Football symbolism in focus: Cheesehead vs. Terrible Towel
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Packers fan Scott Biemeret tries to convince Steelers fans Angelina McKlveen and Jona Domingues that the cheesehead is better than the terrible towel in Fort Worth Thursday.
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DALLAS -- Gosh, even folks in Oshkosh are weighing in on this one.
Who will win the Super Bowl? Nah. That debate will settle itself.
Who has the best Super Bowl hair? Please.
The real matchup to watch is the one for souvenir supremacy: Terrible Towels vs. Cheeseheads.
Count Terrible Towel creator Myron Cope's daughter, Elizabeth Cope, among those not too impressed by the Cheesehead.
"I think it's stupid," she said. "That's so stupid, putting cheese on your head."
The Packers and the Steelers are united by more than rich traditions and passionate fans who speak with funny accents (In Wisconsin, 'n'at is "dat."). They are bonded by their fans' affinity for unorthodox, must-own merchandise. Packers fans and Cheeseheads are as closely linked as Steelers fans are with the Terrible Towel. They are the only two NFL teams that can claim such a kinship with inanimate objects.
Ralph Bruno, the 49-year-old inventor of the foam Cheesehead and owner of Foamation Inc., the company that manufactures them, said that is more a testament to the fans than the actual products.
Packers and Steelers fans are hard-working, blue-collar people, he said, who want to show their pride in as many ways as possible.
"It could be a towel, it could be a Cheesehead," Bruno said. "They're somewhat interchangeable, honestly. It's because of the person."
Just don't tell that to most of the Steelers fans, who think Cheeseheads are, well, weird.
PG VIDEO: CHEESE VS. TERRIBLE TOWEL"I find cheese delicious, but it does eventually get moldy, it goes bad and it stinks," said Dorothy Gordon, chief development officer for NHS Allegheny Valley School. Terrible Towel proceeds benefit the school, which helps people with physical and mental disabilities.
Terrible Towel twirlers tout the supremacy of the terrycloth.
It is a Pittsburgh original (it says so on the towel itself). It is lightweight and easy to transport (How many square inches of a suitcase does a Cheesehead consume again?).
And if imitation is the best form of flattery, the Terrible Towel wins drying away. The rally towel is the sports giveaway du jour across the country, while foam hats replicating regional pasteurized products have yet to catch on.
But Cheeseheads -- the humans, not the headwear -- are a proud bunch.
And, they argue, some of the qualities that make Pittsburghers fawn over the Terrible Towel are the same ones that make it an inferior item.
First Published February 4, 2011 12:00 am
