"The same as so many others of his brethren, Randy Waters isn't hiding his Steelers enthusiasm behind enemy lines this week.

He propped up a huge black-and-gold sign pointing customers along North Arizona Avenue to his gourmet hot dog store inside an eastern-Phoenix antiques mall. He adorned his shop with Steelers and Pirates paraphernalia. He put a Point-view photograph ofDowntown Pittsburgh on his menu, where the fare includes a meatball sandwich, The Great One (for late Pirates star Roberto Clemente), and Klondike Bars ("a Pittsburgh 'n Isaly's original"). And he nailed to the back wall a sign that reads, "Pittsburgh Willy's reserves the right to refuse service to Cleveland fans."

For weeks during this NFL season, he draped a banner above his seating area, to stimulate business: "The Ultimate Super Bowl -- Steelers vs. Cardinals."

Did he believe that dream would come true?

"Hell, no," said Mr. Walters, 55, born in Monongahela but now a 34-year Arizona resident and Cardinals season-ticket holder who one day last week was wearing a smile and a Steelers.com T-shirt. "But I knew Pittsburgh would be there."

Funny how it worked out.

Super Bowl XLIII next Sunday in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium is placing a few displaced fans of the Steelers (14-4) between desert rocks and a hard Superstition Mountains place deep inside Arizona. But you can hardly call this Cardinals (12-7) country, because, as Mr. Walters said, "so many people move out here" and hold onto their hometown allegiances. Another factor is that the Cardinals, the losingest franchise in NFL history, won only two postseason games in 89 years, the past 20 spent in the Valley of the Sun, before dashing off three victories in a row this month to reach its inaugural Super Bowl.

"The Arizona Cardinals are no one's team," said Mike Rossman, 69. The East Liberty native runs a business called Pittsburgh Souvenir and Novelty out of his Scottsdale, Ariz., home, which he bought in 1997 to spend eight months in the desert and four back in Southwestern Pennsylvania. "And I don't sell [Cardinals] stuff at all. In all the years I've been doing this, I've been asked for Cardinals stuff maybe five times."

Sherry Snyder is even more pro-Pittsburgh.

"Yes, it has been so hard these past few days, dealing with people -- the bandwagoners -- around me at my office, and even my so-called friends who are sending me nasty jokes and e-mails... and such. It's ridiculous," she wrote in an e-mail. "I am trying to laugh it off, realizing that these people don't have a clue as to what it means to be a Steelers fan, or sadly a fan for that matter.

"But I'm willing to take the heat. I will never, ever back down from my support. I'm a 'Burgh girl until I die."

Ms. Snyder, 36, a banker, moved from Baldwin Borough to Arizona four years ago and bought Cardinals season tickets to "see my Steelers play here.

"Phoenix is a Steeler town. ... Now, the past two