Inexplicable bonds are sometimes forged by virtue of the Expat community in Lima, Peru. Whenever you live in a foreign nation, you are on a constant quest for the familiar. There are times when you develop a hunger simply for sitting and speaking in English, discussing themes rather than explaining the rudimentary proceedings of the world you come from.
Now, I’m not talking about the kind of people who never come out of their Expat shell and refuse to embrace the local culture or customs. Those people are in a special kind of bubble. No, what I’m referring to the type of person who goes for a complete Peru experience, who disappears to the Selva and subsides on grubs and spiders for six months. When that intrepid traveler returns to the land of Bembo’s and Internet, s/he is going to be hungry to discuss the prospects of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the upcoming NFL season.
By total chance, there was a time when my core Expat social group was comprised of a couple Pennsylvania exports who were both ardent Steelers fans. Tom I met at the Corner watching the Bears/Colts Super Bowl way back when.
Andrew, who was actually from Detroit, but somehow had the good fortune to get Pittsburgh conditioned at a young age, came through Tom, who was specifically searching out Steelers fans with which he could watch the games.
Now, the thing you discover quickly about Steelers fans, is that you can become fast friends with them quickly, provided you are willing to indulge in white hot, overriding hatred for Tom Brady. Also, if you’re a Cleveland fan, they’ll kind of like you because you’ve been providing the Steelers two wins a season, plus James Harrison, for the last fifty or so years. Actually, when was the last time the Browns beat the Steelers?
I’m from Wisco, so the Steelers fans had a bit of a life debt to me, because it was the Packers that complained about Belichick video taping offensive/defensive signals on the sideline. Also, both the Packers fall into that category of “old school” NFL teams. The Steelers have the most league Super Bowls, the Packers have the most league championships, they both wear yellow pants, and they’re the only two teams to win the Super Bowl as a number 6 playoff seed. In many ways, these are the two teams in the AFC/NFC that most mirror each other.
Well, there were several years of rabble rousing, football watching, and trash talking, and then I moved back to the US in 2009. I kept track of my buddies, and then, after the 2010 season came the potential friendship buster as the Packers faced the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. Prior to the game, we sent each other cordial, “good luck…I’m just glad we’re facing a real team and not the Patriots” type messages. Then the game commenced and the Packers proved victorious.
Fast forward to a few months later, I’d returned to Lima, and was sitting on Pizza St. with my Pittsburgh buddies. We caught, up talked trash, continued to enjoy the day, and then, at some point, I blurted out, “Well, how does it feel to be sitting at a table with an OWNER of the current NFL CHAMPION?”
For those of you who don’t know, the Packers are the only community owned team, which is part of what makes them so awesome…because there’s not some jerkwad billionaire pulling the strings and getting rich from your fan frenzy.
Anyway, as soon as I brought up the Super Bowl win, Andrew looked at his watch and let out a laugh as Tom smashed the table.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“We tried to predict when you were going to bring that up,” Tom explained. “I said within the first 30 minutes. As of now, it’s 30 minutes and 35 seconds.”
The fact that Pittsburgh has had 2 Super Bowl wins in recent memory made the XLV loss a bit easier to swallow, and the Pennsylvania expats didn’t hold the Packers victory against me, it mainly just canceled out the accrued good will from the Packers busting Spy-Gate. I always kind of hope for a Super Bowl rematch because at least the Steelers are a real team, not like the dang cheating Pats.
Several years back, my brother moved out to Pennsylvania and nearly got himself lynched by cheering for the Packers in Pittsburgh after the XLV victory. He says it’s a very similar culture to Wisconsin, and keeps trying to sell me on the viability of some Businesses in Wilkes Barre Pa, but I’m Wisco committed. Andrew still lives in Lima, and he took the top award in my Fantasy Football expat league a few years ago. Tom’s out in San Diego, and I was the best man at his wedding last March, so the football rivalries don’t cut too deep I guess. Pennsylvania folks are good people, they’ve warned me about Pats fans, and I’ve returned the favor about those intolerable followers of the Vikings. Rivalries make the world more fun.
