A little over a year ago, I started trolling Adam Crowley about his comments that Steelers fans are spoiled. I didn’t agree with that statement at the time, rather stating that we just have “high expectations”, but maybe I am starting to understand Crowley’s point.

Ron Cook wrote a nice piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today that shows it’s not just Adam Crowley who thinks Steelers fans are spoiled. In it, Cook says the following:

“In most cities, a Final Four appearance in any sport is a cause for a celebration. In Pittsburgh, we want to fire the coach and his top assistants when our team finally loses”

I follow a lot of Steelers sites, Steelers Tweetler’s (I am going to make that word a thing if it’s the last thing I do) and am a member of a ton of Steelers groups on Facebook, and I have to admit, there is a vocal segment of the Nation that always seems to want Tomlin’s (or Haley’s) head.

I’ve asked myself (and others) if this is a new thing?

Did Cowher have to deal with it?

Did Noll have to deal with it? (Gasp, not the Emperor!)

Or is it just Tomlin?

There are big differences between the eras of both Cowher and Noll compared to Tomlin’s.

One is social media. It provides people the ability to voice their opinions immediately, and without fear of more than verbal reprisals. Neither Cowher or Noll had to deal with Facebook (live or not), Twitter or Snapchat. The players of today have grown up in a world that is focused heavily on social media and to those players this is an ingrained part of their worlds.

The internet itself is another big difference. Cowher was around during the age of the internet, but not in the form it has taken on today. I’m sitting here writing on a fan-based blogging site, one of many (but of course, the best!) that exists today.

Cowher didn’t have that kind of scrutiny, and neither did Noll. The term “internet muscles” has been coined, because of the anonymity that the web provides for people to say whatever crazy thing pops into their head, the minute it does. There are no consequences to filling the ether with rants for firings, and that lack of consequence makes many people much braver than they might otherwise be.

Twitter was just coming into existence at the end of Cowher’s era as well, and it was nothing remotely comparable to what it is today. It’s simply far too easy to tweet out “Fire Tomlin!” or “Fire Haley!” or whatever other aggravated feeling a fan wants to articulate due to frustration or anger at the result of a game.

The truth is I think we would have heard these same voices, just as loudly proclaiming these same sentiments for any of the past three coaches. Can you imagine if Twitter, Facebook or Snapchat was available after the 1-13 season in 1969? Calls to “Fire Noll!” would have been cascading across the wires. I’m fairly sure that those sentiments were expressed in living rooms across Pittsburgh, but the difference is, that’s where they stayed.

Fans don’t want their team to lose. Obviously. Fans want to win. It’s why they cheer, it’s why they are passionate. They want that those happy feelings that the release of Serotonin, Dopamine and Norepinephrine elicit when they are released in the brain (yeah, I used big words and stuff, so sue me).

So when we lose, we get frustrated, angry and we say things. Some of us don’t immediately go to the “Fire the Coach” mantra, but some of us do. I don’t think that reaction is any more prevalent now than it was in the days of Chuck Noll, or even the days of Buddy Parker.

The difference is that it is a lot easier to get that message out, and to a lot more people.

I wrote in my Good, Bad and Ugly piece that considering where we were after 9 games (4-5), this might have been the best coaching job that Mike Tomlin has done. He took a team that was struggling, that hadn’t found its way, and stabilized it. He took a team that looked like it might just be headed for its first losing season, and found a way to re-energize it, right the ship, and get all the way to the AFC Championship game.

The idea of saying that the last 41 years of success has made us more spoiled than we would have been if we hadn’t had that success is just silly. No fan is “content” to just have a winning season. They aren’t content to “almost get to the Super Bowl”. Just ask Philadelphia Eagles fans. When Andy Reid coached the Eagles, they made it to the NFC Championship game several times. They made it to a Super Bowl. He amassed a record of 130-93-1 during his time there.

And every single year, they wanted him fired.

I know because I live just outside of Philly, right smack in the middle of Eagles country. I listened to it on sports talk radio. I heard it from the fans who I knew. The difference was, that you didn’t hear it on the internet, Twitter, SnapChat, Facebook or any of the other enumerable means we have today to vent our frustrations.

Every fan base has those within it who always want to blame the coach. Every fan base has those within it that aren’t willing to settle for anything less than a Super Bowl victory.

As I mentioned above, I’m pretty active (or at least aware) of the social media of the Nation. So yeah, I hear the calls to “Fire Tomlin!” and “Fire Haley!” that echo through the forums and Facebook groups.

However, I’m here to tell you that those aren’t the majority of fans. They are the extremely loud and vocal minority. Coach Tomlin has challenges and distractions that Noll and Cowher never had to deal with, not the least of these being the ability of people to scream for their heads in a manner that is no longer confined to the four walls of their own homes.

I’m not going to even address the issue of race, still it can’t be completely discounted and clearly is something that neither Noll or Cowher had to contend with. I’m not naive, and I doubt most of the Nation is either, so that element is there, although I don’t think everyone who calls for Tomlin’s job is basing it on race, we can be honest enough with ourselves to know that in some cases, sadly, it plays a role.

So, is Adam Crowley right? Is Ron Cook? Are Steelers fans spoiled?

Of course we are!

We have come to expect greatness, and championships. Why shouldn’t we? We are fans of the Six-Time Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers! We are spoiled with success, and so is the team. They don’t expect anything less than a Super Bowl victory, so why should we?

The fact that we are spoiled, and expect success does not; however, mean we can’t enjoy the small victories that come along the way. Are the majority of Steelers fans thrilled we made it to the AFC Championship? I’m sure they are. Do they feel this was a successful season? I think most of them do.

Being spoiled doesn’t mean we are all Veruca Salt, and we are going to throw a fit and stomp our feat until somebody gives us our damn seventh Lombardi! I think the majority of Steelers Nation takes great pride in knowing we haven’t had a losing season in 13 years (since 2003). I think there is tremendous pride in knowing that the Steelers have won 5 AFC North crowns since 2007 (2 more than anyone else!).

Where I take exception to Mr. Cook and Mr. Crowley is that they seem to attribute the calls to fire our coach and his assistants to all of us. It is not all of us, it’s the same few who would have been calling for Noll and Cowher’s heads in days gone by. It’s the same segment that called for Andy Reid (and now Doug Pederson) to be fired (and is likely calling for Andy Reid to be fired in Kansas City!). It’s the same small population of every fan base who thinks the only solution is “Fire the Coach!”

The problem isn’t that we are spoiled. The problem is that the loudest voices are usually the most negative. The problem is that those voices, once confined to the local bar, or to the sanctity of their own living rooms, now have vehicles to express themselves that didn’t exist before.

There will always be fans like these, and there have always been fans like these. My contention is now, and always has been that they are not representative of the majority of the members of Steelers Nation. Not now, not ever.

A proud (and spoiled) member of Steelers Nation – now and forever.

#TOMLINISMYCOACH