Steelers Nation is global
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Fans root for the Steelers during a live show on KDKA-TV at Stage AE on the North Side on Jan. 22, 2011.
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PITTSBURGH -- Steeler fan walks into a bar. Bartender says, "Qu'est-ce que vous avez?"
Oh, you heard that one?
No problem. Got a million of 'em.
Steeler fan walks into a bar. Bartender says, "Come posso aiutarlo?"
In Paris and in Rome, those exact things have happened, no joke, in at least two languages not counting Pittsburghese. That there are Steeler fans in Europe is a cross-cultural fact that hardly even stretches credulity anymore, but what about the likelihood of, say, authentic Steel Curtain gee-gaws behind the former Iron Curtain?
That's right.
Ladies and gentleman, Andy Russell.
"This is maybe three years ago," said the '70s-era linebacker-turned-international businessman. "I'm in this outdoor shopping mall in Moscow and there are various kiosks and I see some black-and-gold merchandise, so I walk over there.
"And here are these Russian nesting dolls, black-and-gold nesting dolls, and each doll is a replica of a famous Steeler player. All Hall of Famers I think. I look around. I see no other teams shown at any kiosk."
In Moscow.
Not Moscow, Ohio. Moscow Moscow.
The biggest doll was a likeness of Mean Joe Greene, Mr. Russell reports, which held a succession of smaller dolls leading to the eventual emergence of a tiny Lynn Swann.
"I told Lynn," Mr. Russell laughed. "He didn't like it that he was the smallest, or that they were using his likeness without authorization, for which I don't blame him."
As Steeler Nation prepares for its Super Bowl 45 close-up, its mirror image is no longer reflected nationally. In geographical and cultural scope, that image is closer to something better described as Steeler Planet.
"The one that caught me a little off guard," Steelers president Art Rooney II was saying the other day, "was once when I was in Paris and we were walking past the Moulin Rouge, and there's a guy out front in a Steelers T-shirt. I don't believe he was a Pittsburgher."
Mr. Rooney said his friend and former Steelers public relations ace Joe Gordon once showed him a Vietnam-era photo of a forced march of Viet Cong prisoners.
First Published January 30, 2011 12:00 am
