But the bad thing is the New York Jets are now a win away from from the Super Bowl.
Come on, Steelers!
Hey, wait. There's a franchise that has had an amazing Super Bowl run that hasn't become arrogant. Pittsburgh is a, well, likable team, even though their quarterback is a dunce (not in the Terry Bradshaw sense of the word, but in a more crude way).
But getting back to the Jets, maybe it's because so many New Yorkers who move down to Florida like to try to tell us how much better things are up north that I don't care for the Jets. Hey. If it's so much better up north, stay there!
The most obnoxious New Yorkers (Is obnoxious New Yorker redundant?) seem to be Jets fans. Giants fans, like Yankees fans, may have an arrogance about them, but they do have class. They might actually say something that makes sense. No such chance with Jets fans.
That's just judging from sports talk radio, of course, but I have the feeling it's the way things are all over.
Go, Steelers!
While I'm talking about NFL playoffs, could there be any more classic match in the NFC title game than Bears-Packers? I used to root for the Bears because the Bears and the Browns were what we got on TV a lot when I was growing up. (Yes, we had TV back then.) The Browns had Otto Graham, Lou Groza, and then Jim Brown. The Bears played in Wrigley Field (yes, the baseball park) and had Red Grange doing the announcing.
Bill Wade was the quarterback when they won the 1963 NFL championship. I think he threw for about three yards, but he didn't make mistakes. Several years ago I called Scoop Hudgins, the once longtime PR director for the Southeastern Conference, who was in the hospital in Nashville, Tenn., and Bill Wade (who played college ball at Vanderbilt) answered the phone. Before I realized who had answered, he turned the phone over to Scoop. I never got the chance to say anything to him. (Bill Wade, that is.)
I've got to learn to think faster.
Having rooted for the Jets for a day as they squared off against the Patriots, I can safely say that, at least for last Sunday, there was one Jets fan who wasn't obnoxious. Now that New England has gone the way of the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns, my full allegiance is back where it belongs, with the Steelers. As for arrogance, the Steelers avoid it for a number of reasons; not the least of which is that virtually not a single sports pundit ever picks them to win the Super Bowl at season's start. They never view the national championship as an entitlement as the Patriots do because the chattering class anoints them the national champs at the beginning of each season. It's much easier to be humble when all but the hometown press ignores you. More of my Steeler wisdom at www.clanging-bell.blogspot.com.
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