“Days of Our Steelers”: How a YouTube Series Satirized a Toxic NFL Team

(CONTENT WARNING: Links that contain references to harassment and sexual assault.)

“This week, on Days of Our Steelers…”

With those words, YouTuber and Pittsburgh native UrinatingTree starts to take apart his hometown Steelers. In doing so, “Tree” explores one of the most toxic workplaces imaginable. Scratch that, it’s a prime example of everything wrong with sports culture in a nutshell. All based around a simple joke: the 2018–19 Steelers season was a daytime soap playing out in real-time.

The organization was inept and the team had been inconsistent. QB Ben Roethlisberger (“LEADER OF MEN”) was, and has always been, a blight on humanity. WR Antonio Brown developed into the type of diva that would make Instagram models roll their eyes. All the while, RB Le’Veon Bell had a contract holdout that lasted the entire season, all while goofing off and rapping terribly. Throughout the season, Tree used the drama to create a truly fascinating YouTube series, the entirety of which is here, submitted for your consideration.