If you’re living in Pittsburgh right now, the concept of wishing to see more black and gold, or feeling deprived of company swathed in Terrible Towels might seem strange.

But for Sarah Crawshaw, a former Pittsburgher living in Charleston, SC, and other members of the Pittsburgh Diaspora, playoff season comes with more than a touch of nostalgia.

Raised on the North Side in a family of die-hard fans famous for their resplendent tailgate parties, Crawshaw admits that sometimes she finds herself grading papers between plays when she watches games now. It's harder to get her Southern friends interested in the action.

“My parents have had season tickets to Steelers games for 40 years. So tailgates are literally like homecoming for me,” Crawshaw said. “That's where my family is, our close friends, and my dad, sister, and I are huge fans and it's our favorite place to be."

Carla Swank, a former colleague from the days when we were both ‘burgh-based journalists, agrees. After many years surrounded by Steelers-loving friends in their Sewickley apartments, Swank also moved south, to a new job in Nashville, and is seriously considering the long-haul trip home if the Steelers advance to the big game.

“There's nothing quite like walking down the Beaver Street hill in Edgeworth to go down to the Boulevard to wave your Terrible Towel at traffic and to hear the horns blowing after a Super Bowl win,” Swank said.

That there are many former yinzers scattered over the country — a result of years of economic downtown — is no secret. Indeed, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette even ran a regular feature about it. And for those of us who love the Steelers but live elsewhere, at least there is lots of help to find a Black-and-Gold home away from home.

One avid Steelers fan, Tony Vinski, started the web site www.steelerbars.com at the start of the 2008 season. Vinski said he isn’t even a Diaspora member — the lucky guy lives in Pittsburgh— but he was searching for a bar to view the game while visiting family in Pottstown, PA (too close to Eagles territory for many!) He decided there should be an easier way to find all the bars where a Steelers Nation passport would be honored.

Vinski said he gets about 5,000 views a month during the season. Traffic to his site really increases on the day before and the day of a game, and even bigger spikes occur when the Steelers play against rivals and during the playoffs. Vinski said he isn’t surprised by the far-flung fans’ loyalty to the team.

“Pittsburgh has that small-town feel, so I think being a Steelers fan is the most tangible way ex-pats can still feel connected with their hometown,” he said.

Swank agrees that even in her city, bonding over football brings some Steel City spirit to the land of Dixie. She said one of her favorite experiences was her first time experiencing Steeler Nation outside of the beloved ‘burgh: when the Steelers played the Tennesee Titans at LP Field in Week 2.

“I sat in a section FULL of Steelers fans. I'd say almost half of the stadium was covered in black and gold,” Swank said.

And the night before, Swank said Steelers Nation invaded the main club area in town, with chants ringing loudly through the street all night and continuing on into Sunday — especially after the beloved black-and-gold guys won the game.

Amongst such groups, Swank said, there is an immediate camaraderie.

“And the conversation immediately begins, ‘Where are you from?’ And the reply is always a neighborhood -- ‘Squirrel Hill,’ ‘Sewickley’ --  never ‘Pittsburgh.’ Incredible, incredible stuff,” Swank said.

Crawshaw, too, said she can find some Steelers fans down in Carolina. And even when she can’t, she’s up for a rivalry.

“In fact, I watched a few games with a friend who's a big Ravens fan — and we didn't kill each other,” Crawshaw said.

Of course, not every city a Pittsburgh ex-pat lands in can offer a Steelers nation so easily. I can remember a frozen night in Budapest, Hungary two winters ago: just around 4 in the morning, screams started piercing through the small studio apartment I rented there, and I bolted upright in my bed.

It wasn’t the sound of an opportunistic burglar seizing on the young American living abroad, but rather the joy of Steelers Nation streaming through my iTunes player, announcing that my team had made my hometown into Sixburgh with another Super Bowl win.

An ocean and six time zones away, I couldn’t find Iron City beer or a bar showing the game, but I still grabbed the nearest local brew, and toasted the win to my silent street (or "utca," I should say).

Because after all, as Vinski puts it: “The Steelers franchise seems to embody a lot of the traits of Pittsburghers themselves. So I think when they are rooting for the Steelers they are also rooting for their own core value system by extension. Well, that and Steeler fans know how to throw a good party!”

And that’s a sentiment that can cross any distance in these playoff-ready days. I know I’ll be thinking about it this year from my home near Washington, D.C., when I cruise down to one of my favorite finds on Vinski’s site, The Pour House.

After all, you can teach a Sewickley girl how to navigate the Metro system, but not
how to cheer for the Redskins!