The Brotherly Bet
Welcome to The Brotherly Bet, where sports betting meets bad decisions and even worse advice. We’re just a few guys who think we’re smarter than Vegas — and we have the losing slips to prove it.
Every week, we break down the biggest games, make picks we MIGHT regret, and talk way too much about things like kicker props, questionable calls, and whether the Bears are legally allowed to play offense.
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The Brotherly Bet
Gridiron Curses & Campus Rituals: Real or Ridiculous?
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Do sports superstitions actually work? Is there a curse that follows those who disrespect the Pittsburgh Steelers' Terrible Towel? The Brotherly Bet unplugged episode dives headfirst into the weird, wonderful world of fan traditions and gameday rituals that transcend logic but somehow feel essential to our favorite teams' success.
Jack and Tom open up about their own peculiar Steelers gameday routines – from Tom's basement shrine where he touches every piece of memorabilia before kickoff to Jack's ritual of washing his Terrible Towel after losses to "wash off the stink." The brothers reveal their jersey superstitions and shot-taking traditions that have become sacred parts of their fandom experience.
The heart of the episode features an entertaining "Real or Ridiculous" segment where Jack challenges Tom to determine which bizarre fan traditions actually exist. From Buffalo Bills fans spraying each other with ketchup and mustard during tailgates to West Virginia Mountaineers burning couches in the streets after games, the conversation highlights just how far sports devotion can go. The brothers present compelling evidence for the "Terrible Towel Curse," recounting how players like LenDale White, Ray Rice, and others faced career downturns after disrespecting the iconic yellow towel.
The episode closes with heartwarming stories about passing down these traditions to their children, with Jack's son already recognizing "Renegade" as a Steelers song and enthusiastically waving the Terrible Towel. Whether you're superstitious or just a little stitious, this episode celebrates the irrational yet meaningful rituals that make sports fandom such a personal experience. Subscribe now and join us for more unfiltered sports talk that balances analysis with the human side of being a fan.
Brotherly Bet Intro
Speaker 1Hot takes bold bets, zero regrets. You're locked in with the Brotherly Bet.
Speaker 2And we are unplugged here at the Brotherly Bet, season 2, episode 5. I'm here with my brother, tom. I'm Jack, tom, are you ready to go?
Speaker 3I am ready.
Speaker 2I'm excited for this, are you?
Speaker 3ready to go? I am ready, Dude. I am excited for this new little segment you and Grant kind of invented.
Speaker 2I'm going to grill you, dude.
Tom and Jack's Game Day Rituals
Speaker 2I'm just going to grill you for like 20 minutes it's fine by me, it's going to be like a thrashing thrashing of Tom, all right. So we did a Ryder Cup episode two episodes ago, which I thought went pretty well. We kind of sat there, talked about things that we liked and didn't like about golf etiquette. I thought it went well, so we're going to keep rolling with this. Now I have this thing called Real or Ridiculous, so we're going to talk about curse breakers, superstitions and more Things that teams and fans do to help their teams. Whether it's real or ridiculous, I will let you be the judge, tom.
Speaker 2All right, okay. Now my first question for you is do you do anything game day before, game day before kickoff? Is there any traditions that you do that feel like I have to do this in order to help my team win I do okay I.
Speaker 3Okay, I go in my basement which I have a lot of Steelers memorabilia.
Speaker 2Tell me, do you kiss everything down here in the basement?
Speaker 3I say a little prayer in front of my little Steelers shrine.
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 3And then I do go around and touch every single Steelers memorabilia I have and then I tell my dad to give us a Sears win.
Speaker 2Okay, I like that. Is there anything that you do? So if you have people over, if you go somewhere? Is there anything that you partake in as tradition as well, if you're not at home?
Speaker 3so whether you're at my house or or, you know, john's house or- every sears touchdown, we need to take a shot um before the game before the game you gotta take a shot which, being steelers fans, you're not very drunk normally, because mainly the only shot you take is before the game and you might get one or two more throughout the three to four hours of the game.
Speaker 2We should change it and say just any touchdown, just so we can just be sloshed at the end of the game. Yeah, okay, what about jersey-wise, towel-wise? I know the Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3Steelers have a terrible towel. I keep the same towel because I have the super bowl towel, so I keep that one okay but I do.
Speaker 2If the steers win with the jersey I'm wearing, I continue to wear that jersey until they lose okay, now the big question is do you wash that jersey, or do you just like put it back and you're like it's gotta win, depends win Depends how long. Okay, so for the Steelers, you probably wash it every game because we never freaking win.
Speaker 3Yeah, it feels like yeah, I mean I'll wash it if it's not in good condition, because I tend to spill buffalo chicken dip or meatballs or something.
Speaker 2Something ends up getting on that jersey. Normally Honey mustard's all over. It's yellow, though.
Speaker 3I tend to wash it, but if I don't have to, I won't. But yes, I continue to wear the same jersey until they lose.
Speaker 2Okay, I noticed that with my terrible towel. If we win, I fold it, it goes back. If we lose, I wash the loss off. Okay, that's nice back, if we lose, I wash the loss off, okay. Um, now my wife was fortunate or I'm fortunate enough to have a beautiful, loving, caring wife that bought me a fitzpatrick jersey years ago. In influence to what you told her, you're like yeah he's gonna be around for a while, which he was, he was around for multiple, multiple years.
Speaker 3It was a shock when we got rid of him.
Speaker 2Yes, um, so I have that one. But then I have a beautiful brother-in-law who's also very thoughtful and got me a dk one. So now I only have a yellow dk jersey. But I noticed that if we don't win which I was at work last game I had my hat and my terrible towel and then I had to wear my work shirt. So I was still breaking protocol a little bit, but I still had some gear but I needed to rock some black and yellow. So next game, so this Sunday, I'll put my jersey back on. If that doesn't work, I notice I'll switch to a sweater, even if it's hot or a T-shirt, start buying even more jerseys.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's what we got to do there you go, I'm telling you, I want a Herbig jersey.
Speaker 3No, we'll get you someone that's solidified. How about Jack?
Speaker 2Sawyer, he's going to be around. Baby, he's going to get some playing time now, maybe like a Palomalu, I'll get you, or James.
Speaker 2I did notice that if we lose, I wash the towel. It's and I feel like dude, the towel doesn't get much. I don't get much on the towel, so the towel is not dirty. It's just a superstition to me. I'm like I need to get rid of the stink, Like if it's a loss, it's a stink. Okay, Are you ready for mine? I got 11 were weird. I'll save the big one for the end because I have some things that you'll appreciate.
Speaker 3So this is all superstition stuff.
Speaker 2This is superstitions or things that fans do either at tailgates, at their house, whatever, and you need to tell me if it's real or ridiculous. Are you ready?
Speaker 3Just a little stitious, not superstitious.
Speaker 2Just a little stitious, all right, not super stitious, just a little stitious, all right. We got the ketchup and mustard shower. So this is with the Buffalo Bills Bills Mafia sprays ketchup and mustard all over each other during tailgates. There's no clear reason why.
Speaker 3That is the fucking dumbest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. I'm telling you, it's something the jumping through tables is fucking awesome I I've ever heard in my entire life. I'm telling you, it's something the jumping through tables is fucking awesome, I agree, wwe shout out. Why during the, I didn't think they'd do it after the game. Why would you want to go in the game with fucking mustard and ketchup all over you?
Speaker 2I don't know, maybe in the winter it keeps them warm, I don't know.
Speaker 3I did not like that no.
Speaker 2Ridiculous.
Speaker 3Ridiculous.
Speaker 2Alright, you're 0 for 1. That is real. That is real in Buffalo. So they spray ketchup and mustard on each other during tailgates, which is crazy. I do have some NFL ones, I have some college ones. I found some weird funky things. We're going to roll with it. Are you ready for number two? Alright. I'm ready, the Mattress Fire. West Virginia Mountaineers Shout out Pat McAfee. After big wins or even big losses, fans burn couches in the street.
Speaker 3Real or ridiculous, since that last one is real, but this seems like it could be.
Speaker 2it's a college town, so I'm gonna go. It's real, it is real all right, which I think is insane. So essentially, you're setting arson to upholstery. I got that one right.
Speaker 3I mean, I can see you know, I can see it. Oh, it says degenerate college kids. Doing something stupid, no matter what you go to the game, you tailgate the game, no matter win or loss. You're going to burn that couch and you're all going to go to some shitty little Mexican or pizza spot after and absolutely eat your hangover away that's right.
Speaker 2All right, I got another college one for you the silent fourth quarter, penn state whiteout games. At a certain point in tight games fans will go dead silent for one full defensive drive to confuse the opponent and empower the defense. That's fake. That is is fake.
Speaker 3That is ridiculous. The Penn State games are insane. They're one of the best fan bases.
Speaker 2I put that on there as like a buffer for you.
Speaker 3I was like there's no way he gets this one wrong. There's no way, that's fake.
Speaker 2All right, we got the giant salt circle, the New England Patriots. A tailgate crew allegedly draws a massive salt circle in the parking lot to ward off turnover demons. They claim it's why Tom Brady never fumbled.
Speaker 3That's fake, that is also fake.
Speaker 2That is also fake the.
Speaker 3Patriots fans don't need to be doing that dumb shit.
Speaker 2They won so many.
Speaker 3Super Bowls. Yeah, maybe now they can start doing that, but they had no reason to be doing that when they had Tom Brady All right, You're not bad.
Speaker 2Okay, only one wrong. So far. I'm a hot dog and mustard on yourself. How do you think that's okay, Dude? It's so stupid. Tailgate too. You're going to go into the game like that. It's so stupid. I knew they jumped into tables and stuff, which that's pretty cool. All right, I got a MLB one. It's called the Rally Banana or, as my kids say, Babana.
Speaker 3All right.
Speaker 2A banana in the dugout once sparked a comeback, and now it's a legend.
Speaker 3This is for anyone.
Speaker 2Oh, I'm sorry, this is for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Speaker 3So they eat a banana in the dugout. They just set up bananas in the dugout.
Speaker 2one spark to come back, and now it's a legend. So now I guess they just have bananas in play or in the dugout.
Speaker 3I can see that being true that is true.
Speaker 2So that is real. It is now a living legend, so that potassium is flowing through Shohei Itani.
Speaker 3Put some bananas back there.
Speaker 2It's ridiculous. This one might be easy Hog hats Washington Commanders, Formerly known as the Redskins. The bills pull away. Fans dress in pig noses and snouts to honor their legendary O-line the Hogs.
Speaker 3That is true.
Speaker 2That is true. They did have a very when they were pretty solid. They had their O-line right. That was better than our offensive line known as the hawks. All right, the pancake prayer iowa hawkeye. So now we're back to ncaa football. O-line fans eat pancakes and stack them at the tailgates, praying for pancake blocks during the game.
Speaker 3That I could be.
Speaker 2That's true, that is ridiculous, it is ridiculous, that is false.
Speaker 3Yeah, that was too easy. I should have known that I do like that, though. I mean, that's a good, I could see a college team you got to griddle out there. You got to griddle out there, someone's got a black stone and they're just banning out pancakes for everyone Right, it's a nice.
Speaker 2you know you get some carbs in you.
Speaker 3Everyone's drinking. You're just eating pancakes.
Speaker 2I'm down for that.
Speaker 3That was too easy, though I should have thought a little bit harder. Sorry, but all right, you got me on that one.
Speaker 2I'm cashing this out, tom. Oh no, we'll let it ride. We got the Voodoo Gumbo New Orleans Saints Fans. We got the Voodoo Gumbo New Orleans Saints Fans make a ceremonial pot of gumbo using ingredients that correspond to offensive positions. For example, okra is the wide receivers, shrimp running backs.
Speaker 3And stirring it clockwise brings balance to the offense. Too much going on there, yeah, that's too much fucking thinking.
Speaker 2But it being in New Orleans. I could see it happening, but no, but it's a lot Like if you're stirring a clock while all that. I can see this happening maybe at home, like you're making a gumbo in your house, but like a tailgate or something.
Speaker 3Like a card reader's house, it seems a little ridiculous.
Speaker 2All right, we got the Popcorn Plunge. This is the Nebraska Cornhuskers. So for NCAA football, children at tailgates jump into inflatable pools filled with popcorn for harvest luck.
Speaker 3Pretty awesome.
Speaker 2Whether it's true or false, I'm going pretty awesome I would jump into an inflatable pool full of popcorn, and I know my son and daughter would jump headfirst into an inflatable pool full of popcorn well, that's, true that is ridiculous yeah, I knew it's pretty, it's so cool. Then you just convinced me there where you're saying I would do that Like, if that's not a thing, it should be a thing.
Speaker 3I saw it because Nebraska, like they, got a lot of farmers.
Speaker 2They're the Cornhuskers. Kind of awesome, Like seems kind of awesome.
Speaker 3I was going to say false and then you said, oh, it's awesome, yeah, yeah. See yeah awesome. Then you said it's awesome, yeah, yeah, see, yeah yeah, stirring the pot, I'm stirring that gumbo.
The Terrible Towel Curse Stories
Speaker 2Yeah, counterclockwise. All right, I left this one last so we can do some history for all of our fans. We got the terrible towel curse don't say anything. Yet opposing players who disrespect the terrible towel step on it, mock it, wipe with it, whatever they do, often go on to suffer humiliating losses, injuries or meltdowns. Steelers fans treat it like a sacred object well, you are.
Speaker 3Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's real okay, so I'm gonna give you a couple things um Lendale White and Keith Bullock from the Titans in 2008,. After beating the Steelers, they stomped on the terrible towel. After that, the Titans lost their next eight games, blown out of the playoffs, and White was out of the league not long after that. That's crazy.
Speaker 3That's devastating.
Speaker 2I'm going to probably screw up this last name, so I apologize to him. If he's listening, which I'm sure he's not TJ Hauschmendeza, bengals.
Speaker 3Yeah, bengals 2005.
Speaker 2Yeah, hauschmendeza, he, yeah, hauschman, hauschman Döse, he was good, I liked him. Hauschman Zeta, what? Zeta, yeah All right White is cleats with a terrible towel on national television. Bengals were eliminated by the Steelers that postseason. Pittsburgh went on to win the Super Bowl that season and he never beat the Steelers in the playoffs. Yep, here we go, keep going. We got two more, ray Rice.
Speaker 3Ravens 2011. Well, he has a lot of. We can talk a lot about that guy.
Speaker 2All right, caught mocking the towel during the warm-ups.
Speaker 3This is the same year he did some bad things.
Speaker 2I'm sure, and he got away with it. I'm sure Ravens lost a playoff heartbreaker and Rice's career unraveled shortly after, although that was for other reasons.
Speaker 3Yeah, possibly murder If you know, football.
Speaker 2you know Ray Rice? Oh man, all right. Jaguars fan. 2017 playoffs. Video went viral of a Jags fan.
Speaker 3I hate saying that that was a horrible lot. Oh, I hate it.
Speaker 2Jaguars fan pretending to wipe his behind with a terrible towel before the game. The Jaguars did beat the Steelers that year and I'm pretty sure we were at Durkin's during that game 2017.
Speaker 3It was a playoff game. Yep, I don't know, Maybe Were you in the city in 17, yet I think I was home from the Marines.
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 3I was with Katie at my mom's house watching it with my family.
Speaker 2All right, well, in my heart we were together. But yeah, we were at. But yeah, we were at durkens, okay, yeah, um, they lost the next round, have not returned to an afc championship since, and apparently the same fan has been banned from heinz. Oh, it says heinz field, but it's, it is heinz, it will always be heinz field. But, um, I will say I mean, with all these superstitions and things like you named things that you do, I always play black and yellow for the game.
Speaker 3Tripp's loving it.
Family Traditions and Next Generation Fans
Speaker 2Tripp, my son is just. I don't know if it's good that my four-year-old is walking around my house saying you know what it is. He's a big Wiz Khalifa guy.
Speaker 2Or push to start right. He's catching up on some things which I love as a fan. Dude, I was playing a song today. I wanted to text you and show you, but I had to leave. Just like a random song came on Spotify and he was like can you change a song? And I'm like yeah, spotify. And he was like can you change a song? And I'm like yeah, bud, what do you want? He's like black black and well, oh, okay, I was like it's Thursday, but okay we'll do it.
Speaker 2And then I had a playlist on just my like songs and it's shuffles all over God's green earth for what I'm playing. And Renegade came on, which is, if you're not a Steelers fan, it's the song they play when they need a defensive stop, something big in the game to try to rally up the team.
Speaker 2It's another superstition, right, it's another one since we're talking about it and it was playing just in the car, I don't know where we were going. He's like Dad and he made me turn it down. I'm like what's up? He's like isn't this a stealer?
Speaker 3song. I've never been more proud.
Speaker 2You know, it's just those yeah, and especially that he knows it's a you know, he knows it's renegade, he knows it's a sealer song.
Speaker 3But the fact that he kind of recognizes sticks I'm all in for all right I'm a big 80s guy, so yeah, we gotta get him to the stadium, maybe next year yeah, it's uh.
Speaker 2You know, I'll put on a sweater randomly during the week and be like hey, they don't play today I'm like, dude, I can, I can, I can wear it when I want to wear it, um, but like, if the towel comes out, he's got to wave the towel. He beats the living piss out of everything in the house with the towel. So it's a fun tradition for us. I'm glad he's got someone to root for. I'm glad he likes football.
Speaker 3Yep, he's the best.
Speaker 2Yeah, so we got anything else.
Speaker 3I don't think so Any other traditions that you can think of.
Speaker 2I mean, obviously we talked about the Bills slamming people through the tables or they jump through the tables.
Speaker 3Not really a tradition, but we go me and my wife and sometimes my brother-in-laws and father-in-law go to a series game once a year and I am undefeated going to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2Well, it looks like we need to get you a season ticket.
Speaker 3So we are actually bringing our. He will be five months, about five months, maybe a little less.
Speaker 2At the time you go.
Speaker 3To Pittsburgh in October and we are going to keep that tradition alive and hopefully get in our win. We're playing the Browns.
Speaker 2Do you have to buy three seats? No, Just two.
Speaker 3No two yeah, we got the soundproof muffs ready. Nice big sign. Hopefully TGY will sign it.
Speaker 2We need to. Oh, dude, that would be so cool. Tj sign TJ's top yeah.
Speaker 3We shall see.
Speaker 2That'd be so cool. All right, we hope you enjoyed our little unplugged episode here. It'll drop Monday. I don't know the date. Episode here it'll drop monday, I don't know the date september 22nd, yeah, something around there, something like that. Um, you got anything left for our, our beautiful, beautiful fans here?
Speaker 3no, I do not.
Episode Wrap Up
Speaker 2Um, just keep, uh, keep trusting in us, we'll, we'll make you some money yeah, you know what, if we're not making you money, we're hoping you money, we're hoping you're, uh, we're hoping you're laughing a little bit. So anything else, tom, nope, I'm all good. All right, appreciate you listening. This is the burly bet. I'm Jack, I'm Tom.
Speaker 1And that's a wrap. Brotherly bit heart takes bold bets zero regrets. You're locked in with the brotherly bit. High takes bold bets zero regrets. You're locked in with the brotherly bit. High takes bold bets zero regrets. You're locked in with the brotherly bit Bye. Locked in with the brotherly bit. Locked in with the brotherly bit. Heart takes bold bets Zero regrets.