Stomping the Terrible Towel
The Terrible Towel turned
33 years old yesterday
Terrible Towel c. December 27, 1975
December 28, 2008 -- Late in the football game, December
21, 2008, some Tennessee Titans were caught on camera wiping their noses
with, and stomping upon, the Terrible Towel. Showing national
disrespect for the Flag of Steeler Nation. No one in the media
seemed to be more upset than former Steelers coach Bill Cowher. He
is well aware of the Towel’s power and legacy in helping win four
out of the five Steelers’ Lombardi Trophies.
Stomp this!
Don't Tread on Me
STEELER
NATION PATRIOTS
F-15 of the
USAF 4th Fighter Wing
While serving over three decades as
an iconic symbol of fan support for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the
Terrible Towel has much deeper meaning.
Sales of the Towel
have raised millions of dollars for a worthwhile cause -- the
Allegheny Valley School -- which currently operates more than
120 facilities and programs across Pennsylvania helping
individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
There’s a second inanimate aspect of the Towel that the Titans
obviously aren’t aware of, and that’s its powerful Magic. Only one
other iconic item of Pittsburgh sports fame came close to its powers
and that was “The Green Weenie” from the 1960’s. Unlike the
Towel’s positive forces, however, the Weenie was somewhat of a hex
device used to jinx opposing baseball teams playing the Pittsburgh
Pirates. Pirate fans aimed and shook the green plastic hot dog at
opposing pitchers, causing the loose beans inside to make a rattling
sound.
"The
Terrible Towel is not an instrument of
witchcraft. It is not a hex upon the
enemy. The Towel is a positive force
that lifts the Steelers to magnificent
heights and poses mysterious
difficulties for the Steelers' opponents
only if need be. Many have told me that
the Terrible Towel brought them good
fortune, but I can't guarantee that sort
of thing because the Steelers, after
all, are the Towel's primary concern.
Still, at the least, the symbol of the
Terrible Towel will serve as a memento
of your having been part of the Steeler
Dynasty of the 1970s. And if it causes
good things to happen to you, so much
the better." Myron Cope
|
Another Pittsburgh sports hack totally whimped-out, suggesting
the Titans’ disrespect for the Terrible Towel was no big deal, of
little importance. He implied the act wasn’t comparable to wiping
your feet on the US Flag. Maybe not to him! But to
thousands of Steelers fans it held the same significance.
While the Terrible Towel’s power has worked mostly good deeds in
favor of the Steelers, it remains to be seen if the ‘worm will
turn’ on the Tennessee Titans, due to their national
disrespect for the Flag of Steeler Nation, the Terrible Towel.
Their remaining games will spin the rest of this tale.
UPDATES
December 28, 2008 -- The week after the
Titans stomped on the Terrible Towel, they produced 125 net yards
and got skunked by the Colts, 23-0
January 10, 2009 -- Even though the Titans
produced nearly twice as many net yards and held the football 8 minutes
longer, they lost
13-10 to the Ravens in front of a home crowd waving Baby Blue towels. The #1
playoff seed was thereby
eliminated from the playoffs.
January 26, 2009 -- During an airport pep
rally sendoff, Big Red, the Arizona Cardinals' mascot,
wiped his arm pits with a Terrible Towel then handed it to
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon who pretended to blow his
nose on it, wadded it up and threw it on the ground.
February 1, 2009 -- The Arizona Cardinals
lost Super Bowl XLIII to the Pittsburgh Steelers,
27-23. The Steelers won an unprecedented 6th Lombardi Trophy.
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Myron Cope
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