Links From Around the 4-1-2

Eagerly awaiting the Pitt-WVU game, so to kill time, here are some links to some interesting stories floating around that pertain to the Burgh in one way or another. (Note: Very few Super Bowl or Steeler links because I just posted a bunch the other day and, well, it's not hard to find Super Bowl stories these days.)

-I can't really link to this because it's in the Sporting New Today online edition (here's the link to the entire Issue, scroll to Page 5 for the article I'm talking about) but it doesn't sound like Scott McKillop had a good week at the Senior Bowl:
"McKillop struggled athletically, making teams wonder whether he has enough talent to be a productive starter. He struggled with felxibility, quickness and playing speed- especially when dorpping and moving in coverage. Projection: Fell from a third or fourth round prospect to a sixth-/ seventh rounder."
That's a shame to read. Hopefully McKillop is able to turn it around in workouts/ combine showings. Also, that was an opinion put forth before the actual game. I watched a portion of the tape of the game this morning and McKillop seemed to play pretty well, though certainly not great. I still think he's a third or fourth rounder somewhere, at worst.

-A columnist in the Pitt News says Bill Stull should and will be the starting QB in 2009. I agree that Pitt is definitely in a very good position to make a run at the Big East if they can get a new back or backs to carry the rushing load because the rest of the conference is losing a pretty fair amount of talent. However, he lost me with his effusive praise of those running backs. Shariff Harris can put up Shady-like numbers? Uhmm....no. Chris Burns > Darren Sproles? Really? That's supposed to be believable? I know the point of columns, especially in college papers, is that they are supposed to have something in them that stirs arguments and provokes the reader, but comments like that are just lunacy. There is one line I do whole-heartedly agree with, though: "After the Sun Bowl disaster, the coaches need to devise a new game plan of their own to put their quarterback in the best position to succeed."

-In case you somehow haven't seen this yet, you need to check out Mondesi's House's list of the greatest plays in Pittsburgh sports history. Quite impressive and comprehensive list that includes videos and pictures.

-Oh No! A Steeler has been arrested! Wait, it's Jon Dekker? Okay, never mind then. Sorry to alarm you.

-I guess the Russian Cold War between Geno and Ovie has either reached a miraculous truce or maybe never really existed at all. I'm actually pretty glad to see that for Geno, as I think he could use as many countrymen friends/ acquaintences as he can get being that he still is adjusting to the media spotlight. I was also impressed by his granting an on-ice interview after winning the accuracy contest. He has come a ridiculously long way over the past year, and is really growing off the ice. Good for him.

-In an odd sort of story, Kevan Smith is leaving the Pitt Football team to go play baseball for Pitt instead. He has already joined the baseball team for the coming season and is working out to get ready to play with them. He'll have 3 years of eligibility there. I never realized it before, but apparently Smith was a pretty highly regarded catcher coming out of high school. He was never much of a QB, as any good Pitt fan knows, but here's hoping he finds his way with the baseball team.

That's a wrap, as the Pitt game is getting under way shortly and I need to prepare for this one. I'll probably post shortly after its over. Its always fun to go up against the worthless hoopies and their ridiculous inferiority complex. Go Panthers!

Pirates Get New Uniforms

The Pirates have new uniforms for the 2009 season, and as was long expected, the dreadful red uniforms are gone. So no matter what their uniforms looked like, we knew this was going to be a positive move. I mean look at these hideous things:So it's not all bad. That said, I think the new black uniforms, the one Nate McLouth is sporting on the far right, are solid third uniforms, and I think a black uniform is a good addition. I've never much cared for having grey and white uniforms, they're just too similar and too...I guess bland would be the right word, especially now that they have sleeves added back onto the uniforms, that takes away the black undeneath part that at least added something. I mean look at those two uniforms in the middle up there. What is even the least bit remarkable about those? Not a damn thing.

Of course the Pirates, in all their bountiful enthusiasm, are taking the new uniform thing to a new level. As Dejan Kovacevic reports in the Post-Gazette, "Frank Coonelly explained as part of the announcement today at the team's annual media luncheon that one reason for restoring the sleeves was that four of the franchise's five championships were won in that fashion and that the move was made 'as part of our return to championship-caliber baseball.'"

Riiiiiiight. I never realized how important adding sleeves was to a baseball team. Well then that would be the first move this team has made toward returning to championship baseball this offseason. Sorry, overpaying signing Ramon Vazquez just doesn't quite do it for me.

Anyway, as much as I like the idea of a black uniform, I'd much rather have the black become our home color instead of the gray, and then use a different third uniform, something that better embodies the idea of a third uniform. Something very different, yet marketable and representative of the organization. So, here's what I'm thinking:Disregard the goofy looking white guy on the right and focus instead on Pops. I mean how cool would wearing the Stargell Stars Jersey be? Am I the only one who thinks that would be unbelievably cool? I don't know maybe, but I'd rather see that than any other third design jersey the Buccos can come up with. Especially now that the Bucs have brought back sleeves on at least some of their Unis this makes sense. If they really want the fans to be fired up about new jerseys, I think this is the way to go.

Some Super Bowl Links

Here we are folks, just 9 days away from Super Bowl XLIII, and because there is already a crazy amount of coverage out there, and not a whole lot else is happening right now in the sports world these days, I thought I'd link to some of the better/more interesting coverage around.

-The Arizona Republic says the Cardinals D knows its up against a major challenge when they took on our own Big Ben Roethlisberger next weekend. I about soiled myself with laughter when I read the line about the Cards using Brian St. Pierre to simulate Ben. Uhmm... yeah I think that's just a bit off. I watched St. Pierre stink the joint out in too many exhibitions over the years. If thats their best bet for prepping for Roethlisberger, I like our chances a whole lot more than originally.

-The Sporting News has 10 different angles of the Steelers/ Cardinals matchup.

-The National Football Post doesn't seem to think there are many storylines in the Super Bowl. I guess the numerous Pittsburgh connections and the Tomlin/Whiz/Grimm storyline isn't appetizing enough for them. I tend to agree, but it's still early, and storylines can still emerge.

-The Post also examines a little bit of the long-rumored Roethlisberger/ Whisenhunt feud. I must say, I'm a little surprised this hasn't gotten more play, as it is definitely a pretty good storyline and is interesting, at least to me.

-Bodog provides a list of some of the prop bets for the Super Bowl. Always a fun thing to read and think over. I definitely like the over on the "Big Ben" bet. I don't think 5 is enough. As for which NBC show will get the most promos, I think it has to be "30 Rock" right? Everyone knows how much that network is in love with Tina Fey and her award-winning, yet under-watched TV show. I think Jay Leno has a chance, too, and I disagree with their bet that "The Office" is the favorite. Though I think there's a chance 30 Rock and The Office could be paired together in promos.

-We're the Greatest! At least according to Page 2's David Fleming, we are. And by we, I of course mean the Steelers. The greatest franchise in sports, folks, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Also, some good observations at the bottom about the Steelers. I especially liked the second one, involving LaMarr Woodley and his psychotic look last week.

-Scouts Inc. ranks the players in the Super Bowl. I disagree with a fair amount of this assessment, but its at least worth a read. I think sometimes the numbers guys get a bit too into the numbers and aren't able to incorporate non-quantifiable aspects into their calculations. I do agree with their top 3, though after that it gets a bit murky. How can an injured and cancerous player like Anquan Boldin be considered the 6th best player in this game?

-NFL.com breaks down who's better position-by-position. The Steelers get the overall edge in this matchup, though its very slight.

-Limas Sweed is eager to get another shot and thinks that he can come through this time for the Steelers, he just hopes to get a shot. Limas, no offense buddy. I mean I like you and think you can definitely turn into a half-decent receiver, but will be praying you don't see the field in the Super Bowl. I just can't possibly trust you.

-ESPN tries to get a story on Chuck Noll, the man who is most responsible for turning the Steelers into THE NFL franchise of all NFL franchises. Not a bad one, but the man still likes his privacy and probably just wants to be left alone.

-The Terrible Blog looks at the weird complaints Steelers fans seem to have of Ben Roethlisberger. I don't know that I would use the word hate like he does, but I do agree that the constant bitching about Ben has to end. It all seems to go back to the fact that he is far from a prototypical NFL QB. But you know what? That's fine with me. I mean, it's one thing to yell at your TV in the middle of the game because he held onto the ball too long or because he took another hit in the pocket or something like that, I mean everyone does that no matter who the player is. But the crazy, yapping yinzers who call up talk shows (though not now that the Steelers are in XLIII, of course) are just downright annoying. Ben is very, very effective at what he does even if it isn't always the prettiest or most normal way of doing it. Winning is winning, and that's what should always be most important to us.

-Peter King examines the Sean Morey angle for this Super Bowl. King is right when he says, "Rarely do you hear a player so affectionate for a team he left." Morey truely loved his time in Pittsburgh, and I wouldn't have minded seeing him hang around here a while longer to ply his trade, but I'd say things worked out pretty well this way, too.

The Cardinals ties to Pittsburgh

With 10 days to go until Super Bowl XLIII, I felt it would be a little early to delve into doing actual coverage or previews of the game, so instead I decided to go with a bit of a slanted angle and analyze every possible little Pittsburgh-related tie from the Arizona Cardinals roster.

Coaches
1. Ken Whisenhunt- Obviously, the Whiz has strong ties to the Burgh, being that he was an assistant under Bill Cowher for 6 seasons. He was the Offensive Coordinator for 3 years, including in the Super Bowl, and the tight ends coach for 3 years before that. Many fans were hoping he would be the head coach when Cowher retired, but I think things worked out pretty well for all parties this way.

2. Russ Grimm- Grimm has as many ties to the Burgh as anyone in football, probably. He was born in Scottdale, PA, and of course played his college ball at Pitt before a tremendous NFL Career. Grimm coached the Offensive Line for 6 years here in Pittsburgh, and spent the last 3 years of that time as the Assistant Head Coach. Most considered him to be the favorite to land the head coaching job when Cowher retired before Tomlin pulled the big upset.

3. Kevin Spencer- The Steelers former Special Teams coach who followed Whiz and Grimm out west.

4. Todd Haley- son of former Steelers director of player personnel Dick Haley, he was also a ballboy for the Steelers in the 70's dynasty days. Nepotism much? He also went to Upper St. Clair High School during that time.

5. Kevin Spencer- He was the Steelers special teams coach from 2002-2006 and then left the Burgh with Whiz.

6. Teryl Austin- The defensive backs coach of the Cardinals is from Sharon, PA and went to Pitt, so he's OK in my book. He started for 3 years at Pitt and graduated in 1988.

7. Bill Davis- The linebackers coach for the Cards spent 3 seasons (1992-94) as a defensive assistant for the Steelers. Also, its not Pittsburgh (or even Pennsylvania) but he is from Youngstown.

8. John Lott- The Cards strength and conditioning coach played for the Steelers in 1987.

9. Mike Miller- Miller is the Cards receivers coach and has numerous ties to the Burgh. He attended Plum High School, and followed that up by going to college at Clarion. He was an intern with the Steelers, and then he spent two years as the Running Backs coach at Robert Morris. Finally, he worked as an offensive assistant for the Steelers from 1999-2003.

10. Matt Raich- He is a defensive assistant for the Cards, and worked for the Steelers during Cowher's tenure as both an offensive assistant and as an intern. But it doesn't stop there. No, he spent 3 years at Robert Morris as a coach and 2 years at Westminster. And of course, he's from Monaca and graduated from Westminster and is even in their Hall of Fame.

Wow, 10 coaches out of the 16 on staff. That was a few more than I thought we were going to get. And there are some pretty deep ties, there, from numerous natives to working at the local small schools. Let's see what we can get from the players

Players11. Larry Fitzgerald- Of coures, Larry went down in history as one of the best offensive players in Pitt history with two unbelievable seasons at the school in 2002 and 2003. He won countless awards, was nominated for (and nearly won) the Heisman Trophy. He owns every single-season receiving record the Panthers have and is the best player I've ever seen wearing the Panther jersey (sorry Shady you weren't quite at that level).

12. Steve Breaston- Everyone remembers the incredible hype surrounding Breaston when he came out of Woody High and went to Michigan. He was one of the most spectacular high school players around in his day. The college career probably didn't go as well as he'd hoped, but he's been very good with the Cards.

13. Levi Brown- I don't usually include Penn State as a Pittsburgh tie, but in this case I'm doing so in order to boost my total number.

14. Reggie Wells- Wells, many don't know this, is from Library, PA and went to college at Clarion. Could you have possibly imagined there would be 2 Clarion ties and 2 Robert Morris ties to the Super Bowl? I couldn't have.

15. Gerald Hayes- Hayes was the first of several very good middle linebackers to come through Pitt and has turned into an excellent pro.

16. Sean Morey- Of course, Morey was the special teams specialist for the Steelers for 3 seasons and won a Super Bowl ring here. He's technically a receiver even though he caught 6 passes in those 3 years.

17. Brian St. Pierre- That's right, the quintessential 3rd string QB is still hanging around the league. He attempted his only career pass as a Steeler.

18. Jerame Tuman- Tuman spent 9 seasons with the Steelers to start his career. He caught 43 passes and scored 6 touchdowns in his time in the Burgh, but was never anything more than a second tight end.

19. Clark Haggans- Haggans technically isn't on the Cards active roster, and he was placed on injured reserve in December. Clark spent his first 7 seasons as a Steeler and recorded 32.5 sacks over that time.

20. Pat Ross- He played for Ohio in the Big 33 Classic. Obviously, not really a Pittsburgh connection, but this is something that is closely linked to the Burgh.

21. Keilen Dykes- Played at West Virginia and is from Youngstown. So basically he danced around the Pittsburgh area.

So there you have it, 21 coaches and players from the Cards that have ties back home. Pittsburgh really is everywhere.

10 Predictions for the Pens' Second Half

Well, a mostly disappointing first half of the NHL season concluded for our Pittsburgh Penguins last night with a 2-1 loss to the Hurricanes. The Pens sit with 50 points in 48 games, which is a pretty disappointing number and puts them on pace for 85 points for the season, a number that couldn't possibly put them in the postseason. The All-Star Game is of course this weekend, and the Pens don't get back on the ice until a week from today, the 28th of January.

Right now, there appear to be 10 contenders for the Eastern Conference playoffs, and the Pens rank 10th of that bunch. So clearly, something has to go different for the Penguins in the second half, and they need to pick up the pace a bit if they have even the slightest hope of putting together another memorable spring playoff run.

So with all that in mind, here are 10 predictions I am going out on a limb to make for the second half of the NHL season for our Penguins.
1. Evgeni Malkin wins the scoring title, Sidney finishes third with you-know-who sandwiched in between. In case you don't actually know who, I'm referring to Alexander Ovechkin. I think Geno ends up 121 Points, 38 Goals and 83 Assists. Ovie has 114 Points, 55 Goals and 59 Assists, and Crosby has 110 Points, 34 Goals and 76 Assists.

2. Ray Shero DOES get a winger and does rid the Pens of one of their many defensemen, but it's not going to be anyone notable, even if they do end up on Sid's wing. I think, in fact I hope, that Shero freely acknowledges and realizes that this Penguins squad is not on the same caliber of the team from a year ago and thus does not deserve the benefit of gaining a star difference-making piece at the expense of their future. The most likely targets in the event of a blockbuster deal, now that J-Staal has been inked long-term, would be Letang and Goligoski. For one, both of those guys are too important to the current roster to trade away, let alone the team's future. So instead, I'd be willing to bet they make a deal with another potential contending squad, maybe someone out in the Western Conference, and send away a mid-level blue liner like Rob Scuderi, Mark Eaton, or Hal Gill in exchange for a similarly mid-level winger. Not that I have any solutions, but I think this is as good as we can expect from Shero this year.

3. A recently injured offensive defenseman starts playing very well in March and is a key point in a late-season run for the Penguins- And it's not Sergei Gonchar. Instead, I'm referring to Mr. Ryan Whitney. I think part of the reason why the Pens won't be able to seriously consider themselves a championship contender is that there is no way I can see Gonch being at 100% effectiveness by the end of the season. Being away from the game for that long is just too much of a setback, and example numero uno of that is the aforementioned Whitney. However, I think Whitney's mediocre play of late is more because he is still very much in recovery and hasn't come close to being 100% yet. I think having this week off will help, and with a few more weeks after that to get back to form, by March I predict that Whitters will be back to the promising level that once convinced Ray Shero to sign him to a 6 year extension.

4. The Pens struggle for at least a handful of games after the All-Star Break. I don't think this team is ready just yet to get back on track. There have been promising signs, and I'm not saying they will have another long losing streak, but I say they idling along at about .500 puck for at least the first handful of games.

5. Mathieu Garon gets a look in net shortly after the All-Star Break as Marc-Andre Fleury's struggles with inconsistency continue in the coming weeks. Garon plays pretty well. Assuming prediction number 4 is right, I think the Flower is a big reason for this middling performance, as he continues to battle the inconsistency issues that have plagued him all season. Garon steps in for Fleury a few times, at least, and puts together some sound performances that get the local talking heads yapping away about a goalie competition.

6. But, once again, Fleury responds to a challenge by finally playing consistent and playing well in the net as one of the key cogs in a late season run. Much like the Ty Conklin debate of a year ago, Fleury seems to get a fire lit under him by in-house competition. His much-improved play is a big reason why...

7. The Pens make the playoffs as the seventh seed. Fleury wrests the starting job away and makes it all his own and this combined with Sid, Geno, Petr Gunn, Whitters, and the return of a so-so Gonch get the Pens into a playoff spot with a very good stretch from mid-February to the end of the season. The Eastern Conference playoff seeds are: 1) Boston 2) Washington 3) New Jersey 4) Montreal 5) New York Rangers 6) Philadelphia 7) Pittsburgh 8) Buffalo.

8. The Pens pull a first round upset, but exit stage right in the second round. I mean, going off of prediction 7, that would mean a Pens-Caps first round matchup, and really, is there any other way for a Pens-Caps playoff series to end than with the black and gold advancing? I think not. One of my favorite new rivalries gets a big-time new chapter added to it in what I think would be a fantastic, well-played, frisky matchup. Pens take it in 6.

9. Bill Thomas and Chris Minard end up spending the majority of the second half in the NHL. Janne Pesonen doesn't. Given that the Pens still have a fair amount of injuries on the roster as well as some underachievers to boot, I expect Minard and Thomas to get some more chances right after the All-Star Break ends and they are inevitably called back up to the show. I think they both put together solid efforts, Minard maybe even playing well enough to get a permanent spot, while Thomas operates as more of a fill-in once the team gets healthier.

10. The Red Wings beat the Bruins in the Stanley Cup. Okay, I ran out of predictions for the Penguins second half. I mean, ten is quite a few to come up with. So, instead I went with the most obvious area for my final prediction: A Stanley Cup Final prediction. The Bruins are without question the best team in the East right now. The Wings may be a definite second behind the Sharks out West, but they have almost unparalleled postseason experience, which is a definite difference-maker when the two squads meet up for the title. For Burgh fans, I think we'll have to grudgingly root for Boston to grab yet another freaking sports title, thus making them 4-for-4 in the past 4 years in the major sports leagues if it were to happen. I don't think it does, though.

Pirates Overpay 4 Players

We actually have some Pirates news that is worth me spending a few minutes typing up! Downright shocking, right? The news is that the Bucs signed 4 of the 6 players on their roster that were set for arbitration. Adam LaRoche, John Grabow, Zach Duke, and Tyler Yates were the quartet who signed and Paul Maholm and Nate McLouth were the pair who didn't.

The elder LaRoche signed for 1 year and... 7.05 million dollars! If that seems a solid 2 million dollars too high to you... then you and I think very much alike. I know that LaRoche made 5 million dollars last year, so his salary figured to go up to the 7 million range, but what on earth did he do last season to deserve a raise of even 1 penny? He spent the first few months of the season crapping the bed yet again, and by the time he put together his inevitable second half comeback, the Pirates were already in the division cellar and were packing things in for the 2009 season. The end of season numbers are fine and he cranked out 25 home runs with an .841 OPS, but he was atrocious in the first half. I hate this mindset of a guy getting a raise just because its a new season and he wasn't completely awful for the entire season. LaRoche's deal should have given him 5-6 million or so in guaranteed cash and then should have had crazy incentives that could have propped it up to 9 million, or maybe more if they were lofty incentives (20 first half home runs, a .300 batting average, a .900 OPS, you get the idea). I just can't fathom that we live in a sports world where Adam LaRoche is the worst hitting first baseman in baseball for three straight months in 2008 and then gets a 2 million dollar raise to start the following season because he hit well when there was absolutely, positively no pressure on him. In case you couldn't tell, I'm not a LaRoche fan.

The other guys signed were Zach Duke (who became the highest paid batting practice pitcher in history with a 2 million dollar deal), John Grabow (2.3 million dollars for a lefty specialist... mehh), Tyler Yates (the most reasonable deal with just 1.3 million dollars which should be a decent contract as long as John Russell doesn't wear his arm down again).

Clearly, I'm not exactly enthused by these maneuvers, but at least its something worth talking about with the Pirates right now, which judging by my posts on this site, is a definite rarity these days.

Pitt Rebounds Against Syracuse

The lone blemish on the Pittsburgh sports weekend belonged to the Pitt basketball squad in their Saturday evening loss to Louisville on their home turf. It was a tough loss that was made more difficult by Pitt holding a sizable 10 point lead late in the game and some spotty officiating that drove me to the brink of insanity.

I was more than a little worried about this game tonight, because while Pitt has had a lot of success against the Orange of late, the Cuse are still a very good squad and are one of the few teams that actually have the ability to match up with DeJuan Blair's uhmm... girth... on the inside. And being that the Cuse are at 8, they are obviously a pretty good and pretty frisky squad.

But the Panthers put on an absolute statement game with a 78-60 smackdown of Syracuse. The game was infinitely tighter at the half at 31-28 Pitt, and the Panthers were clanking the free throws early on causing a near-riot in the stands at the Pete. But the second half was a very different story, as Pitt outscored the Orange 47-32 in that stretch and coasted to a big win on the backs of DeJuan Blair, Sam Young, and Levance Fields.Outside of the Big 3, there wasn't much scoring done by this squad, as those three had a whopping 57 points. The other guys on the roster all filled their roles very well, though, especially in that exciting second half.
-Tyrell Biggs put up an 8 point 5 rebound night and was relentless in his physicality inside against Syracuse. The Orange were really shaken up by how insanely physical the Panthers are. Despite Syracuse having two tanks inside in Jackson and Onuaku, the Orange just seemed very uncomfortable to me.
-Jermaine Dixon didn't have the scoring touch he's had in the past few games, but he had another very nice evening, doing a bit of everything. He's excellent guarding the perimeter, had a stunning block on a Syracuse breakaway, made a few steals happen, and continues to be a pretty effective penetrating guard. I think this kid has a much higher ceiling than I would have expected when I first saw him play.
-Gil Brown's athleticism is a force to be reckoned with at times. He's definitely a little on the wild side and still very raw, but when he matches up with opposing swing men types, they just have a ton of trouble playing him the right way even if he's having an off night on just 1/6 shooting.
-Brad Wanamaker is one of the better reserve guards around. He's frisky defensively and is superb handling the ball. I know he projects to start at the 2 or 3 depending on the situation in the future but, aside from Levance, I think he's the best ball handler on the roster. He's also very smart and makes great passes and plays.
-Ashton Gibbs was his usual serviceable self and is at least giving me some confidence when he comes into the games, as opposed to early in the season when he made me fret every time he brought the ball up. I don't mind seeing him get 7-8 minutes a night to spell Levance.
-I was very impressed by the work of Nasir Robinson, and I think, like I said here a few weeks ago, that he HAS to get more minutes as the season progresses. I originally compared him to Gil Brown, and while the size and athleticism are there, he's already more physical than Gil and plays better inside than him even if he struggles at the perimeter and has questionable ball handling ability. I like the work he gaves us at the 4, and I wouldn't mind taking advantage of that athleticism for 5-10 minutes a game against a slower power forward.

I guarantee that Syracuse fans are going to bitch and moan about the refs in this game. In fact, I already have seen that on the message boards (a given for fans to whine there, but this is more than usual given the weirdness of the game), but the officiating seemed equal to me. Blair was getting basically sucker punched half the time he had the ball inside, and Syracuse was leaping around at their offensive zone going consistently over the back and nothing was being called. Pitt was doing the same, no question about it, but it was equal. The technicals, well, I don't know enough about that because it's hard to tell anything about T's when you're at the game, like I was. It's all about context, and while Harris' I have no idea about, Jackson's was a no question about it T. He gave Blair an arms-extended shove after a basket, and Blair fell backwards. You HAVE to call a T there, it was blatant and the refs made it plainly obvious they weren't going to stand for that kind of play.

But maybe all these complaints lead to a larger issue here. Is the Big East becoming too physical? I personally don't think so, but it is becoming clear that the refs are having a very difficult time officiating a lot of these games because you could call a foul every single time down the court on somebody. Hell you could probably call a flagrant just about every other time down the court. I don't really mind the style of play so long as the refs call it the same way all game long, and that was my big complaint about the Louisville game. The refs were blowing their whistles like crazy early in that one, and then as the game wore on, they realized they were on pace to call about 200 fouls and ended up swallowing the whistles when they probably should have been calling at least some fouls.

Recapping the AFC Conference Steel(er) Cage Match

As promised, some thoughts and links from what was essentially a no-holds-barred, steel cage match last night on the frozen tundra of Heinz Field.

Some Links:
-ESPN is doing an all-day chat thing over at their site. Not worth reading up on all the different parts of the chat, as it would take all day, but it's worth it if you have a few interesting questions you'd like the "experts" at the WWL to answer.

-The Professor, John Clayton, puts together the big questions of this Super Bowl for right now. As always, its good stuff by Clayton.

-James Walker tells the critics of Ben Roethlisberger to shut their collective yaps. And yes, that includes the many yinzers who spent large portions of this season screaming at him to get rid of the ball. Does he drive people (including myself) crazy at times? Absolutely. But this is who he is, and the best one-word description of him as a football player is: Winner. And that's fine by me. Peyton and Tom can have their records, I'll take Roethlisberger any day of the week.

-Peter King's MMQB, a must-read no matter what football team you like, spends a good deal of the column discussing the Steelers-Ravens game.

-As always, Mondesi's House does a great job breaking down the game.

-Gene Collier writes about Heinz Field no longer be an AFC Championship curse. This had definitely gone through my mind more than once before the game, but it's a different situation with our new coach, Mike Tomlin, I suppose. Ron Cook says that, despite the stats that claim otherwise, the title of best defense in football was on the line last night, and the Steelers proved once and for all they are the best D in the league.

Random Thoughts
-I don't think I have ever seen a more physical game with players who just no regard whatsoever for their own personal well-being. Just ridiculous. Thank god they give the teams a bye week before the Super Bowl, because there is no way this Steeler team would be ready if they had to play again in six days. I mean, Ryan Clark's entire body probably feels like he was in a severe traffic accident yesterday, Hines Ward probably can't do much more than jog, Mewelde Moore is iffy and anything that hurts his quickness pretty much negates any value he has, the offensive and defensive lines were hitting all day long, and of course, Ben Roethlisberger took his usual lumps, including what I thought was a definite late hit from Haruki Nakamura that I couldn't believe wasn't flagged.

-I liked that Bruce Arians tried very hard to establish the run early on, but I thought that he stuck to it a little too long. Parker was unable to get anything going against that stout Baltimore defense, and I think we would have been better served giving Mewelde a few more snaps early in the game and sending a few short passes his way. Worst case they are equally as effective, getting 2 or 3 yards a pop, and best case Mewelde catches one in some space and is able to make a play or two.

-Ben Roethlisberger just does it. That's all there is too it. He wins games, he plays smart when he has to, and he's going to his second Super Bowl with a 7-2 playoff record at the age of 26. Just an amazing job yet again by our franchise QB. Right now, I'd take him ahead of any QB in football, and I really mean that. Think about it: Who knows what is going to happen with Tom Brady's knee? He may never be the same. Peyton Manning came on real strong at the end of the season, but Ben has already had much more postseason success than Manning and doesn't require 30+ passes per game to get in a rhythm at the end of a game like Peyton. Phillip Rivers put together a great season, but has leadership and character issues and his game record pales in comparison. Eli looked a little too much like the old Eli down the stretch, and I'm still not sold on him. Kurt Warner, in my opinion, has been the beneficiary of having two of the best receiving corps in recent NFL history at his disposal with the current Zona group and the Greatest Show on Turf group with the Rams. Plus, he's old. Drew Brees can sling it as well as anyone, but I can't take him seriously until he picks up a few January W's. He can keep his 5000 yard, video-game offense season, thanks but no thanks.

-Troy Polamalu vs. Ed Reed just got a whole lot more interesting. I know I said yesterday that I thought Reed was ahead of Polamalu as a safety and was one of the best in league history, but I found myself now thinking I may have underestimated our spectacular number 43. Polamalu was the best player on the field yesterday, while Reed pretty much disappeared for large chunks of the game. I guess that might have something to do with the play of the respective QB's, but I think this debate is very much alive and well.

-I don't know that I've ever seen a game quite like the one Limas Sweed had yesterday. Sweed, of course, was headed for infamy after dropping a sure-fire TD that Roethlisberger delivered precisely into his hands. He did end up hauling in a pair of passes by the end, and didn't make anymore awful mistakes. He also leveled a Hines Ward-esque block on unsuspecting Corey Ivy, knocking him clear into next week. Just a weird game for him, and I pray that Hines Ward is 100% healthy and that Limas doesn't have to set foot on the field against Arizona.

-Dick LeBeau continues to prove he's the best defensive coordinator in all of football. All we heard in the first two rounds and all through the regular season was that Joe Flacco was Joe Cool, that he was unflappable, and made plays in the biggest moments because you couldn't get into his head. Yeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh so much for that thought process, eh? Flacco was definitely flappable yesterday and LeBeau flapped him again and again. Big sacks, two bad interceptions, the last one pretty much sealing the game for the Steelers. Don't get me wrong, I like Flacco a lot and think he could definitely develop into Roethlisberger Lite and be a very good QB in the NFL, but somehow everyone forgot that he didn't do anything against the Steelers in the regular season and is still a rookie QB in the playoffs. And LeBeau knew just how to rattle his cage.

-That said, I will be VERY interested to see LeBeau's game plan against the Cardinals and Kurt Warner. Warner is notoriously great at taking advantage of blitzing teams and getting the ball out in a hurry. That's not to say that I think LeBeau will abandon the blitz, as that would never happen in a billion years, but I do think some of the more exotic schemes, like bringing Polamalu and Timmons may be put on hold.

-I'm happy for the Cards and for Ken Whiz, Russ Grimm, Larry Fitz, and Gerry Hayes, but for the next 13 days, they are public enemy number 1 in my book. My old Larry Fitzgerald Pitt jersey? It's been removed from my closet where it sat next to the likes of Ben Roethlisberger, Troy Polamalu, Sidney Crosby, and Willie Stargell and shoved underneath my bed where it won't see the light of day again until February 2nd.
-Too many Super Bowls lately have come down to last minute scoring drives, and after watching Jeff Reed yesterday at the Heinz Field tundra, I have the fullest confidence in him to have a big game if necessary in Super Bowl XLIII.

-I was pleased, shocked, elated, and surprised to see the refs call a holding call yesterday in favor of James Harrison. Of course, he was held a minimum 15-20 times yesterday and only one was called, but at least its a start.

-Another nice day for the Steelers' secondary yesterday. Ike Taylor, Bryant McFadden, Deshea Townsend, and William Gay played extremely well from their cornerback spots, and I think it mostly goes without saying that Polamalu, Clark, and Ty Carter did a super job at safety. Just a great performance all around. And that is huge for the Steelers because the Cardinals offense will revolve around Larry Fitzgerald and Kurt Warner. If the Steelers can contain Fitz (there is no stopping the guy) the Cards offense is not going to be able to hang in the game.

-People have been talking a lot about the Whisenhunt connection and how it gives him an advantage because of how well he knows the Steelers personnel and all... but do you really think that doesn't go the other way, too? Mike Tomlin may not know Whiz, but Dick LeBeau worked against Whisenhunt's offense in practice countless times and, as Whisenhunt openly admits, LeBeau more than once helped him adjust to defensive schemes. Do we really think LeBeau doesn't know every wrinkle of Whiz's offense. And do we really think the Steelers aren't fully aware of countless Whisenhunt gadget plays. I see this intimate knowledge being a wash in the end.

-The Steelers O-Line had some issues with Baltimore pass rush and did take some penalties (looking squarely at Chris Kemoeautu and his incredibly stupid personal foul), but they handled that Ravens rush pretty darn well I thought. Sure they couldn't open up holes for an ant to even run through, but no one can do that against the Ravens. You can't blame them too much for that, and they managed to buy Ben at least some time. And the Cardinals D, however well they may be playing right now, is no Ravens squad.

-I expect to see another crowd heavy in Steelers support down in Tampa Bay. Florida has so many transplants or retirees from Pittsburgh it's downright absurd. This might be even more Steeler heavy than the Detroit Super Bowl XL crowd of 3 years ago. And considering the game is against the Cardinals, who probably have one of the least-established fan bases in the sport, and we could be looking at like a 85/15 or 90/10 split for this puppy. Tampa Bay will be turned into Terrible Towel city. Should be exciting.

STEELERS ARE AFC CHAMPS

After yet another too-close-for-comfort, gnawing-on-your-fingernails, edge-of-your seat game against the hated Baltimore Ravens, our beloved Pittsburgh Steelers are officially heading to Tampa Bay for Super Bowl XLIII to take on the Arizona (Pittsburgh West) Cardinals for the right to call themselves the World Champions. After spending the past couple years running amok in Oakland, I figured I'd put together a quick post here, followed by a full-on post at some point tomorrow.

It's a pretty safe bet that much will be made of the numerous Pittsburgh connections in this game, but none more so than the Ken Whisenhunt-Mike Tomlin dynamic. I'll take a little more of a look at this later on, but the subplots are so numerous that I'm having a hard time even coming up with an exact number right now (of course that could also be because I'm about 10 beers in right now, and working surprisingly efficiently I might add).

I'm not about to offer any analysis as its waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too early for that kind of talk and we have two weeks to dissect that. For now, just enjoy the thought of being AFC Champs and playing in yet another Super Bowl. As football fans, we are truely spoiled.

One final note before I part:Friends don't let friends buy AFC Championship gear. I never understood the point of this. I mean in two weeks, this stuff is obsolete because either A) The Steelers will have a sixth Super Bowl and will be pumping out more Super Bowl Champion gear than you could possibly imagine, or B) You'll be so pissed at losing that you won't want to ever remember being there and will likely ignite any AFC Championship gear you have. We're Steeler fans folks, we've been here too many times to waste our money on this kind of nonsense. Let the Cardinal fans eat this stuff up, we're too classy for it.

Live Blog of Panthers- Cardinals

5:58 We are live from... our apartment in Oakland! All set to put together a live blog of the Pitt-Louisville basketball game that is slated to get under way in precisely two minutes. This game boasts the number one team in the nation (god I will never tire of saying that) matching up against the 20th ranked Louisville Cardinals in Louisville's Freedom Hall. The key players for our Panthers are, of course, DeJuan "The Windex Man" Blair, Sam I Am Young, and Levance Fields. For the Cards, its freshman star Samardo Samuels, Earl Clark, and 10th year senior Terrance Williams (just kidding of course, it only SEEMS like he's been there since the 80s.) Should be fun.

6:00 Soooo....yeah the Big Ten matchup of Illinois-Michigan State is going long. Its not enough that the Big Ten has to play awful basketball, they have to play slow awful basketball that forces the rest of us to inadvertantly watch them disgrace the James Naismith's game? Just appalling.

6:05 Evidently the tipoff has been delayed until 6:10 PM. Well okay then. By the way, I've seen youth league YMCA basketball games that were more interesting and better played than this atrocity of a game. There's still 3:56 left in this trainwreck.

6:11 ESPN is so appalled by having to broadcast this Big Eleven disaster with its 0.0 Nielsen rating that it briefly takes us to a split screen of Pitt-Ville where Ty Biggs drains a trey. Then they immediately switch back to Illinois-MSU. What a tease.

6:16 Panthers are up 9-2 right now and we are still suffering through this worthless Big Eleven game. I'm freaking out right now, I've seen more Big Eleven basketball today than I have in my entire life, and I understand why that is so. These teams would get debacled by Pitt.

6:18 Hey Michigan State finally F-Ing wins this game. ESPN can't cut the chord to that one fast enough. Ahhhh.... Big East basketball. Thank God. Of course they are at a media timeout. All 5 Pitt starters have scored we are told.

6:20 Superb! The wonderful Bill Raftery is calling the game alongside Sean McDonough and Fran Frischilla. This is a pretty good crew calling our game. "Send it in Jerome!"

6:21 Jermaine Dixon welcomes us to the game by nailing a 3. He is playing about 1,000 times better in the last couple games.

6:23 What happened to Edgar Sosa? Wasn't this guy supposed to be a really good player when he came here. I just looked up his stats and he has gotten worse statistically every year since he got to Louisville.

6:28 Edgar Sosa gets hacked going to the basket and falls away from the basket out of control and does a weird hug/dance thing with one of the refs. Kinda creepy. I don't think anyone knew what the hell to make out it. The Panthers are driving me crazy right now. Louisville is picking up steals and offensive boards all over the place right now. Despite a nice lead, I'm seeing a lot of the danger signs of sloppy first half play for the third game in a row.

6:36 Jermaine Dixon breathes on Terrence Williams the wrong way and gets called for a foul. This refs are calling a lot, a LOT of fouls right now. If this keeps us, there are going to be a fair amount of players on both teams in trouble.

6:40 Pitt has let the Ville back into this game, it's 23-17 as we head to a media timeout with 7:57 remaining. Too much sloppiness for Pitt after the red-hot start that no one actually saw. Ville is on a 10-3 run right now.

6:44 The refs appear to have wagered heavily, very heavily on Louisville, as Sam Young gets his second foul and is likely done for the half. Then, a Louisville player commits aggravated assault on Levance Fields and nothing gets called.

6:47 DeJuan Blair gets his second foul at the same time the ref's shirt gets untucked to reveal Cardinal Red underneath. What a bunch of B.S. Louisville takes their first lead of the game, but having 8 men on the court (including the refs) will do that.

6:50 After watching Gary McGhee play defense like he's missing a chromosome, I've determined Pitt would be better off playing with 4 men on the floor then with 4 and Mcghee.

6:55 Please God can Pitt learn to shoot free throws one of these F-ing years? Ashton Gibbs clanks two critical ones and Pitt is down 3 right now, 29-26.

6:58 Louisville is pwning Pitt on their offensive glass. I've never seen Pitt get shoved around like this on the glass. Of course DeJuan and Sammy haven't played in like an hour, so that might have something to do with it. I'd like to think we could at least hang with them though. I guess not.

7:03 And that's a half... Pitt surprisingly is up 32-30. If you had told me Sam and DeJuan would miss huge chunks of the first half with foul trouble I would not have expected to be up on Louisville at the half. So I'll take that, at least. Back for the second half.
SECOND HALF
7:20 We are back and the its good to see Sam and DeJuan back in the ball game. I'm nervous as to how the Cardinals are going to attack the foul-ridden Panthers. Biggs immediately picks up a foul, his 3rd, and this alarming stat is dropped on us: 6 PANTHERS HAD 2 FOULS AT HALFTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey dumbass refs, I think you may be calling a shade too many fouls!

7:24 DeJuan Blair is making his presence felt right now. He picks up an offensive board and dunks it in traffic and then next possession down grabs another offensive board and gets a foul called against the Cards for a reach-in.

7:26 Panthers are on a mini-run, a 7-0 stretch capped by a Sam Young trey. The anouncers celebrate it by making a weird reference implying that they went out drinking with Bill Hillgrove and Dick Groat last night. Sounds like a grand old time.

7:31 Our first Sam Young shot fake of the evening. Man I was way off! I had 6:25 in the poll. Anyway it sets up a Jermaine Dixon trey, his third of the night. If Dixon can keep up the great work on threes he could turn into a real weapon and give them the one thing they are really lacking.

7:32 Crap. DeJuan picks up his 3rd foul on a silly reach-in. He heads to the bench. Gil comes back down the court on the next possession and picks up HIS third foul. Biggs, Blair, and Brown all have three now. Not good folks, not at all good.

7:35 Sam does a double ball/head fake. That's like the unicorn of Sam Young fakes. We just saw a truly special moment. of course he celebrates by turning the ball over almost immediately after.

7:36 Biggs is freaking OWNING the offensive glass. He is a tremendous inside role guy and continues to do his season-long impression of Chevy Troutman. Sam hits a banker after Biggsy gets those 2 offensive boards. 46-39 Panthers. Timeout Ville.

7:38 Okay this can't possibly be right, but ESPN is telling me that Tim Frye played in the first half of the game. Uhmm... What? The same Tim Frye who is the stereotypical short walk-on white guard who plays only in the final minute of blowouts? I mean I know Pitt was in foul trouble, but that can't be right can it? There's no way I could have missed that, right?

7:43 Sam makes a great steal but can't control as he is racing downcourt and tosses one to Dixon who tosses it to Fields who, clearly trying to look elsewhere for a fancy pass or something, lets it slip out of bounds. Bad job by Levance who sometimes will do things like that to drive you crazy. The Cardinals come down and score to make it 46-42.

7:44 Jermaine Dixon is having a spectacular day. he snatches a rebound, outlets to Levance who races upcourt and somehow Jermaine makes it all the way back up court and takes a bounce pass from Fields for a layup. This kid is turning into a legit offensive weapon all of a sudden, and I, for one, am stunned by his exponential upward progress. I guess he just needed to get comfortable or something, but he's been great. 48-42 Panthers

7:47 DeJuan Blair comes back in. I will be watching closely to see how Louisville attacks him and how he responds. Just as I type this, Sam makes an easy steal and puts in an absolute monster dunk on a breakaway. He walks menacingly away from the hoop looking like he's ready to run through a brick wall or something. The boy is fired up.

7:50 I haven't mentioned this yet, but Jamie Dixon is employing Brad Wanamaker in a point guard role to bring the ball up against the Louisville press. I'm not sure why exactly he's doing this, but he is doing a tremendous job at it.

7:51 DeJuan picks up his 4th on a ticky-tack 4th foul. It wasn't much of anything, but Blair took an unnecessary chance and paid the price. The kid still needs to learn.

7:53 All of a sudden Louisville is only down by a point as Pitt spends three straight defensive possessions crapping themselves and taking dumb shots on offense. I don't get how they can fall apart so quick when Blair comes out of the game like that. Grrr.... Pitt had a 10 point lead at one point. I had a feeling the Cards would work their way back into this sucker, but I didn't think that THIS would happen, especially so quickly.

7:55 Bill Raftery gives us what we wanted all day... a little parody for Sam Young's earlier dunk, shouting, "Send it in... Jerome!"

7:58 Blazing hot Jermaine Dixon drills a pair of free throws, Pitt is up by 3. He now has 18 points on the night. I have a done a total 180 on this kid in the past week or two.

8:01 A monster dunke for Louisville and this sucker is tied up. Yikes. We head into the last media timeout 58-58. They just showed the replay of the dunk and Gil Brown had an alarming petrified look on his face. Not what I want to see there Gil.

8:06 Levance Fields gets called for a foul that I think the Louisville fans made from the first row. Especially because the ref clearly signalled double foul at first and then pretended like he didn't. What f-ing garbage. Such a homer call. Cardinals are up because of this homerism.

8:08 Biggs makes a god-awful pass to Blair. Just a terrible idea. 19 turnovers for Pitt today as they are playing crazy sloppy right now.

8:11 Here we go, 1:07 to go in this puppy. It's gonna be a fight. 62-58 Cardinals right now.

8:12 Clark hits a monster shot as the shot clock expired. Not sure if its a 2 or 3, the refs are reviewing. I think its a 2 though. Yup it is. Shit. 64-58 Louisville. Pitt is hanging on by a thread, if that. The worst part is Clark hopping around like an idiot afterward. I hate that.

8:14 For some bizarre reason, after Louisville grabs a rebound after another missed 3 for Pitt, the Panthers take about 10 seconds to foul a Cardinal player. Just sloppy and not wanting it enough.

8:17 Truely bizarre, DeJuan Blair gets fouled as he goes to score and the bucket is good. Pitt down 66-62. Pitt may not have the best odds right now, but at least they still have some odds...

8:19 Louisville hits both free throws to go up 68-63. It's over now. Oh, and then Sam Young makes an awful inbound pass and Blair fouls out trying to get the ball back. Ugh.

8:22 Yup that's a wrap, 69-63 Cardinals. Pitt drops its first game of the season. I don't think I'll be doing another one of these anytime soon. Sorry Panthers for jinxing you guys. Still, it was a very good effort, and kind of a weird game filled with lots of runs and streaks. I'll be interested to see where we rank come Monday morning.