A sampling of superstitions and game-day rituals from around the country and the world, as told by the folks who responded to Bob Batz Jr.'s request (some have been edited for clarity and length). More than 400 people submitted items.

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I grew up in the Pittsburgh area, one of six kids, and the child of a nine-seat Steeler season-ticket holder. As a child in the late '70s, I witnessed many playoff victories at Three Rivers, and my blood runs black and gold this time of year.

Since those early days, my siblings and I have spread out across the country -- Baltimore, L.A., and I'm in Philly -- but we all remain avid fans, catching every game we can.

While we were all excited about last week's Colts game as it progressed, and surely knew we were all watching, dying to talk about it with other each other, none of us broke the golden rule:

NEVER call each other to discuss a game until it is over.

Watching at my home in the Philly burbs, many times throughout the game I had urges to speak with my family , but I didn't. My wife marveled at the fact that the phone didn't ring once during the game.

Until ... well, I made a BIG mistake: After the defense sacked Manning with 1:20 left in the game, I thought the Steelers would just take a knee to finish out the game, so I called my parents. As my Mom answered the phone, I excitedly started to talk -- can't believe it, what a big upset, etc. -- and then, I turned to the TV to see the fumble.

I screamed, my mom screamed, and I immediately hung up the phone to watch Harper run down the field on his way to an apparent TD.

I'm a fairly rational person, but there's a part of me that believes the fumble happened because I called, and that Roethlisberger would never have tackled Harper had I not hung up.

Please, Steelers fans, don't call anyone until the game is over on Sunday!

-- Tom Rendulich, Wallingford, Pa.

Among other things, I have to text message my friend Jacki in Harrisburg, before the game with "Here we go Steelers!" and at least three times during the game -- usually after we score. We did not follow that routine when we played Jacksonville for some reason and we all know the result of that game.

-- Eileen Flinn, Portland, Ore.

The reason Indianapolis missed that field goal is because my brother and I rubbed our right foot on the floor as the ball was kicked. This is a Talley family secret.

-- Tom Talley, Brandon, Fla.

At the beginning of the 2004 season, I started a new tradition of taking out my Steelers flag. Before hanging it out on the front porch on game day, I'd drape it over my then 1-1/2 year old son Jack's head and we would march around the house singing the "Here We Go" fight song. He loved it, and with the amazing season that we had last year I became very superstitious about it and never missed a game day.

This year, we started the tradition once again, but my now "terrible two" year old wasn't as interested or cooperative in participating.

On certain game days, including those three weeks in a row when we lost to the Ravens, Colts, and Bengals, he cried and even ran away when he saw me coming at him with the flag. So I did what any superstitious Steelers fan would do. I switched kids and started anew with my one year old daughter, Drew. Like Jack at the same age, she loves it. We started on Sunday, December 11, the day the current six-game win streak started, and we haven't missed a game-day flag ritual since.

-- Tim Delaney, Mt. Washington

I never considered myself superstitious, but ... on the morning of the game (they usually starts at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time) I cautiously avoid wearing, touching or using anything that has the Steelers' opponents colors in it. Last Sunday, as I watched the Colts getting their third score, I realized that I was drying my dishes (during commercials) with a blue and white dish towel.

I dropped it as if it was a viper and kicked it under the table. It seemed silly, but it is still there on the floor three days later.

-- Len Vaglia, Lost Creek Lake, Ore.

My mother, Jean Novak, is a perfect example of someone who believes her Terrible Towel has the power to affect the game. Her vintage '70s Terrible Towel, a true relic of the Super Bowl years, is ONLY brought out during the playoffs, NEVER EVER during the season, and MUST sit on top of the TV, otherwise "it doesn't work." She gets very angry that fans today bring out their Terrible Towels too early, like in pre-season. She counteracts this by waving her newer Terrible Towel season-long, then breaking out the old veteran during the playoffs.

I used to secretly think my mom was nuts. But given the good luck and freakish events we've experienced in the past two games, I'm ready to accept the fact that a towel might have had something to do with it.

-- Amy Novak, Ross

Our superstition is to place our buddy's Official NFL Steelers Helmet on top or near the TV, with the emblem facing us. No one is to touch the helmet once it is in place until the game is over. My buddy Ed picked up the helmet after Joey Porter sacked Peyton Manning last week on the fourth down play. He yelled GO STEELERS. We are going to the Championship Game!!!

Then all of a sudden, Jerome Bettis fumbled the ball. We were all in shock. Superstitions are for real.

Once you have a superstition that is working, you have to stick with it.

-- Brian Yeary, Mentor, Ohio

Among other things I do, I keep a Peppi's "Roethlisburger" sandwich receipt stub in my wallet.

-- Matt Tarpley, Chapel Hill, N.C.

I thought that your request for superstitious practices was good for some of us closet nut cases to share with others. Then I realized that the two superstitions that I MUST honor for the Steelers to win can't be shared. If I told anyone what they are, then the Steelers would lose. I guess that's either another superstition or I'm a blossoming obsessive-compulsive.

-- Bob Smith, Orange County, Calif.

The team seems to be losing every time I'm watching it. So during the second and third quarter of the game I go work on the lawn as my son knocks on the window to give me the score. Last week I was outside until near the end of the fourth quarter and the first play I see is the Bettis fumble. So to me, for my team to win, I need to be outside working.

-- Dennis Emmett, Phoenix

During the games' crucial times -- like Indianapolis' field goal attempt -- my two sons and I hold hands. A simple thing but hey, it worked!

-- Nina Weldon, South Boston, Va.

I have a small replica of a St. Augustine, Fla., lighthouse -- about 18 inches tall, that is all black and gold, with the Steeler's logo and name on it. It was handmade by a local guy down there, who made lots of Dolphins and Panthers lighthouses, but only one Steelers lighthouse. And I got it.

It usually comes out every season along with all of my other Steelers stuff -- Terrible Towel, autographed helmet and football, etc. -- but this year, for some unknown reason, it stayed in a box in the garage. After our third loss in a row on Dec. 4, to the hated Bengals, I remembered it, got it out and turned it on. It's been on ever since, and we haven't lost. I can only conclude that it was destiny that I remembered to get it out of its dark box in the dark garage, and have it light the way to where we are today!

The light is lit, and a spare bulb is standing by just in case. As long as we don't have a power outage on Sunday, the Broncos are doomed!

-- Bob Byrne, Marietta, Ga.

One thing I do: I watch with my hat on frontways on offense, backwards on defense.

-- Joseph Palka, Gaithersburg, Md.

I must have the remote control on the left arm of my recliner when Pittsburgh is on offense, on the right side when Pittsburgh is on defense.

-- Jeff Yerkey, Lusby, Md.

My strangest hang-up involves the VCR.

I'm a minister, so I often have to leave the games to go to church if we have a late game. At the beginning of last year, I simply taped the games against Dallas and New England.

But then I taped the AFC championship, and we lost. I taped the Patriots game this year, and we lost. The final straw was the Jaguars game this year.

After that, the official rule was that it is a capital crime to try and tape a Steelers game.

My wife "jokingly" told me that she taped the end of the Ravens game this year. She luckily 'fessed up to the joke before cardiac arrest set in, and before I could look up a good attorney in the Yellow Pages.

-- Tom LeGrand, Wilkesboro, N.C.

My wife Carie's grandmother, Sally Sisak, has for years tried to jinx opposing kickers in critical situations. It actually started with Sally's mother and has become a family tradition that has been passed down to my 5-year-old Corey, 3-year-old Carter and 10-month-old Cameron. Sally has 11 other grandchildren and 23 other great-grandchildren spread throughout the country, and they all know the jinx and use it, too.

It goes something like this:

With index and middle fingers pointed (pushing your fingers at the opposing kicker with each chant, as if you were poking him) recite, "BZZZ, BZZZ, malakai, BZZZZ!" This is done as the kicker is approaching the ball for the kick.

Although it is not a perfect science, it has worked on more occasions than not.

The key is to not use it on every kick, but only in dire situations (it got us past the Jets in last year's playoffs and past Vanderjagt and the Colts last week).

My kids like to use it a little more liberally than the adults, but it is only because they have not grasped its full power -- and they just think it is fun.

-- Michael J. Cavalier, Homer City

My nephew, Remington Johnston, and I have started one: When we are in a tight game and it comes down to the last play (mainly field goals), I pick him up and we go outside to view the final play of the game. It works (evidence attached).

-- Tom Kross, Chesapeake, Va.

I have a Steeler snow globe and last year my now 3 1/2-year-old daughter discovered it the night of Big Ben's first start. She asked if she could shake it, and I said maybe that would give Ben good luck. Of course, he won his first start. The next week, I said she should do it again. She shook it before every game last year as Big Ben went 15-1. Even though the magic didn't work against the Patriots in the playoffs, we still do it before every game.

-- Pat Fisher, Huntsburg, Ohio

I'm sure you are aware the of the Sports Illustrated "cover curse." Well, my husband, George, devised a plan to reverse the curse. During the game this past Sunday, he took the recent edition of SI with Jerome Bettis on the cover and on a small table he made a stand for the magazine and lit about eight candles that burned throughout the game so that we would not fall victim to the curse. It worked.

-- Betsy Melnick, Tamaqua, Pa.

My roommate got me a Steelers candle for Christmas (he gave it to me the Saturday before the Bears game). I've lit it before every game since and we have not lost . You better believe it will be lit Sunday when we roll the Broncos.

-- Matt Charles, Tampa, Fla.

Every Sunday I light a candle one hour before the game.

I wear the same jeans, my No. 82 Randle El jersey, Steeler earrings, black boots and I carry my Steeler wallet in my right back pocket every game day.

Right before I go to the Out of the Way Cafe to watch the game, I kneel down and say a prayer.

I make sure my daughter Porschea has her Steelers shirt on and I hug and kiss her goodbye.

Once I am in the Cafe I have two Rolling Rocks, then at half time Buffalo wings, and I call my Dad in Pennsylvania from my cell phone.

The second half of the game I have two Johnny Walker Red cocktails with a splash of ginger ale.

I play my CD, "Luxurious," by Gwen Stefani all the way to the Cafe and back home in my new silver Honda Ridgeline called "Ms. Steeler."

-- Sally McPherson, Germantown, Md.

I have been doing this for years: My ironing board is always up -- even if I am at someone else's house for a Steelers party.

-- Sara Sproul, Portsmouth, Va.

Where do I start? I have an AFC championship plaque from the '95 season that has a 3-by-3-inch square on it of astroturf from Three Rivers Stadium. This is also known as my "lucky grass" because that is the last time the Steelers went to the Super Bowl.

Pre-Game goes like this: Sniff the grass once, hit grass five times because that is the number we are shooting for in Super Bowl titles and also how many AFC championship game wins we have. Then I kiss it five times and place her back on floor exactly where she was so as not to disturb her.

Throughout the game I am allowed to do the same ritual as long as I only do it once a quarter or four times per game, meaning I can save all four until the fourth quarter. After the game (win or lose) I kiss her one time and place her back on the wall of fame downstairs until the next game.

-- Brad Lang, Dover, Pa.

Every football Sunday I wear my Steelers T-shirt, Steelers sweatshirt and Steelers cap. But by the middle of this season, the cap, a white one with a black and gold stripe down the center, had gotten ratty. I bought a replacement. I mindlessly THREW AWAY the old cap the week before the Nov. 20 Ravens game, and it took three weeks for the new cap to recover the lost mojo. I apologize to the team and Steelers fans everywhere for my mistake. It won't happen again.

-- Paul Singer, Washington, D.C.

We have an old football on top of our entertainment center that has not been on the ground since it was used in a playoff football game for my alma mater in Ohio. We call it the Ju-Ju. When the Steelers are playing and it is getting down to the wire, we pass it around and rub it. If the Steelers are losing, whoever is holding it has to pass it to another person because they might be jinxing the Steelers. It is ridiculous and almost embarrassing for us to share, but is definitely a superstition of ours.

-- Kelli Moreno and family, Morningside

I seem to find things that work for me every year. This year I wear a Big Ben T-shirt underneath my authentic Roethlisberger jersey. I sit in my living room on my sectional facing the TV and my wife stays in the living room and sits to my right. If she leaves the other team scores. It's really funny. I started with the T-shirt thing after the last loss and they haven't lost since. If I wear my Steelers hard hat, they lose.

-- Ken Leonard, Toronto, Canada

First of all, I don't eat before or during the game. This is also serves as a functional superstition because if the game is really tight as it was in Indy I would have thrown up. You can imagine how Monday Night games go -- I'm usually famished by the end.

I feel like things have to go bad in my life so the Steelers will win. Every time I would have a breakup with a boyfriend, the Steelers would be amazing. Example: my three-year relationship ended last Saturday night ... and the Steelers won. Coincidence? I think not.

-- Nelida Lara, Westwood, Calif.

At the start of each game, the following must happen: I have to be sitting in my favorite rocking chair, wearing my lucky black sweatpants and my lucky T-shirt. The Terrible Towel must be hung over one of my lamp shades along with my lucky gold Steelers beads. My husband has to stay in the kitchen and watch the game from there. It is bad luck if he sits in the living room, and he is only allowed in if he paces back and forth behind my rocking chair.

-- Frances Wentz-Unites, Banksville

The Steelers are now 6-0 when my four-month-old daughter, Sophie, wears her Steelers bib the day before the game. They were 0-2 when she wore it during the game.

Meanwhile, I have a black Terrible Towel and yellow one and I must have the yellow in my left hand, which usually goes in my mouth, and the black one on the right hand.

-- Jeff Eyamie, Winnipeg, Canada

My superstitions start after a Steeler win: Shaving done on Tuesday and Saturday whether it is needed or not.

Game day: Early morning wear 2001 Central Division Champs T-shirt (not sure why this shirt), which hasn't been washed since win streak. Put Steelers flag on truck. Go to work for 4 hours.

One and one-half hours before kickoff: Come home, put on Bettis jersey (only gets washed at end of season). Put on Steelers hat which contains a few signatures. Go to computer tune in Fox Sports 970 while watching ESPN and CBS pre-game.

Half hour before kickoff: Load cooler with eight Natural Light beers and two Iron City beers, Terrible towel cooler cup, bottle opener and yellow Terrible Towel and black Terrible Towel. Go two blocks to friend's house where myself and about 12 other Steeler fans watch game.

Fifteen minutes before kickoff: Drink one Natural Light, stand behind couch (in same place every week) with towels on the back of the couch, black one on the left saying "Terrible" and yellow one on the right saying "Towel."

As kickoff approaches: Grab one Iron City Beer and pop the top as the ball is kicked.

-- Scott M. Bradshaw, Griggsville, Ill.

Since week seven of the season my roommate, Rich, has observed something that he has become very superstitious about. Whenever he misses the full first quarter of a Steeler game they win. If he watches the full game from the opening kickoff to the end of the game, the Steelers lose. This became very apparent when he watched the entire games for the Steelers three-game slide late in the middle of the season. For the next six games and including both the wild-card and divisional playoff game he has purposefully missed the first full quarter of each game. Result: Steelers win. He willingly will miss the AFC Championship this weekend -- and even not, I'd throw his sorry butt out of this apartment so he couldn't!

-- Craig Gottschalk, Minneapolis

I have a few, but this is a two-year running tradition that has never failed: One of my best friends gets the exact same fast food meal at halftime every week. This one is freaky because it really works. If she gets the burrito, we win. If she doesn't we lose.

-- Tyler Paytas, Oxford, Ohio

I have some superstitions that consist of the following: Have to wear the same shirt every week. And beginning on Saturday evening before the game I wash the shirt, and it always has to be hung up in the closet so it's ready to go for game day.

At 11 a.m. game day (for a 1 p.m. start) or 2 p.m. (for a 4 p.m. game), I begin the routine. I get dressed beginning with the shirt. I get out the huge bean bag that I watch each game in and place it in the same spot as the week before. Turn on the TV and watch pregame.

Five minutes before game time, I turn on the stereo for the audio feed and it always has to be on the same volume of 16. I then get out my Pepsi glass and fill it full of ice and Pepsi. The Pepsi is like fuel. I take a drink on each change of possession for offense and defense. I look at it as if its strength for the team to do well.

When the game begins, I then overlap my legs: the top leg is in the direction that the Steelers are traveling on the field and it stays that way for the half. Second half, the leg changes directions. Everything has to be the same week in and week out because if it's not it could be disastrous.

-- Terry Harper, Mansfield, Ohio

I sit in the same chair in my living room in the same way for every game, feet not touching the ground during the entire game. If my feet hit the ground at any time during the game, that brings bad luck.

-- John Banks, Plano, Texas

My husband, Gary, thinks I am bad luck if we watch the game together. If I am in the room with him and something bad happens, I get asked, "Isn't there anywhere you can go?" I will go into our den or to my parent's home to watch the game. Anything for a Steelers victory!

-- Mandy Petro, Carnegie

In the middle of December, we were shopping at Wal-Mart and my wife came across an ornament that caught my eyes. It's a polar bear dressed Steeler-style with the words "Pittsburgh Steelers 2005."

I hung it on the tree and thought to myself, Boy if these guys would snap out of this losing streak, I will leave it hanging. Ever since the team has been on a tear.

We had to take the tree down, but I was afraid of messing with the mojo, so I put it on the wall in the kitchen. I swear to you that ornament of mine has some magic to it. I rub that thing before every game.

-- David Saurer, Brooklyn, Ohio

Based on a routine that started early last season, Sunday at my house has become known as Showerless Sunday.

-- Joe Atchison III, Cherry Hill, N.J.

I get extremely superstitious, particularly around playoff time. I won't let my wife change anything in our house. If something is moved, it MUST be moved back to where it was the last time the Steelers won. I won't even wash the clothes I wore during their last win, nor will I let my wife wash hers or our daughters (underwear and socks included), and we wear the same garb for the next game.

My daughter HAS to wear her Hines Ward onesy, even to church, on Sundays, with her little jeans and a specific pair of socks. During the game, my wife and I wear our Ben jerseys with our Terrible Towels draped over our shoulders, and my Steelers hard hat fixed snug to my head, and a bottomless supply of I.C .Light that MUST be drunk.

We have assigned seats in our living room.

Haircuts are forbidden until the season is over.

Even outside of the house, things must be perfect. I won't change the CD in my vehicle, and will only play 1 song repeatedly, because it's the last one I heard before the Steelers won their last game.

I could go on and on . Admittedly, it's a bit ridiculous -- obsessive-compulsive disorder perhaps -- but I feel I must continue sending my team the vibe, or else they're doomed!

-- Erik Tyger, Lima, Ohio

I've long been concerned with the "mojo" contained by the various Steelers-related apparel and am always searching for that "lucky" hat or the "winning" shirt. Most times, I've found it's a theory that has to be adjusted throughout the course of the season, plus toyed with depending on where the game is watched.

What's lucky at home may not be lucky at the sports bar. And attending the game, well, you just have to go with the "authentic" game jersey, as opposed to a replica. Also there are other factors, like what is worn during the week, or the Friday before the game. Should a hat be worn during the game, or be merely present? Should the Terrible Towel be tucked in the belt, worn over the leg, or displayed over the top of the couch?

In an effort to put some real analysis behind cultivating my mojo, instead of relying on an often beer-addled memory, I started a Mojo Spreadsheet this season, to track the trial and error of my mojo explorations.

It has been most helpful to zero in on what's hot and what's not.

My strangest conclusion? My Duce replica jersey has much more mojo in for home viewing than my Fast Willie replica, even though Duce has been inactive most of the season. Go figure. But the stats don't lie.

My other conclusion? Most of my friends think I'm nuts for doing this. But what do they know? I and the thousands of other Steeler fans out there exercising their mojo have gotten us one game from Super Bowl XL.

I'm watching the Championship game at a friend's house this weekend. I have no data on this locale. Looks like I'm going to have to wing it. But at least I should be able to make an educated extrapolation, crossing the Home Viewing apparel with Sports Bar apparel. It's going to be risky, but hey, you have to be tough to be a Steeler Fan.

-- Tony Napoleone, Baltimore

Every week, before Sunday's game, I fill up my car with gas at the No. 7 pump. Even if there are other pumps opened for use, I wait for the No. 7 to become available. Call me crazy but it works. That is, if you believe!

-- John Barone, Los Angeles

Here's a real tradition in the making: Before every game, and especially every AFC championship game (home or away), you have to go down to Heinz Field to the Art Rooney statue and say a football prayer and smoke a cigar with The Chief .

We are coming from Johnstown/Indiana Saturday to do just that, then driving back home. Last year we called it off and we lost -- not this year.

Why not start a tradition?

-- Matt Mrozinski, Johnstown

I am a teacher in Virginia. Last year I declared a Black and Gold Friday at my school for every game, and FORGOT to during the AFC Championship. I was depressed all the way up until training camp.

This year, not only have I been sure to declare Black and Gold Fridays, much to the chagrin of those very few burgundy and gold fans, I have grown the scrappy, ugly playoff beard. I have not shaved since Dec. 11, (when we started the playoffs, for all intents and purposes.) My wife asks for a divorce every time she sees me.

I also have 4 or 5 BIG Steeler fans who skipped B&G Fridays, and the Steelers won without their jerseys on, so I enforce a rule: only sport Steeler gear if you wore it the week before, and that was a winning weekend! If they only wore the Steeler garb before the losses, they are banned from participating!

Thanks for validating my insanity.

Hail to Pitt.

-- Brian Heffron, Prince William, Va.