Browns/Steelers, Middle School Style

weekend (err, Thursday) is different for everyone and teaching 8th grade has provided me with quite a different perspective of the rivalry. 

It’s no longer like it was for me in middle school, when I’d take advantage of my friends, blinded by their fandom, and make $5 every Monday after the game.  It’s no longer like it was for me in high school, when there were no Browns at all and my friends had to find other teams to follow.  There were easy targets: Brett Favre’s Packers, the up-and-coming New England Patriots, and the team of the decade, the Cowboys.   It’s also no longer like it was for me in college, the Browns in their early expansion years and the Steelers making occasional trips to the postseason while figuring out their quarterback situation. 

I was a traveling teacher during my first year at Kimpton.  With no classroom of my own, a computer case and a carry-handled file box was what I carted around to whatever classrooms happened to be empty each period.  With no wall space to display my love of the Steelers, I worked with what I had.  So, the three square feet of surface space on the box was loaded with scotch tape and Steelers headlines.  I was a walking Sports section. 

Now that I have my own classroom, my headlines are now part of my Steelers wall.  When a student asks about them, I never get tired of reliving 2005’s Christmas Eve game, after which the Christmas day edition of the Akron Beacon Journal retold the game under the large, bold letters of “SEASON’S BEATINGS.”*  Once I became involved with Student Council, I made sure we never missed an opportunity to sponsor a Browns/Steelers day on the Friday before the games.  And like I have since I started teaching, I will still bring enough jerseys to wear a new one each class period.  This is the rivalry in the backdrop of my profession, and I wouldn’t trade it with anyone.

In 8th grade, there’s no profanity-laced heckling, no angry fan dumping beer on you just because you root for Pittsburgh, and no reason to double check that you’ve left no indication on or inside your vehicle that you are a Steelers fan as you park it in the Muni lot.  There’s a fun atmosphere, where kids get to express their love of their team and where classmates playfully accuse others of frontrunning (or sucking up if they’re my students) if they choose black and gold on Browns/Steelers day. 

It’s where secretaries place Kleenex in your mailbox on the Monday after a Steelers loss (and even though she’s at another building now, I still fully expect to see one come through inter-school mail should they lose!).  It’s where colleagues make it fun for each other and the kids by pinning Browns flags to your classroom ceiling, too big not be noticed by all of the students and too high for me to take down without a ladder (and too bright not to cause nausea!).  It’s where students make fleece tie-scarves in Family & Consumer Science class, urging me to buy one made with Steelers fabric or specially making one for me with orange and brown (and what kind of teacher would I be if I threw away something a student made for me?).

It’s where students buy me gag Christmas gifts of Cleveland Browns stationary and where I occasionally find “Go Browns!” messages on my dry-erase boards.  It’s where my neighbor teacher spells out his name above his door in alternating orange and brown letters because mine is spelled out in black and gold.  It’s where crazy wagers are proposed by students that suggest that if the Steelers lose, I not cut my hair for a grading period, not assign homework for a week, or that I have to wear a Browns jersey for an entire day.  It’s where I was surprised this morning by my door and room being decked out with “Go Browns!” posters, an operation carefully plotted yesterday by a group of students. 

It’s where the Browns/Steelers matchup is a lot of fun.

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