Win It For...

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Well, I send the whole Red Sox Nation a big candygram as the inspiration for this post. On the eve of Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS, as the sawx stood poised to toss 86 years worth of baggage out the window, a devoted Boston fan posted a list on a message of people he wanted his team to win the game for. The post struck a nerve in the nation, and as the Red Sox downed the Yankees and ripped their way to a World Championship, more and more people posted their own personal lists.

I’m not naïve enough to suggest that this Super Bowl means anywhere close to what Game 7 meant to Red Sox fans. But hey, I’m 22, I wasn’t alive for the 7 championship teams in the seventies, and ever since the Pens hoisted their second Stanley Cup, well, I’ve developed something of a complex in the last 13 and a half years.

So here it is, with apologies to the Red Sox Nation and the folks at the Sons of Sam Horn message board, my Super Bowl XL Steelers Win it For…

Win it for Dan Rooney. An owner who believes that loyalty to his coaches, players and especially his fans didn’t go out of style with the multi-million dollar television contracts and the onset of free agency. As he gets on in years, a fifth Super Bowl would be vindication for his unwavering faith in doing things his way, the right way.

Win it for Zavo, Karasic and Phil, Pittsburgh raised, friends for life and partners in fandom.

Win it for Kordell Stewart, Tim McKyer and Dewayne Washington or: the Ghosts of Cowher playoffs past. We’ve been pretty damn lucky to be Steeler fans during the Bill Cowher era. The numbers don’t lie: Ten playoff appearances, eight division titles, and six conference championship games. Sure, there hasn’t been a championship yet, but at least 25 fan-bases in the NFL would trade places with us over that time-span. Because we’ve missed the big one, we tend to break out in hives at the mention of certain players who really gave us a hell of a ride. A win here would let us remember the best parts of them.

Win it for my Mom, a life-long resident of Pittsburgh, who doesn’t know the red-zone from the end-zone, but was the first person to call me after the Steelers beat Denver in the AFC Championship Game. I don’t think she ever thought she’d have a son who debated Roethlisberger v. Eli Manning as hotly as Kerry V. Bush, but she loved me just the same anyway.

Win it for Jerome Bettis. For 10 years he has been the face of a Steelers franchise that always came up a whisker short in the big game. Now, as we all know, he’s playing in his first Super Bowl, in his hometown, in what is in all likelihood his last season. The sappy pre-game stories on ABC will almost be too much to handle, but he deserves to flash that smile as he holds up the Lombardi Trophy.

Win it for Jess, a girl I dated in college, who was completely befuddled by my behavior freshman year after the 2001 loss to the Pats. Eventually she grew to accept and maybe even understand why sports gave me violent mood swings. Oddly enough, she ended up in Pittsburgh after college graduation and now even calls herself a Steelers fan. Trust me guys, she’s earned this one.

For that matter, win it for the Vassar College Chapter of Steeler Country. It was rough the last few years going to a school where half the student-body is from New England. They’ve earned their turn.

Win it for the unity of the entire Steeler Country, the silly devotion to a football team that cuts across race, class and gender. My 1995 AFC Championship sweatshirt has gotten me into more conversations with more random people in more random places than I could ever imagine. A lot of times, people ask me what I love so much about sports. More than anything it’s the knowledge that on any Sunday in the fall, I could walk into a Steelers bar in Oakland or Auckland and know that for three hours I’ll be among family.

Win it for Bill Cowher. The chin. The spit. The yinzer accent. Everything about Coach Cowher is Pittsburgh through and through. Even when his most ardent defenders thought his message had gotten stale, and that he needed to leave the Steelers, Cowher stayed the course; Cowher perservered. And he prospered. These playoffs have exorcised a lot of can’t-win-the-big-one ghosts for Mr. Bill. A victory would put them to bed for good, and almost guarantee him a spot in Canton.

Lastly, win it for my dad, who taught me that it’s okay to give so much of yourself to a game played by grown men. Throughout my life he’s been a loving sounding board to even my most inane sports opinions, and a voice of reason and optimism during Pittsburgh sports lowest of low moments. He has always held fast to the belief that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel; the losses just laborious road blocks that make the final triumph taste that much sweeter. Win it so I can hug him and tell him he was right all along.

I know there are about 5 people who actually read this thing, but I'm encouraging everyone to post their own Win It For... lists in the comments section. And tell your friends. Seriously.

Let me first start off by saying my powers of prognostication blow. Sometime in early September, I ran around telling anyone that would listen that the Penguins were closer than the Steelers to winning a championship. Fitting isn't it, that during the same week in January, the Steelers get the biggest win since Super Bowl XI, and the Penguins (mired in like their twelfth 7 game losing streak) lose their second leading scorer to retirement. Next stop for me? Vegas, baby, Vegas.