Lovin' It...

There are rare moments in life. The kind that make you actually think back in an attempt to rediscover days that were so good. Today should be considered such a day, if only for one reason... well, make that three reasons.

Tonight I watched the PITT Panthers beat the Duke Blue Devils in overtime. At the SAME TIME I was listening to the Steelers' game as they managed to pull out a victory in St. Louis. But, it's not over.... all the while I had a gamecast of the Penguins game on in the corner of my computer screen and they put a spankin on the Bruins tonight.

In case you were counting... that's three wins for Pittsburgh and one HA-yuge! win for us fans after a few hap-hazard weeks. Let's GO PITT!!! Now, Is there any way to get the Pirates involved?

Hump-Day Hot Topics

I really just made that title line up and I'm really not proud of it, so let's not get to thinking that I'm all out of quality creative ideas... actually, the point of this entry is that I don't really feel like coming up with anything on my own so I'm relying on other stories to stoke the fire. Also, I'm trying to stay away from anything about the Steelers because I'm still reeling from Sunday afternoon. So, here's the stories that Willis was talkin' about and they're all linktified for easy clarification.

-First off, being the trivia enthusiast that I am, I must extend my thoughts and prayers to Alex Trebek, who suffered a mild heart attack on Monday. I'm not sure if the ever-drole Trebek likes football, but if he does, he's got to be a Steeler fan... They're the Thinking Man's team (like a box of chocolate). I do have to question dittoheston's Trebek photo choice though... seems a bit out of character... at least out of character for Trebek.

-While I was on CNN.com to get the link for the article about Trebek's heart attack, I saw a headline that Ike Turner (you know, the guy who beat Tina?) died. How does that make you all feel?

-The Penguins and Flyers played last night and the Pens got their asses handed to them by the dirtiest franchise in hockey. Best stat line - 81 penalty minutes for the Penguins in the 3rd period... eighty-one!!! The Flyers had 45. Looks like the skate's on the other foot now. That's 126 penalty minutes in a 20 minute period, in case you were getting out your calculator.

-Although I think its intention is to draw yet more attention to their phenomenal season, this little blurb on Then Onion's sports page really seems to capture the essence of what I perceive to be the incredible smugness and overwhelming sense of superiority displayed by the New England Yankees... sorry, Patriots... this year. I think it's possible to be the best while still showing complete respect for you opponents, and I'm not sure they're doing that. Sure, I'm bitter, and I realize I mentioned earlier that I didn't want to discuss the Steelers/Yankees... God, sorry, Patriots... game, but I just got all hot and bothered for some reason. I need something else to talk about...

-If you need verification for any of this, visit any reputable news website because there are too many links about it for me to try and include here. The credit crisis has become such a concern to investors that everyone and their toy poodle was hoping the Federal Reserve would lower interest rates by half of a percentage point on Tuesday. The joke's on everybody though, because the Fed went with their standard quarter of a point rate reduction. Markets reacted unfavorably (shocker) when the news hit The Street aaaaand, suffice it to say, my 401(k) just isn't what it was on Monday. Now, it's no joke when I say that analysts are all over the place with what to make of this... As far as anyone can tell, it seems the Fed has no real idea what to do, and they have concerns that the world economy is teetering and that such a large rate reduction could, potentially, cause it to spin out of control. Great. That should scare us all more than any single day market drop ever could. Now, considering what happened to the Steelers on Sunday night, and what is happening to the economy this week, can anyone still doubt my theory that the financial markets cycle with the fortunes of the Steelers.

Patriots fans should be jumping on our bandwagon... considering their financial future depends on it.

Embarrassing

So it's the middle of the 4th quarter and the Steelers' defense looks dead. Wes Welker just caught like 22 balls in a row. Is it possible to jam him on the line of scrimmage???

I recall this summer when I posted something enthusiastic about the Pirates which was proven to be seriously premature within a couple of weeks.

Well, just two days ago I posted something about the Steelers that took until the third quarter to make me feel ashamed of myself. That will be the last time I support Anthony Smith's enthusiasm until he shows me that he can deliver. Now, I don't entirely blame Anthony Smith's "guarantee" for the goings on in Foxboro, MA today, but it certainly didn't help. Also, I made the same guarantee but the difference is that I don't actually play for the Steelers, wasn't speaking in front of the national media, and have a readership of about 4 people on average.

I'm just a fan... a very disappointed and frustrated fan. Mostly I'm frustrated because it's obvious that the Steelers are not in the same league as the Patriots as I had hoped. But I'm also frustrated because there are a couple of truly classless people on the Patriots who feel as though they don't get enough credit for being as good as they are. They can go to hell. What goes around comes around.

This only proves my point...
There's 5 minutes left in a blowout and Rodney Harrison just took out Willie Parker by the knee and got up looking at him and hoping he hurt him... Way to go Rodney... Your mother must be so proud. Why don't you go violate a league substance policy or something?

Who Cares?

So Anthonly Smith made a mistake this week... who cares?

He suggested that the Bengals have a better trio of wide receivers than the Patriots... WHO CARES??

He also gave a guarantee that the Steelers would defeat the same Patri-holes this coming Sunday... WHOOOOOOOO CARES?

Can I say it any clearer???

Who Cares????????????

The Patriots are a better team... on paper.
They should beat the Steelers... if the game were played on paper.
Nobody should ever suggest that the Patriots will ever lose a game... anywhere near a paper.
It's FORTUNATE Anthony Smith didn't spell it out on paper.

I think we all get it...
The Patriots are favored to win the game.
The Patriots have won three Super Bowls since 2001.
The Patriots have Randy Moss.
The Patriots have Tom Brady.
The Patriots have... WHOOOOOOO.frickin.OOOOOOO CARES?????

Here's at least ten reasons why Anthony Smith didn't royally screw the pooch... oh, and from now on, he'll be known as "Tee."

1. Is a "guaranTEE" more or less motivation for the oposition? I'm pretty sure the Patriots think that they're infallable and believe in their guts that they are the most superior team in the league. I also believe that these AINTriots are, in fact, not as good as they consider. This should be important to any Steeler fan because we were virtually perfect in 2004... only to lose to this same Bag of Bastards in the playoffs.

2. Don't get me wrong -- Giselle is hoT with and extra capital T and Tom Brady is a hall of famer who is is superb in the clutch, but I wouldn't trade Ben Roethlisberger for the World these days... equal upside, if not more so in Ben's favor.

3. Willie Parker -- more versatile than any tailback yet seen this season by the 'riots.

4. Alan Faneca -- see numero 3 and multiply by the best guard in the game... possibly ever(and I can't stress this enough... PLEASE SIGN HIM!!!!!!!......................... pretty please?).

5. Hines Ward -- I hope he meets Rodney Harrison two yards beyond the line of scrimmage with a forearm shiver on every down... and then smiles... big and wide.

6. Mike Tomlin -- he doesn't give a shit. He's a rookie coach with a very talented team and they didn't go all San Diego superChargers on him. They could have easily laid down for him, but he's the real mother'effing deal and I feel sorry for the rest of the AFC Central (sic. North)... another decade of dominance is on its way.

7. Steeler Nation -- New England is probably one of 5 places in America where Steelers fans won't outnumber the home crowd... but they're still relevant. The other four places are Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dallas and Oakland... there will be Steeler fans at the game with their T. Towels... which, brings me to my next point.

8. Myron Cope -- He's a legend. Boston has nobody compared to Myron Cope... In fact, I charge anyone who says otherwise to prove it. There should be a picture of Myron on display at every major religious sacrament in the life of a Steeler fan... baptism, first communion, mitzvah, marriage, mormon pilgrimage, etc... I don't have children yet, but when I do, I can only hope that they have a Myron Cope on the radio... yoi!!! Myron will never die.

9. The Patriot fan dilema -- An entire generation of New England sports fan spent its entire life being shit upon. Its members never knew what it meant to be a winner. At least, in Pittsburgh, we had Mario Lemieux and the Penguins... Bruins fans are still bitching and moaning about Ulf Samuelsson's hit on Cam Neely over a decade ago. Admittedly, they had it rough, but once they finally won something (and chalk this one up to modern media culture), the rest of the sporting world had no choice but to sit back and listen to the moaning about "long time(s) coming" and such. Seriously, even Bill Simmons got a book deal out of it. If a Cleveland team ever won anything, do you think they would get nearly as much media exposure??? Patriots fans are now pissed because they have nothing about which to be pissed any longer.

10. First and foremost on everyone's mind should be the fact that ---- ANTHONY SMITH HAPPENS TO BE CORRECT!!!

The Steelers are going to beat the Patriots. The only reason to lose is if they are outplayed, and I don't see that happening. The Steelers are twice the team that N.E. is defensively, and have an offense (particularly at QB and slot-wideout) capable of manhandling any defense it comes across.

Am I done yet... possibly, but it's 1am on Saturday and I'm already wearing everybody's lucky Tommy Maddox jersey and I can't very well take it off before the game on Sunday, can I???

It's real simple... the Steelers win on Sunday. Bank it.

It was a cold, cold day in Baltimore

Environmentalists breathed a collective sigh of relief at approximately 11:30 p.m. EST last night as early forecasts of a potential overnight frost in Hell and it’s surrounding metropolitan area were proved to be drastically overstated. Meteorologists pointed to a series of extraordinary events that kicked off a mere 3 hours earlier at M & T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, MD as the cause for their prediction of an imminent “cold day in Hell.” Put quite simply, the New England Patriots may have saved Mankind’s very existence.

Dr. John “Jack” L. Hayes, director of the National Weather Service (part of NOAA) issued the following statement just after 10:45 p.m. “It has come to our attention that the Baltimore Ravens have scored yet another touchdown and have taken a lead over the New England Patriots into the 4th quarter this evening on Monday Night Football. If things continue on this track, there is serious potential for the Domain of Lucifer to see it’s first sub-zero time in history and, although we have performed studies on the potentiality, we have yet to fully determine what impact it may have on the rest of the world. I want to caution everyone to maintain calm and order as these events, while curious, are not representative of a shift in the natural order of things and that we, um, anticipate – A-HEM!!! – a return to normalcy when all is said and done. We [at NOAA] will continue to monitor the events as they unfold and will take all precautionary measures deemed necessary. All we ask from the citizens of this planet is that you stay close to a television set or low frequency radio for potential updates through the emergency broadcast system. See? And you all thought those weekly tests were just an annoying interruption of your regularly scheduled programming.”

For a brief time, there was general concern felt by everyone outside of M & T Bank stadium (the 70,000+ inside were presumably too inebriated to recognize the magnitude of the situation) that Hell could actually freeze over.

All of that changed, however, at just after 11 p.m. when a series of massive blunders by the Baltimore Ravens managed to seemingly put everything back into its rightful place. A poorly exercised timeout by the the coaching staff sent Ravens players into their usual whiny, crybaby state and triggered a snowball effect of fortunate events that culminated with the usually self-involved and always over-rated Bart Scott’s tossing of a referee’s penalty flag into the stands. The Patriots scored the game winning touchdown on that very same play.

After the game, the Ravens players unleashed a cacophony of claims regarding the National Football League and its officiating crews’ bias towards the New England Patriots.

When asked what he thought about the Ravens’ recent concerns regarding officiating they believe is purposely designed to cause them to lose, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made the following comment, “Well, it just wouldn’t be a Ravens loss if I didn’t have to delegate at least 200 man hours over the next week to investigate ‘questionable’ calls. Frankly, I wish they just wouldn’t put themselves in this position every week. It's getting really old.”

Environmental activist and former Vice-President, Al Gore had a slightly different take on the matter. "This is a banner day for the environment, which I love like a mother. In order to avoid a cataclysmic event, not only did the Patriots need to beat the Ravens, the Ravens needed to assume their usual role... Sore Losers. If they had failed to comply... well, I just don't want to even think about where mankind would be today. Thank God I have that spaceship on standby at Kennedy."