Pittsburgh Steelers fans and their Terrible Towels go hand and hand, literally. You can find Pittsburgh fans all over the world waving their towels and displaying their fandom proudly. Understandably, they do not take kindly to other team's players or fans disrespecting the towel. We have seen the "curse of the towel" rear its head time and time again. When the Jacksonville Jaguars players got down and dirty after beating the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium during their Week 8 matchup, it had not only fans mad, but also players.
Former Steelers cornerback Bryant McFadden witnessed the disgraceful display. He was at the game to celebrate some of his former alumni, James Harrison, Aaron Smith, Gary Mullins, and the late Ray Mansfield as they were inducted into the Steelers Hall of Honor and honored during halftime of the game. On a recent episode of his podcast, All Things Covered, which he co-hosts with his cousin and current Steelers cornerback Patrick Peterson, McFadden talked about what he saw.
"One thing that bothered me as a former Steeler, when I saw Andrew Wingard, he caught the interception, he grabbed a Terrible Towel. Yeah, that made me feel some type of way. Listen, if I'd been in my younger days, I might have just went out there and tried to get me a flag. I'm just gonna hit somebody for no reason. I just tell one of y'all vets man, 'Take care of this $15,000.' I'm a young boy, I can't afford to have that out of my check, but I'm about to just run into somebody for no reason," said a frustrated McFadden.
The incident that got McFadden so fired up was when Jaguars safety Andrew Wingard intercepted Mitch Trubisky. Wingard didn't just grab a towel from somewhere, he literally yanked it out of the hands of a fan (seriously how disrespectful can someone be), and began to wave it around sarcastically. One fan wasn't amused and slapped him on the side of his helmet as he went to grab the towel.
This came on the heels of quarterback Trevor Lawrence referring to the iconic item as "those little yellow towels" earlier in the week. This isn't the first time this has happened to the Steelers. When you are a storied franchise with six Lombardi Trophies and an amazing fan item, you are going to be the target of folks who've never been there before. McFadden was there for one of the most notable times when Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh wiped his dirty cleats with a Terrible Towel. He, along with the rest of the Bengals, got what they deserved.
"I'm a tell you, when we had that experience with Cincinnati when T.J. Houshmandzadeh did it to us and we finally got a chance to play them again in the playoffs, Bill Cowher showed that and who would have thought a freaking Terrible Towel would feel like family. Man we got fired up bro and it became personal."
McFadden thinks there is a strong possibility that the Steelers will get their chance for revenge this season. The Steelers and the Jaguars are both in the AFC and could meet in the playoffs. If they do, McFadden and Peterson can see the team using the comments and actions that were made as fuel for the fire just like former Head Coach Bill Cowher did all those years ago.
Steelers' Terrible Towel Curse Is Real
The game that McFadden referred to against the Bengals was in 2005. Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh at home at Heinz Field, and Houshmandzadeh famously wiped his dirty cleats. The Bengals won the division that season, but had to face Pittsburgh in the playoffs. Cincinnati was hyped and rightfully so, this was their first playoff game in over two decades. But Pittsburgh had not forgotten the disrespect.
During the first play of the game, Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer tore his ACL and was out for the rest of the contest. After that, the towel really began to work its magic. There were fights between the two teams and the Steelers not only beat the Bengals, they went on to win their fifth Super Bowl that year.
Since the towel was created by Pittsburgh icon Myron Cope during the 1975 playoffs, it has remained a staple and can be seen everywhere you can find Steelers fans. Oddly enough when Cope first presented the towel, Steelers captain Andy Russell worried it would bring bad luck to the Steelers, but the opposite was true, they won their second consecutive Super Bowl that year.
Ever since 1975, the towel harnesses the power of karma to reign down disaster on those who disrespect it. The first recorded incident happened in 1979 when Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Dorsett, dismissed the towel saying he'd never heard of such a thing. The Steelers made it to and won the Super Bowl that year, while their arch nemesis (the '70s were a different time) the Cowboys got to watch at home.
There is no telling when the curse will strike, but the Jaguars should not rest easy.
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