The tiniest fans

I found this picture in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Have you ever seen anything so cute?

If you look closely, not only are their wrapped in Terrible Towels, each of these "front seven" are also wearing little Steeler hats. And, just for good measure, this is what happens when cheese meets steel:

A little more than a week out from Super Bowl XLV and I'm getting pretty psyched! Despite what all the "experts" say (the boys from the 'Burgh are a slight underdog), I think the Steelers have a pretty good chance. You know, it's not like they didn't win their division and beat the Ravens (twice) and the Jets.

Here we go Steelers! Here we GO!

Here we go Steelers here we go!

Not going to be a long post today. As I'm sure most of my friends, and everyone who's read this little corner of the Interwebs, knows, I'm a Steelers fan.

I was born just a few miles from Three Rivers Stadium. I grew up rooting for the Steelers, even during the five years I lived in Chicago. I haven't lived in the 'Burgh for more than a decade, but wherever I was I searched out the Steelers bars to watch the games with other Terrible Towel-waving fans of the Black and Gold.

I do not, however, put the "fan" in fanatical. I do not plan my life around games. In fact, I missed most of the second half of the Steelers' AFC championship game to attend the Bloggerational Ball two Sunday's ago. When it comes to games like the championship my theory has always been "If they win I get to watch the next game. If they lose, I didn't want to watch anyway."

Not in a sour grapes kind of way, rather in a it'll hurt like pulling a big Band-Aid off kind of way. And, in this case, I got to see the end of the game at The Reef and watch all the dejected Ravens' fans walk out with hangdog looks on their faces.

But this Sunday the Steelers go for their sixth NFL championship in seven tries. More than any other team. Ever. You can bet you ass I'll be watching.

Running Update
Despite the amazingly horrible conditions Wednesday, I stuck with my schedule and hit the bricks. As I said previously, the only thing I hate more than running is running on a treadmill. No sense of accomplishment.

I did 2 miles over the icy sidewalks and slushy streets (ironically, safer than the sidewalks since they'd been cleared), again running more than walking. At one point during one little stretch I kinda-sorta forgot I hate running and was moving along with my head up and a good, long stride. As soon as I realized what I was doing I thought about throttling it back, but kept going just to see what would happen. A block or so later I settled back to a slower pace, but by choice rather than necessity.

Still having problems with a really tight lower left calf, but I think that has more to do with an atrophied muscle than anything else. The more I run, the less it'll bother me as long as I make sure to stretch it properly.

I have the same plan for this evening: run my 2-mile loop and try to run more of it than I did Wednesday.