PITTSBURGH -- Being a Green Bay fan in Pittsburgh at Super Bowl time is tough. It's a little easier when your son is the Packers' head coach.
Joe and Ellen McCarthy used to have Terrible Towels. They used to have Steelers flags on the outside of their house in Greenfield. But not any longer. Now, it's a sea of green-and-gold Packers paraphernalia inside.
The McCarthys told WTAE Channel 4 Action News reporter Ari Hait that they are still Steelers fans, but they just have another team they like more -- the one coached by their son, Mike.
"It's hard to even explain how proud you are. He's done so well and he's kept to being himself," Ellen McCarthy said.
"Probably difficult for us to watch more than for him to coach, because he's pretty well composed when he's coaching," Joe McCarthy said.
Mike McCarthy grew up as a diehard Steelers fan in Greenfield, just like the rest of the family. They all went to Detroit when the Steelers won "one for the thumb" in Super Bowl XL.
The proud parents have been to Green Bay's Lambeau Field many times and will travel to Dallas on Thursday in advance of Super Bowl XLV, the biggest game of their son's life.
"Feels great to have the two teams in there, but we want the Steelers -- err, we want the Packers to win," Joe McCarthy said with a laugh.
"You don't want to be negative towards them, but we know we're going to win -- the Packers," Ellen McCarthy said
The McCarthys said Mike got tickets for 22 family members for the big game at Cowboys Stadium -- and that's just on his side of the family. He also got tickets for his wife's family.
ABC Pittsburgh wrote: