a newspaper man adjusts his pen

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Showing our Steelers colors


So you think you’re a big part of the Steelers Nation, right?

You've washed the kielbasa stains off your "Big" Ben Roethlisberger game jersey?

Check.

The fridge is stocked with pierogies and three cases of Iron City beer for gameday.

Check.

And you didn't forget to buy that black and gold poinsettia plant, either.

Huh?

Oh, snap! Then you’re a smaller piece of the yinzer fan pie than we thought.

Yes, a local grower has been black spray-painting and gold glitter-dusting the pretty petals of the otherwise red seasonal plants for the past four years to sell to the most discriminating Steelers fans.

And people have been buying them in batches from The Hothouse nursery in Eighty Four, Pa. For real: One dude ordered 150 of them last year.

When our perky coworker at the Observer-Reporter, Christie Campbell, brought us one of these Steelers black-tinged posies two weeks ago, blogger Amanda mistakenly thought Christie had rescued the poor thing from a house fire. But after Amanda figured out the football connection, she was totally into the unusual creation.

Actually, we all dig the plant. Needless to say, it has helped to heat up the Steelers fever in our newsroom in a big way.

The red and green decorations have been packed away from our bony Christmas tree. The little Festivus tree has since been decorated with an eclectic array of Steelers relics that include a kitschy set of black and gold Asian figurines that Scotty found at a local thrift shop.

Like it our not, that's how we are saying: Here we go Steelers!

Amanda and Scott

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