TAMPA BAY, FL—Just days before the Super Bowl, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ public relations department announced that the team’s vaunted “Steel Curtain” defense would be renamed to more accurately reflect their city’s current vocational demographics.
“With the sunset of the foundry era in Pittsburgh an acknowledged reality, it was time to take a serious look at team nicknames,” media relations director Tina McClary said. “After reviewing Pittsburgh’s current position as a leader in financial services, health-care management, and corporate administration, we settled on the ’Mid-Level White-Collar Curtain’ or ’Middle Management’ as the new nickname for our defense. As usual, our offense will have no particular nickname.” McClary would not speculate on whether or not the team would change the Steeler name itself, but admitted that executives had looked at uniform designs for the Pittsburgh Retailers, the Pittsburgh Biomedical Technicians, and the Pittsburgh Eighth-Most Fortune 500 Company Corporate Headquarters Hosters.
