Maria Vargas, an ex-pat from Pittsburgh and huge Steelers fan, was sick and tired of the name-calling, the beer-throwing, and the taunting of Browns fans. All she wanted was a little peace and quiet and a few fellow Steelers fans to watch the games with. Was that too much to ask?
Well, of course it was. But who knew it would be this bad?
A few weeks ago, Vargas started a meet-up group for Cleveland-based Steelers fans. She posted a listing online and immediately found many enthusiastic compatriots. She also, unfortunately, found Bill, a 50-something Browns fan, whose main occupation, it seemed, was to hunt and taunt Steelers fans. “I want to be there with you to see the Steelers first loss,” he threatened. (How was that anyway, Bill?)
Vargas, an officially designated Very Nice Girl™, decided she didn’t want a very un-nice man in her Steelers group, so she politely kicked his loser ass out. Thus began weeks of e-mail stalking. “I believe that we are still in America, at least I hope we are,” wrote Bill, whose America membership card was actually revoked around the time he started e-taunting 105 pound women. “How rude for you to remove me from this group,” he wrote in another email. “I bet you are too chicken to allow the entire group to even know what you have done. I bet you did this to others. Rather sick! Go back to peetown,” he wrote in another. Then, despite pleas from his 75-year-old mother to “get off the damn typewriter and get a damn job,” Bill professed to know the owner of every bar she’d planned on watching the game at. “You are not welcome here,” he informed her, which is ironic, since Bill is no doubt unwelcome everywhere he ever goes.
“I feel like I’m in the middle of a bad soap opera,” Vargas complains.
But it seems Bill is not discriminatory in who he chooses to badger. At last note, members of a local Bengals group were complaining about a Browns-loving, pre-school taunting presence on their site.
Thankfully, we at Scene are now onto Bill’s moves. This week, we’ll be monitoring the Oakland Raiders site, looking for Bill, the only man in the world who can make us feel bad for these guys:
— Rebecca Meiser
This article appears in Sep 19-25, 2007.
DEAR REBECCA.
As a loyal citizen of the Raider Nation I salute you. Loyalty to ones chosen team is for fun. Taugnting isn’t that bad when done in the spirit of having a little fun. But hurting people in any way shape or form is not very distastful and should always be discouraged and stopped when ever possible.
As a Raider fan we are always seen as the guys you have in your picture. They are fun to watch but are not representative of the vast majority of fans who don’t were the garbs. I have nothing but respect for these dudes and dudettes… they are part of what the Nation is but most of us don’t have that kind of desire and or need in order to show our loyalty.
Consequently I would be lieing to you if I said I didn’t feel a little glee when clowns like this guy “Bill” surfice for other teams. But after the joy and after articles like yours I am brought back to the knowledge that… we are all just people here after all. We all just want to have a little fun and a little fantasy to entertain us. A little distraction from our daily lives is a good thing.
Don’t worry about “Bill” Actually you should feel sorry for him… Besides, he may be able to terrorise a very nice lady but he will have a very different experience trying to take on the Nation…
great article lady. And all the luck for your Browns, except this coming Sunday that is, hehehe…
Rebecca
I love the game of football! I agree with the last Raider Fan that posted. This guy “Bill†should not be harassing people in a violent manner. If football teams didn’t have rivalries the game wouldn’t be fun. I think creating a Steelers Football club in Cleveland was a great idea. I’m a hardcore Raider fan living in Denver Colorado. I get it and give it everyday. You think Bill and some Brown fans are bad….come to Denver. But at the end the fans are not the over paid heroes on the gridiron. Sunday’s can still be fun!
Regards, JJ
PS…. Calling bill to the Black Hole! Please pick your ticket at the will call!!
Typical type of fans from OHIO. All they care about is bringing other people down who are fans of other teams. Sorry Ohio its not everyone else’s fault your teams suck!!
Ohio teams suck? Last time I checked, the Cavs were the Eastern Champs, the Tribe were the Central Champs, and the Buckeyes played in the national championship last year. Doesn’t sound like suck to me, sounds more like jealousy.
Good. Get all those inbred Steeler fans out of Ohio.
There are LOTS of Steeler fans in Cleveland and Ohio…but very little Browns fans in Pennsylvania and hardly any in Pittsburgh…mainly the reason alot of Steeler fans are anywhere near Cleveland is for a job, conversely this is why there are no Cleveland fans in Pittsburgh due to the fact that no Browns fans have jobs. I have been to 4 Cleveland-Pittsburgh games in my life and all of them were in Cleveland because some disillusioned Browns fan has given them to me. Yep…four Browns-Steelers games in Cleveland and ZERO dollars having to pay for them due to scared Browns fans not wanting to go…the 41-0 drubbing was pretty awesome especially with the 15,000 or so Steeler fans there. I will end this with….THE BROWNS SUCK THE BROWNS SUCK THE BROWNS SUCK, but thanks for beating the Bengals.