The Rivalry

The rivalry is the most potent of sports experiences I have known.  No its not the Red Sox and the Yankees which to me is a small but true rivalry that does exist but does not throw me off much at all.  True I am a Sox fan, but I feel no animosity overall from the New Yorkers towards myself.  Perhaps this is because I don't live in Boston but I really think that Baseball is a friendly sport.

No,
I speak of the Cleveland Browns vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers Rivalry which is really more of an all out War.  Of course that is how it seems to a fellow like myself who went to school in college at a school right on the border of both Pittsburgh and Cleveland's viewing areas.
When I was in college at Youngstown State University, about 1/3 of the people were Browns fans, 1/3 were Pittsburgh fans, and about 1/3 I am told are San Francisco 49ers fans.   The 49ers fans were due to owner Eddie Debartolo who was a resident of Youngstown, OH.  Of course I admit I only knew one personal acquaintance who was a 49ers fan.  The rest went either Orange or Black and Gold.
I must say that in Youngstown, I felt happy and safe as a Browns fan.
But that said, I must tell you that some of my Pittsburgh friends were among the nastiest of people when it came to discussing sports.
I have never been an arrogant fan of the sport and I have never walked around telling people that I "hate the Pittsburgh Steelers".  Perhaps I really disliked them for a good while. Perhaps.  But really, I just wanted to be able to cheer for the Browns and maintain my dignity. 
It seemed to me that the Steelers fans I knew, well alot of them, would go around trying to persecute the idea of a Browns fan and they tried to embarrass some of us for being of the spirit of the Brown and Orange team.
I must say that I have one particular friend in the past who was so nasty that he has posted online that he "hates the Browns".  Others have followed suit as I saw on one facebook post.
It is true that there is a rivalry.  It it true that our friends in our own stadium are not going to be too keen on enjoying the presence of the other team except as competition to be beaten.  That goes without saying.  But truly, I can not go so far as to hate the other team.
Its professional football.  They are all teams and I admit that every professional sports team has some meaning to my mind.   I must say that I disagree that we should hate one another.  Be glad that one another exists.
I just bought myself a Jerome Bettis Bobblehead display for my office/library.   I have to say that it was a surprise to me that I was interested in a Steelers iconobilia memorabilia, but it seemed to be a good way to offer a handshake to the opposing team.  True I am not going to put it in the center of my life, but I put it on my windowsill.  It was quite expensive at $29 and I really splurged on it.  But I want to be able to somehow mention to any Steelers fan that I own some of their teams iconobilia.  It may seem like a babyish thing to do, but I really just want to be the smart alek Browns fan who you better not hate because I have your Jerome Bettis in my library.  It might not seem that special to anyone and clearly, I am not a big fan of any Steelers Player.... But maybe I should be...  Maybe its healthy to have some mutual respect and admiration for a player on an opposing team.  I do not know all that much about Mr. Bettis, but I had the feeling that since I knew very little of him off the field, that might mean that hes really not that bad a guy.  After all, Rothlisberger is really just not that orthodox in some of his ways.   Hines Ward is a good guy, but I just couldn't get myself to having a Hines Ward Bobblehead.  It might tease at my heart a little bit and make me privy to the Steelers.
Bettis felt like a better idea so now I have the unclean shaven Bettis on my windowsill.  Its actually quite a nice Bobblehead and it is of the highest grade bobblehead quality.
So to the Steelers Fans out there:  I challenge you to own a Browns Bobblehead.  Bernie Kosar would be nice.  So would any other Quarterback or even our star running back, Hillis.  I think you might want to stay away from Josh Cribbs though, he might make your heart savvy towards our team and then you might stop being a rival and might sign on as a fan.  Just kidding.  Have at em all.