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Monday, January 06, 2003

By Johnna A. Pro, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

When Diane Antonette walked into the Oregon Bar and Grille wearing a Jerome Bettis jersey and black and gold Mardi Gras beads just before 11 a.m. yesterday she was, at that moment, the bravest woman in Pittsburgh.

	Dennis Tyra of Butler reveals the team he's really rooting for while accompanying girlfriend and Steelers fan Diane Antonette of McCandless to a game-day gathering of the Pittsburgh Browns Backers yesterday at the Oregon Bar and Grille in Ross. (Martha Rial, Post-Gazette)

At any other tavern in town, heck, in Western Pennsylvania for that matter, Antonette would have been welcomed with open arms instead of loud hisses and boos.

But the Oregon isn't just any bar.

Hard as it is to believe, it's the regular home of the Pittsburgh Browns Backers who began taunting Antonette as she came through the door with that growling "woofing" sound only a dog can make.

"Maybe I should have put my coat on," said Antonette, of McCandless, losing her mask of bravado, but only for a few seconds. "No, I'm proud. I'm proud to be a Steelers fan, even in here."

That's right, folks. Not only are there Browns fans living among us, they have their own bar in Ross -- or at least a corner of it. And from 10 a.m. through the third quarter yesterday, the Oregon seemed to be all Browns all the time.

"We're always outnumbered in our own city, every week," said Gary Zbittley, of Ross, who was with his wife, Kelli, cheering the Steelers. "Even if we're not playing each other, they're always here."

The Pittsburgh Browns Backers laid claim to the Oregon two years ago after being rejected by a number of bar owners who wanted the crowd but refused to show the Cleveland games.

Oregon owner John Stenglin, though, took pity on the group. He figured that if its president, Dr. Paul Carson, could guarantee a regular Sunday bunch at the bar and restaurant, he'd give them one television on which to watch their team play. (When it comes to business, green is the only color that matters.)

"We're basically just a bunch of people who like to get together to watch the game," said Carson, who started the local Browns Backers with a five-member organizing committee in 1999. Carson's merry little band, which has since grown to a crowd of 50 to 100 Dawg Pound devotees, are good-naturedly separated from Steelers fans by police-issue "caution" tape.

On any given Sunday, the Browns fans cheer for their team and any team playing the Steelers.

On the opposite side of the bar, Steelers fans root for the black and gold, and, of course, any team playing the Browns.

Stenglin is quick to point out that the Oregon is "still a Steelers bar," but in the interest of good sportsmanship, he tries to be objective, especially on a day when the two teams play each other.

"I try to be neutral when I have to mediate," he said. "I'm Switzerland. I tell everybody I'm cheering for overtime. It keeps them here a little longer."

Yesterday, as they do each Sunday, the Pittsburgh Browns Backers hung their own banners, sported all manner of Browns attire including dog masks, and waved orange pompoms. Most drank Rolling Rock, but Stenglin also sells Burning River, an Ohio beer, so they feel at home.

And for much of the game yesterday, they were indeed at home.

As the Pittsburgh Steelers appeared to do nothing right and the Browns appeared to do nothing wrong, 150 Browns Backers from as far away as Chicago and Virginia that were camped out in their section of the bar cheered, chanted and barked at their team's 17-point lead over the Steelers at Heinz Field.

About half as many Steelers fan could do little but cry in their beer as they watched their team fall victim to turnovers and an on-fire Cleveland offense.

And then, as if by magic, it happened.

By the fourth quarter of the game, with the Steelers regaining their momentum, Steelers fans at the Oregon regained their momentum, too.

The Steelers crowd swelled in size, raising the level of din in the bar to a deafening roar as the clock ticked away and the Steelers narrowed the gap to five points.

The Browns Backers cheered loudly. They prayed.

The Steelers fans cheered loudly, too. They prayed even harder.

Fans on both sides looked pained.

And finally, with less than a minute left on the play clock, the improbable happened. Pittsburgh scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion to pull ahead by three points, sending pandemonium through the bar as strangers hugged, kissed and high-fived with sheer joy.

In the Browns Backers' corner, Cleveland fans tried to remain optimistic.

"It's not over," called Cathy Puthoff, who watched the game with husband, Joe, and sons, Mike, 15, and Matt, 19.

But despite blind devotion to their team, the Puthoffs and others could only listen as Steelers fans called out the countdown and began their chant:

"Go home, Cleveland."

It was good-natured ribbing, but only for a few minutes because in the end, good sportsmanship, which the Oregon promotes, prevailed.

Many of the Steelers fans, including Michael Obrycki, of the North Side, crossed the bar to shake hands with Browns fans who had cheered their hearts out all day only to see their team suffer a heartbreaking loss in the final seconds.

"I'm just congratulating them," Obrycki said. "It was a hell of a game and some of them traveled a long way."