The Sports Monitor

Don't mess with the Terrible Towel. Everyone scoffed at that idea last season after the Tennessee Titans beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-14 to secure home-field advantage in the playoffs and the No. 1 seed in the AFC. On the sidelines, running back LenDale White and other Titans could be seen stomping on the Terrible Towel after the game. Defensive end Jevon Kearse pretended to blow his nose in the Towel. Bad move. The heinous acts cause an outcry in Pittsburgh and throughout Steeler Nation. You don't mess with the Terrible Towel. Period. Everyone else laughed. It's just a towel, they said. The didn't believe in the magic of Myron Cope's creation. Steelers fans knew better. They believed. The Titans lost their final game of the regular season, but no one really paid too much attention to that as they finished with a 13-3 record. Plenty of NFL experts thought there would be a Steelers-Titans rematch in the AFC Championship Game. Didn't play out that way. The Tita...

When last we saw the Pittsburgh Steelers on the football field, they were busy celebrating Santonio Holmes' Super Bowl-winning touchdown and their sixth NFL championship. Coach Mike Tomlin spent all preseason trying to separate 2009 from that title-winning team. We'll find out starting tonight how that approach might work. The Steelers begin defense of their championship against the Tennessee Titans at 8 p.m. on prime time. There will be fireworks, celebrations and a former star or two from Steelers lore on hand. And, so will the Titans. They've been waiting for this game since they blew their chance at a rematch in the AFC Championship Game by losing to the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round. They'll finally get it, but with much lower stakes. The Steelers enter the game having had terrible luck against the Titans in the past, including a 31-14 beatdown last season which knocked the Steelers out of a shot at the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. That didn't turn o...