This is sort of sickening. :gheylaugh:



http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05025/447663.stm

All through Steelers Nation, the pain of Sunday's loss continues

Tuesday, January 25, 2005
By Michael A. Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

National Weather Service meteorologist Lee Hendricks swears that it would have been just as cold and cloudy yesterday had the Pittsburgh Steelers not -- gulp! -- lost to the New England Patriots Sunday night.

It's just that, had they won the AFC championship, Steelers fans just wouldn't have noticed -- or cared -- about the miserable weather.

"People would have had a more positive outlook on the weather," Hendricks theorized. "They would have been thinking about skiing this weekend instead of thinking about dealing with winter."

As it was, it certainly was frigid, dismal and bleak yesterday, wasn't it?

Talk about Black (and Gold) Monday.

From one part of Steelers Nation to the other, in Downtown skyscrapers and roadside diners, there were hunched shoulders and shocked looks, low voices and sad eyes. The only people holding Terrible Towels yesterday were crying into them.

Inevitably, someone would softly offer: "How about that game?"

"It's great watercooler conversation," said Debbie Foster, spokeswoman for H.J. Heinz Co. "The mood was a little quiet. We certainly have an affinity for the Steelers here, probably unlike any other company in the city of Pittsburgh, so we're a little somber.

"Had they won, we would have been through the roof. There would have been lots of excitement."

At the North Side stadium bearing the company's name, Sean Halper looked like the poster boy for saddened Steelers fans everywhere as he stood alone, his hands gripping slats on a fence, his eyes staring at the very field where the Super Bowl dream disappeared Sunday night.

Halper, 32, had traveled here from Newburgh, N.Y., to see his favorite team play for the first time Sunday. He had experienced it all: the pre-game black-and-gold frenzy, the game-time concern, the post-game disappointment.

Yesterday, he needed to take one more look at where it ended.

"It's awfully quiet," he said both of the town and the stadium. "Nobody wants to talk about [the loss]. I don't want to talk about it either."

A few feet away, employees at the Steelers merchandise store wore Steelers gear and long faces. They were quiet and alone in the small store, a scene that one could imagine being loud and crowded and frenetic had the game's outcome been different.

Marcia Hellman, president of Mike Feinberg Co., had pictured just such a scene for her Strip District store.

"We would have been swamped, We would have had championship merchandise," she said. "The loss put a whole different twist on our day."

Instead of frantic buying, only a few Steelers items were sold yesterday. Prices, already wholesale, were dropped even lower on now-overstocked Ben Roethlisberger hats and posters. Internet orders for Steelers paraphernalia, usually 100 or more, numbered about 10.

"We were all psyched up. We had a game plan of who was going to do what. We had extra help hired for the week," Hellman said. "We were thinking positively."

So, too, was Linda Meyer, who with her husband, Frank, owns Hometowne Sports at the Freight House Shops at Station Square and at Century III Mall.

"It's sad. It's very sad," said Meyer, speaking as both a fan -- she was at the game -- and as a businesswoman. "The year had been just so incredible."

Traffic at both of her stores -- which are dominated by Steelers merchandise -- was much slower than normal. In the wake of the loss, she put some T-shirts on sale at 50 percent off.

Among the customers at the Station Square store were diehard Steelers fans and Valaparaiso, Ind., residents Pat Crum, a McKeesport native, and her son, Todd. Their attire was black and gold and Steelers all over.

"I'm very disappointed, but they're my Steelers, they'll always be my Steelers and they'll always be No. 1 to me, win, lose or draw," said Pat Crum, who went to six home games this year despite having a husband who's an Indianapolis Colts fan.

Her son unsnapped his leather Steelers jacket, the one he had autographed by players, to reveal an unlicensed T-shirt touting the Steelers being in Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, Fla. He said he bought it on the street for $10 after the game.

"Woulda, coulda, shoulda," he said.

Customers at Ritter's Diner were down but not out, said Art Velisaris, one of the owners.

"I don't know if they're depressed. They're disappointed. They're saying, 'It should have been our year after winning all those games,' " said Velisaris, who was at Heinz Field Sunday night.

"I'm down like everyone else, but also you have to look ahead. Life is not just football and as much as you want the home team to win, life goes on today. There will be another day tomorrow and another day after that.

"Hopefully, they'll do just as good next year," he said and then paused. "I doubt it because you don't win 15 or 16 games every year."

Paul Friday, chief clinical psychologist at UPMC Shadyside and a Steelers fan, said the "adjustment disorder with depressed mood" many fans are experiencing is normal and will dissipate as the days go on.

In layman's terms, we're in a funk.

"It's the price you pay for loving," he said. "It certainly was worth it. It was a miracle season."

 

 

Vagines Ward

 

Ward von labia

 

 

Caption This:



"It's OK Ben, I know how you feel. Oh, wait...no I don't, I've never choked in the playoffs."

 

I'll bite:

 

^^^^^^Hahahaha



I was waiting for this.
Where's Jonesi?








BTW - Nice avatar Tmk.

 

Are the Steelers the only NFL team without cheerleaders?

 

Where's Jonesi

 

Meh.. Have your fun..

Ward was crying over Bettis..

TMK, You must know with your coaches leaving this is the last chance to rub it in..

 

 

Rule number one: THERE'S NO CRYING IN FOOTBALL

Belichick and Pioli are NOT leaving...you think the Real Bill is going to hire slouch replacements? Yeah...that will happen.

 

Man and I took it so easy on you when the Steelers crushed them during the regular season..

I can take it.. Keep em coming..

 

It's baseball.. btw..

 

Belichick had contigencies for when players got hurt... One would think that he'd have contigencies for coaches leaving too

 

no the bears do not have cheerleaders either. Most of the northern based teams do not have cheerleaders, i believe.

 

I think it's great that your Steelers won an inconsequential game....Jimmy Jawbone always finds a way to win the ones that don't matter.

How's home field advantage treating you? I'm thinking Heinz Field is the Pat's "Home away from Home"

 

 

No, only in the cities where there aren't enough hot broads.

 

Yes, Jonesi, I KNOW that....but Baseball is like Football with thongs on, so you figure the rest out.

 

LOL @ Eclipse

The Steelers are a good team, and have a very promising young quaterback. They'll only get better, but I feel bad for Romie Rome.

 

OMG, this is so funny.

 

@ this thread.

 

Enjoy it while it lasts...

 

Oh come on now it's all in good fun.

 

What do you mean?

 

Bettis might not come back, he may retire, so Ward started crying like a bitch about it which confuses me because Bettis' middle name is "I don't show up when it counts"

 

Did that slut on the sidelines break/spill that news about Bettis? She says "he confided in me" then blabs it on national TV.

And was it my imagination or were there more than a few iggles players sobbing after they won?

 

I'm just fuckin around.. All we got in pittsburgh is Football.. Pirates and Penguins.. Eeeks..

 

The Iggles players are sobbing because they know they have to play the Pats.

 

Seriously....why do they keep Cowher in there? He's a fucking moron...they shouldn't keep him as their coach because he "looks the part"...the guy is such a dolt.

 

Need a hug Ben?

 

Yea.. He may retire.. He took a big paycut to play this here..

 

"I'm telling you, try staying at a Holiday Inn Express next time - works wonders."

 

I don't know.. I really don't..

Belichick wasn't much before he went to the Pats.. In fact he sucked..

 

He didn't suck, he just wasn't ready to be a head coach yet....especially not in the Quagmire that is Cleveland. He took some more time to grow and learn and look at him now.

Cowher is the same dipshit he was 13 years ago, you know? No growth whatsoever.

 

"Who gives a fuck if you just saved alot on your car insurance - your team just lost a trip to the SuperBowl at home!"

 

Burress started crying after the game "throw me the damn ball (and I'll drop it)"

He won't be back next year.. He's the one who dropped the pass which would've made it a 7 oint game..

 

sooo mean.... but funny