For Pittsburgh Steeler sports fans, football season is ready to get underway and erase the memories of another summer with the Pirates.

Being from the Pittsburgh area, I still follow each of the teams since each one represents memories and local culture (including the Pirates, I hope to see them when they’re in LA in mid-September). If you have a Steeler football fan in your house here are some ways to make them happy:

Buy a Pittsburgh Steeler mug. I like mugs and one of my kids bought one for me last year and I use it all the time. It’s tough guy black with a gold ring ¼ of the way up, the logo emblazoned on it. It’s about 4 inches high and 3 ½ inches wide at the top – about the size of Willie Parker’s big toe!

Have a Steeler football kick-off party complete with kielbasa, sauerkraut and either Iron City Beer or Rolling Rock beer. Okay, Rolling Rock is no longer brewed in Latrobe but you can pretend it is! Buy black and gold plates if you can find them and say things to each other like “Go Stillers!” or “Sahside” for South Side.

Decorate the Steeler’s Schedule. Print off a copy of their schedule, decorate it on craft paper, real feminine-like, and fold it inside a card that says something like “Don’t Forget about Me.”

Or, better yet, if you’re a woman giving it to your man, give him both the schedule and a picture of you dressed in lingerie with the question “Which would you rather choose?”

Google Steeler fan clubs outside Pittsburgh.

If you don’t live in the Steel City, then search for Steeler football fan clubs and give your significant other – SO (which sounds more like a football term) – the listing of the club and when they meet.

Give broken mugs of Steeler rivals.

Buy mugs of the Steelers’ biggest rivals like Baltimore, Dallas, Cleveland or Tennessee and then smash them – giving the little pieces to your “Stillers” fan. Better yet, take a video clip of you smashing the mugs.

I actually think Baltimore and Dallas are nice cities. Honestly, I’ve never been to Cleveland even though I only grew up less than 3 hours away. Two blogs I recommend: www.stillers.com for an honest, in-depth appraisal of the team’s performance each week and SBnation.com and the Steelers blogs within that. Here’s to a great 2009 Steeler Football Season!