Fans like Steelers’ chances
Prima donnas are gone this year, some say — and ‘good riddance!’
In a parking lot by Heinz Field, John Griffith stood next to Craig Glass, drinking beer, arguing about football and waiting for the Steelers to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the preseason opener.
Although Mr. Glass, 39, is a native of Beaver Falls, he has been a die-hard Buccaneers fan since high school. So it’s no wonder that when Mr. Griffith predicted that the Steelers are heading toward a perfect season, the Tampa Bay fan doubled over with laughter.
“Seriously?” Mr. Glass asked his friend. “What’re you talking about?”
Mr. Griffith himself couldn’t help but laugh at the bold prediction.
But even as the Steelers come off a season in which they failed to make the playoffs, many tailgaters are like Mr. Griffith: optimistic.
Terry Shulsky, a 77-year-old season ticket holder from Ebensburg, thinks the team has always performed better when it’s backed into a corner.
“The prima donnas are gone now,” Mr. Shulsky said, referencing the drama that surrounded former players Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown. He said last season’s big problem was too much drama bleeding from the locker room into social media.
“Social media was killing it,” Mr. Griffith said. “If they just stay out of social media, I think less people would have known what was going on.”
Johnna Anthony, 57, of Washington, Pa., is a season ticket holder who tailgates at every home game. She’s looking forward to seeing Ben Roethlisberger perform.
“I’m hoping to see a lot,” she said, but she has concerns about his new contract. “Sometimes when they give them the extensions and the bigger contracts, sometimes they don’t perform like they should.