When I watched sports as a young child in the 1980s, I assumed most successful athletes were heroes who were embraced in their professional hometowns.
Sure, you’d read or hear about the occasional bad relationship between a superstar and the fans and/or media, but they seemed to be the exception.
Even former Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who was super-sensitive to fan criticism when he struggled to gain his footing early in his NFL career, had already earned the adulation of the black and gold faithful well-before he won his second-straight Super Bowl MVP award after leading the Steelers to their fourth Lombardi trophy in six seasons back in January of 1980.