Approaching Raymond James Stadium four hours before the Super Bowl, I gazed out the media bus window at a sea of black and gold.
For eight days in Tampa I met and interviewed Steeler fans ? people who followed the team south from western Pennsylvania; heads of fan clubs in far-off places like Washington state, Colorado, and the United Kingdom; and transplants who may have lived in Florida longer than they did here, but still call Pittsburgh home.
They could have held this Super Bowl anywhere in the world ? yes, even in Phoenix ? and Steeler Nation would have outnumbered the opposing team's fans.
In 2000, I was working as a travel editor in the Slovak Republic. As I traveled across the country that spring, the national hockey team was somehow managing to knock off the world's greatest superpowers in the rink, including host Finland, Canada and Russia.
I watched games in the capital city of Bratislava, in the Hungarian-speaking south, in farming communities and in tiny mountain villages where the television set shared a shelf with a bust of Stalin.
When Slovakia won the title ? its first Ice Hockey World Championship since the split of Czechoslovakia ? an old man in an orange worker's uniform grabbed my face and kissed me.
To witness such unity was magical.
And last week, I witnessed it again.
In Tampa, I heard chants of "Here we go Steelers" on trolleys, in elevators, and even in restaurant bathrooms. I met people who jumped in cars and drove 19 hours straight from State College with the hope of landing a ticket.
I spoke to Mr. Rooney's former secretary, who beamed as she recalled the team founder's kindness and dedication. I saw total strangers walk into Tank's Tap Room, a Steelers bar in Tampa, and hug each other simply because they were wearing matching Jack Lambert jerseys.
Inside the stadium on game day, I saw Terrible Towels flying everywhere. I saw the Steeler Nation outnumbering Arizona Cardinals fans three to one, easily.
I saw fans weeping when Larry Fitzgerald split the defense late in the game for the go-ahead touchdown. And moments later, those same fans cried tears of joy when Santonio Holmes made his catch.
This was the greatest Super Bowl ever. And, fittingly, I saw it played in front of the greatest fans on earth.
