Not at Heinz Field, though, but in his home state of Ohio.

The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback grew up in Findlay, with a large number of Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns fans, and most of his friends rooted for one of the two Ohio teams.

Roethlisberger didn't cheer for either - he grew up liking the 49ers - and he admittedly grew weary constantly hearing about his two home-state teams. He has especially disliked the sight of Bengals orange and black and Browns orange and brown since entering the NFL in 2004, going 5-0 in Cleveland and 5-0 in Cincinnati, counting one playoff game.

In those 10 victories, Roethlisberger is 148 of 230 for 1,928 yards, 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

"I didn't like the Browns and Bengals," Roethlisberger said Wednesday. "I didn't care about that stuff."

It shows, too. Since Roethlisberger's rookie season, the Steelers are 16-2 against their Ohio rivals, 9-0 against the Browns and 7-2 against the Bengals.

"I love to go back there and play, just because growing up there were so many Browns and Bengals fans," he said. "It feels good winning there."

No wonder that some of the loudest jeering Roethlisberger gets - though not all of it is serious - comes from high school and college friends and acquaintances.

"I'll hear something, and it will be one of my buddies," Roethlisberger said.

Roethlisberger won't be looking to gain any friends when the Steelers (4-1) play Sunday at Cincinnati (0-6), where Steelers rooters are quickly buying up the tickets that dissatisfied Bengals fans are selling.

Some Steelers fans who are unable to buy seats at sold-out Heinz Field are purchasing Bengals tickets from the various online sites, and Roethlisberger won't be surprised if there is as much black and gold in Paul Brown Stadium as there is orange.

"I love it. There's nothing better in the third quarter when all you see are our fans and all you hear are our fans," he said.

Roethlisberger took a good-natured jab at his home state, saying that despite having two NFL teams, Ohio State and a number of other competitive college teams, Ohio isn't as good a football state as Pennsylvania.

"Honestly, in my opinion, we (Ohio) are the in-between state," he said, smiling. "Indiana is the basketball state and Pennsylvania is the football state, so we have the best of both worlds."

Despite his previous success in the Buckeye State, Roethlisberger - who played college football in-state at Miami - is cautiously approaching the first of the two Steelers-Bengals games in six weeks.

The Bengals may be winless, he said, but the Browns' 35-14 victory over the Super Bowl champion New York Giants on Monday night proves to Roethlisberger what can happen when a team with a superior record goes into an AFC North city.

"I think people are making too big of a deal about their record, our record," he said. "It's the Bengals and the Steelers and it's going to be a slugfest no matter what."

Roethlisberger was looking forward to the return of Pro Bowl running back Willie Parker following a two-game absence with a sprained left knee, but Parker unexpectedly did not practice Wednesday.

Parker, the NFL's third-leading rusher when he was hurt Sept. 21 in Philadelphia, apparently aggravated his medial collateral ligament sprain during practice Monday. The Steelers may not know for several days if Parker can play.

Mewelde Moore, the only one of the Steelers' top four running backs healthy for their 26-21 victory at Jacksonville on Oct. 5, replaced Parker and rushed for 99 yards against the Jaguars.

"You'd love to get a guy like that back," Roethlisberger said of Parker. "But Mewelde Moore did a great job. It's great that guys can step in and fill the void, but it's always going to be good when you get Willie Parker back."