Super Fan

3/26/09

It’s rare to see a woman Super Fan in New York. They exist, but by and large its really just men who are decked out in their team’s apparel. What’s even more rare then is the female Super Fan who supports a team not from New York. That’s right, in this city where they love their teams, there are Super Fans who proudly show their loyalty - New York public condemnation be damned.

She had on a Pittsburgh Steelers canvas varsity jacket. Big bold Steelers logo embroidered on the back sitting on a black background. On the front left, another embroidery of the Steelers logo with the words “Super Bowl” above and “Champions” below the logo. On the front right, roman numerals indicating the Super Bowls won - starting from bottom, IX, X, XIII, XIV, XL, three rows in all.

The sleeves are a bright Pittsburgh Steeler yellow with the actual Super Bowl logo patches sewn on. The left sleeve had the logos of Super Bowls XIII, XV and XL, while the right had IX and X. The cuffs, waist and collar were done in a yellow and black striped rib-knit.

A football fan would know that Pittsburgh just won their sixth Super Bowl, and that this fan’s jacket was at least almost 3 years old given that Super Bowl XL took place in 2006. Nevertheless, this Super Fan wore hers proudly.

The rest of her was pretty working class, straight out of Roseanne I’d say. Faded black jeans, a black cotton hoodie, a white oxford shirt and a crew-neck white cotton tee. White Avia sneakers. Which really means that she dressed like a man living in blue collar Pittsburgh.

She was a short petite natural blonde with her hair tied back in a ponytail. No make-up and no nail polish. Though she did have on these basic round-ish glasses.

There were three things about her that I’m still not quite sure about:

1. Earrings. She had these silver earrings that looked like they were tusks coming out of the lobe, almost but not quite connecting on the bottom. Something I am sure I had seen before on countless goth or punk kids roaming NYC.
2. Messenger bag. It was black leather. The top flap had a white heraldic cross (that stylized medieval cross), and silver square studs around the edges. It was like a biker version of a messenger bag, only you could probably buy it at Wilson’s.
3. Lord of the Rings. She was reading a paperback copy of LOTR, The Fellowship of the Ring. It was a fairly recent copy since the cover referenced the movie.

NFL team varsity jacket and the blue-collar outfit made sense together. The earrings, messenger bag and the Tolkien book. What was a simple chicken noodle soup just became a chicken gumbo.

I miss the chicken gumbo served up by Morry’s Deli in the south side of Chicago.