From Terrible Towel to Funeral Shroud

(An epitaphany shared with Phil)
On the other end of the linguistic spectrum was Myron Cope, whose creative combination of English and Pittsburghese made him a local legend in his 35 years in the Steelers’ broadcast booth before his death at the age of 79. Among his turns of phrase: "Double Yoi," "Okle-dokle," "Dumbkopf!", and "How do?" He found his way into the booth after establishing a career in print, starting at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and landing on the original full-time staff of Sports Illustrated. His profile of Howard Cosell was selected one of the magazine’s 50 all-time classic articles, and only he and George Plimpton have held the title of special contributor at that magazine. Cope’s lasting contribution was the Terrible Towel, a tradition started before a 1975 playoff game against Baltimore when he encouraged fans to bring yellow dish towels to the game. The stands were full and the Steelers won 28-10. Official team-sanctioned towels were in hands by Super Bowl X. The towels became a fixture, and when the Steelers won Super Bowl XL, coach Bill Cowher held a Terrible Towel in one hand and the Vince Lombardi Trophy in the other.