Episode 48: The Wonderful, Terrible, Terrible Towel Trouble

Episode 48

12th January 2012

Bobby and Katie are dating and are both Pittsburgh Steelers fans. Katie was born into the Steeler nation, while Bobby became an honorary member after spending time with Katie and her family. Their issue is the treatment of the iconic symbol of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team: the “Terrible Towel”, which one can purchase with all proceeds going to charity. Katie says it should be treated with the utmost respect as an emblem of the team; Bobby says once it’s purchased, you can do with it what you please, whether that’s wiping chairs or your feet.

Episode notes

Bobby and Katie are dating and like many young couples are at odds over towels. But unlike most domesticated disputes of the household variety, these towels serve a higher, almost divine purpose. To their fans, the Pittsburgh Steelers have a place amongst the heavens – the most memorable play in Steelers history is called the Immaculate Reception! Just as the many religions of the world have their own iconography, so too does Steeler Nation in the form of the “Terrible Towel.”

Bobby has become a Steelers fan within the past year and a half he’s been dating Katie. Bobby purchased a towel (the proceeds go towards an autism charity) and feels that once it’s yours and the money has gone on the charity, you are free to do what you want with it. He also asserts that his love for the Pittsburgh Steelers is no less than those ordained from birth.

Katie, being born into the Steeler family, has the utmost respect and pride for the Towel. She offers that the towel is more than a foam finger or a pom-pom, and that the towel and the history of the franchise are one in the same. Its disrespect in any way is an affront to the team and the charity it supports.

So, should the towel be treated as a weaving of fabrics meant to absorb liquids or as a sacred object of one of football’s most historic franchises? Only one man has the secular fortitude to decide on the next Judge John Hodgman!

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EVIDENCE

From Bobby
Bobby is a Steelers Fan

From Katie
Myron Cope discussing the history of the Terrible Towel


Steelers Fans (and players) waiving the towel around the world

A Jingle that talks about the Terrible Curse

In this episode...

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