FanHouse in the Stands: the View From 522

This season, FanHouse writers take their cameras to NFL stadiums to document what happens when you stop being polite and start getting real. Or something. We've cleverly titled it "FanHouse in the Stands."

Sitting in the stands on Sunday, muttering various expletives at the Steelers for losing a second consecutive home game that was right there for the taking, I began hearing a sound I hadn't heard since the days of Kordell Stewart, or, to a lesser degree, the days of, ugh, Tommy Maddox -- fans screaming for the backup quarterback.

Annoying as it may be, it's still somewhat impressive that Ben Roethlisberger went a good four-and-a-half years before he really started to hear it from the locals. Though, at this point, it's still limited to pockets of, I'm guessing, frustration. He's not yet to the point where he'll wake up some morning and find his front yard littered with garbage, or listen to local louts make up rumors about his personal life. Hopefully, we never go down those roads again. Not some of our finer moments as sports fans.

Anyway, there's not a bigger fan of Roethlisberger in the city of Pittsburgh than me, so, when an entire row of people ten rows up are chanting "WE WANT LEFTWICH," I tend to get a little frustrated.

I admit, for the past two-and-a-half games, Roethlisberger has struggled, and struggled badly. He was dreadful against the Giants and on Sunday made some really, really bad throws. Having said that, if you're going to try and convince me that Roethlisberger should take a seat to let his shoulder heal, assuming it's a problem, I'm on board with that. I mean, we really can't afford to see anymore games going down the crapper at this point.

If you're going to try and convince me that the Steelers would be a better team with Byron Leftwich, I'm going to go ahead vehemently disagree. Allow me to put it like this: there's a reason Byron Leftwich was available two weeks into training camp, and was released by two different teams in the past year.

If the Steelers are going anywhere this year, or in the next eight years, it's going to be with No. 7 under center.

Speaking of Ben, thanks to the city of Pittsburgh's constant desire to close, or restrict, every major roadway into the city, we were forced to take alternate routes to the game on Sunday, which, were also closed or restricted. Great planning, morons. 65,000 people are coming into the city and you're closing the main street downtown so you can put up the Christmas tree, among other things. Anyway, one of our alternate routes took us to the site of one of Pittsburgh sports most infamous moments - the site of Roethlisberger's motorcycle accident.

Aside from the loss, it was also a painfully dreary day, as seen below. Did you know that, on average, Pittsburgh has fewer sunny days per year than Seattle? I bet you didn't know that. I bet you didn't care, either. The more you know.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to refrain from talking about the game because, well, it still frustrates me. So, instead, I'm going to focus on something completely unrelated, yet totally related. Beer.

Last year at Heinz Field, in the Great Hall, they had some sort of "Beer of the month" festival where they would feature different local and national microbrews and seasonal beers. It was fantastic, which, naturally means it was a one-and-done type of thing. This year, it's nothing but the old standards you find in every single stadium/arena you go to: bud light, coors light, everything light. Sure, you can find a Yuengling or Guiness in some random spots here and there, but for the most part you're bombarded with a flowing river of light beers, which, coincidently, taste like they just came out of a river, and not a particularly clean one.

According to a person in the know -- don't I feel special -- the reason for this is simple, and completely stupid. Apparently, Yuengling is considered a "premium" beer -- I can hear people in Pottstown, Pottsville, PA, as well as the campus' of IUP and Penn State laughing uncontrollably at the thought of that -- and because of this, it goes in a different sized cup as your not-so-premium beers (your light beers). Because of this -- and I'm completely serious about this -- they don't want "two different sized cups at a particular stand." This, naturally, leaves us with nothing but $7.50 light beers in 18 Oz. cups.

Can we get some variety please? Oh, and please drink responsibly.

Finally, after having a quite a gathering of Giants fans in the stands two weeks ago, there weren't nearly as many Colts fans this past week. There was, however, one in the row in front us, though I question if I should actually call him a "Colts fan."

First of all, he didn't have his team's colors on, and then decided to purchase a Steelers hat because his head was cold -- they're used to sitting in domes in Indianapolis, I guess -- and then wore it while sitting in the stands, cheering for the Colts. I'm sorry, but I have to question his fandom. Would you willingly purchase a hat for another team, and then wear it while cheering for your team? Negative.

If it isn't obvious by now, Sunday's game was quite uneventful from the stands. Nothing really exciting taking place. So, to close, here's a picture of a giant Super Bowl trophy just to, you know, make us feel better.