From the igloos of Alaska to the swamps of Florida, to the mighty mountains of Switzerland, to the Sea of Japan, the Steelers Nation is fired up, dressed up and hooked up to the Net. You'll know them by their unshakable belief that the powerful symbols of The Black n' Gold and their own crazy rituals and superstitions will jinx the foot of the Titans kicker, protect Tommy and even heal Kendrell's ankle. Every Steelers fan has his game-day tales to tell.
Many e-mails received by the Trib went into long and frightening detail about complex pre-game rituals, but Ron Bulen's sets a standard for devotion and thoroughness that any serious Steelers fan would appreciate.
1. I found underwear (black, of course) that every time I wore them they would win, so I wrote "win" with a black Sharpie on the white tag so I could wear them every game (I wash these every time I wear them, win, lose or tie).
2. I stop shaving around Wednesday or Thursday, because Bill Cowher is unshaved for each game.
3. I check the Internet the morning before each game and leave the browser up and running (sometimes I have both Steelerslive.com and steelers.com open and split across the screen).
4. When the defense is on the field, I put my Steelers hat on (I buy a new hat each year that will represent that year's defense) and take it off when the offense is on.
5. I have a special place I sit for each game and when they start losing, I change rooms thinking they will do better on a different TV.
6. I take a shower at one hour before kick off.
7. I put on the same outfit that I wore last week if they won; change it up some if they lost the week before.
8. Make sure everything on my desk is in perfect order with all my collectibles. (I can't even begin to tell about all my collectibles; I even have things signed by the players themselves.)
9. I make sure that my Jerome Bettis jersey is washed and put on display so I can see it during the game.
10. My wife was a Kansas City Chief fan, and now I have her watching and rooting for the Steelers right beside me.
11. My dog wears a Steelers collar.
12. Every night before a game, I sleep with a Steelers blanket.
13. My brother-in-law gambles, so I ask him not to tell me who he bet on, because when he tells me that he has the Steelers, they LOSE.
I'm stopping at lucky 13. I can't think of any more crazy things that I do right now, but my wife most likely can tell you more.
Here, drawn from the e-mails they sent us from around the world, are some of our other favorites.
Holy cow
I have this ceramic cow with a Steeler helmet painted on it and dressed in a Steeler uniform.
I just set the cow out during certain playoff games when a lift may be needed. So far the cow is undefeated at 11 and 0, but obviously it has not been present for all games.
It was lost for a couple of years during the O'Donnell era and I held it out, for fear of overuse, in a few losses. I plan to put the bovine spell on the Titans, since the odds may be stacked against us.
Hopefully it will be udder magic in Nashville.
Beer man
I wear the same Jerome Bettis jersey, the same pants and underwear. My Terrible Towel is draped over my right knee. During the snap count, I sit perfectly still, with one hand on my Terrible Towel and one hand on the table in front of me.
I drink one beer before the game and have 18 more packed in two coolers kept next to the couch. During the game, my drinking schedule is as follows:
Beer is to be poured in the glass during commercial breaks, time outs, or other breaks in the action only. … All interior doors in the house must be closed. This also goes for the shower curtain and toilet lid.
Doggedness
I have one special superstition that I cannot watch the games without — Butch. Butch is a stuffed bulldog wearing a leather Steelers jacket that I won out of one of those crane machines.
His favorite player is Kendrell Bell (bulldogs' gotta stick together) and when I shake him at the TV the defense always steps up.
God help us
God has a plan that is much more bigger than the outcome of the game (for me, that is; for the players and the organization, this is their life), so every Sunday (and most everyday) I pray to God that he comforts my heart and helps me to realize that "earthly things" are temporal, and that things of Him and His Word are eternal.
I pray that I don't get caught up in the emotion of the outcome, but that no matter what the outcome, I can continue to live my life in all godliness, and know that His son, Jesus Christ, will come back to gather us all, and we will all live eternally with Him in Heaven.
Also, it helps if I only wear one piece of Steelers clothing that day.
As I am in the shower on the day of the game, I ask God to forgive me and the Steelers organization of all of our sins and to let the water that is hitting me symbolize the cleansing of our sins.
If the opponent is kicking a field goal, I blow wind at the television and wave my arms either left or right (this has about a 60 percent success rate on opposing kickers).
If we start losing, I try to change things such as opening and shutting my doors and blinds and then flicking the light switch off and then back on again. This usually changes our momentum.
Game day
Black track pants with black underwear. Gray Steelers T-shirt under my Vail Ski Patrol sweat shirt with No. 36 Bettis white players jersey on top. Steelers baseball cap.
I place a Steelers throw blanket on top of me. I lie flat on my home sofa with a black-and-white pillow. I have to eat Cape Cod low-fat potato chips mixed with white popcorn. Large cup of Diet Pepsi with ice. Whenever the Steelers are losing, I cross my legs.
Insanely terrifying
We put out this five-foot skeleton at our front door every year for Halloween. A couple of years ago, I dressed it up in a Steelers jersey (a different one every year) and an authentic helmet signed by the complete 1997 team. I also lift his hand up to hold a Terrible Towel (signed by Hines Ward) and he has an official "Bus Pass" around his neck.
This is considered weird to most people that come over to our house, especially the ones who come for Christmas and New Year's Eve, because once we put him out in the beginning of October he stays up until the Steelers are finished.
Last year I kept him up all year and when I went to the AFC Championship, my wife took him down when I was in Pittsburgh. I came home the Monday after the game only to realize that the reason we lost was because she took him down. I told her she's lucky we're still married!
I could go on and on about my Steelers Superstitions but if I did you would try to put me in an insane asylum.
Sacred socks
It's all about the sock.
When I was 13, my father took me to Three Rivers to see the Steelers play the Bengals. It was my first trip to the stadium, and I was in awe. After the game was over, my dad and I hung around the stadium, hoping to meet some players.
We didn't get to meet anyone, but a security guard let us walk the sidelines quickly. There, underneath one of the Steelers benches, was a sock. I picked it up and stuffed it in my pocket.
I am now 34 years old, and I have missed listening to or watching on television two Steelers games in 21 years, and for every game, the sock goes in my pocket. It is removed from its slumber on Draft Day and when the season ends, it is carefully wrapped within a "Terrible Towel" and placed gently in my closet.
I wear a pair of Steelers socks that have tread on the bottom and, on my right foot, I reverse the sock so the top of the tread is on top of my foot.
Only in playoff games, I paint the right half of my face black and the left half yellow.
I pull out a big Steelers banner and hang it over my garage and tailgate in my driveway, the whole time wearing my Jerome Bettis foam hat.
Cool igloo
Since I moved from Pennsylvania to Alaska (I lived in Erie and went to Slippery Rock U.), my pre-game ritual has taken quite a turn.
The Steelers flag that used to be attached to my vehicle is now on the top center of my igloo. Actually, I live in a house, but I built an igloo outside and decided to hook my satellite dish up to it. Now, the only place I watch my Steelers game is inside of the igloo.
I decided to do this after the Houston game and they haven't lost since. Another thing has changed as well. I don't have to go to my refrigerator to get a beer.
Boxhead
Last week during the game, I ended up putting a cardboard box on my head that just fit. It was cutting the circulation off, but my wife and my friend Chuck would not let me take it off. Needless to say, I will be wearing it this weekend.
P.S. My cats are named Bettis, Slash and Fu.
Fuzzball
In 7th grade home economics class 20 years ago, I made a black and gold football out of a fuzzy material. I have the football in my hand all game long. Except when there is a bad call, turnover, dropped pass, or blown secondary coverage.
Prayers & kisses
The day the Steelers are playing, I pray every hour up to game time. I mean every hour. I do not miss an hour, no matter were I am at.
I wear all Steelers stuff — jersey, socks, underwear and I have a pair of Steelers gym shoes and a Steelers coat. I will not bet or talk trash that whole day.
I kiss every Steelers item in my house, which takes 62 minutes every time I do it. I have it down to a science. I cannot tape any pre-game shows or watch them.
I carry a Terrible Towel all day no matter where I am. I also drive a Steelers truck, which was in my hometown paper, and I add something new to my truck every time they win.
I paint my face even though I am at home. I carry a Steelers football with me the whole game. It does not touch the ground at all; I don't want to jinx the Steelers with a fumble.
I drink out of the same mug during every game — for the past 25 years. And last but not least, every time the Steelers score, I run out to the end of my driveway and scream "Here we go, Steelers, here we go."
Oh yeah, even in the shower I wear my Terrible Towel.
Capt. Video
I will only watch Steelers offense on one TV and defense on another. It's been that way for three seasons now.
On game day, I will only drink my a.m. coffee out of my Pittsburgh mug. At game time, both television volumes are on "36" (really loud).
I must play the team the Steelers are playing on the Box (Playstation before that). Finally, I must check out every Steelers Web site I can find, all in the name of luck.
Jacked up
I have a certain shampoo I always use on game day. No eating allowed until halftime. Always sit directly in front of my big screen. Cross my left leg over my right for defense. Switch for offense.
Halftime, grab a sandwich, chips and soda, and get it wolfed down before 3Q kickoff. At first commercial, get a glass of Jack Daniels on ice and nurse it through the rest of the game. (Sometimes I have to "nurse" three or four, depending on how well we are doing.)
My shrine
I have to go to a bar to watch the games. I'm there early every week to get my stuff ready. I have a shrine I set up.
It consists of an original yellow Terrible Towel that hangs off the front of the table. A black Terrible Towel is placed on the table top along the edge of the yellow one to hold it in place.
On top of the black towel is my foam rubber Bad Call Brick; a framed golf scorecard from Latrobe Country Club autographed by Kordell Stewart and Carnell Lake; a Jerome Bettis action figure; the audio cassette cases of "Here We Go" and the local band Route 66 who have a tape of all Steelers songs (I keep this actual tape in my car and listen to it on the way to the game).
A black stuffed "animal" football from my grandmother; a stuffed animal bulldog that wears a little Steelers "leather" jacket; the rubber "painted face" Steelers mask; a beer glass I got from an old bar with a Steelers logo on it; two strands of football-shaped beads — one black, one gold (I call these my Playoff Beads); and photos — my friends and I at the San Diego/Steelers game on Christmas Eve 2000, the shrine set up in the back of a pick-up in San Diego on game day, my parents' Yorkie pup wearing his game day Steelers jersey, and me kissing Jason Gildon on the cheek for good luck from this year's Women's Training Camp. I also cover my chair with my Steelers blanket.
All of this is packed into my game-day bag, which is made of Steelers fabric. If we are doing badly, the shrine gets packed up and taken out to my car.
I'm also not allowed to get jerseys of any current players because every time I get one, we trade that person (Woodson, Lake, Kirkland), so I am hoping for a Bradshaw jersey for my next birthday.
Extra points
I blast Heavy Metal and scream for about 45 minutes.
On game day, we go to 10 a.m. church. This week I will say a Novena ….
I smoke a Cuban Partagas Series No. 4 cigar each quarter. Haven't lost a game when I do that. I had two burning at the end of the Cleveland game when we came back.
During the commercials when the Steelers are on offense, I play Mattel's Classic Football game. If I score a touchdown before the commercial is over, the Steelers will score.
I collect football cards, and before we play a team I take all of the cards I have of that team and cut them up.
During one game, the Steelers scored every time my friend went to the bathroom, so we made her stay in the bathroom for the rest of the game to ensure victory.
