On the final night before games, particularly on Saturday nights, NFL teams have a team meal and one last meeting before taking to the field for the game on Sundays. For some, it can be just a brief moment, one that they have to get through before getting some rest.
For the Steelers of the early 2000s, though, that was a special time in which the Black and Gold further strengthened their bond off the field.
In those Saturday night sessions, the Steelers would eat a slice of red velvet cake and a scoop of ice cream, with running back Jerome Bettis serving up the cake. That was a tradition in Pittsburgh and was passed down over the years. While it might seem simple and largely unimportant in the grand scheme of things, former Steelers’ linebacker and former outside linebackers coach Joey Porter Sr., during an appearance on Sirius XM’s Mad Dog Radio from Super Bowl Radio Row with host Damon Amendolara, stated that those Saturday night cake sessions were symbolic of how tight-knit and equal the Steelers were, from the stars on down to the last man on the roster.
That mentality helped the Steelers be so successful in the early 2000s.
“I’ll give you a crazy story. This is a funny story. This is how serious we was; how close we was as a team. You got 53 guys on the team and some are richer than you can ever imagine. Jerome [Bettis] is making whatever. We would have a red velvet cake that we eat every Saturday night. It started off with one red velvet cake, but we had to get two red velvet cakes. But it was so serious about this slice of cake and, and so much in our tradition, it meant so much to us to where Jerome would be the chef,” Porter said, recalling the Saturday night red velvet cake sessions, according to audio via SiriusXM. “He would cut every slice, and he don’t care how much pressure you’d be on, he’ll be cutting a cake, and I’ll be like, ‘come on Bussy man, make mine little bigger, Bussy. Come on man. Don’t do me like that. Bussy, look out for me and gimme a nice piece.’ But he gonna give you a nice slither, ’cause he gotta make sure the last guy has the same slither.
“These are the richest people that I’m around, and we’re sitting around Jerome cut a cake, and everybody’s giving him shit. Like, ‘Man, you gonna make money that small? Come on, man. Look out for me, man. Gimme a little more.’ And he’s cutting everybody cake the same size.”
For Porter, there was a lot of symbolism in that, as regardless of how rich one player was compared to the other and no matter what the title of one coach was compared to the other, each and every person got the same-sized slice of cake and the same scoop of ice cream.
And it was that way for a decade because it was tradition, promoting togetherness and equality within the locker room. That helped the Steelers bond in ways other teams simply couldn’t in those moments. That type of bond is what made that 2005 Steelers’ team, the one that ultimately got over the hump in Super Bowl XL, all the more special.
“There’s 60-something guys in here that has millions of dollars and we’re waiting to make sure we get our slice of red velvet cake. Now, mind you, everybody can go buy their own red velvet cake. You can buy their own. That’s not the point. It ain’t come from how we got it. Jerome’s not cutting it, and you not waiting in this line for your turn,” Porter added regarding the tradition. “Ain’t no crowd in this line. Like if I’m in the front, [Casey] Hampton don’t get to come up there with me because the person behind me is like, ‘nah, Hamp, you’re in the back of the line.’ Like, you’re gonna wait, and you’re gonna get your cake, and then you go run right over there to that ice cream and get your scoop.
“And that was every week for over a decade.”
Once Bettis retired, that tradition was based down and remained with the franchise, at least through the 2017 season. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported at the time that former wide receiver Antonio Brown had picked up the tradition, getting the red velvet cake catered every Saturday night—home or road—dating back to the 2015 season.
Of course, the Steelers haven’t gotten to the top of the mountain since 2008, but during those years in the early 2000s, the bond and the tradition of the Steelers were so strong, and it seemingly centered around a slice of red velvet cake and a scoop of ice cream every week on Saturday night, home or road.
Who knew that a slice of red velvet cake could be so impactful?
