Martha Rial, Post-Gazette Erin Wylie, of Braddock Hills, and Mike Ostrowski, of Natrona Heights, watch the first quarter of the Steelers game from John Ostrowski's houseboat moored on the Allegheny River alongside Heinz Field. The boating crowd is a small but loyal part of the Steeler Nation. Click photo for larger image.

If you think Heinz Field rocked yesterday, you should have been in John Ostrowski's living room. He lives in a houseboat that he motored down from the Oakmont Yacht Club and parked along the Allegheny River quay.

It was a prime spot for being at the Steelers game without actually being at the game.

From a couple of boats even closer, Ed Hollinger, his wife Becky and a slew of their friends headed into the stadium to watch the Steelers play the Philadelphia Eagles, but Ostrowski's boat, with two TVs on, remained overflowing with fans.

The Steelers' tailgating culture is storied, but the legend of the Steeler Nation is set in garbage-strewn parking lots. The boat crowd has been an unsung little community of the Nation for years. It is one that cleans up after itself and, for its cadre without tickets, provides the comforts of home within earshot of a 65,000-fan roar.

Hollinger, flipping pre-game burgers and dogs on the prow of the '70s-era houseboat he bought used and painted black and gold, has been bringing and attracting friends to his tailgate parties for every home game for years.

"They're a bunch of friends we consider family," he said, adding that every week, those friends include a few people he has never met.

"I'd rather do this with a bunch of people I've just met than eat a five-star meal with people I don't like."

Hollinger, from Verona, estimated his crowd at "10, with maybe two or three stragglers," but his popularity shot up yesterday, a blue-sky day with temperatures in the 60s. Eighteen people had formed around the tables and coolers on the walkway by noon, and Ed kept working the spatula, guarding buns from wind gusts.

	Martha Rial, Post-Gazette Ed Hollinger, of Verona, offers hot sausage sandwiches to friends yesterday from his houseboat on the Allegheny River outside Heinz Field. Hollinger named the boat Tessa Dawn after his daughter. Click photo for larger image.

A sign in the midst of his party read: "Steeler fan needs ticket."

Lori Mink said the sign was on her behalf, that it is there for every game and that she usually gets a last-minute ticket.

"But we never sit in our seats," she said. "We stand and watch on the Jumbotron."

Asked, "You mean you go inside Heinz Field and still watch it on TV?" she grinned mischievously, shrugged and said, "Yeah."

Obviously, looking at the actual players is less compelling than being part of an enormous crowd that is united in a common goal -- to anticipate and celebrate together.

Throughout the North Shore parking lots, clusters of fans remained after game time with TVs on card tables, folding chairs and car hoods. Like people cheering at home, their cheers were four seconds delayed, but their arms shot into the air within maybe a 100 yards of a player getting up off the ground.

The Steelers were 6-1 going into the game, the Eagles 7-0. The Steelers' 27-3 win puts them in a tie for the best record in the NFL.

Hometown fans had a lot to roar about yesterday, and each roar sounded like a jet airplane taking off.

Being so close to the action is better than watching at home, said Scott Gray. "It's like being half in and half out" of the game.

Gray hung out at his friend Ostrowski's boat, along with Dan Naunchik, Ashley Tunney and several of their friends on the boat's outer walkway. You can hear the stadium crowd better out there -- and four seconds ahead of the TV action. With each roar, they hung into the window, already cheering, like translators for those inside.

In Ostrowski's captain's chair, Don Gaydos exclaimed, "The Bus!" when Jerome Bettis ran for a first down early in the game.

"I knew he was going to step up today," he said.

Gaydos and his wife, Diane, had pulled their boat for the season, so Ostrowski invited them to go with him for what Gaydos called "a huge game -- the battle of Pennsylvania."

"Go for it Bill," he urged Coach Bill Cowher as the Steelers faced fourth and yards. Within moments, the boat was pitched with the wild cheers of a touchdown run, the first of several.

At one point, Ostrowski emerged to shake hands with some newcomers outside. Then a roar went up from inside Heinz Field. He bent to look in the window, where an all-terrain vehicle was wobbling over chunky rocks on the TV.

"Aw," he said with disgust, "a commercial."