One Sweed-Ass Game!

I had no idea that the Steelers had cut last year's second-round bust, Limas "Lame-Ass" Sweed and that the Baltimore Ravens picked him up and figured out a way to clone His Royal Sweedness 21 times and have them all play the entire game. And yet, there I was--just hours ago--watching the Sweedest game of the season.

I mean, damn! Ravens! Yall had it in the bag. You could've clinched your own playoff spot and knock the Steelers out of the hunt. Yet, you spread your Sweedness all over the Sweedin' field and Sweeded yourselves into a precarious playoff position while giving your arch-rivals hope for another day!

I mean, 11 penalties for 113 yards?!!! Two of which negated not "sure" touchdowns, but actual touchdowns?!!!

Even you'll have to admit that you deserve to lose after such a performance. Oh yeah. I forgot. Right. The refs threw the game.

Well, we know who didn't catch the game...



Yep. Your boy Derrick Mason pulled the Sweed of all plays by dropping a nice floating pass while he was wide-open in the end zone, letting the ball bounce off his face mask instead of landing in his hands. I heard our boy, Limas, cried on the sidelines with pride in his eyes.

Now, I gotta confess, after the Steelers plummeted from 6-2 to 6-6, I'd completely given up hope for this year. I figured, a Super Bowl champ who loses to KC, Oakland, and Cleveland didn't deserve to be in the playoffs. But after last week's miracle against Green Bay ...





and your complete Sweed-up today, B'more, I'm starting to like our chances.

Now, if only the Eagles would stop Sweedin' around and beat these stupid Broncos!!!


























This post dedicated to M.C. and M.D.

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Time to Hang 'Em Up, Ben

Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's career ended on June 12, 2006. That was the day "the youngest quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl championship," full of youth, hubris, and foolishness five months after said Super Bowl championship rode his motorcycle, helmet-less, into an oncoming vehicle, busting up his knee, breaking his jaw and nose and, way too apparently (even soon after the accident), busting up his noggin pretty good.

I know it sounds pretty ridiculous to say that a quarterback who has thrown for over 13,000 yards, 86 touchdowns, and 60 interceptions and has led his team to yet another Super Bowl victory since that incident ended his career three and a half years ago. And yet ...

No, wait. Strike that. What was really ridiculous was the day that really ended Roethlisberger's career: August 11, 2006. That was the day that Steeler head coach, Bill Cowher, knowing full well that Big Ben had suffered a serious head injury, declared Roethlisberger would start the first pre-season game: "He will play for a short period of time, and I will leave it at that. Everyone else will play a series or two."

Ben promptly sprained a thumb ligament on his throwing hand in that game. So, he had the busted-up knee, jaw, and nose, the messed-up thumb, and, oh yeah! the concussion!

He was still scheduled to start the 2006-07 season opener until he was rushed to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. He actually missed the season opener (Charlie Batch started in his place) but was back for the second game--just two weeks after doctors cut into his stomach. He was 17 of 32 passing for 141 yards while throwing two interceptions and was sacked twice--a story we rarely heard his first two seasons before his accident but one we've heard damned near every game since the accident.

So, if you're still keeping count, before Ben even started that season he had the busted-up knee, jaw, nose, and thumb; the abdominal surgery (which I've heard takes something like six months to recover from); and, oh yeah! the motherfucking concussion!!!

For us fans it was a frustrating experience, as the Steelers stumbled onto an 8-8 record and completely missed the playoffs. The "experts" and pundits blamed lack of intensity on Pittsburgh's lackluster performance. Personally, I blamed that motorcycle accident and, most importantly, Bill Cowher.

Without getting too much into it, I've seen a bit of what a serious head injury can do to a person. How it can diminish them. Turn a very intelligent person into someone who can barely retain the strains of a conversation--let alone a job. How a usually mild-mannered person can turn into a tempest of emotion with violent, depressive mood swings.

I also talked to my mother-in-law, who's a doctor in nursing, about the Roethlisberger accident. She'd told me that someone with that serious of a head injury would not be allowed to be very active for an entire year after the incident--let alone play football!!!--because having a concussion makes one more susceptible to getting more concussions. Head injuries generally take a year to heal, and it is really hard to detect the extent of damage the brain has received until months after the incident.

In other words, there was absolutely no way that Big Ben should've been playing that season. No medical professional (outside of the sports industry) would've allowed him to jog on a treadmill (to say nothing of playing football) for months after his head went through that windshield. It was simply too dangerous for him to be on the field. They were risking further damage to the man's brain and, for all they knew, his life.

And the infuriating thing is, they had to have known. Yet, they kept Ben out there.

On October 26, in a game against the Atlanta Falcons, Roethlisberger was carted off the field with yet another concussion. The Steelers were 2-4 after that game. And yet, the next week, with two concussions in four months, he played against the Oakland Raiders.

He played one of the worst games of his life against one of the worst teams in the league--fumbling the ball once and throwing four interceptions. Something was obviously wrong. And, though I was well aware of the supermachismo that rules football, I was still furious. Roethlisberger shouldn't have been out there, and, if I knew it and my mother-in-law knew it, then Bill Cowher had to know it, too. After that Oakland loss, the Steelers were 2-5--their season effectively over. There was absolutely no reason to have Ben continue the season.

But his determination to start Ben seemed personal. There were times in Cowher's reign when things seemed to get personal with him. Like his benching Kordell Stewart just three games after he led the Steelers to the AFC Championship game--though the two losses were to the far superior New England Patriots (Super Bowl champs) and the Oakland Raiders. Then the millions the Steelers were paying to have a healthy Duce Staley sit on the sidelines.

It seemed like he was punishing Roethlisberger for being stupid enough to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. He probably didn't want the boy to ride a motorcycle period, and he was going to show Roethlisberger the error of his ways. It didn't matter what happened to the Steelers' season--which was ruined by this decision. Nor did it matter how dinged up the boy got--he ... would ... learn.

But I think what we're all learning is that Cowher's decision has probably prematurely ended Roethlisberger's career. 'Cause one of the many things that last Thursday's game against Cleveland showed me is that, once again, something ain't right with Big Ben. After coming back way too soon from yet another concussion, he just didn't look himself or particularly aware of what was going on around him as he was sacked eight times against one of the worst defenses in the league.

I know that the NFL is now playing lip service to taking concussions seriously. If that were really true, I don't know how they let Roethlisberger play another down after his latest concussion suffered during the Kansas City game. As I've stated, having one concussion makes you more susceptible to receiving others. Since Ben's accident three and a half years ago, he's had four head concussions and one spinal cord concussion (whatever that is).

Now that the league has been forced to acknowledge that these head injuries can lead to a shortened life of depression, suicide, and tragically violent outbursts, it's time that they acknowledge that four concussions is simply too much for one person to suffer, to acknowledge that they have more than likely caused irreparable damage, and that it is football that caused it.

Personally, I wish Bill Cowher would get on the air and explain why he did it. Why, on August 11, 2006, he decided that a seriously injured Ben Roethlisberger was going to be his starting quarterback. Was it machismo, some form of punishment, actual ignorance, or was it the short-term costs of having your million-dollar starting QB out a season that drove his decision to shorten Ben Roethlisberger's career and possibly his life?

Because the former is most definitely shortened. The League may not be as serious as they're acting right now. However, folks are becoming more and more aware of the damage that concussions do. And we can be fairly certain that Big Ben, "one of the toughest quarterbacks in the league," will continue to suffer them. And there will come a point--probably not next season but probably the season after that--when he'll have suffered so many concussions that there will be a public outcry (though, apparently Hines Ward will be calling him a "pussy") for him to hang up the cleats.

I hate to say it--because I love the way the man plays and I love the way he keeps winning Super Bowls for us--but I think that time is now. He is not only one blow to the head away from ending his career--but possibly, just possibly, one away from ever possibly having a normal life again.

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Stop Yer Bitchin'--You Lost!!!

Last night at work, while still basking in the afterglow of the Steelers' glorious victory over the Vikings, I ran across this article, Vikings Gave This One Away, in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The writer, Sid Hartman, claims that the Purple Poopy Eaters (Poohbutt's term--not mine) could've won the game if it hadn't been for their numerous errors. Well, duh.

The Vikes did commit a lot of penalties and did lose two turnovers at the end of the game that the defense converted into touchdowns. But they did not "give" the game away. It's a nice premise--one all us fans rely on--but it simply did not happen. In fact, I would argue that it never does.

In that same game, the Steelers also made errors that could've cost them the game. Kicker Jeff Reed decided to poussé push returner Percy Harvin, allowing the much bigger, stronger man to scamper 88 yards to the end zone, and Rashard Mendenhall fumbled on the Vikings three yard-line when the Steelers were marching to put the game away.

The point being, good teams not only make errors during games, but they also cause their opponents to make errors themselves. Brett Favre fumbled the ball because he was stripped of the ball. He threw the game-winning interception because the pass rush made him rush his own pass, Chester Taylor wasn't ready, the ball bounced out of his hands into Keyaron Fox's, who rumbled into the end zone.

These "errors" were forced errors created by a good team. They weren't given, they were taken. Much like hard work can create good luck, "errors" are created by good teams. That's what makes them good. That's what makes them winners. The Vikings didn't give the game away. It was taken from them.

Hartman's "analysis" was annoying enough, but what really got my goat was the comments section, where the Vikings loyalists proceeded to whip the biggest scapegoat in all of sports: the refs.

Now look, every time one's team loses, the first blame almost always goes to the referees. We fans generally just can't believe our team lost--can't fathom that they might just actually suck and got what they deserve. So, we are always pointing to the refs as the key difference. We fans are like any other delusional psychotic--we would all succeed if the world just weren't against us. That world being the men (and one day women) in the zebra outfits.

It is true that the Vikings' being called for defensive delay of game was about as confounding as interpretive dance, and the tripping call that negated that Vikings' TD was specious at best. But these Vikings fans chose to forget that the Steelers also had a TD called back on an offensive pass interference call on Heath Miller who was chucked into another defensive player on the other side of the field from where the TD pass was thrown!

Those negated touchdowns were both bad calls. In fact, they actually negated each other--which rarely happens in sports. It wasn't the refs' fault that the former led to a Vikings' turnover and Steelers TD and the latter resulted in a Steelers' field goal.

Bad calls are a part of the game. So are good calls. As well as no-calls. It is hard to believe that, with 22 testosterone- and adrenaline-charged pituitary cases charging and crashing into each other, there isn't a penalty occurring on every, single play. Whether they're called or not shouldn't matter. A team's charge is to win the game--no matter what the referees are doing.

Look, we NFL fans are lucky that our refereeing isn't as horrid as the NBA's--where a foul is only called if a player doesn't have enough outside endorsements. Allen Iverson's dribbling motion is the exact motion for the carrying call. Yet, he has probably never been called for palming the ball, which he does every damned time he touches the ball. Last year, I watched LeBron James pick up the ball and take three, friggin' steps to slam the ball home (for those who don't know, you're only allowed one and a half). Centers used to be called for fouls for having their faces impede the progress of Shaq's elbow every time he went up to dunk.

Last year, I briefly tried watching the Lakers/Nuggets playoffs. Then I saw three defenders get out of Kobe's way and let him drive the lane in order to avoid the inevitable foul (I guess he inherited the benefits of the "thinking-about-fouling-Jordan" foul). The last time I checked, unless the guy hits a home run, your job as a defender is to stop a rapist bastard from scoring! When the announcers started screaming orgasmic about what a phenomenal athlete Kobe was, I turned the TV off in disgust. Shit, even I can score if the other team lets me.

We football fans don't have to put up with such bullshit. And neither do NFL players. Sure, they get bad calls against them, but they also get good ones that benefit them. And they probably don't get called for half the crap they pull on the field.

I'm not a referee apologist, but it's not as though these guys have an easy job chasing all these genetic freaks around on the field. Then they've got the fans, announcers, sports "pundits" (how the hell do you get that job?), and instant replay second-guessing their every move. Of course, they're gonna make mistakes. They're human. But stop acting like making a phantom call is the same as invading a country for their phantom WMD!

Teams know what they're getting into whenever they enter any game. They know that referees can blow calls. They're job is to win no matter. It doesn't matter to them. It shouldn't matter to us. We fans--all of us--need to get over our "Magic Bullet" referee conspiracy theories and just realize our teams generally lose because they faced a better team.

Of course, I'm probably just saying this because my team won yesterday. And back in February, my team won the Super Bowl. Oh yeah, and in my lifetime, they have won six of them bad boys.

So, actually, what I guess I'm just saying is ...


SUCK IT!!!


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Dear Lame-Ass Sweed ...

Sorry, Limas. Yeah, I know. You're probably wondering why it has taken me until Tuesday to address your utter incompetence. You're probably thinking, Why not let sleeping dogs lie, Bill?

Well, Lame-Ass, it's simple. I can't let them dogs get their shut-eye. I'm a blogger. I see an injustice, I have to address it!

See, what you glamorous athletes don't understand is that we working stiffs don't understand you. See, Lame-Ass, you get paid a helluva lot of money to actually do very little in life. No, I'm not gonna rant about how you get paid more in six months than teachers make in six lifetimes. We Americans love watching our sports. Advertisers love to reach Americans. They pay for the privilege. And your privileged owners pay you. In fact, your exorbitant salaries make more sense than, say, an insurance company or bank CEO. You actually earn your bonuses.

So yeah, you athletes make a lot of money and do very little. It's just that when you can't even do that, we get really pissed off. And in the grand scheme of even football, you receivers have it sooooo easy. You don't have to wrestle with another 300 lb. behemoth for three hours at a time. You don't have to get whacked by that same behemoth every time you drop back to pass. You don't have take the ball and run straight into a wall of those 300 lb. behemoths hoping that you advance 9 feet at a time. You don't even have the stress of having your entire team and fan base relying on the accuracy of your leg to win or lose a football game.

Nope. You wide receivers have it pretty simple. Unlike all these complicated defensive schemes, your very job description tells you all you have to do in any given game. Receive ... the ... friggin' ... ball!

Sure, it's complicated by having to memorize a route. Oooohhhhh ... and there are defenders. But think about it, Lame-Ass. All you really have to do is run a couple of steps and catch the ball.

As I've said, I'm a working stiff. If someone wanted to pay me $2 million to work eight months out of the year to catch a ball, I'd be the most ball-catchin'est fat fuck you've ever seen in your life! Shit, I'd catch a rifle pass with my tongue for that kinda money. Al Michaels would be gettin' all ghetto on the mic: "Hot damn! That muthafucka Bill Campbell just caught that ball with his gotdamned eyelash!!!"

But no, not you, Lame-Ass. With the game on the line, with your team trying to finally put the game out of reach, with you gliding into the end zone, wide open, and a perfect spiral pass hitting you square in the friggin' numbers! do you catch it? no? do you win the game? no!!! No, Sweed, you decide to drop the damned ball and let the Bungholes beat the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

I know, you're probably thinking I'm being unfair. And perhaps I am. After all, losing is a team effort. And the Steelers at 1-2 are looking a lot like losers right now.

After all, you're not the only one. That abysmal offensive line has more open sores than a leper colony.

(Dear Trai Essex, my brutha alum, my fellow Wildcat, please, please, please start representing the fine tradition of Northwestern football that has been gleaming with mediocrity since 1995! show these people what it means to be the perennial runners-up in the Anusol Suppository Bowl, show them the formidable team that holds the longest losing streak in Division I-A football history and the proud holders of the worst bowl loss ... oh, wait, what was that? You are ... well, then, that makes sense. Rock on, Brother Man!)

Now, where was I? Oh yeah ...

Willie Parker has been gimpy for the past couple seasons still recovering from his broken leg. Your fellow Class of '07 teammate, Rashard Mendenhall, can't figure out if he wants to play football or tiddlywinks. Santonio Holmes (as my co-worker, B., has pointed out) has decided that he'll be the Robert Horry of the NFL and only perform during the playoffs and figures it's better to cause an interception and have it run back for a touchdown than to run a proper route. Big Ben and Heath Miller need to spend some alone time in a hotel room to stop their on-again/off-again relationship. And Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians has confused American football with its European counterpart and thinks that a 13-goal lead is most definitely a blow-out.

Yo! Bruce! They're called points, asshole! You get 3 for a field goal and 6 for a touchdown! Do the math!!! How the hell can you even imagine that a 13-point lead will hold with 45 friggin' minutes left to play?!!! There's no such thing as prevent offense (thanks for that one, D). Score some friggin' points!!!

So, no, Lame-Ass, I don't just blame you. And I don't blame the defense either. They only gave up 17 points. They did their job. Yeah, they gave up the last-minute game-winning drive. But what do you expect when the defense, because of offensive incompetence, was forced to stay on the field for the last 60 minutes of the football game.

But, unlike you, the defense won us a Super Bowl last year. What did you do last year? Oh yeah, drop a couple sure-touchdown passes. What have you done so far this year? Oh yeah, drop a sure-touchdown pass. Keep it up, loser. Mine is not the only wrath you are facing. Rumor has it Mike Tomlin can't even crack a smile after an orgasm. How can you possibly think he's happy with your sorry-ass performance? How can you possibly think you'll have a job next year--especially with your back-up having a 100-yard receiving day?

But I'll get over it. You'll be gone next year. And when I see you a year from now, I'll be doing two things: smiling grandly at your new uniform and saying, "Yes, I would like fries with that."

Punk.

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Luck o' the Steelers!

Obama Announces Rooney as Ambassador to Ireland
By Al Kamen
WashingtonPost.com



Lady Luck naturally smiled on Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney on St. Patrick's Day, the day the White House chose to announce his long-expected nomination to be ambassador to Ireland. Rooney, a member of the Football Hall of Fame who led the Steelers to a record six national championships, is a lifelong Republican.

But he was so inspired by Barack Obama that he endorsed and stumped with the candidate, a crucial stamp of approval in a football-crazed and electorally critical swing state.

Rooney, who needs to be confirmed by the Senate for the job, has been long-active in Irish organizations. He co-founded the Ireland Funds, a nonprofit that raises money to support education and the arts in Ireland. In 1976, he established the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, which is awarded to young Irish writers.

Rooney recently told a Pittsburgh radio station he did not endorse or campaign for Obama "with the idea of getting anything." But "if he calls me," Rooney added, "obviously I'm going to say that I'll do anything I can for you."

Dublin sounds pretty good.

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Great Googly Moogly!!!

All right, I'm a little too tired right now, and my friend had to perform a triple bypass on me during the fourth quarter. But damn! that was a great game! Santonio and the Stillers did it!

Well, more tomorrow. First thing. I promise. Poohbutt can't wait. She fell asleep with a little football in her hand.
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38-17. Steelers!

Yeah, sure. Why not?



Enjoy the game!
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The Touching Tale of the Terrible Towel

All right, I know. My Steeler obsession this year has gone off the hinges. Chalk it up to staying home all day with the kid. But my boy Basque sent me this ESPN story about the Terrible Towel that I had no clue about and, well, as the title suggests, I found quite touching. I just had to share.


'Terrible' influence yields good results

By Greg Garber
ESPN.com


TAMPA, Fla. -- Technically, Super Bowl XLIII is a home game for the Arizona Cardinals, who will wear their red jerseys for their first trip to the big show.

But Sunday, Raymond James Stadium likely will look and feel like Pittsburgh's Heinz Field. Steelers fans have descended on this city all week long in increasing, improbable numbers. The Terrible Towel, the madly twirling, swirling instrument of their passion, is likely to dominate the game.

The living legacy of the Terrible Towel lies nearly 900 miles north, just west of Pittsburgh, in the small village of Corapolis, Pa., on the banks of the Ohio River. Drive over the brick streets of the town center, up a steep hill and, finally, around a sharp turn and you will discover the Allegheny Valley School.

There are group houses scattered comfortably around what looks like a prep school campus, an achingly quiet, insular community that is home for the autistic and mentally disabled.

This is the story of how the disparate worlds of the Allegheny Valley School, where communication is often difficult, and the thunderous, full-throated ecstasy of Pittsburgh's fanatics are tied together by a common, 100 percent-cotton thread, the very fabric of Steeler Nation.

"This towel is very, very powerful," said Regis Champ, the president of the school. "The people of Pittsburgh understand what this towel does and they love the Steelers. It's a great combination for us."

The Steelers themselves are acutely aware of the power.

"I think every great nation has a flag," Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu said. "I think the Steeler Nation, it's obvious that that's our flag."

Added Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, "When they wave that towel, it's just something that comes from in their soul and tries to reach out to us players."

The Terrible Towel has evolved over 33 years into the best-known fan symbol in professional sports. According to the Steelers, more than 6 million towels have passed into the population, not to mention a myriad of related items, such as scarves, tote bags and gloves. The price is relatively modest; for $7.95 you can own a piece of history.

The most devoted Steelers fans have towels for each of the past five Super Bowls in which their team appeared. For nearly two weeks, the McArthur Towel and Sports Company of Baraboo, Wis., has been cranking out the signature towel for Super Bowl XLIII. So far, 500,000 have come out of the factory. If the Steelers win, according to president Gregg McArthur, a victory over the Cardinals would create a demand for 500,000 more.

Do the math. That's a million Terrible Towels, roughly the same number produced when the Steelers defeated Seattle in Super Bowl XL three years ago. McArthur attended the 2009 AFC Championship Game against Baltimore.

"I never experienced anything like that," McArthur said. "It was amazing. No one holds a candle to what the Steelers do with the Terrible Towel."

It's not much to look at, really. It measures only 16 by 25 inches and weighs a little more than 3 ounces, but the Terrible Towel inspires an almost irrational loyalty.

When President Barack Obama visited Pittsburgh last April, he was presented with a Terrible Towel; eight months later they were seen among the sprawling crowd at his inauguration. When Kevin Cherilla, a native of Hampton, Pa., scaled Mount Everest in 2007, he left the Sherpas behind, but not the Terrible Towel. When he shares his slide show with local schoolchildren, the shot of the towel flapping at the summit invariably draws the most applause. The Terrible Towel has appeared on "Saturday Night Live," been waved at Vatican City, the Great Wall of China and has traveled with soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After the Steelers beat the Ravens to advance to the Super Bowl, Mike Fincke celebrated. Fincke, who grew up in Emsworth, a small suburb of Pittsburgh, is the commander of NASA's Expedition 18 to the International Space Station. He looked into the camera and, in the gravity-free atmosphere high above the Earth, he unfurled his Terrible Towel and laughed.


Over the top

Great things are sometimes born of desperation and the Terrible Towel is no exception.

The Steelers won their first Super Bowl at the end of the 1974 season and the following season they won 12 of 14 games and advanced to the playoffs. The brain trust at WTAE, the team's flagship radio station -- general manager Ted Atkins, sales manager Larry Garrett and broadcaster Myron Cope -- tried to come up with a gimmick that would ride the crest of the team's success.

"I said, 'I'm not a gimmick guy,'" Cope said in a December 2006 interview with ESPN. "One of them reminded me my contract was coming up for negotiation ... and I said, 'I'm a gimmick guy.'"

The first idea was a black mask in the likeness of head coach Chuck Noll embossed in gold letters with his credo, "Whatever it takes." When the local novelty manufacturer quoted a price of 50 cents per piece, the Terrible Towel quickly became Plan B.

"Larry Garrett said, 'How about a towel -- everybody has a towel,'" remembered Bill Hillgrove, who broadcasts Steelers games today on WDVE. "And Cope immediately said, 'We'll call it the Terrible Towel and it will wreak its powers terribly on the opposition.'

"He's the only guy who could have given that life."

Cope was a character. He had a vivid imagination and he hyped the Terrible Towel in the days leading up to the 1975 divisional championship game against the Baltimore Colts at Three Rivers Stadium. He raved about it on his radio shows. He talked about it as if it were alive. He tossed towels at the anchor and weatherman on the 11 o'clock news.

"The Terrible Towel is poised to strike," Cope said, over and over again. "Bring a yellow, gold or black towel to the playoff game, and if you don't have one, buy one, if you don't want to buy one, dye one."

On the day of the game, the Steelers placed two gold towels in each player's locker. They weren't impressed. Safety Mike Wagner was in the tunnel, awaiting the introduction of the defense, when his pregame concentration was interrupted.

"All of a sudden, a couple of fellows were trying, were sticking these yellow rags, these things in our hands and asking us to run on the field for introduction spinning them around," Wagner said. "We looked at the fellows and said, 'I don't think so. We're trying to play football here.'"

The Steelers of the 1970s were a no-nonsense group, cast in the stoic image of Noll and the Rooney family, which owned the team. But when the defense was introduced, an estimated 30,000 of 50,000 fans pulled out their towels and started waving them and cheering. The players were impressed, but hardly moved. But when linebacker Andy Russell returned a fumble 93 yards for a touchdown, Three Rivers became a sea of shimmering, living gold.

The following Sunday, in the AFC Championship Game against the Raiders, wide receiver Lynn Swann put the towel completely over the top when the offense was introduced at Three Rivers.

"You have to understand that we were doing things as a team and that things weren't premeditated," Swann said. "Back in the '70s there were no Sharpies in your sock and I wasn't hiding a phone in the goalpost. It was a cold day, a wet day and I didn't have a towel. I grabbed the Terrible Towel and put it in my hand, and it was almost a nervousness.

"There was no choreographed move here, and I was standing there looking up into the stands, and I had the towel in my hand, and so I just started waving the towel. And when they saw me just hitting it against my leg and they saw me waving it, then all the sudden they picked up their towels and started waving their towels."

Said Hillgrove, "When Swannie, who was one of the leaders of that team, came out with the towel, I think the others took their cues. He was the guy. When Swann said 'Let's do it,' you know, I think the fans just grabbed. And they're still grabbing."

Wagner, an old-school guy to the end, never, ever waved the towel. His punishment? He's autographed thousands of them for fans over the years. Try autographing a towel with a Sharpie -- it's not that easy.

"Myron Cope was the unique guy," Wagner said. "He always was referring to it, and he was able to do it in a way that the fans here in Pittsburgh said, 'Yes, yes, this is important to us. This is our role here. Our role is to own a Terrible Towel, to wave it at opportune times, to work its magic.'"


An enduring legacy

Cope was ecstatic over the success of the Terrible Towel, but uneasy with the perception that he was making a financial killing. He donated his portion of the proceeds to several area charities, but in 1996 he signed over his copyright to the Allegheny Valley School.

Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope said the Terrible Towel had mystical powers.

"He came in, shut the door, came over and threw a sheaf of papers on my desk," remembered Champ, the school's CEO. "[He] said 'These are from my attorney. You are now the proud owner of the Terrible Towel. The Terrible Towel, it's yours, take care of it, protect it.'

"I was speechless. I immediately understood the importance of this. This was a very powerful symbol for Pittsburgh, all of Pittsburgh and he was turning it over to us."

Cope, as it turns out, had been visiting the school for years, along with his wife, Mildred, and daughter Elizabeth. The charismatic broadcaster who made a living crafting words had a son, Danny, who has never spoken a word in his life. He is autistic and for 27 years the Allegheny Valley School has been his home.

"Myron's love of his children was unsurpassed and he was so excited that he came up with the idea to donate it to the school and leave a legacy for his son," Champ said. "Not only his son, but all his son's friends and all the people we care for here at the Allegheny Valley School."

Daniel Torisky founded the Autism Society of Pittsburgh, along with Cope, with the $400 in royalties the Terrible Towel earned Cope in its first year.

"I don't want to sound preachy," Torisky said, "but [the towel is] a symbol of personal excellence, both in caring for people who are the most vulnerable citizens as well as caring for a pal who is helping you achieve an objective, like the Super Bowl.

"In the center of Pittsburgh is the Terrible Towel, believe it. This was the final meaning of his life -- talk about a legacy, pal. I believe he was aware that this would live beyond him."

Cope died last February. With snow falling outside Town Hall, more than 350 friends paid him tribute. They roared and waved the Terrible Towels that bore his name.

Cope's son Danny inspired him to leave the proceeds from the Terrible Towel to the Allegheny Valley School.

To date, the Allegheny Valley School has received more than $2.5 million from sales of the Terrible Towel and related merchandise.

Many major sports franchises have tried at some point to market a similar towel, but none of them has had the staying power of the Terrible Towel. Why? Exquisite timing, early in the curve of Pittsburgh's Super Bowl success. Luck. The belief of a frenzied fan base. The towel, like Dorothy's ruby slippers in "The Wizard of Oz," has no inherent magical power. It's what you bring to the towel. The Steelers' fans who wave it have an enduring optimism that something good will come of it.

And what of those who disrespect the towel? History is littered with casualties. In 2005, Cincinnati receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh wiped his feet with a Terrible Towel after scoring a touchdown. The Bengals won the game, but the Steelers extracted their revenge, beating Cincinnati in the playoffs during their road to Super Bowl XL. After Ravens receiver Derrick Mason jumped on the towel before a September 2008 matchup, Baltimore lost all three of its games against Pittsburgh.

The Steelers' record in the 43-plus years before the towel is 230-299-20 (.435), with only four playoff victories and one Super Bowl. In the 33-plus years after the Terrible Towel was conceived it's 335-222-1 (.601), with 24 playoff victories and four Super Bowls. Pittsburgh has a chance to win an NFL-record sixth here in Tampa.

"The stadium will be moving," Steelers nose tackle Casey Hampton said. "So many towels going around, you know, they're twirling in a circle motion. It's crazy."

Swann is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is an accomplished broadcaster. He was the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania last year. But for some Steelers fans, he will be best remembered for bringing the Terrible Towel to life at Three Rivers Stadium.

"There is only one Terrible Towel for any team in the National Football League," Swann said. "Anyone who is waving any other color, means nothing. It's just one Terrible Towel."





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Guess Who's a Stillers Fan, Yall!

I knew I liked this brother for a reason. Dan Rooney apparently has other reasons. However, it's great knowing that my Steelers have White House backing for the upcoming Super Bowl.

But the Big Brother won't be alone. It's looking like all of our nation's capital will be cheering for the Black and Gold!



David Fleming has a great article on ESPN.com on whether or not the Steelers are the greatest franchise in sports. You can only guess on how I would answer that question.
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What More Can I Say?

Oh yeah:

Told ya so!!!
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I've Got a Dee-sease

All right, I'm gonna try to stop being such a rabid Steeler fan, but penicillin doesn't work on this stuff. I must have it bad, though. This video's got me lovin' a Styx song. Geez.


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Go Steelers!!!

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In-Law Black-and-Gold-Out

You all may remember my Super Bowl prediction. You may also remember my good-natured fake rivalry with my Eagles-loving in-laws. Now, we've come close in 2004 with this thing actually being real. The Steelers and Eagles were in their respective conference's championship, one ass-whipping away from the Super Bowl. The Steelers, however, once again ran into the Patriots' dynasty and got their asses stomped. It sucked as a Steeler fan but was good for family harmony. We were all to spend Super Bowl Sunday in Taipei. It could've gotten really ugly.

But now it's looking like it may actually happen. We may, for the first time in NFL history, have a Turnpike Super Bowl. What is a brother to do?

The Eagles seem to have a much easier road. They have to go to Arizona to face the Cardinals, whom they plucked for Thanksgiving dinner. The Cards are a much better team. Kurt Warner's making it feel good again to be 38. Larry Fitzgerald (a Pitt alum, by the way) is simply a god. You can double- and triple-team him, and he'll still get the ball. And Anquan Boldin's looking like he'll be healthy to line up on the other side. Philly's going to have its hands full trying to stop the air attack. And Edgerrin James suddenly thinks he's still a premier running back.

Despite this and Arizona's defense suddenly earning its paycheck, I can't see Donovan and his Eagles losing this one. It's almost guaranteed that they'll be playing for the Vince Trophy.

The Steelers, on the other hand, have a much harder row to hoe. Sure, they've swept the Ravens during the regular season; but each game was a bloodbath, and the Steelers eked wins both times (a GW FG in OT the first game, and a GW TD with less than a minute remaining in the second). It was less of a sweep than a painstaking picking-up of each, individual piece of lint off the floor.

That Ravens defense is only second to ours, and they're insane. I mean, Ray Lewis has killed two people already. There's no telling what he'll do to get back to a Super Bowl before he retires. Fortunately for us, three starters (Leonhard, Rolle, and Suggs) will be out, but nothing stops the Raven D from swarming. They'll hardly be a pushover, and you've got to be careful anytime Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are on the field.

The other thing going in our favor is that Bal'mer has a rookie QB. History's against them. I'm thinking Joe Flacco is the real deal, but Big Ben went 13-0 during the regular season in his rookie year and still didn't make it to the Super Bowl. It'd definitely be a miracle if Flacco can lead the Ravens to the Trophy this year. But, then again, it was against 30 years of US foreign policy to conduct a war of occupation. History--like rules--is made to be broken.

Now, if all this stuff actually happens, and Pittsburgh and Philly fight for that Super Bowl ring (which would be the Steelers' sixth, by the way--the Eagles' first), this family is going to be in a lot of trouble. Nobody's going to be talking; grudges will last long; there could be blood.

Hey, I can respect the Eagles. I actually would like to see Donovan win a Super Bowl ring and tell those Philly fans where they can put it. But not on our backs!

Besides, family only goes but so deep. This is the Steelers, we're talkin' 'bout here! If the two PA teams actually do meet, my in-laws and I will probably have to agree to never talk about whatever happens in the game or just to never see each other ever again. Either way...

GO STEELERS!!!

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Bookmark These Words

The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to the Super Bowl!!!



I know you'll think I'm crazy, but you heard it here first.
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Help Us, Ben Roethlisberger. You're Our Only Hope

Forget the polls, the pundits, and their spin. If you really want to know who will win tomorrow's presidential election, just watch tonight's Redskins-Steelers game. Apparently, since 1937, when the Redskins win the game before the election, the party that holds the White House keeps the White House. When the 'Skins lose, the party in power loses. 2004 was the lone exception--even Joe Gibbs's incompetence could help Kerry win.

So, Obama voters, if only for tonight, you must root for the Black 'n' Gold! The fate of the entire free world depends on their victory. And now, you, too, will have to suffer the agony of watching the crappiest line in NFL history protecting a faltering economy, our nuclear arsenal, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Take some of that hope that Obama's been instilling in you these past two years and direct it to Chris K, Justin Hartwig, Max Starks, Trai Essex (to believe you went to Northwestern--oh wait, you suck--I believe it), or whatever 300-pound pansy they put in pads tonight, pray that they can hold a block long enough for Big Ben to actually complete a pass for once, prostrate yourself before the ghost of Art Rooney, I don't know, sacrifice your first-born. Do what you have to do to ensure a Steeler victory tonight, and let's take back this fucking country!!!

Go Hines Ward!!!



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