Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert recently appeared on FM 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore, and said the Steelers “respect” Ravens DE Terrell Suggs, and there’s “no cheering when you lose great players.”
Not that anyone would expect less than the company line from someone in Colbert’s position, but it does bring up an interesting talking point; respect between the members of the best rivalry in football, the Steelers and the Ravens.
This didn’t prompt it, but recently, Baltimore Beatdown, SB Nation’s Ravens site, had a post regarding the Steelers with a few links from Behind The Steel Curtain discussing the Ravens.
When our two fine sites cross into each other’s turf, the result is, interestingly, usually positive.
To start it off, their editor, Bruce Raffel, had some nice things to say about Behind The Steel Curtain. For that, we thank him.
The comments to the story were compelling. I particularly enjoyed this segue, brought up by our own Steel Spike. He said if he was forced to get a Ravens jersey, it would be one of Ravens DT Haloti Ngata.
It spun off into a discussion about mixing and matching some of each team’s best players, which is pretty original. I hadn’t quite thought of what a team would look like with Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed in the defensive secondary while Ngata in the middle split Suggs and James Harrison on the outside.
The overriding point, despite a few dissenters (perfectly fine to do so, but it seems their community hates the Steelers much more than we hate the Ravens), is there’s respect on both sides, to varying degrees.
As far as Baltimore Beatdown goes, I’m a young buck in comparison to Bruce, who’s been doing his thing over there for several years. Not that either of us are complaining at all, but it can be difficult to come up with quality stories at a high frequency rate, while balancing the desires of the community (to whom we ultimately report). But I’ve been on Baltimore Beatdown more than any other SB Nation site outside ‘Steel Curtain, and I’ve taken a lot of ideas away from Bruce, Zachary Beard, Mr. MaLor, Lastcallbmore and WestminsterRaven.
In my meager experience on SB Nation and as a journalist, I don’t think there’s a better compliment to pay someone than frequently reading their work, and applying things from them to your own work.
It’s also probably a fair time to bring up conduct. I enjoy going on BB’s game-day threads when the Steelers aren’t playing. I do so recognizing I am the away team, so to speak. In that, I join in their conversations respectfully, and in that approach, I am given respect.
I’m sure Bruce feels the same way, but Open Threads are designed to give our readers a sense of community and involvement during games or other events. They’re meant to be enjoyable, open places in which to share our thoughts and analysis and to learn from others based on what they’re seeing. I feel I have a much higher level of knowledge about the Ravens due to the time I’ve spent over there. I encourage all of you to check it out, as well as the open threads of other teams when the Steelers aren’t on; you’ll be surprised at how much you’ll learn. I also ask you to be respectful, and remember you’re on their turf.
And please pass the same courtesy to those who appear on our site to discuss the Steelers. We welcome guests of all teams and of the league itself, and in that, we want to foster a spirit of community with everyone. No one says everyone has to agree, but in keeping with our mission statement, we want to foster intelligent discussion and community involvement.
This site has done a great job of that over the years, so I thank you for your assistance.
My email address is in my profile, and if anyone wishes to reach out to me with question of any kind, please feel free to do so.
Source: Behind the Steel Curtain
