The Accidental Steelers Fan

We were in Pittsburgh for fifteen months when my husband told me we were leaving. I wrote about this two super bowls ago.  You live in Pittsburgh, you catch a Steeler virus. There is no vaccine. There is no cure. You are a Steelers fan for life. So basically I was there long enough to get pregnant, have a baby, and become a Steelers fan.  Without re-writing my entire post, on a Steeler game day the entire city is wearing some form of Steeler fashion. I don't mean the bar tender and the electrician-I mean your Pilates instructor and your dentist.  All three of my children still recognize the Steelers and we are not sports people-except once every four years for the world cup.

The wonderful Polamalu (those of us with beautiful hair have to stick together) is headed back to the super bowl yet again!  I thought I should buy a jersey to celebrate the second time in my life I will refrain from a Pedro Almodovar marathon to watch football.

The problem is I have never bought a sports jersey before in my life.

EVER

I appealed to a Pittsburgh girlfriend who told me to start at Dick's.  She also reminded me that jerseys are made for really big men and I'm really small so get a boys medium.  She also said do it quickly, as they sell out.

OK, I can do that.  I got it.

I got to the website. I would like to think after teaching online for four years I can get to a website.

The question is, what do I click on now that I'm here, because I usually just go straight to yoga...

Hmmmmmmm it's a team sport.  But I'm a fan, so I scroll over there and up pop a bunch of acronyms: NFL, NHL, MLB -which one is football?  It isn't NASCAR, thank God I grew up in North Carolina and know that much. I'm going to take an educated guess and say that the one with the "F" is football.

Wow-I didn't realize how many football teams there were. The list is alphabetical, which makes sense and now I see the point in my daughter's first grade homework. P for Page, P for Pittsburgh and I have finally arrived.

Excellent- they have visuals for people like me so I assume this will be easy.  But THEN you click on "Steeler Jerseys"-and you get ten freaking more choices. Do I want to buy a woman's jersey? Do I want one that would fit a boy? Do I want to go really crazy and wear a men's size and pretend I'm wrapped up in Troy's jersey after he just won? Do I want authentic or fashion?  These are tougher questions than you think. What is authentic anyway?  Does it have grass stains and sweat on it? ahhhhhh

A customized jersey costs more than I spent on my wedding dress. I'll pass.  What is excellent about being petite is you can buy a child's Polamalu for less than you would otherwise. That works for me.

Click Click done-I will soon be the owner of a football jersey.

The thing about your life is that every little thing you do leaves you a little different than you were before. So no matter how brief my time was in that city, I know that football team.

The big dilemma is will I have to drink beer on super bowl Sunday or can I still have Skinny Girl? I'll post a picture game day. :0)