Is Western Tidewater a Steeler Nation?

Published 11:10 am Saturday, February 5, 2011

FRANKLIN—Angie Corbin has a good gauge to determine who Western Tidewater will be rooting for during Sunday’s Super Bowl: her store in Courtland.

The owner of Go Team Sports on Route 58 said that since the Steelers won the AFC championship on Jan. 23, Pittsburgh fans have cleaned her out.

“I can’t even make any more money. I’m totally out of pretty much everything,” she said Friday.

She couldn’t say the same for her Packers’ merchandise.

“I didn’t have as much Green Bay (stuff) because they aren’t as important to us,” Corbin said, noting the area has more Steeler fans.

She has sold her last Steeler jersey, Terrible Towel and steering-wheel cover. Corbin has a couple of flags left and Steeler Bubba inflatable lawn figurines.

Not a huge football fan, she’s predicting a Steeler win in Dallas for Super Bowl XLV.

“It’s just a gut feeling,” Corbin said.

Pittsburgh’s born and raised Cheryl Miller-Goff has no doubt Western Tidewater has more Steeler fans than Green Bay fans.

“This is Steeler Nation because they’re the best, baby,” said Goff, who said she’s been a fan “since before I was born.”

“You see they way they play. If you love football, when you watch them boys play, you catch the fever,” the 36-year-old Courtland woman said.

She grew up eating spaghetti and meatballs on Sundays while watching the Steelers on TV.

“We had a huge long table we would move into the living room,” Miller-Goff said. “All of my uncles would be cheering.”

This Sunday, she will be making homemade manicotti and celebrating her daughter, Olivia’s, birthday. She turns 13 on Monday.

Miller-Goff predicts a Steeler win.

“We’re gonna bring it home,” she said. “They’re the toughest team in the league; the ones that really get it done.”

Green Bay fan Corey Brozzo said he picks the Packers over the Steelers 21-17.

“I really hope it goes for the Packers,” said the 21-year-old from Branchville.

Brozzo has been a Green Bay fan since he was 8 years old. That’s when quarterback Brett Favre played for the Packers.

“I just liked what he was doing at the time he was a quarterback,” Brozzo said.

His 16-year-old brother, James, is a Steeler fan. During Sunday’s game, he expects a lot of “trash talking” between the two of them.

Franklin’s Phillip Butler has been a Steeler fan for 18 years. His Pittsburgh wife, Billie Jo, converted him from being a Kansas City Chiefs’ fan.

“We’ll be glued to the TV on Sunday,” said Butler, a parts clerk for Blake Ford Mercury in Franklin.

The 52-year-old and his wife, a nurse at Lakeview Medical Center in Suffolk, have a collection of Steeler memorabilia.

“You name it, we’ve got it — shirts and Terrible Towels.”

Billie Jo Butler also has an eye-catching Steeler coat.

“She wears it all the time,” her husband said. “We get a lot of horn blowing and thumbs up.”

He predicts Pittsburgh will win Sunday’s game.

“You’ve gotta go with our team,” Butler said.