Let's Go Crazy
Super-Fans Accepted as Part of the Show
By Tim Benz

"No, son, no. Remember what Dad told you. You use the body paint for your body.Not for your hair. After all, you are going to be wearing that big black and gold wig, remember?"

Yes, similar precious father-son bonding conversations like this one take place all over Pittsburgh and other NFL cities every Sunday morning. And the hysteria for that certain segment of the sports population known as the "super fans" isn't relegated to the NFL.

You ever been to Cameron Indoor Stadium?

And clearly the "super fan" (the face painter, the cheese-head wearer, the cape wearer, the dog mask guy, the guy who modifies his El Camino into a "Raider Mobile") takes his personal game in the stands to new heights for a reason. It's his way to think he's connecting with his athlete heroes and the team he holds so dear. He takes credit when the team wins by referring to the victory in terms of "we." He deflects blame when the team loses by using the word "they" and he calls for the beheading of the coach.

But Dr. Paul Friday, the director of clinical psychology at UPMC Shadyside, says this kind of behavior is actually...get this... healthy.

"People have a way of relieving the stress of their lives. And if they paint up, so long as no one is getting hurt, then I think it's just wonderful. They are being human," says Dr. Friday, "They are going to go back to work Monday morning knowing that they have relieved some of the life stress that built up from the week before. I see it as basically innocent."

Steelers' wide receiver Hines Ward has obviously struck a connection with this demographic. He's as beloved as any Steelers' player in recent memory. And it's no wonder, since this Steeler superman gives the "super fans" lots of love.

"It's great. That's football. You see the fans out there at Heinz Field, waving their towels.They get all dressed up. It makes you feel like you're playing for something and there's a great connection there every Sunday."

Even when players go on the road they tend to have fond things to say about the "super fans."Before a road game at Syracuse, Pitt point guard Carl Krauser said playing in the Carrier Dome was the most hostile environment in the Big East. But it was also his favorite environment.

"You walk into that building and all you see is orange. Just orange everywhere. Thirty thousand people, every one of them in orange, and they make it so loud. And they yell at you and try to affect the game by getting in your head and the things they are say are so... creative."

Creative. Right.

In fact, before game two of the 2002 NFL season, former Steelers' running back Amos Zeroue actually bemoaned the fact that the Steelers were playing the Raiders at home that week because he wanted so badly to see the carnival act in Oakland's "Black Hole," a place where fan interaction often times goes to a whole new, uh, "creative" (thanks, Carl) level.

Well, Amos, you are a Raider now. Say hello to that guy with the pointy things coming out of his shoulders for me.

But do these fans ever take it too far? Do the players ever think these fans are putting too much stock in their impact on the game by dressing up or painting up? Do the players ever look at them with a jaundiced eye, knowing the connection the "super fan" thinks he's making probably isn't as strong as he thinks it is?

According to Ward, "Hey, so long as they don't affect the play on the field, throw things, run on to the field, try to approach any of the players or refs or anything, I'm fine with it."

And come to think of it, when was the last time you saw an infamous fan-on-the-field incident involving some guy all dressed up like a member of his favorite team?

Remember the guy all those years ago who tried to steal a football from the field until Mike Curtis knocked him out? He just looked like some yutz who fell off a barstool. Not a "super-fan" in blue and white Baltimore Colt face paint wearing a Johnny Unitas jersey.

Come to think of it, those guys who attacked the Kansas City first base coach at Comiskey Park didn't have any shirts on at all!Heck, the guy who stole the tee at the Super Bowl was naked!

The super fans may desecrate their bodies in the name of sport, but they'd never desecrate sport in the name of themselves. As Dr. Friday points out, "When is the last time you saw one of those kinds of guys go postal? They don't go postal."

Okay, so there you have it. You're getting it from a director of clinical psychology himself. There's crazy. And then there's good-crazy.So for Elvis at the igloo, the Hogs, Darth Raider, that screeching Philadelphia Eagle with the beak dude...congrats!You're good crazy.

Tim Benz is the host of a daily sports talk show on ESPN Radio 1250 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.