Steelers a perfect fit for Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH - Len DiNaples Sr. took a swig of Iron City beer and displayed the bottle to an out-of-towner.

"This is what you want," he said, nodding at the local brew, his white hair engendering trust, as he reclined in a cozy booth at Primanti Bros.

The sandwich shop radiated a Pittsburgh vibe, minus the slow-to-order tourists, many wearing Steelers gear. No Amstel Light here. Pastrami sandwiches, complete with fries and coleslaw smothered on top of the meat, are served on wax paper instead of plates.

The working-class soul of this city - gleaming and sagging all at once, currently covered with soot-blackened snow - is undeniably connected to its NFL franchise. The Steelers long have embodied Pittsburgh's gritty spirit and helped create an unapologetic ego. Now, again, the city's black-and-gold heart is soaring as the Steelers prepare for Super Bowl XLV next Sunday at Cowboys Stadium.

It's Pittsburgh's third Super Bowl appearance in six seasons, stirring talk of a dynasty to match the four Super Bowls the team won from 1975 and 1980. After the Steelers knocked off the bravado-spewing Jets in last Sunday's AFC Championship Game, it's on to the Green Bay Packers, another franchise that many consider NFL royalty and one that Steelers fans respect.

"The pride of our city is on the line," said DiNaples, 68, a longtime Pittsburgh resident and season-ticket holder. "At the gates of seven" is how the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette put it on a front page last week. Steelers fans relish the continued prosperity of a team with which they feel an almost religious union.

Pittsburgh's Sonny Amato, a 30-something, is too young to relive the steel mill closings that coincided with the Steelers' initial success of the 1970s. But he said the shared identity between the city and Steelers is tangible, as is the respect for the longtime ownership of the Rooney family. Pictures of the late Art Rooney, chomping his iconic cigar, emblazoned with the word "Believe," are plastered in store fronts.

"It's about the whole organization, it's consistency year to year, and that they try to do things the right way," said Amato, editor of a Steelers' fan blog, theterribleblog.com, named in honor of Pittsburgh's famed Terrible Towels.

The Steelers' distinctive logo couldn't be missed during a drive through the city's core, from men wearing it proudly as they waited for the bus to a glowing neon sign in a pizzeria window.

"You have to understand, we wear Steelers gear all year; it's part of our wardrobe," said Jim Coen, owner of a store that hawks all things Steelers, located near Primanti Bros. in the Strip District.