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The Pérez family from Mexico, and members of Steelers Nation, embrace the cold temperatures at Acrisure Stadium on Dec. 24, 2022.
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Adriana E. Ramírez: How Mexico came to bleed black and gold

For the Post-Gazette

Adriana E. Ramírez: How Mexico came to bleed black and gold

In December 2017, my father got me tickets for our entire family to see the Steelers play the Texans in Houston. I had not been to a Texans game in years, and it was the first time my father did not force me to honor his fandom. I was finally allowed to wear my Steelers gear to a game in Houston.

“Just be careful,” he laughed, “there won’t be too many people there in Steelers colors.”

At first, as we walked to NRG Stadium in the temperate Texan winter, my husband and I were the only fans sweating in black and gold. But as we got closer to the stadium’s oceans of parking, still home to the ancient Astrodome, black and gold began to overwhelm blue, red and silver.

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“Steeler Nation!,” my husband quipped, much to my father’s chagrin.

My father’s glare told us it was time to stop singing “Here We Go!” with the crowd. In the long hallways encircling the action, there was a sea of black and gold, black and yellow, black and black, all supporting the team from Pittsburgh.

“It almost feels like Pittsburgh is the home team,” I offered to my father as we hiked up to our seats, who at this point was apoplectic that the Texans couldn’t muster enough fans to fill NRG. “Almost.”

“It’s not the people from Pittsburgh who are here, Adriana,” he moaned. “It’s not the Steeler Nation or whatever. It’s all Mexicans. All of them. Look!”

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My dad, who is Mexican, opened his arms and, in a move of awkward gesturing, managed to point at and dismissively wave off several thousand people, all black-haired and speaking in Spanish, holding their terrible towels.

“Mexicans,” he almost spat out, “love the Steelers.”

“Except you,” I said.

“Except me,” he repeated.

My dad kept staring at the endless terrible towels, waving in a rhythmic pattern, reminiscent of a man-of-war: thousands of little organisms coalescing into one deadly creature. Then the chant began: “Vamos Steelers!”

My father only shook his head.

Cowboys and Steelworkers

Initially, Mexico belonged to the Dallas Cowboys, or, “Los vaqueros de Dallas!”

In the early 1960s, the Mexican television company Televisa began broadcasting Dallas Cowboys games. Mexico had fallen in love with American-style football in the late 1890s, before the rise of soccer, and had two major university teams that often played one another on television, with hundreds of thousands tuning in to watch. Expanding coverage to include the professional game made sense.

The Cowboys were the most popular team close to Mexico at the time, and while the Houston Oilers were both technically closer and a brand new team, they didn’t have the Cowboys’ secret weapon: Danny Villanueva, Dallas’ placekicker and, more importantly, a second-generation Latino from New Mexico.

A popular coach from one of the university teams began presenting Televisa’s broadcasts, and soon the Dallas Cowboys became the football team in Mexico. But every silver-and-white good guy needs a bad guy, and the biggest, baddest bad guys around in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as far as the Dallas Cowboys were concerned, were the Steel Men from Pittsburgh.

Los Acereros

The Steelers should have been called “Los Acereros,” but instead Televisa went with “Los Steelers.” Unlike the Cowboys, whose mascot represented banditry and outlaws, the Steelers had the advantage of representing industry, which appealed greatly to the Mexican working class.

So did the NFL’s efforts to recruit more Mexican players. In fact, in the 1970s, three Mexican-born players participated in three consecutive Super Bowls: Efren Herrera of Guadalajara played for the Cowboys, as did Rafael Septien of Mexico City; the Rams’ Frank Corral was born in Chihuahua. Two of those players lost their Super Bowls to the Steelers.

Mexicans, who love supporting Mexicans everywhere, tuned in to watch, with Mexican NFL ratings spiking dramatically. And while some remained faithful the Cowboys, many found themselves rooting for the other guys.

As any Pittsburgher knows, the Steelers dominated the 1970s. Four Super Bowl wins, two against Dallas, cemented the Steelers as champions in the Mexican imagination. By 1980, Steelers bars began appearing in Mexico City and along the border, prominently advertising their affiliation with the black and gold.

For the People

Since then, Mexicans have adopted other teams, but none with the fervor of the Cowboys and Steelers. But being a Dallas fan has different class connotations: Rich and fancy people like the Cowboys. But for the people, “la prolé,” the Steelers will always reign supreme.

The city and the country share a blue-collar culture and history. In their dominance during the Steel Curtain era, the Steelers appealed to everyday Mexicans in a way that teams closer to Mexico never could. And that love remains to this day, with thousands of Mexicans traveling to Steelers games whenever possible.

In 2017, of the Steelers’ 6.5 million Facebook followers, more than 840,000 were from Mexico, the largest Mexican following of any NFL team. These days, the Steelers host tremendous watch parties in Mexico, as well as the annual Mexico Steelers Fan Camp. There’s always a Mexican flag waving at Steelers games, both at home and on the road, a gesture that is welcomed and loved by the organization.

The Steelers have held Fan Appreciation Events at Acrisure Stadium for their Mexican fans, even busing in hundreds from Monterrey a few years ago. Mexican fan clubs host their own drumlines, and think of themselves as brothers in black and gold every time the Steelers come anywhere near the border.

This weekend, the Steelers play the Texans in Houston. As I’m sure many people watching will observe, there will be even more Steelers fans than usual in the crowd. And most of them won’t speak English, at least not fluently.

But they’ll still be rooting for Los Steelers.

No matter how much my father hates it.

Adriana E. Ramírez, author of “Dead Boys,” is a columnist and InReview editor for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: aramirez@post-gazette.com.

First Published: September 30, 2023, 3:00 p.m.

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The Pérez family from Mexico, and members of Steelers Nation, embrace the cold temperatures at Acrisure Stadium on Dec. 24, 2022.  (For the Post-Gazette)
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