Don't mess with the Terrible Towel
Aaron Tippin once wrote, "You've gotta stand for something or you'll fall for anything," and in the wake of this saying, you may find the following story of interest. It's a paraphrased history of the Pittsburgh Steelers Terrible Towel and is timely with the coming of Super Bowl XLIII.
Steelers Nation knows the story of the Terrible Towel. It was created by Pittsburgh philanthropist and recently departed Myron Cope during the '70s Coach Noll dynasty. The magic of the towel lasted beyond the retirement of Chuck Noll, maintained its staying power throughout the entire Cowher age, and is still going strong in the early years of the Tomlin era.
Terrible Towels are manufactured in Wisconsin by Chippewa River Industries. Proceeds from the sale of the towels benefit Chippewa, which hires mentally disadvantaged employees to facilitate their care.
Myron Cope collected royalties from the Towel and donated them to the Allegheny Valley School, a special needs facility where his autistic son is a resident. Before passing, Cope bequeathed the Towel rights to the school, ensuring proper care for his son and for many others.
What may not be known is the NFL is quietly working on a promotion to produce larger towels for every other team in the league. Initial plans are to push this fabrication through the Super Bowl. To get things moving, free towels were distributed at every stadium during the divisional playoffs in recent weeks. You may have seen the Tennessee fans waving those powder blue "things."
Did anyone notice the complete backfire?
All home teams lost EXCEPT the Steelers! The Steelers need to win the Super Bowl and preserve the sanctity of the Terrible Towel and the benevolence it continues to provide others in less fortunate roles! Mass replications for NFL teams is undesired.
Of additional interest - after the 2005 regular season, members of the Cincinnati Bengals stomped all over the Terrible Towel before their playoff game with the wild card Steelers. The Bengals still have not recovered from their loss that day. The Steelers went on to win their Fifth Super Bowl. On Dec. 21, 2008, members of the Titans stomped on the Towel. Soon thereafter the Titans exited the playoffs, stage left. Early on in that game, many fans were waving their freebie blue TITAN towels. But later, as the cold rain began to fall, they put the towels on their necks for warmth - and appropriately their necks began to TIGHTEN! Their team choked.
A Steelers Super Bowl victory will make the sacrilegious theft of the spirit of the Terrible Towel the worst marketing idea since the NFL Network! Stand for something, preserve the Terrible Towel.
GO STEELERS!
Matt Kovatch Libertyville