As of Sunday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers will have played in seven of the last fifteen AFC Championships and six of them at home. That’s a fairly absurd number considering that statistically, you only have a 12.5% chance of making it to the AFCC and a 6.25% chance of being the home team. Also, this was all in the salary cap era where it’s hard to maintain long term success. So, what’s the problem? Surely, we can’t complain about a team manufacturing that level of success…or can we? Don’t get me wrong, as fans we’re ecstatic to be here but in many ways, playing host to the AFC Championship Game has become the bane of our existence.

We remember dominating a Chargers team and almost doubling them up in every offensive category only to be beaten by two big plays from Pupunu and Martin. We remember jumping all over a Broncos team and then having to watch our quarterback self-destruct culminating with Romanowski taunting him right to his face after another end zone pick and nobody on the team doing a thing about it, presumably because they agreed with him. We remember the same QB self-destructing against a Pats** team that had no business being in Pittsburgh that day and we certainly remember that beat down of a 15-1 team by Brady and Co. that was supposed to launch a new era of dynastic proportions but the reality of a rookie QB pulling it off that soon was a bit too much to ask. Even that one home AFCC win was a little bittersweet. It was great at the time but the team played poorly and could have lost on a late Hail Mary that barely hit the ground. It’s just not a game that we can look back on too fondly. The Steelers have since won a Super Bowl and despite that perfect game that they played in Denver a few years ago, there isn’t a Steeler fan out there who can tell you that those 5 home championship games will not be on their minds this week because as sick as it makes us to think about those losses, they would all pale in comparison to watching the Baltimore Rats celebrate an AFC title where the Allegheny meets the Monongahela.

You’ll hear a lot about how much these teams don’t like each other this week but a lot of that is just fodder for the media. When the game is over, they’ll be out on that field congratulating each other, giving out hugs, and wishing the other team the best of luck. It’s the fans that will be throwing shit at the TV and stabbing their Ray Lewis voodoo dolls.

There’s an interesting dynamic that comes along with hating the Rats. As Steeler fans, we see them as punk-ass thugs who do a little too much talking, dancing, self-promoting, whining, and murdering for our tastes. Here’s where the dichotomy lies though…first and foremost, we’re football fans, and we love the way that team plays football. You can throw out all of the tired clichés about “Steeler Football” but ultimately there’s one thing that is consistent among these two teams and that’s well-executed defensive play and a desire to just physically beat down their opponents. I’m generalizing here but I think there are a lot of football fans who can’t see the inherent beauty in a 10-6 slugfest of a football game. To Steelers and Rats fans…that’s not ugly…that’s football. Yes, we despise each other, but we’re more alike than most fans would ever care to admit because ultimately…isn’t this about the game?

So what does this all mean? Well it means one of these teams is going to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, probably as favorites to win it but for us Steeler fans, there’s a little more than a Super Bowl berth on the line. On some level, this has as much to do with what we’re trying to avoid than what we’re trying to gain because after emotionally absorbing all of those underachieving home AFCC losses, this team has been put in a position to make us forget about every last damn one of them. If that doesn’t happen, it will manifest itself in a manner in which we don’t even want to think about…yet we can’t help thinking about it. “New coach, new team, new players…can’t happen again, right?”

It’s not my intention to speak for an entire fan base here so I’ll admit that I hate every team that isn’t wearing the black and gold. Not actively…but if we’re playing you in big game on any given week, I’ll pretty much be able to talk myself into hating you every time. This means a little too much to me. I’m not sure when that happened but it is what it is. With the Rats though, it’s not only about dealing with the devastation that would come with them getting to the Super Bowl by going right through Pittsburgh. If they pull off this upset…they will have done it our way.

I’m just not prepared to deal with that right now.