Generally speaking, we Steeler fans support Tomlin. I think most would prefer to have Bill Cowher back, but that's not going to happen. Again, in general, we think that Terry Bradshaw was incorrect in his assessment of Tomlin. Yes, Tomlin's "style" is different from that of Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher, but it's the results that count, and Tomlin's teams produce. Tomlin and the Steelers are sort of like Belichick and the Patriots. It's the right match of a head coach, with a good front office and good players. How successful would either of those coaches be if they were coaching elsewhere, with different players and a different general manager? I'd speculate that it's highly likely that neither coach would enjoy the same degree of success. The successes that both head coaches enjoy is part and parcel of the system being used within the two successful organizations. Using the Arizona Cardinals as an example, prior to the arrival of Ken Whisenhunt and subsequently Bruce Arians (both ex-Steeler coaches), the Cardinal organization was in utter disarray and extremely disjointed. Whisenhunt did an excellent job of reorganizing the Cardinals, getting the ownership out the way of day to day team operations (on field) stuff, and having them focus more on front office stuff. Add to the mix General Manager Steve Keim and now the Cardinal's organization and system is among the best in the league, a case of being among the worst and now among the first.
To continue, we're not particularly supportive of Joey Porter right now. He embarrassed the team, the franchise and the fans. Definitely not the class act we like and enjoy within the Steeler organization.
Looking at the players, Bell's suspension is widely panned by Steeler fans, and Bell enjoys much support from other players on other teams for his stance on the use of marijuana for medical purposes. In general, Steeler fans support this viewpoint.
Big Ben's early behavioral problems are largely viewed as being the byproduct of bad youthful decisions. He's matured and has outgrown the problems of his early years as a professional. Within some other football team, he might have become the first Johnny Manziel.
Go Steelers...
About myself as a fan... I have been a Steelers' fan since before the two leagues merged, way before... I'm old enough to remember watching the Steeler/Giants games on early black and white television. The Giants almost always won back then. I remember going to my grandmother's house in a neighboring town just to watch her TV. She didn't have a roof antenna, but instead had an early version of rabbit ears (or on her TV, rabbit ear). If I tilted her TV to one side, aimed the antenna toward Philadelphia and put a piece of tin foil on the end of the antenna and then crimped it just right, I could pick up the Eagles games, and did so whenever the Steelers and Eagles were playing. Yeah, it was snowy and fuzzy and hard to see, and the voice crackled and faded in and out, but hey, it was the STEELERS, and I got to watch. Pittsburgh lost most of those games as well. In fact, Pittsburgh had difficulty beating most teams back then. Pittsburgh and San Francisco were the only two teams from the NFL to have never won a championship prior to the merger of the AFL and the NFL. Pittsburgh had a different measure of success back then. They counted the number of opponents that required hospitalization, compared that figure to their own injuries, and low tally "won"... <vbg> One year, Pittsburgh had so many tie games (something like 4 or 5) all they had to do in the last game of the season was to either beat or tie their opponent (Giants or Browns, I think) to qualify to play for the trophy. The Steelers got blown out big time, and thus ended the only shot they ever had of playing in a championship game...
EK!!! |
