All Aaron Rodgers could do was smile and acknowledge the ridiculousness of the pitch he had just received.
The Green Bay Packers quarterback has been on Pittsburghers’ minds, not just because of how he dismantled the Steelers during their Week 4 matchup, but also because of a Sept. 28 appearance he made on “The Pat McAfee Show” where he proclaimed his admiration for all things Pittsburgh.
Rodgers even shouted out “Pittsburgh Dad,” a long-running local YouTube show created by buddies Chris Preksta, 41, and Curt Wootton, 42, who portrays Pittsburgh Dad, a character he lovingly based on his late father, Keith Wootton. The duo will have been entertaining Pittsburghers with their over-the-top yinzer antics for 10 years as of Oct. 25.
“The fact there’s an NFL MVP talking on a national sports show about our little show is so surprising,” Preksta said. “Curt and I still view it as this tiny little thing. It’s just him and I and a camera still.”
Even the COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t stop Preksta and Wootton from making “Pittsburgh Dad” videos, which is both their full-time jobs now. It helped that the two live right across the street from each other in the South Hills and record in Wootton’s basement. Preksta said they were putting out fewer videos toward the beginning of the pandemic but eventually got back into a video-a-week groove. Their viewership continues to trend positively, he said.
Preksta and Wootton spoke to the Post-Gazette before the Steelers’ victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday. A combination of the team’s previous three lackluster performances and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger beginning to show signs of age-induced deterioration had made it a little tougher for the two of them to sit through the games.
“It’s surprising,” Wootton said of the slow start. “We, as Steelers fans, are so spoiled. You’re used to always being the top dog in the AFC North. You can see a power shift happening with all these teams that have gotten younger and gotten multiple early draft picks and new coaches. It seems like the Steelers are stuck in neutral. You’re not going to stop being a fan, but it’s been disappointing to say the least.”
Wootton described the Pittsburgh Dad character as “the pulse of the everyday fan” who “leads with raw emotion” in his rants and Steelers analysis. Both are hoping the team continues to play better football so Pittsburgh Dad doesn’t have to keep going off on disastrous fourth-down plays. With that in mind, Preksta wanted to state for the record that the Pittsburgh Dad character is meant to be humorous and “doesn’t represent the perfect, balanced opinion of me and Curt.”
They’re both also rooting for Roethlisberger in particular to show he has something left in the tank, which he did Sunday.
Preksta says the Steelers won’t bench him anytime soon regardless of how he’s playing.
“Is it smart for football? No,” he said. “But that’s Pittsburgh. Loyalty is baked into what it means to be a Pittsburgher, so I can appreciate that.”
Roethlisberger looking like he might be retiring soon is why the conversation turned toward Rodgers as the Steelers’ quarterback in 2022. Neither Preksta nor Wootton thinks that’s a particularly realistic option — but that didn’t stop them from trying to sell Rodgers on the Steel City in the form of a “Pittsburgh Dad” recruitment video on a recent episode of McAfee’s show. The host is a former NFL punter and Plum native.
Pittsburgh would vote you Mayor right now if you wanted to be.... We have a message from a prominent Pittsburgher @Pittsburgh_Dad for you @AaronRodgers12#PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/iUUuoMC4mW
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 5, 2021
McAfee’s team reached out to suggest a “Pittsburgh Dad” pitch to Rodgers, Preksta and Wootton said. Both shows had collaborated before on a surprise Pittsburgh Dad appearance on ESPN during a 2019 University of Pittsburgh football game. In this video, they poked fun at Pittsburgh, where “you’re never more than two minutes away from cellphone repair or a vape shop that used to be a Pizza Hut.”
“One of the sweet spots that we try to hit on the show is that Dad is sometimes poking fun at himself and the city, but he has nothing but unabashed love for it,” Wootton said. “The things he’s pointing out about the benefits of Pittsburgh is on one hand making fun of us, but he also loves it.”
Preksta spent the Steelers-Packers game painting a No. 12 Rodgers jersey onto a He-Man action figure that he had just purchased at a local Target.
Wootton joked that if Rodgers does somehow make his way to Pittsburgh, “we’ll take all the credit.”
They both love how fun and light the “Pittsburgh Dad” community has always been and that they’ve been seeing some of the same fans online and at in-person events since the show launched 10 years ago.
“Thank you so much for continuously watching the show and commenting, sharing and giving us ideas,” Wootton said. “Everyone has helped us on this journey and helped us sustain this thing. The show is not just for us, but it’s for everyone to enjoy. It’s grown, and I couldn’t be more thankful.”
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxelburgh.
First Published: October 11, 2021, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: October 11, 2021, 10:07 a.m.