN MOODY </H3>Pittsburgh, Pa.

 

'You know what it was about that World Series that got everyone so excited?" asks Gino Cimoli, an outfielder on the 1960 Pirates known for his dramatic hits and his salty tongue. "We weren't supposed to win. The Yankees had all these superstars and we were just a bunch of ordinary guys."

 

With 17 consecutive losing seasons—and on track for another this summer—the Pittsburgh Pirates have had little to celebrate on the baseball field of late. But at tonight's game against the Cleveland Indians, the National League club will reach back to honor Mr. Cimoli and 13 other surviving members of that storied championship squad.

 

For readers unfamiliar with the history, the 1960 Pirates shocked the baseball world—and the mighty New York Yankees, including Mantle, Maris, Berra and Ford—by winning the World Series. The high point was a game seven, bottom-of-the-ninth home run by Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski off Ralph Terry. It was the only time baseball's crown has been awarded due to a walk-off round tripper.

 

View Full Image

 

Associated PRess Second baseman Bill Mazeroski rounds third base after hitting his World Series-winning home run against the Yankees on Oct. 13, 1960.

 

So deeply is that event embedded in Pittsburghers' collective consciousness that each October 13, often in stinging sleet, a recording of the radio broadcast of that game is played outside in real time in front of the last remnant of the Forbes Field wall still standing in the city's Oakland district. Hundreds of fans who attended that game (and hundreds more who only claim they did) converge with folding chairs, thermoses of unidentified liquids and increasingly misty memories of a team that once was.

 

Every year on that afternoon, long after the current Pirates have been swept from contention and the city's ardor drifts to its beloved Steelers, the Pirates twice take and cede the lead in game seven. At precisely 3:36 p.m., Maz deposits Terry's 1-0 slider over the left field wall into Schenley Park, where it was never found, and NBC announcer Chuck Thompson errantly shouts that the Pirates have won the game 10-0 (it was 10-9).

 

To confine that 1960 miracle to the realm of sports is akin to referring to the 2000 presidential election as an accounting anomaly. The victory put much-reviled Pittsburgh on the map and changed it forever. After 1960, the "Smoky City"—which O. Henry described as the "low-downdest hole" he had ever seen and its inhabitants as "the most ignorant, ill-bred, contemptible, boorish, degraded, insulting, sordid, vile, foul-mouth, indecent, profane, drunken, dirty, mean and depraved"—could bear any jibe with a tolerant smile: The Bucs had gone all the way.

 

The psychological lift came at just the right time. The city had started cleaning up its notoriously soot-filled skies, but the improvement came at the cost of thousands of local jobs in the steel industry, which moved to lower-cost, nonunion cities in the U.S. and abroad. Pittsburgh could never again legitimately call itself Steel City.

 

"We celebrate the '60 Series so much more than any other because the victory was so dramatic and because it was right here in Pittsburgh, unlike the Pirates' two subsequent championships in 1971 and 1979," says Brian O'Neill, a columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the town's unofficial tone poet.

 

Mr. Cimoli, the outfielder, remembers the drama: "We came from behind and won 30 games that year in the ninth inning. [Manager Danny] Murtaugh had a bum stomach and he couldn't stand to watch the ninth in the dugout. He'd go back to the damn locker room and drink Maalox. And we'd score a couple runs and win the bastard for him. That helped his stomach more than medicine."

 

The current Pirates manager, John Russell, can't swallow enough antacid to quell his churning insides. In his first two years at the helm, the Bucs have lost 95 and 99 games and are now mired at the bottom of their division. The 2010 Pirates are not going anywhere but home for the post-season.

 

Still, team President Frank Coonelly sees better times ahead. "While we are struggling badly on the field at the Major League level right now, I am confident that our talent level is improved and that we will play better during the remainder of the year. I'll be disappointed if we are not contenders in the near future," he told a recent meeting of hard-core Pirate devotees.

 

For long-suffering fans, that can't happen soon enough. PNC Park is often half-occupied for games, and some fans boo the club's modern-day mascot, an outsized Pirates' parrot, simply because it reminds them of their current misery. Drew Balog, a retired teacher who snuck into game seven in 1960, sees green shoots of hope. "Some of the kids they've brought up show a lot of promise," he says. "There's frustration, sure, but there's a buzz on nowadays. Guys my age who remember 1960 are bringing their grandchildren to games again." Spoken like a true Pittsburgher.

 

Mr. Moody, an executive at News Corporation, the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, is the author of "Kiss It Good-bye: The Mystery, the Mormon and the Moral of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates," just out from Shadow Mountain Press.

 

 

[The Gipper]

Are you bisexual as well? You like to play for both teams, after all.

[rich4eagle]

Are you bisexual as well? You like to play for both teams, after all.

 

bend over and find out.............spread em

[djdawg2010]

Sorry, IMO you CANNOT be a fan of the Browns AND the Steelers! That is like being a fan of Ohio State, and Michigan. It doesn't make sense!

 

 

[slowburn]

bend over and find out.............spread em

 

so gay

[DieHardBrownsFan]

Dickforeagle is a disgrace. He is not a Browns fan, he is a fake Steeler Troll and should be banned to his trailer park in Northern WV.

[The Gipper]

bend over and find out.............spread em

 

Wait a minute. I thought you were the DC and I was the AC. Get your head around this proper, girl!

[The Gipper]

so gay

 

Your just jealous, bitch!

[SJ_Browns]

Interesting, that I get questioned a lot about being a fan of both the Browns and Steelers. Well that is not all of it, it is the Indians and Pirates as well. This great article below about the Pirates happened after I was a solid fan of all four franchises. So please no more you cannot be. Enjoy the slaughter of the Giant by Maz and the Buccos. The similarity between Cleveland and Pittsburgh the sports teams and workers and everything is strong.

 

<H3 class=byline>By <a href="http://"/SEARCH/TERM.HTML?KEYWORDS=JOHN+MOODY&BYLINESEARCH=TRUE"" target="_blank">JOHN MOODY </a></H3>Pittsburgh, Pa.

 

'You know what it was about that World Series that got everyone so excited?" asks Gino Cimoli, an outfielder on the 1960 Pirates known for his dramatic hits and his salty tongue. "We weren't supposed to win. The Yankees had all these superstars and we were just a bunch of ordinary guys."

 

With 17 consecutive losing seasons—and on track for another this summer—the Pittsburgh Pirates have had little to celebrate on the baseball field of late. But at tonight's game against the Cleveland Indians, the National League club will reach back to honor Mr. Cimoli and 13 other surviving members of that storied championship squad.

 

For readers unfamiliar with the history, the 1960 Pirates shocked the baseball world—and the mighty New York Yankees, including Mantle, Maris, Berra and Ford—by winning the World Series. The high point was a game seven, bottom-of-the-ninth home run by Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski off Ralph Terry. It was the only time baseball's crown has been awarded due to a walk-off round tripper.

 

View Full Image

 

Associated PRess Second baseman Bill Mazeroski rounds third base after hitting his World Series-winning home run against the Yankees on Oct. 13, 1960.

 

.[/i]

 

 

posting this article was a waste of time and it doesn't prove anything at all. nobody's buying the lame excuses you're selling. there's nothing that you can say that will change anyones mind. you're a phony and a hypocrite. now quit trying to justify your stupidity, you steeler jock boy/cheerleader.

[SJ_Browns]

Dickforeagle is a disgrace. He is not a Browns fan, he is a fake Steeler Troll and should be banned to his trailer park in Northern WV.

 

i bet he was wearing his limited edition, lil pervert ben serial sexual predator jersey while he typed out his lame post..

[Unsympathetic]

In an attempt to prove your loyalty to the Browns, you posted a story about the Pittsburgh Pirates?

 

Genius.

 

 

Now shut up.

[slowburn]

Your just jealous, bitch!

me thinks NOT

[rich4eagle]

Sorry, IMO you CANNOT be a fan of the Browns AND the Steelers! That is like being a fan of Ohio State, and Michigan. It doesn't make sense!

 

well that proves you are mental midget

[rich4eagle]

In an attempt to prove your loyalty to the Browns, you posted a story about the Pittsburgh Pirates?

 

Genius.

 

 

Now shut up.

 

that proves you are also a mental midget.......please read the article on the 1964 Browns written by me...........and then kiss my ass

[rich4eagle]

posting this article was a waste of time and it doesn't prove anything at all. nobody's buying the lame excuses you're selling. there's nothing that you can say that will change anyones mind. you're a phony and a hypocrite. now quit trying to justify your stupidity, you steeler jock boy/cheerleader.

 

are you really this dumb

[rich4eagle]

Dickforeagle is a disgrace. He is not a Browns fan, he is a fake Steeler Troll and should be banned to his trailer park in Northern WV.

 

 

damn you work for the CIA, how did you know my trailer park is in northern WVA

[SJ_Browns]

are you really this dumb

 

no, but you are. you're the one with the identity complex and you have ocd to. you're always trying to prove you're a real browns fan when you're not. EPIC FAIL. now kick rocks and go to steelers fever so the preacher can make a fool out of you while you kiss his ass and try to be his friend, you f*cking loser.

[ballpeen]

I am not a fan of the Steelers by any means, but I root for them in Championships most of the time.

 

 

Just the way I am. If my team can't win, I root for the teams closest to me.

 

 

I am a Gator fan.....but if I can't win the National Championship, I root for the SEC team that can.

 

 

 

 

I have never understood OSU fans wanting Mich to lose all their games......that only hurts you folks....you want Mich to be undefeated when you face off in Nov.....and if they beat you, then root for them as that only elevates the Big 10......it really isn't a hard concept to grasp.

[daddybull1]

Since the teams are in different leagues. I root for the Indians and Pirates... I grew up sitting in right field at Forbes field watching Roberto Clemente amaze me on a daily basis... I'm also a huge Indians fan and watch every game on STO with my 94 year old mother-in-law.. My entire life I've been wishing for a Cleveland-Pittsburgh world series.....

 

On the other hand, it's impossible in my opinion to be a fan of both the Browns and Steelers... Rooting for a team once yours has been eliminated is one thing but lets face it, there's no love loss between fans of the Browns and Steelers.... These two teams are bitter enemies, play in the same division and frankly don't care for each other (both players and fans)...

 

Yankees--Red Sox; Ohio State----Michigan; Browns----Steelers.. You're either a fan of one or the other and to say otherwise is just plane stupid (or you're trolling to get a rise or start an argument)......

 

Peace

 

T.Dawg

[miktoxic]

i soooo agree with ballpeen. what if the buckeyes don't make it to the nat'l championship game? you'll root against another big ten team that did? hell no. if the browns can't do it but someone else from our division does, you'll root for a team in another division or conference? c'mon. i root for our division. teams that go far in our division only prove our own metal.

[ohioborn]

i soooo agree with ballpeen. what if the buckeyes don't make it to the nat'l championship game? you'll root against another big ten team that did? hell no. if the browns can't do it but someone else from our division does, you'll root for a team in another division or conference? c'mon. i root for our division. teams that go far in our division only prove our own metal.

I understand your reasoning and I will root for the Bengals but I can not bring myself to root for the Steelers or Ravens! If either of those teams make the playoffs I hope they lose their first game 50-0! That is how I roll.

[djdawg2010]

well that proves you are mental midget

 

 

Look pal, I went easy on you. Did I start with any name calling? No! I politely stated my opinion , while others continue to rip you to shreds. Sounds to me like you're just another front runner!

[The Gipper]

I am not a fan of the Steelers by any means, but I root for them in Championships most of the time.

 

 

Just the way I am. If my team can't win, I root for the teams closest to me.

 

 

I am a Gator fan.....but if I can't win the National Championship, I root for the SEC team that can.

 

 

 

 

I have never understood OSU fans wanting Mich to lose all their games......that only hurts you folks....you want Mich to be undefeated when you face off in Nov.....and if they beat you, then root for them as that only elevates the Big 10......it really isn't a hard concept to grasp.

 

 

I just don't think it works that way. Not for me. Michigan, the Steelers, they are the "enemy" (in the competitive sports sense). Anything bad that happens to them is good as far as I am concerned. At least that is what the heart says. Now, I understand that for the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry and Browns/Steeler rivalry to be a rip roaring good rivalry, both teams need to be good. But that doesn't mean I have to like it inherently. And it doesn't mean that I have to root for those teams against outside opponents. I certainly don't root for Michigan when they, say, play Alabama in a bowl game. Why should I root for them just because they are in the same conference? I sure the F% don't root for the Steelers in the SB.

And this business of rooting for a conference, to me, is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

As recent events have proven, these conferences are only about money, and making it easy on Athletic Directors to schedule games. There is no freeking loyalty to a conference. You should be true to your school, but screw the other teams in your conference. Are we supposed to be in love with fricking Nebraska now that they have joined the Big Ten more than when they were in the Big 12? Why?

Why would you root for South Carolina any more now than when they were a member of the ACC? Conferences are nothing but a commercial consortium....and who really give a shit about those things.

[djdawg2010]

I just don't think it works that way. Not for me. Michigan, the Steelers, they are the "enemy" (in the competitive sports sense). Anything bad that happens to them is good as far as I am concerned. At least that is what the heart says. Now, I understand that for the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry and Browns/Steeler rivalry to be a rip roaring good rivalry, both teams need to be good. But that doesn't mean I have to like it inherently. And it doesn't mean that I have to root for those teams against outside opponents. I certainly don't root for Michigan when they, say, play Alabama in a bowl game. Why should I root for them just because they are in the same conference? I sure the F% don't root for the Steelers in the SB.

And this business of rooting for a conference, to me, is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

As recent events have proven, these conferences are only about money, and making it easy on Athletic Directors to schedule games. There is no freeking loyalty to a conference. You should be true to your school, but screw the other teams in your conference. Are we supposed to be in love with fricking Nebraska now that they have joined the Big Ten more than when they were in the Big 12? Why?

Why would you root for South Carolina any more now than when they were a member of the ACC? Conferences are nothing but a commercial consortium....and who really give a shit about those things

.

 

 

 

Right on Gipper! I couldn't have said it better myself. I hate Michigan, and I F***in' HAAAAAAAAATE the Steelers! No way in Hell am I rooting for them in a Super Bowl or ANY other time, other than to lose! You're right, you root for your school, and your hometown. What drives me absolutely nuts is the Ohio born Steelers fans, that root for the Cavs and the Buckeyes! No disrespect by any means to the Steelers fans borned in WPA, but no excuse to cheer against your hometown. That's like rooting for Canada in the Olympics to beat the US!

[The Gipper]

Right on Gipper! I couldn't have said it better myself. I hate Michigan, and I F***in' HAAAAAAAAATE the Steelers! No way in Hell am I rooting for them in a Super Bowl or ANY other time, other than to lose! You're right, you root for your school, and your hometown. What drives me absolutely nuts is the Ohio born Steelers fans, that root for the Cavs and the Buckeyes! No disrespect by any means to the Steelers fans borned in WPA, but no excuse to cheer against your hometown. That's like rooting for Canada in the Olympics to beat the US!

 

More like rooting for the Soviets. Maybe you are not old enough to remember the US/Soviet Olympic rivalry.

[djdawg2010]

More like rooting for the Soviets. Maybe you are not old enough to remember the US/Soviet Olympic rivalry.

 

 

 

Yes I am. I was born in 73. I should have used that analogy, but you know what I meant.

[ballpeen]

I just don't think it works that way. Not for me. Michigan, the Steelers, they are the "enemy" (in the competitive sports sense). Anything bad that happens to them is good as far as I am concerned. At least that is what the heart says. Now, I understand that for the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry and Browns/Steeler rivalry to be a rip roaring good rivalry, both teams need to be good. But that doesn't mean I have to like it inherently. And it doesn't mean that I have to root for those teams against outside opponents. I certainly don't root for Michigan when they, say, play Alabama in a bowl game. Why should I root for them just because they are in the same conference? I sure the F% don't root for the Steelers in the SB.

And this business of rooting for a conference, to me, is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

As recent events have proven, these conferences are only about money, and making it easy on Athletic Directors to schedule games. There is no freeking loyalty to a conference. You should be true to your school, but screw the other teams in your conference. Are we supposed to be in love with fricking Nebraska now that they have joined the Big Ten more than when they were in the Big 12? Why?

Why would you root for South Carolina any more now than when they were a member of the ACC? Conferences are nothing but a commercial consortium....and who really give a shit about those things

.

 

 

Think what you want.

 

I want every team in the SEC undefeated until we play them.

 

In case you hadn't noticed, strength of schedule is a big part of the BCS formula.

 

 

It doesn't help OSU one bit to beat a Michigan team the last week of the season if they have lost 3-4 games.

 

 

It doesn't work that way in the NFL, but it is still the same attitude for me.

 

I suppose part of that is we have sucked ass for so long it somehow makes me feel better about the losses if the teams in our division beat up other teams in other divisions and go deep in to the playoffs.

 

 

Again, this isn't regular season. I want them to lose every week so maybe we can squeak in to the playoffs with our usual 4-5 wins.

 

[The Gipper]

Think what you want.

 

I want every team in the SEC undefeated until we play them.

 

In case you hadn't noticed, strength of schedule is a big part of the BCS formula.

 

 

It doesn't help OSU one bit to beat a Michigan team the last week of the season if they have lost 3-4 games.

 

 

It doesn't work that way in the NFL, but it is still the same attitude for me.

 

I suppose part of that is we have sucked ass for so long it somehow makes me feel better about the losses if the teams in our division beat up other teams in other divisions and go deep in to the playoffs.

 

 

Again, this isn't regular season. I want them to lose every week so maybe we can squeak in to the playoffs with our usual 4-5 wins.

 

OK, a couple of things: 1. The F**k it does help to beat Michigan if they have lost 3-4 games. The Ohio State/Michigan rivalry is the biggest thing on the calendar of the NCAA football season. Bigger than any conference championship game, bigger than any BCS title game.

2. Who cares if the rest of your conference gets whacked, as long as your team beats the hell out of all of them. If Ohio State is 8-0 in the Big Ten, and all the other teams are 4-4, that is just fine and dandy with me. As long as they also win their out of conference games, that Ohio State team is going to be in the National Championship game. If Florida, your team, goes 12-0, and the rest of the SEC winds up 6-6, who the frak cares. Florida too, is going to be in the BCS title game.

3. Once the season is over, and the Conference title games are played and the BCS rankings are completed, why would you care about the SEC or whoever winning over another team from another conference? You gain nothing by it except some internal, misguided peacock mindphuk satisfaction. If Ohio State is playing Florida in the National title game, do I give a rat's ass if Wisconsin beats Texas A&M in the Poulan Weedeater Bowl? Or if Minnesota beats Washington State in the Insight.com Bowl.

That is absurd thinking in my view.

As I have said to several of the SEC blowhards: You ain't going to change the result of the Civil War because of a few football games that happen now 150 years later. Get over it. You lost. Quit flying your F**king Confederate Flag. If the SEC owes its success to anyone it is the great great great grandsons of those slaves you fought so desperately to keep in chains.

[djdawg2010]

I cannot bring myself to root for a division rival in any sport. Respect??? Maybe? Root for??? HELL NO! I don't care if it's good for the division, or whatever the case may be. Now, in also liking the Buckeyes, I don't have this blind hatred for Florida, because they are not a division rival. I'm not a fan, but I don't hate them. Nor do I hate the Marlins, because of the 97 World Series, or the Spurs, or even Denver for that matter (though I used to, and seeing highlights of the drive, and the fumble still hurts). But as for the Steelers, Ravens, and Bengals I cannot and will not root for those teams. I think my hatred for the Steelers trumps that of the other two, and even Michigan. Simply put... I root for two teams; the Cleveland Browns, and anyone who is playing Pittsburgh.

[Vagitron]

I cannot bring myself to root for a division rival in any sport. Respect??? Maybe? Root for??? HELL NO! I don't care if it's good for the division, or whatever the case may be. Now, in also liking the Buckeyes, I don't have this blind hatred for Florida, because they are not a division rival. I'm not a fan, but I don't hate them. Nor do I hate the Marlins, because of the 97 World Series, or the Spurs, or even Denver for that matter (though I used to, and seeing highlights of the drive, and the fumble still hurts). But as for the Steelers, Ravens, and Bengals I cannot and will not root for those teams. I think my hatred for the Steelers trumps that of the other two, and even Michigan. Simply put... I root for two teams; the Cleveland Browns, and anyone who is playing Pittsburgh.

 

I only root for division rivals if the game has implications for the Steelers. Do I want the division to do well? Absolutely but if any of the teams in the AFC north not named the Steelers make it to the playoffs I'm not rooting for them. Mind you I'm not rooting against them but I don't have my inter-division cheer outfit on either. Unless of course the team being played is the Patriots because I hate them beyond all others.