I first noticed it at the Seahawks game in Chicago last year. The number "54" was being burned into my retinas. "Is there some law that every last white Bears fan has to wear Urlacher's jersey?" I wondered, looking for the telltale placard.
All Bears fans must wear the jersey of someone who's the same color they are. - Mayor Richard M. DaleyI could find no exceptions, black or white. This fascinated me. I've since kept an eye on this.
Seattle fans are overwhelmingly white, of course, and they wear the jerseys of one of the three Seahawks players they've heard of: Hasselbeck (white), Alexander (black), or Tatupu (Samoan). I can't recall ever seeing black fans in the stands in Seattle, but I'm sure they'd wear something ultra-defensive. In Atlanta, white folks wore black folks' jerseys—especially Vick's—but there aren't exactly a lot of white stars on the Falcons. And apparently there haven't been for 21 years, as I did see Steve Bartkowski's jersey several times. Black fans uniformly stuck to black players' jerseys. Ditto in Charlotte.
It was in Charlotte that I saw the trend broken. Seated in front of us was an entire family from Pittsburgh. They were cloyingly all dressed alike. Mom, Dad, son, and toddler all wore Roethlisberger's jersey. They were black. Roethlisberger is white. I was surprised by how surprised I was.
A quick scan of the 20,000 Steeler fans who'd made the trip revealed no pattern whatsoever to jersey selection. Oh, a few more fans wore white tight end Heath Miller's jersey than his production merits, but I attribute this to political protest more than racial insight. The Steelers never throw to their tight end.
I remembered tailgating in Pittsburgh. There are the usual Pittsburgh demographics present: Italians, blacks, Irish, and especially Poles. I remembered no racial clustering, though, outside of families. The only other place I've tailgated in an integrated fashion is Oakland. Everywhere else, complete segregation.
During a long drive yesterday, I listened to a podcast from Pittsburgh. I was struck by how this black fan integrated a dreadful, Steelers-themed polka into his broadcast. And I was struck by how oddly affirming I find that.