Saturday, January 31, 2009

Interview with Brian St. Pierre

The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Brian St. Pierre, Boston College’s third all-time leading passer, in the fifth round of the 2003 draft. St. Pierre served as the Steelers #3 quarterback during the 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007 seasons. In those last two years, it became a running joke whether or not St. Pierre was on the roster as the Steelers seemed to cut and re-sign him every week. However, St. Pierre does not have a Super Bowl ring as he was a member of the Baltimore Ravens during the 2005 season. St. Pierre now seeks his first championship as the #3 quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals.



In his six NFL seasons, St. Pierre has played in exactly one game, the final game of the 2004 regular season when the Steelers were 14-1 and had already clinched home-field throughout the playoffs. In that game, St. Pierre threw a whopping one pass (it was incomplete), handed the ball to Willie Parker in the running back’s first 100-yard game and carried the ball himself four times for -3 yards. (I believe that he kneeled down on the final three snaps). Based on his not-so-impressive resume, it’s amazing to me that St. Pierre is still in the league.

St. Pierre’s most notable moment at a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers was the fact that a man impersonated him in attempt to meet women. In September 2004, Brian Jackson of Brentwood "impersonated fourth-string quarterback Brian St. Pierre to woo a woman named Julie Valo, the affidavit said."

[According to the affidavit,] Valo met Jackson on the South Side, where the suspect told her he was St. Pierre. The two exchanged phone numbers, and they were in touch for two to three weeks, the affidavit said.

Valo told investigators that the ersatz quarterback would sign footballs for neighborhood kids and autographs for anyone who asked. The ruse was so deep that Jackson would discuss his "teammates," talk about Steelers information and tell Valo when he was going out of town, the affidavit said.

He even told her to watch a game. That was Jackson's undoing.

Valo turned on the Steelers one day and saw Brian St. Pierre on screen. Despite sharing a first name, Brian Jackson was no Brian St. Pierre.

After the game, the affidavit said, Jackson called Valo and she confronted him. He told her she was "crazy," according to the affidavit, and said he looks different on TV.


The old I look different on TV excuse. Anyway, St. Pierre has been popular with the media this week taking questions about facing his former team. He is also a member of the blog world sharing his Super Bowl week experiences for the Salem News, including his thoughts about media day when asked "Who would be your dream date?’. Fortunately, I was smart enough to answer that one by stating My wife, of course." Boring!



I should also mention that there is The Official Brian St Pierre Fan Club on Facebook. There are nine members of this group.

So I found St. Pierre’s e-mail address and thought I would ask him some questions. Enjoy!

First of all, congratulations to you and the Arizona Cardinals for winning the NFC Championship game and advancing to the Super Bowl. While I'm sure that you have heard this question several times before, how does it feel getting to the Super Bowl and having to face your former team, the Pittsburgh Steelers?

Well Sean, it is wonderful to be here in warm Tampa facing my former team. This is much nicer than freezing my ass off in Boston. I mean...what? Ok, so I'm not actually that Brian St. Pierre, though you aren't the first to think so. (Sean's note: I SUCK!)

When he was actually on the Steelers I was on my way to visit my girlfriend (now fiance) at Penn State. I was boarding a plane in Pittsburgh, and when I gave my boarding pass to the inspector guy, he did a double take. Like a legit, cartoon-esque double take. He quivered as he asked "Are you Brian St. Pierre?" I was like, um, yes. "The Steelers quarterback?" all excitedly. (Now I am 5'10" and at the time was about 190, he is 6'3" 230. Not only that, the Steelers were on a road trip!) I should have played it up for fun, but I didn't. I quickly let him know that I was unfortunately not that Brian St. Pierre. It was a tiny plane flying to Penn State, so unfortunately there wasn't a first class. It would have been sweet if I played that off and got bumped up! That was the only time I have ever been mistaken for him.

Well, now you can say that a random blogger also confused you with the quarterback. Since we’re talking football, are you a fan of any particular NFL team? Who are you supporting to win this year’s Super Bowl?

I am a huge Pats fan. I am from Maine, and lived in New England all my life, so the Pats are far and away my team.

I guess I am going for the Cards, I have kinda always wanted to see them finally break out. Plus, I definitely don't want the Steelers to win. Big Ben is overrated and I am just not a fan.

Despite this last paragraph, Brian was a great sport about answering my questions, so I thought I would give him a brief plug about his profession:

I am a Strength & Conditioning Coach and Certified Sports Nurtitionist. (Sean’s note: If he didn’t use the Big Ben is overrated line, I might have corrected the spelling of Nutritionist.) I work full time at a private athletic performance facility for renowned strength coach Eric Cressey, called Cressey Performance. I also do online training and nutrition consulting through my website. I create completely customized training and nutrition programs for clients based on their age/gender/training age/goals/needs/health and injury history/etc, etc. To find out more about what I do, check me out at www.brianstpierretraining.com.

While his work at Cressey Performance is mainly in Hudson, MA, his personal work, online, is done with people from all over, so location is not a factor.


I apologize if you thought I interviewed Brian St. Pierre, the quarterback. Maybe I should have interviewing Brian Jackson, who besides impersonating St. Pierre was sentenced in July 2007 to 90 days in jail and five years on probation for impersonating Steelers tight end Jerame Tuman and convincing a woman to loan him $3,200, instead.

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