A polka about Franco Harris? army blares through the speakers.
Bragging they “bleed black and gold,” Pittsburgh Steelers fans furiously wave Terrible Towels.
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Fans guzzle Iron City or Rolling Rock beer, as others eat buttery pierogies and Primanti Brothers sandwiches overflowing with cole slaw and French fries ? all Pittsburgh delicacies.
To transplant Steelers fans, YNot? Bar & Grill, formerly the Purple Goose, in southwest Baltimore?s Morrell Park neighborhood is as close to Pittsburgh as there is in Charm City, a haven where the black and gold jereys of “Fast” Willie Parker and Jerome “The Bus” Bettis are welcome.
“This is home,” said Drew Belenky, sporting Ben Roethlisberger?s No. 7 on his chest. “This is a little slice of Pittsburgh.”
To prove his point, he stands on his bar stool a half hour before kick off for Monday night?s smack down on the Ravens, and chants, “Here we go, Steelers, here we go!”
Belenky, of Catonsville, and his friend, George Beserock of Ellicott City, have been coming to the bar for years, which has catered to Steelers fans in a town where they are unwelcome.
The bar also serves as the flagship watering hole for the Pittsburgh Steelers Fan Club of Maryland, which now counts 4,000 Yinzers ? a nickname for a native of Pittsburgh? among its ranks.
The club?s president, Chris “Beno” Binaut, fondly remembers the club?s bus trips to the Steelers? away games, tailgating in the bar?s parking lot in frigid temperatures and an infamous snowball fight between Purple Goose customers and Ravens fans roosting at the bar across the street.
“For Steelers fans, it?s born in you somehow,” said Binaut, who recalls Sunday dinners and watching games with his family in his native Ebensburg in the heart of western Pennsylvania. “It?s a tradition of hard work. We don?t want cheerleaders. We just want to play ball.”
Despite its status as a Steel City oasis within Charm City limits, the YNot? is managed by a Redskins fan and recently was purchased by a Ravens supporter.
“Watching the fans chant the first Sunday I worked, it?s like being at a game,” said Chris Kiessling, a Pasadena native who took over as owner in September. “The camaraderie here is amazing.”
Said the bar?s manager, Theresa Kindrock: “Any football fan can see the enthusiasm and appreciate it. I tell people who are new here to find a place on the wall during the fight song after touchdowns orthey?ll get hit with Terrible Towels.”
During one of the Steelers? many touchdowns against the Ravens Monday night, the fans of the black and gold at YNot? screamed, jumped and clapped along to a polka fight song.
Then, proud of their roots, their devotion to Steeler Nation despite their zip codes, they chanted.
“Spit! Spit! Spit! If you ain?t a Steelers fan, you ain?t [expletive]”
