What should have been a “Ravens Week” of rising fan excitement, setting the stage for the Steelers renewing that fierce rivalry this Sunday in Baltimore, instead was dominated by debate about players using the national anthem as a stage for political protest.
Indeed, after President Trump turned up the heat on the NFL over “taking a knee,” the Steelers' handling of the anthem the previous Sunday at Chicago's Soldier Field — even after they later admitted botching their intended approach of avoiding controversy by having all players stay in the locker room — so enraged some members of Steeler Nation that they burned their team gear in viral videos, making this divisive debate fiery, literally and figuratively.
Good-natured trash talk between fan bases on high alert for “bulletin board material” from the opposing side — the sort of enjoyable distractions from everyday worries and cares that Ravens Week should have brought — hardly was audible over the din of outrage, criticism and pontification about patriotism and free speech.
And while those are worthy topics to ponder, this debate had less to do with the issues motivating the players' protests than with their methods — despite the fact that actions off the field, not “taking a knee” and other gestures at games, are what really count in bringing about change.
It's particularly regrettable to see how the anthem controversy has divided and embittered Steeler Nation, the worldwide fan base that traces its origins to the 1970s, when the team's rise to unprecedented greatness provided a positive rallying point as Pittsburghers scattered far and wide in search of work amid Big Steel's collapse. The Steelers, the single most powerful unifying force for Western Pennsylvania and its far-flung former residents, somehow became a source of contention, threatening to turn the black and gold of treasured pride into the black and blue of bruising dissension.
There's a legitimate, necessary, hopefully healthy and productive debate to be had about the real, serious issues behind the players' protests. But all in Steeler Nation need to take a deep breath, look long into a mirror and realize that there's more to life than politics — or football — and that mixing them can be toxic. And there's no better time for Pittsburgh fans to begin clearing the air of this politically tinged fog than just after 1 o'clock this Sunday afternoon — kickoff time in Baltimore.
Let's get back to football. Let's get back to rooting together for the Steelers. Let's not take more inflammatory bait dangled by those exploiting the anthem controversy to advance their own agendas. And let's keep the games and society's issues each in their proper perspective, focusing on the play on the field for three hours this Sunday as a respite from the political fray that engulfs so much of the rest of our lives these days.
