Steelers Nation shares mixed emotions about Tom Brady's greatness

One thing we know for sure going into Super Bowl LIII: Many Steelers fans will passionately root against New England Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady.

After all, Brady has dashed the Steelers’ championship dreams time and time again. How much heartbreak can one fan base take?

Plus, he’s taking our hardware.

If New England defeats the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, Brady and his Patriots will have a total of six Lombardi Trophies — equaling the Steelers record.

Ouch.

But is respect of the 41-year-old phenom creeping into Steelers Nation? Is our vitriol waning?

“He’s the best (quarterback) to ever live, and I think that’s why we hate him,” said Pat Bouch, 24, of Leechburg, who works as a technician for NEP Group, a teleproduction company. “I’m not going to say I admire him. I envy him. I think people envy him because he’s a good-looking dude, successful. The dude’s a maniac on the field. I respect him.”

MVP, multiple times

Brady is making his record-extending ninth trip to the Super Bowl, more than the Steelers have had in their entire history. He also has been named the Most Valuable Player in four of the five Super Bowls that New England has won.

What may have seemed different, to some, about Brady’s most recent heroics is the way he marched his team down the field, particularly in overtime, in the AFC Championship game. Brady’s usual robotic style looked as though it had given way to a youthful, boyish enthusiasm. Brady reveled in this particular moment as though it was the first time he had led the Patriots to victory in a high-stakes game.

“He wants to win,” Bouch said. “That’s all he cares about.”

Seated next to Bouch at the bar of Niki’s Quick Six in North Vandergrift was Matt Miller, 25, a boilermaker from Leechburg who shares a similar opinion of Brady.

“He is the greatest. But I just hate him because (the Patriots) always beat us in championships,” Miller said. “And I just think there are some deep-seated issues that we just can’t get over.”

“He broke my heart when I was in college and he beat the Steelers in the 2001 AFC Championship game. I thought I had nothing left in the world,” said Brett Fisher, 40, of Upper St. Clair. “But now I find myself rooting for him, because it’s just incredible to see how great he’s been year after year after year.”

Indeed, the team-first attitude that Brady projects may also be playing into Steelers’ fans fatigue. Fans have endured the antics of players like Pro Bowl receiver Antonio Brown as well as a lackluster win over injury-riddled Cincinnati, which wasn’t enough to get the Steelers into the playoffs.

James Lawhorn, 70, of North Vandergrift, is a retired heavy-equipment operator and lifelong Steelers fan. He said you have to give Brady his due.

“I love the Steelers, but the guy shows you what he can do and you’ve got to give him that,” Lawhorn said. “You can never count him out. I wish the Steelers were in (the Super Bowl), but he earned it.”

However, Steelers fans like Lawhorn say that when it comes to the idea of actually rooting for Brady on Sunday, that’s where they draw the line.

“If the Patriots win, they’ll have as many Super Bowls as the Steelers have, and I don’t want to see that,” he said.

Serial cheaters?

Of course, there are plenty of Steelers fans who see the Patriots as serial cheaters, particularly after episodes like Spygate, where the NFL disciplined New England for videotaping the New York Jets coaches’ signals from an unauthorized location (a rules violation that many believe they also resorted to in games against the Steelers).

And Deflategate, the controversy involving the allegation that Brady and the Patriots deliberately deflated balls used in their victory against the Indianapolis Colts in the 2014 AFC Championship Game, also a rules violation.

At North Park Lounge in Murrysville, Aimee Dodd, 49, of North Fayette, said she respects Brady as an athlete but she doesn’t trust him.

“I’m not naive enough to think that other teams don’t cheat, but (Patriots owner Robert) Kraft and that organization do it more so than others,” she said. “I don’t trust where they’ve gotten for as long as they’ve gotten there. Everybody talks about Brady like he’s untouchable and he’s a god, and I don’t see it that way.”

The mystique

And then there is the Tom Brady mystique. He’s married to high-paid, Brazilian-born model Gisele Bundchen. Together, they are cited as one of the most powerful couples in the world.

Brady also has his own theories about health and wellness, which are documented in his best-selling 2017 book “The TB12 Method” (12 is Brady’s uniform number). Among some of the bizarre advice in the book is his suggestion that readers should drink at least one-half of their body weight in ounces of water every day and his contention that “the more hydrated I am, the less likely I am to get sunburned.”

Huh?

“He’s a great quarterback, but I still think he’s kind of a diva, pretty boy,” said James Lusardi, 47, of White Oak. “I don’t know if my opinion of Brady is softening, but he keeps winning so I’m getting more used to it maybe.”

Financial adviser Scott Somma, 38, of Findlay has had more to overcome in his Brady hatred than most of his fellow Steelers fans.

“The funny part is my whole family is Michigan State fans, so we hated him already because he played at Michigan,” Somma said. “It’s gotten to the point where you can hate him all you want to, but you just get sick and tired of hating him and you just have to give up and salute him. He’s the best ever. Tom Brady is the Michael Jordan of football.”

Back at the North Park Lounge, 63-year-old stage performer Valerie Ellsworth Marriott, of Aliquippa, wasn’t ready to crown Brady as the greatest to play the game, acknowledging that he may be benefiting from modern NFL rules protecting quarterbacks.

“Do I think he’s better than Terry Bradshaw? No,” Marriott said. “I think he’s somewhat talented. Is he the best? No!”

Paul Guggenheimer is a
Tribune-Review contributing writer.