Myron Cope's Terrible Towel

If you were among the millions who watched the Super Bowl, you couldn't miss the "cheeseheads" rooting for the Packers or their rival fans twirling yellow towels to fire up the Steelers. I suppose there's a cool story behind people wearing a giant slice of cheese on their noggin, but that'll have to wait for another time.

I'm here to share the story behind "Myron Cope's Official Terrible Towel."

Simone and Kyndall gave me one for Christmas, officially welcoming me to Steeler Nation. I took it over to my brother-in-law's house today to watch the game, but it wasn't until the fourth quarter, when Pittsburgh was trying to rally, that it dawned on me that I didn't know squat about Myron Cope.

A quick look at the label confirmed it was made of 100 percent cotton and that it was "Hecho en China." (No surprise there.)

Next, I did a Google search for Myron Cope and discovered all sorts of interesting things. Of course, longtime Steeler fans would know all this but, hey...

-- Cope was the voice of the Steelers for 35 years and the first football announcer inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.
-- He was a Pittsburgh native and his given name was Myron Sidney Kopelman,
-- According to Wikipedia, "He was known for his distinctive, nasally voice with an identifiable Pittsburgh accent, idiosyncratic speech pattern, and a level of excitement rarely exhibited in the broadcast booth"
-- He'd use Yiddish phrases like "feh!" and "yoi!"and "double yoi!"
-- It was his idea, to build support for a 1975 playoff game against the Baltimore Colts, to urge fans to bring a black, gold or yellow dishtowel from home and wave them throughout.

And the best part?

"In 1996, Cope gave the rights to The Terrible Towel to the Allegheny Valley School in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. The school provides care for more than 900 people with mental retardation and physical disabilities, including Cope's autistic son. Proceeds from the Terrible Towel have helped raise $3 million for the school."

How cool is that?

Cope retired in 2005 and died in 2008 at the age of 79.

The Steelers may have lost today's game but I'm pleased to say that, in death, Myron Cope picked up a new fan.

Photograph: wikipedia.org

Go Ducks!

Go Ducks! 

That's all I've been hearing and seeing today -- in the neighborhood, at the grocery stores, in the headlines -- as the University of Oregon prepares to take the field against Auburn in the BCS Championship Game. Kickoff is a little over an hour away and everyone in Portland seems to be a Duck for a Day.

It's exciting, if still a bit surreal, to realize the UO has made it to the Fiesta Bowl as one of the top two teams in the country. So what if we're coming into the game as No. 2 rather than No. 1? Makes no difference as long as we prevail at the end.

Auburn's going to be plenty tough but I gotta believe Coach Chip Kelly will have prepared his team well for the big stage and has got a couple of trick plays he'll spring on the Tigers.

We're heading over to Lori's brother's place to join Jim and Judi and another couple, Floyd and Sylvia, for tortilla soup and cerveza, plus Lori's marinated anchovies on slices of rustic baguette. Should be a tasty feast and a great game. Lori's even bringing green and gold face paint.

I think the Duck mascot is going to do his share of pushups -- one for every point the UO scores.

Go Ducks!

Photo from UO Cheerleading

Simple pleasures

Josh Huff scores on an 85-yard run vs. Arizona

Funny how a simple change in weather can brighten your outlook. It's sunny and 40 degrees as I write this, yet it feels 10 degrees warmer after last week's cold snap and this week's constant drip-drip-drip with dark gray clouds on a light gray horizon.

It's not that I was down in the dumps, by any means. It's just that I find myself in a particularly good mood this morning and so I'm taking note of simple things, such as:

-- People gearing up for tomorrow's Civil War football game. I noticed two clusters of Beavers fans, wearing their orange and black, as I ducked into (pun intended) a coffee shop for my morning caffeine. The only Ducks fan I've seen so far with an Oregon T-shirt is Trish, the co-worker who sits on the other side of my  cubicle. I'll be at work tomorrow when the game gets under way. I expect the UO to kick some butt and earn a berth in the national championship game. (Can't resist sharing these photos from last week's win against Arizona.)

-- A tasty slice of chocolate cake with peppermint cream cheese frosting from Seattle's Best Coffee. Hmmm. I've made an effort to snack on fruits, nuts and yogurt this week but somehow when Friday comes, it feels like a "reward" is in order. (Hey, at least I ran this morning. And I've got carrots and another apple to go with my tuna sandwich today.)

-- The CD mix I made last night and left for Lori to give it a listen this morning. She likes it. Yay! Typical of my decade-hopping, genre-jumping tastes, the playlist includes: the B-52s, Michael Jackson, The New Radicals, Aerosmith-Run D.M.C. (What else but "Walk This Way"?), Eric Clapton, Susan Tedsechi, Robben Ford, Buddy Guy, Lisa Stansfield, Stevie Nicks, Eminem, Journey and Stevie Ray Vaughan.


Photograph by Thomas Boyd, The Oregonian

Playoffs

The NFL playoffs are well under way, and have been exciting as ever so far. All that's left is the Conference Championship games and then the super bowl. It has been chalk in the NFC with the #1 seeded New Orleans Saints verse the #2 seeded Minnesota Vikings. Both teams had a bye in the wild card round and blew out their opponent in the divisional round. I like the Vikings tenacious pass rush, over powering running game along with Brett Favres passing abilities to defeat the Saints in a close game. In the AFC it has been a little more shaky. The first significant upset was made when the Baltimore Ravens beat the New England Patriots, to eventually get slaughtered by the #1 seeded Indianapolis Colts. The best underdog story in the Playoffs this season is #5 seeded the New York Jets barely pulling off the upset on the #2 seeded San Diego Chargers. Now the Jets have the odds stacked against them once again in the AFC Championship game against the Colts. Everyone should tune in next weekend to see how things play out.

By: Patrick Grunloh

The 113th Civil War

Worth watching, courtesy of The Oregonian's stellar photographers.

Ducks and Beavers: Civil War 2009

Ducks are goin' to the Rose Bowl

Wow.

What a game! Oregon prevailed over Oregon State, 37-33, in tonight's Civil War football game -- the most meaningful of the 113 times the rivalry game has been held.

With a national television audience looking on, the Ducks and Beavers played a game for the ages, with five lead changes, several athletic plays and plenty of drama surrounding the head coaches' strategies and late-game decisions.

And now the Ducks are headed to Pasadena as Pac 10 Conference champions, to play Big Ten champion Ohio State in the Rose Bowl on New Years Day. I know where I'll be on Jan. 1 -- planted right in front of a TV.

Click here to check out The Oregonian's outstanding photography before, during and after the game.

Never before had Oregon and Oregon State battled each other with the stakes this high. Either team knew it would go to the Rose Bowl with a win. It was just a shame that someone had to lose.

Though I've been a Ducks fan since the late '90s, when our oldest son enrolled at the U of O in Eugene, and enjoy watching their wide-open style of offense and cool uniforms, I've grown to really appreciate and respect the Beavers and their coach, Mike Riley.

USC gets all the national attention and stockpiles talent (i.e., high school All-Americans at almost every position) like some people collect coins. Oregon State always gets overlooked. Nobody wants to come to sleepy little Corvallis, right? Except that the OSU staff of late have managed to win with the recruits no one else wanted. The Beavers are the classic underachievers, having come within one win of the Rose Bowl this year and last.

But it's Oregon's turn -- their first trip to Pasadena since 1995, when they got hammered by Penn State after winning the 1994 Pac-10 championship. Oregon State will have to wait at least another year before ending a Rose Bowl drought that dates back to 1965.

Go Ducks!

Photo by Jamie Francis, The Oregonian