Rooting For The “Other” Team

Browns / Steelers RivalryI live in Cleveland, Ohio.  I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Anyone who knows anything about the NFL knows that one of the greatest rivalries in the sport is the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns.

They hate each other.
Their fans hate each other.
The two cities hate each other.

That said, there are a few people living in Cleveland that like the Steelers and I happen to be one of them.  I’m a lifelong Steelers fan and I always will be.  I bleed Steeler blood.  I hate when my team loses and I go crazy when they win.  The fact that that Steelers have won more Super Bowls than any other team in history is irrelevant to this discussion.

The rest of my family absolutely HATES the Steelers.  They root against them with as much passion as they root for the Browns.  When I was recently watching the Super Bowl they were SO happy when it appeared that the Steelers had let the game slip away and were SO angry when they saw them come back and win the game.

I’m sure I’m not the only one that’s in this particular situation.  I’m sure there are Packer fans living in Chicago, Cowboy fans living in Washington and Raider fans living in Denver.  However, since I’ve lived in Cleveland for nearly 3 decades I’ve honestly come to love the Browns as well.  When they play the Steelers I still root for the Black & Gold but otherwise I’m rooting for the Brownies.

When people learn this they tell me how weird I am.  They tell me that I simply CANNOT have allegiance to two teams.  I suppose they’re right.  When forced to make a choice (on game day) I root for the Steelers.  Now I’m just babbling but I’m looking to know… Am I crazy?  Am I the only one in this situation?  Am I the only one that doesn’t completely hate the opposition?

One thought on “Rooting For The “Other” Team

Leave a Reply