Kennedy: What I've learned from NFL

By the time you read this, my blood pressure will be sky high.

My favorite NFL team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, will be playing today in Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa against the Arizona Cardinals.

You’d think I’d be elated — my team competing for a chance to win an unprecedented sixth Super Bowl title and all.

But no. I’m one of those white-knuckle fans who can’t relax and watch a game. I’ve got to pace, shout and slap chairs. I will end the night with a headache, even if the Steelers win.

I was musing to a co-worker earlier this week: “I don’t know why I even follow football. I make myself miserable, and during a game I’m a real pain in the patootie to be around.”

I’ve decided that I’m not genetically suited to be a football fan. Some of us with Scots-Irish genes, shaped by 700 years of nearly continuous border wars in Europe, are not made to watch simulated struggles like football. When we watch games, our bodies, on some primal level, think we are going to war. Be warned: This makes us very unlikely at a Super Bowl party to smile and pass the guacamole dip.

I’ve tried to discover this week if there any redeeming reasons to be an NFL fan. I’ve decided that being a Steelers fan has taught me some life lessons.

So here goes:

n Don’t overspend.

The Pittsburgh Steelers practice thrift. Generally, when players get too expensive, they let them go to free agency. Getting the most value from its personnel budget has allowed the team to appear in 14 AFC championship games, swimming upstream against the league salary cap that encourages parity.

The same goes with personal finance. Don’t overspend and you’ll be better prepared to deal with the inevitable ups and downs of life.

n Respect windows of opportunity.

In the 1970s, the Steelers won four Super Bowl rings in six years. That’s being opportunistic.

That the team went 26 years before winning it’s next NFL championship, only proves that you must strike while the iron is hot. That’s good advice for life, too.

n Believe in magic.

The Steelers run of success in the 1970s began with a miraculous catch in a 1972 divisional playoff game nicknamed the “Immaculate Reception.” Running back Franco Harris picked ricocheted pass off his show tops for a game-winning touchdown.

In a lifetime of striving, it’s often the unexpected gifts (not just the earnings) that mean the most.

n Experience counts.

The Steelers team that will take the field in Tampa today is rated No. 1 in the NFL in almost every meaningful defensive category. The team’s defensive coordinator is a man named Dick LeBeau who is 71 years old. This is his 50th year in the NFL, as first a player and now a coach.

This makes me feel young on a day that may actually age me a couple of years.