Our day, however, wasn’t as bad as the day fellow Steelers fan Zack Eddinger had earlier this season when he traveled to Chicago to watch the game between the Steelers and the Chicago Bears.

According to WTAE in Pittsburgh, Eddinger said he and his friends were involved in some trash talk with a group of Bears fans at a Chicago bar before the game.  After a spirited interaction, the Bears fans eventually offered Eddinger a drink as a “peacemaker.”  And that’s when he claims things started to go terribly wrong.

Eddinger alleges that not long after taking the drink, he passed out and was rushed to a nearby hospital, his heart stopping four times.  At first, doctors thought he had too much to drink, but realized there was more to it.  Eddinger’s family rushed to Chicago to be with him after doctors told them he wasn’t going to make it.

According to the report from WTAE, doctors believe the drink may have been spiked with toxic grain alcohol, which made Eddinger deathly ill.  After recovering from the alcohol poisoning, he was reported as saying, “I don’t think they tried to kill me. I think they tried to hurt me, but the killing came pretty close.”

Like I said, I was licking my wounds after today’s game – until I read this story.  I used to say that every time my beloved Steelers lose, a small piece of me dies, but after reading about Eddinger’s near-death experience at the hands of some crazed Bears fans, I don’t think I’ll be saying that anymore!

6. Same ole’ face. The Steelers owner has not had his face rebuilt by plastic surgeons.

5. No ego-centric scoreboard issues. The Steelers’ jumbo-tron is of a reasonable size and does not block punts.

4. The old fashioned way. Over the years, Pittsburgh has refused to pay ridiculous amounts of money to woo big stars to their team.  Instead, they’ve done it the old-fashioned way; they’ve drafted and then developed into stars some of the biggest names in the game.  Dallas often gives in to the wooing of the high-priced “star,” who rarely is worth what he is paid.

3. They cut the cancer. The Steelers refuse to allow self-centered, loud-mouth players ruin the team.  They got rid of good but obnoxious players like Plaxico Burress and Joey Porter in their prime because they were cancerous to the team.  The Cowboys welcome cancerous players (T.O., Pacman Jones)…and it shows.

2. Long-term stability at the helm. In the last 40 years, Pittsburgh has had three head coaches.  In the same time period, Dallas has had seven…and after this year will most likely hire #8.

1. We are the champions, my friends. The Steelers have more Super Bowl victories than the Cowboys! (6-5)

And while the Cowboys continue to hang their hopes on a mediocre quarterback and a revolving door of wide-receivers, the Super Bowl winning Steelers offense remains intact, led by a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, and two Super Bowl MVPs, Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes.

Prediction:  The Steelers will win another Super Bowl before Dallas even makes it to another Super Bowl, thus securing the title they wrestled away from the Cowboys some time ago: America’s Team!