A Message For Anti-Taylor Swift Pittsburgh Sports Fans

Taylor Swift is arguably the biggest current musician in the world. Travis Kelce is a future Hall-of Famer football player who just won his third Super Bowl in the last five years. Naturally, the relationship between these talented individuals has garnered some attention. Too much attention? Maybe. Is that the fault of Swift and Kelce? Again, maybe. 

 

Surrounding the Super Bowl, I have seen numerous mentions of Taylor Swift from Pittsburgh sports fans critical of the attention she has received, and the amount of screen time she gets during football games. Swift ended up appearing on screen for 55 seconds during the Super Bowl. That's less than the amount of time that Tom Brady appeared on screen during commercials. While that number increased during the post-game celebration, 55 seconds of a 3+ hour telecast is insiginificant. So to those Pittsburgh sports fans mad about Swift, why are you upset? Do you think she takes attention from the game, or do you just want to admit that you don't like her?

Now if a Pittsburgh sports fan says that they hate how the attention on Swift takes away from the game, they clearly forgot about the Cole Tucker-Vanessa Hudgens relationship. Maybe Hudgens didn't get much (or any) screen time during Pirates games, but that had more to do with Tucker only playing 43 games with the team after the relationship started.

 

Maybe Hudgens-Tucker is a bad example. So what about all of the media coverage and camera shots of Evgeni Malkin's parents during the Penguins' Stanley Cup runs? Did you find that distracted you from the games? How dare the cameras cut to Geno's parents celebrating after he scored a big playoff goal! The focus needs to be on the game, right?

 

Let's not act like Pittsburghers are immune from being starstruck. Joshua Axelrod of the Post-Gazette, who I like and enjoy his work, regularly writes about television and movies being filmed in Pittsburgh. My guess is these are some of his most-read pieces. There are countless stories about where Tom Hanks had dinner or what gym Emma Watson visited or Ed Sheeran making pizzas during their time in Pittsburgh.

 

The same people critical of the screen time Taylor Swift receives during football games didn't complain about Jay-Z attending a Pitt-Duke game at The Pete. They don't scream about in-game interviews of Steelers players attending Pirates or Penguins games. How many times did Ben Roethlisberger get on TV during Pens games? Where was the outrage then? What about the many celebrities (such as Wiz Khalifa and Michael Keaton) who throw out the first pitch of a Pirates game and then are shown during the telecast? The Pirates even had a K-Pop superstar throw out the first pitch of a 2015 game. Never seen any complaints about in-game interviews with or television shots of Joe Manganiello or Billy Gardell. I remember people celebrating Sofia Vergara becoming a Steelers fan after she started dating Manganiello. 

Admit it. You're mad about Taylor Swift. Maybe it's her politics or her music or the attention, but it’s about you not liking Swift. Now if you're consistent in your belief that players' significant others, parents, or kids or any other celebrity should never appear on screen during sporting events, feel free to share. Show me receipts as the kids say. (Do kids say this?) And if you don't have any, start now with the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

 

Pitcher Paul Skenes was baseball's #1 draft pick in 2023. If he lives up to his potential, Skenes will be an all-star and one of the best pitchers in the National League. Assuming (and I know it's a big assumption) that the Pirates make the playoffs thanks to great performances by Skenes, Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds, etc., Skenes' girlfriend Olivia "Livvy" Dunne might appear at playoff games. Although she doesn't sell out stadiums like Swift, Dunne is a big deal. She is a gymnast at LSU, appears in TV commercials and magazine covers, and has nearly 5 million followers on Instagram and more on other social media sites. 

 

If it’s not about Taylor Swift, start posting on social media everyday how you hope that Dunne is never shown during Pirates games. Start telling all your friends that any Pirates loss or Skenes bad start is because Dunne is a distraction. Let’s see the videos about how Dunne was hired by Pirates owner Bob Nutting to help Joe Biden get re-elected (or something). If the Pirates make the playoffs, please complain about how Dunne is attracting more people including young women to become Pirates fans. I’ll be here to read all about it!

* Photo of Taylor and Travis from AFP via Getty Images. Not 100% certain, but I think it was taken by Patrick T. Fallon.

* Photo of Vanessa and Cole from Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty.

* Photo of Olivia and Paul from her Instagram page.

Sidney Crosby Saves Game

Sidney Crosby is an awesome hockey player. Reason #947 was this play on Thursday night to prevent the New York Islanders from tying game 3 of the first round playoff series late in the third period.

Yes, most hockey players would have done the same thing in this situation, but it's one of the greatest players of the last 20 years being in the right position late in the game.

Meanwhile, Ben Roethlisberger is the greatest quarterback in Pittsburgh Steelers history. The Steelers would not have reached 3 Super Bowls and won 2 of them without him. While it's not really fair to compare Sid and Ben and the two plays, I'm doing it anyway. This was Ben in the playoffs earlier this year.

Again, I know that it's not fair to compare the two plays and James Conner was also there for the Steelers, but there didn't appear to be any urgency by Ben on this play. 

By the way, this is my final blog post in my 30 blog post in 30ish days challenge. Go me!

Muppet Night Football

Last night's Monday Night Football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals was branded as "Muppet Night Football" with pre-game appearances by Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and others. Unfortunately, except for showing Animal playing drums a few times going into commercial breaks and a quick bit with Statler and Waldorf during halftime and another after the game, ESPN didn't utilize the Muppets nearly enough.

Here are just a few ways that ESPN and the NFL could have incorporated members of the Muppets into the game:

* A halftime performance by Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem.

* Sideline interviews by Gonzo.

* Walter could have played QB for the Steelers in the first half. Ben Roethlisberger was 7 for 16 for 19 yards with an interception and a fumble lost. Walter couldn't have been much worse!

* A cooking segment with The Swedish Chef and "Big Snack" Casey Hampton.

* Sam the Eagle being a part of the national anthem.

* Multiple shots of Scooter in the control room yelling at Steve Levy.  

* The Steelers using Bobo the Bear as a fullback on every short yardage situation.

* Statler and Waldorf skewering the current state of the Steelers.

Garth Brooks' Pittsburgh Outfit

Country music superstar Garth Brooks played at Heinz Field on Saturday night. During the performance, he wore, um, this.

While I commend Brooks on wearing the Pirates jersey, having Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's name and number on the back makes no sense. You know since Ben plays football and not baseball. I understand that Brooks "is in love with Ben Roethlisberger" per his quote in this Post-Gazette article and spent time with the Pirates during spring training. However, combining these two jerseys into one make no sense. Sort of like a blog post combining Celebrities in Pittsburgh Gear and Sean on Fashion.

#SteelerNation you showed me tonight that you ARE #PittsburghStrong FOREVER! Thank YOU for the LOVE and the UNITY!! love, g #GARTHinPITTSBURGH pic.twitter.com/B0OvyOhbAM

— Garth Brooks (@garthbrooks) May 19, 2019

By the way, I wonder if Jeff King got really excited seeing Brooks wearing his old number, only see Roethlisberger's name on the back.

Photos by Bob Pompeani and Tim Williams. Video courtesy of Garth Brooks.

Sean On Pittsburgh Sports

The biggest story in Pittsburgh sports clearly involves the son of now former Riverhounds assistant coach Mark Pulisic. If you haven’t heard, Chelsea signed his son Christian Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund for approximately $73 million. Not too shabby.

(I'll miss seeing Pulisic in black and gold though.)

Oh, did something else happen in Pittsburgh sports? Perhaps you want to read all about the Penguins scoring 7 goals (chili goal! chili goal! chili goal! chili goal! chili goal!) in a 7-2 win over the New York Rangers on Wednesday, extending the team's winning streak to 7 games.

Oh, not what you're looking for? Fine. The Steelers finished 9-6-1 and failed to reach the playoffs. The team had a turnover differential of -11, good for 28th out of 32 NFL teams. If the team had an awful but slightly better turnover differential, they would have reached the playoffs, and Pittsburgh sports fans would be talking about a playoff match-up this weekend instead of this mess.

I don't really want to get into this, but I will. Ben Roethlisberger is the best QB in franchise history, but he also tends to call out teammates on his radio show and threw way too many interceptions this season. He is a good teammate or not a good teammate. Mike Tomlin is still in the top tier of NFL coaches or his team lacks discipline and his players have tuned him out. The defense was inconsistent and gave up too many second half touchdowns. Chris Boswell had an awful season. Unfair penalties. The Le'Veon Bell saga. Ugh, make this all stop. Again, if the team made the playoffs, most of this stuff would have gone away. Winning hides a lot of things.

Now, to top it all off, there's Antonio Brown. Basically, Antonio Brown may or may not have had an injured knee, but he failed to show up to his MRI. He may have been unable to play on Sunday due to an injury or he was suspended. Regardless, he didn't play and now it sounds like he's asked to be traded. Except that Coach Mike Tomlin says that he hasn't asked for a trade.

Here's my two cents. Brown can be difficult and he's a diva. He also remains one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. Brown had 104 catches for nearly 1,300 yards, and an amazing 15 touchdowns in 15 games. He's probably a bad teammate, yet, he's so productive. The Steelers would be worse without him. Plus, you can't discount the money. As ESPN's Bill Barnwell tweeted, "If you’re reading that the cap isn’t an issue with an Antonio Brown trade, just ask this: has a team ever eaten 10% of the cap in dead money to trade a Pro Bowl player in the prime of his career?"

While I may dispute the prime of his career part of this Tweet, the rest is accurate. You can't give up 10% of your salary cap to one player not on your roster. Brown isn't going anywhere. With the season over, let's let cooler heads prevail. Brown and the Steelers organization will take some time away from each other and realize that they both need each other.

Again, just make this all stop!

In the meantime, can we have a little joy in our lives? Antonio Brown was (spoiler) good on The Masked Singer, FOX's new show Wednesday night. Yes, really!







By the way, Robin Thicke was an excellent judge on the show. I may need to have a separate blog post just about The Masked Singer. (The terrific Emily Yahr wrote a terrific piece about it.)


The Christian Pulisic picture is from Sports Illustrated.

Sofia Vergara: Steelers Fan!

Two years ago, I speculated that Sofia Vergara may become a Steelers fan based on her relationship with Joe Manganiello. From this Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon clip, it seems like Joe is doing everything in his power to convert Sofia to be part of Steeler Nation.



(Getting Big Ben's name wrong is nothing to feel bad about. Why do you think so many broadcasters, reporters, and fellow players refer to him as Big Ben? Much easier than saying or writing Roethlisberger.)

Well done, Joe. Well done!

Interview With Dr. Christopher Geary About Big Ben's Injury

Mark Barron of the St. Louis Rams sacked Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on Sunday afternoon causing Big Ben to go down and Steeler Nation to go into complete panic mode. Around the time that Roethlisberger was carted off the field, I saw this tweet from Dr. Christopher Geary, Orthopedic Surgeon and Chief of Sports Medicine at Tufts University Medical Center.

While Roethlisberger has an MCL injury to his left knee, multiple reports suggest that the franchise QB will miss approximately 6 weeks, a big difference than being out for the season. Therefore, I reached out to Dr. Geary for his thoughts on the initial tweet and the Big Ben's current diagnosis.

Please tell me and my readers about yourself. How did you get into medicine and decide on your specialty?

I kind of always figured I would go into orthopedics and I really enjoyed it in medical school. And I had played sports my whole life (including playing rugby right through medical school), so sports medicine was a natural choice for me.

You made some waves on Twitter on Sunday by writing that Ben Roethlisberger's season was over. How did you come to this assessment?

Is it difficult to make a medical diagnosis by seeing an injury on television?

At Monday's press conference, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said that there is no timetable for Big Ben's return; however, many sources estimate that he will miss 4-6 weeks. Any new thoughts about this based on your initial tweet? (Sean's note: I combined all of these questions together since Dr. Geary provided this response to all three questions at once.)

As an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine and also a huge sports fan (mostly Boston, obviously), I watch games for enjoyment but I can't help but be on the lookout for injuries as they happen. Making diagnoses based on what you see on TV is fraught with difficulty - I was actually watching the replays of Roethlisberger's injury on an 8-inch screen while riding an exercise bike at a hotel gym - but you can usually get something of an idea based on the mechanism of injury and the player/trainers reactions.

My initial tweet about his injury was to Scott Zolak, and I actually referenced a bad MCL injury as my first thought but obviously my subsequent tweets got more play. My thoughts were that if he had an ACL/MCL or a fibula fracture that his season would be over - thankfully for the Steelers this isn't the case. It's tough to say when he will be back - it could be anywhere from 4-8 weeks based on what I have seen in my patients. It will depend on how quickly he is able to move without pain and regain his range of motion - MCL injuries do tend to get stiff. He has the advantage of having a great training staff available to work with him every day, so his recovery may be on the short end.

In looking at your timeline, I didn't see any tweets from you to Scott Zolak, only the one that stated "Most likely an ACL/MCL for Roethlisberger-other possibility is a high fibula fracture w/ syndesmosis injury. Either way, season over."

You're right - I went back and checked and that Tweet either never went through or got deleted. It did exist at some point, though - you'll have to take my word on that even though I'm a Pats fan...


I really appreciate Dr. Geary's quick responses to my questions. We both spent time in San Diego (Dr. Geary mentioned that "San Diego was amazing" and that he "would move back there in a heartbeat if it wasn't so damn expensive." I agree!) and are obviously sports fans. He also was a good sport about this question.

Finally, your Twitter profile picture shows you shirtless. Does this make you the Dr. McDreamy of Tufts Medical Center?

I hate Grey's Anatomy.

Please make sure to follow Dr. Geary on Twitter and you can see his complete bio on the Tufts Medical Center website.

Garth Brooks Loves Pittsburgh Sports

Country star Garth Brooks recently played 713 concerts in Pittsburgh* and in various performances wore Steelers, Penguins and Pirates jerseys. Brooks showed that he either really, really likes the Pittsburgh sports teams or he's just pandering to the crowd. I'm fine with either (though I hope it's the first one). If only he wore a Pittsburgh Spirit or Pittsburgh Maulers jersey. Anyway, here's proof of Brooks wearing jerseys including a video showing Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin ("a huge Garth Brooks fan") and Hall of Famers Mel Blount & Lynn Swann singing Brooks a Happy Birthday.

Brooks also took a picture with Steeler players Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Heyward, Brett Keisel & Matt Spaeth. (I think Shaun Suisham & Greg Warren are also in this.)

* This number may be incorrect.

Photos from Y108 & Cam Heyward's wife.

Sesame Street Live: A Review

Last month, we took a family trip to George Mason University's Patriot Center to see Sesame Street Live: Make a New Friend. Naturally, I feel the need to share my thoughts about the show and the experience seeing Big Bird, Elmo and company.

- Despite the Steelers playing at 1:00 in Atlanta, somehow Ben Roethlisberger was able to be in Fairfax at noon to see the show.

- The premise of Sesame Street Live: Make a New Friend is that Chamki, apparently a character from the India version of Sesame Street, travels all the way from India just to visit Grover for one day. According to the show, Grover and Chamki met on Fuzzbook, the Monster Social Network. (The joke went over just as well live as it did reading this on the screen.) I understand that this is a show for kids, but travelling across the globe just to get together for one day? Seems like this could be a plot from Avenue Q rather than Sesame Street.

- When the show began, my 3 year-old was focused on the tub of popcorn we bought while my 8 month-old was fascinated by the lights and music, had a huge smile and waved his arms around. Of course, he fell asleep about 15 minutes later.

- With tickets being reasonably priced, I wondered how Sesame Street made it money from the show. The answer: merchandising.



There were Sesame Street pennants, clothing and so much more. At the beginning of intermission, they brought out seemingly hundreds of balloons with Elmo on one side and Grover on the other directly in front of the stage to sell. At the end of intermission, there were maybe a dozen balloons left.

- I was disappointed that Mr. Snuffleupagus wasn't part of the show.

- When exactly did Elmo become the #1 character on Sesame Street? When I was growing up, I think Big Bird was the top seed. I don't even think Elmo was around when I watched Sesame Street as a kid.

- Why does Count Von Count dress significantly better than every other character? He's in a three-piece suit while many of his companions don't even where pants.

- Does GMU security enjoy the crowds at Sesame Street Live compared to those attending a WWE event? There's little chance for a drunken brawl at Sesame Street but all of the kids must present a different type of challenge.

Overall, my 3 year-old enjoyed the show which was the entire reason that we went. 90 minutes including intermission was the perfect amount of time since I don't know how much longer the kids would have lasted beyond that. I'm not sure we're taking this type of family outing anytime soon, but it was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

Major Announcement

Inspired by Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger (that's probably a phrase I never thought I would write), I'm proud to announce that he and his wife are expecting a second child to join Ben Jr. Actually, that's not the major announcement. My wife and I are also expecting a second child in April! That's the big announcement. Maybe the kids will be friends and Roethlisberger will get me free season tickets. I think I'm getting a off track.

I'm really excited about a new baby, but I'm a little scared. Just when I thought I got this dad thing figured out, a second child will make things a little more tricky. This is a huge change in defensive philosophy. When I'm alone with my kids, I need to shift from man-to-man (1 on 1) to a zone defense (1 on 2). In addition, when I'm with my wife, we will have to switch from a "comfortable" zone where one of us can take a quick break on the sidelines to a tight man-to-man D.

I totally blocked out the first few months of my son's life. I don't really remember the lack of sleep and the seemingly constant spit-up. However, he slept through the night at around five months and in hindsight was relatively easy. Sure there have been (and are) rough days where he will throw a tantrum for no apparent reason or not eat well or dump his toys all over the place, but basically, he's an easy-going kid who is cautious and is able to concentrate on an activity (such as playing with blocks or his cars) for much longer than your average kid. I have a feeling that the second child will be much more, um, challenging.

The late night feedings and the lack of sleep will be back. I'm sure I'll start worrying about making sure my new child eats enough and also keeps everything down. Back to the days of bottles and cleaning bottles. Two car seats! How do you take two kids out of the house by yourself?

I think the key here is my current child. Hopefully, by April he will be fully potty trained and able to help change diapers. Maybe he can take some late night feedings too!

While I'm sure I'll figure all of this out by April, if you have multiple kids (or even if you don't), please feel free to share any tips or lessons learned.

Sean's Steelers-Vikings Preview

If you've read my blog long enough, you know that I like to point out absurd and fun (at least to me) information about sporting events. Therefore, if you're looking for the keys to this Sunday's Steelers-Vikings or a breakdown of Steelers rookie Shamarko Thomas' positioning, you'll have to go somewhere else. I'm also sorry if this post doesn't help you with your NFL picks this weekend. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the game:

- The Steelers leave Pittsburgh tonight and arrive in London on Friday morning. Meanwhile, the Vikings landed in London on Tuesday. Doesn't it seem like the Steelers should have left earlier to get acclimated to the time change and new city? For the Olympics, did Usain Bolt arrive in London two days before his race? I think not (though I have no idea when he actually got there).

- Someone needs to make sure Big Ben visits Big Ben and shares pictures of this.

- Do you think the British will know that the Terrible Towel is associated with the Steelers? As I wrote recently, you wouldn't know by this Terrible Towel.

- Serious question: Do people in London care about this game? I'm not talking about Americans living in England or Europe but your regular British citizen. I'm guessing that two 0-3 teams aren't helping walk-up ticket sales.

- Perhaps as a way to get more Londoners excited for the game, Gene Simmons of Kiss and his reality show Family Jewels is performing the National Anthem. Personally, I think the NFL should have gotten performers that represent Minnesota and Pittsburgh. Prince and Christina Aguilera would be fine.

- Remember Giant Jason Taylor from the 2007 NFL game in London? For this year, I hope they have a Giant Christian Ponder that has a matching rib injury like the non-giant Christian Ponder.

- Let's say that you're a rookie free agent in Steelers or Vikings training camp in August. Do the teams require you to get a passport in case you make the team and will travel to London? Who pays for the passport?

- Meanwhile, the Steelers signed center Fernando Velasco just a few weeks ago. Did the team make sure that he had a passport so he could play in London before they signed him?

- I assume that someone from the Associated Press (AP) will cover the game and write about Adrian Peterson (also AP) in the story. I wonder if United Press International wishes that there was a successful football player named Upton Paul Iglesias with the nickname UPI.

- I hope Troy Polamalu has a chance to freak out people at London's Madame Tussauds.



- I feel like Brett Keisel and his beard could become stars in London. Of course, people might think that he's one of the Duck Dynasty family.

Enjoy the game!

Good Night Pittsburgh Resolution

Remember last month when I claimed that authors Adam Gamble and Mark Jasper utilized my idea for their Good Night Pittsburgh book? Well, I contacted the Our World of Books folks with an ultimatum: pay me an undisclosed amount of money or allow me to share some pictures of the book. After intense negotiations, involving mediators and even Judge Judy, Our World of Books granted me permission to use the following images:

This is clearly a game between the Steelers and their heated rivals, the Montreal Alouettes. Plus, why are Ben Roethlisberger and Keenan Lewis on the field at the same time?

Since Paul Martin and Deryk Engelland rarely play together, I'd like to think this picture is a tribute to Joe Mullen and Ulf Samuelsson. The only unrealistic part of this page is that none of the fans are wearing Penguins gear.

Overall, I highly recommend Good Night Pittsburgh. Since I no longer live in Pittsburgh, I try to read this to my son as often as I can so that he can become familiar with Pittsburgh landmarks and venues like Kennywood and the Carnegie Museum. In addition, thanks to Adam Gamble for being a good sport about my e-mails.

Steelers-Chefs Recap

The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs Monday night 16-13 in an ugly overtime game. Instead of showing highlights or writing about Ben Roethlisberger's injury, check out Chef Gordon Ramsay getting crushed in a charity soccer game. With the exception of Mike Wallace's touchdown catch, this was just as entertaining as anything that happened in last night's game.



I'm very impressed that every sentence of this post (including this one) ends with the word game.

Deck the Broncos, They're Just Yoncos!

Although the Steelers defeated the Cleveland Browns 13-9 Sunday, the Baltimore win against the Cincinnati Bengals means that the Ravens earned the AFC North Division title and a first round bye. Therefore, the Steelers as a Wild Card will travel to Denver to face the Broncos next Sunday afternoon. Despite the fact that the Steelers were 12-4 on the season while Denver finished 8-8 with three straight losses, naturally, Steelers fans (including myself) may be worried. Here’s why:

- Injuries. Pro Bowlers QB Ben Roethlisberger & C Maurkice Pouncey aren’t close to 100% with ankle injuries. Meanwhile, starting RB Rashard Mendenhall may be out for the year with a knee injury and LaMarr Woodley’s hamstring has caused him to miss six of the last eight games.

- Ryan Clark had his spleen and gall bladder removed following a game in Denver a few years ago due to some type of reaction to the high altitude. Clark, another Pro Bowler, may not play at Denver

- Every NFL analyst/expert will pick Pittsburgh to win. Remember what happened last year when the 7-9 NFC West division champion Seattle Seahawks hosted the New Orleans Saints, the defending Super Bowl Champs? Denver will certainly have the "no one believes in us" mentality, and it's always possible (though unlikely) that some Pittsburgh players could be overconfident.

- Weather. It’s Denver in January, so who knows what could happen. Snow and wind could give the edge to the Broncos who have the best rushing team in the league. The Steelers are clearly a passing team now. Jerome Bettis and Franco Harris aren’t walking through that door!

With all of this written, the spirit of Myron Cope will be on the Steelers' side. Prior to the 1984 Steelers-Broncos first round playoff game in Denver, Cope created this Christmas song, and the Steelers won.

Steelers-Raves Recap (Every Little Thing Gonna Be All Right)

51-0. That was the final score of the Steelers-Browns game on September 10, 1989, the first game of the season. The Steelers followed that dreadful performance at home by losing at Cincinnati 41-10. The Steelers team managed to fight back during the 1989 season to reach the playoffs, defeat the Houston Oilers in the wild card round and narrowly lose to John Elway and the Denver Broncos during the next round.

31-0. On September 7, 2003, the Buffalo Bills defeated the New England Patriots by that score at home. The Patriots bounced back from the loss by going 14-2 and winning the Super Bowl.

Although the Steelers played one of their worst games in recent years by losing 35-7 to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, the world is not ending. The season is not over. Mike Tomlin and Dick LeBeau didn’t become terrible coaches overnight. Ben Roethlisberger didn't turn into Cliff Stoudt. It was a terrible game against the hated rival, but again, it’s one game (the first game!) of the NFL season. I expect the team to rebound nicely next week against the Seattle Seahawks



Just a few notes about the game:

Did any member of the Steelers play well on Sunday? I’d give a gold star to Mike Wallace with 8 catches for 107 yards.

The Ravens ran 31 times for 170 yards or 5.5 yards per carry. That’s amazing against last season’s top-ranked rushing defense.

Ravens TE Ed Dickson caught 5 passes for 59 yards and a touchdown. He also had another long catch negated by a penalty. Dickson looked better today than Todd Heap did over the past three years.

Ed Reed is a very good safety. Not as good as Troy in my book (can you prove that I don’t have a book?), but the second best safety in the league. However, his two interceptions couldn’t have been easier. Roethlisberger threw both passes directly to Reed. I could have caught them.

Finally, I’m sure that you noticed this fight. Yes, Ike Taylor started it and deserved the personal foul penalty. My question is how was there only one penalty when it appeared that referee was knocked unconscious or possibly died? (Look at the top right of the screen around the :30 second mark.)

Pittsburgh Steelers-Oakland Raiders Recap

It was a glorious Sunday in Pittsburgh as the Steelers defeated the Oakland Raiders 35-3. In full disclosure, I missed much of the first half, so I didn’t see the Steelers trailing 3-0 after the first quarter and some of the early penalties. Here are my thoughts on what I did see:

- Ben Roethlisberger must have watched Michael Vick put up insane stats against the Washington Redskins last Monday night. How else can you explain Roethlisberger RUNNING for 55 yards and a touchdown to go with 275 passing yards and 3 TDs?

- When was the last time you saw an NFL player ejected from a game? (I remember a pre-game fight between Joey Porter as a Steeler and William Green of the Browns leading to both players getting ejected.) Well, congratulations to Richard Seymour for accomplishing this by giving Roethlisberger a nice cheap shot slap to the face?

- By the way, I loved the way the referee called the penalty. “Number 93 has ejected himself from the game for his actions.” Sure, he initially got the players number wrong, but I love the way he phrased this. I’m going to use this line the next time I give a red card in a soccer game.

- Mike Wallace is fast.

- I really hope Snoop Dogg got paid handsomely for appearing in this Pepsi Max commercial. ("I’m up to my knees in zero calories. Pepsi to the max so let’s drink all of these." Worst rap ever?)



- James Harrison hit Raiders' QB Jason Campbell in the third quarter just as he released the ball. It was not a head shot and Harrison did not go at Campbell’s knees. However, Harrison was still called for a personal foul, apparently, for driving Campbell into the ground. Campbell is 6’5” and 230 pounds. How else is James Harrison supposed to hit him?

- The overall rushing yards for the Steelers (33 carries for 162 yards, or 4.9 yards per carry) looked pretty good. However, the Steelers need to do better with Rashard Mendenhall, their #1 running back, running for only 59 yards on 23 carries and a long run of only 9 yards.

- With the Steelers winning 28-3 late in the fourth quarter, why was Roethlisberger still in the game? Sure, for fantasy football purposes I was happy that he threw a late touchdown pass to Isaac Redman, but there was no reason for him to be on the field with the game out of hand.

- The Steelers defense played great by giving up only 3 points and 182 total yards. Six sacks, two interceptions, a fumble recovery and allowing the Raiders to convert only 3 of 14 third down conversions is definitely not too shabby.

- Congratulations to Shaun Suisham for going 5-for-5 on extra point conversions! Maybe he can spell his first name correctly next week.

- Next week, the Steelers face Steve Johnson and the Buffalo Bills. How did Johnson not know that he would get fined for wearing this?



- By the way, check out the Steve Johnson press conference on the Buffalo Bills website. (The link takes you to the press conference page. You actually have to click on the Steve Johnson press conference once you get to the site.) It’s nice of him to dress up for the occasion.

Finally, last call to enter my new contest to win a $75 gift certificate to use at any of the 200+ CSN Stores websites. All you need to do is post a comment on the "Brand New Contest" post by Monday at 10pm to enter.

Sunday Notes (Steelers-Browns Recap)

I know that you get your Steelers coverage from major media outlets and blogs dedicated to the Steelers. That’s why I give you other items that you can’t get anywhere else.

I’m not going to get into Ben Roethlisberger’s off-field activities. Simply from a football perspective, it was great seeing him on the field yesterday. The Steelers are clearly a better offensive team with Roethlisberger in the line-up, and with three touchdown passes, he showed again that he is one of the elite NFL quarterbacks.

While 27 is a lot of carries for 84 rushing yards, what stood out for me about Rashard Mendenhall’s performance was his excellent blocking in passing situations.

Yes, he got injured in the second quarter, but the defense and special teams did a nice job containing Steeler-killer Joshua Cribbs when he played.

James Harrison (11 tackles, 1.5 sacks) and Lawrence Timmons (11 tackles, 2 sacks) continue to dominate. There’s not a better LB combination in football.

The Browns may have finally found a franchise quarterback. Despite his two interceptions, Colt McCoy didn’t look rattled in his first NFL start. 23 for 33 for 281 yards, a touchdown and 22 yards rushing is a nice debut.

I get that NFL coaches aren’t going to wear suits anymore, but there has to be some type of professionalism. Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley wore a T-shirt during yesterday’s game against the Houston Texans. Haley couldn’t get away with wearing this shirt in 90% of the offices around the country.



I’d like to know the cost of all of the pink towels, hats, shoes, goal post pads, wrist bands, pom-poms, etc. displayed during NFL games to promote breast cancer awareness. It has to be in the tens of thousands, right? Who is paying for all of the pink equipment? The NFL? The individual teams? I hope that the NFL is donating at least the amount of money they are spending on the pink stuff to breast cancer charities.

I’m happy that Hiro of Heroes (Masi Oka) is getting some work in Hawaii Five-0.



Did you happen to see that DirecTV commercial that aired approximately 7,000 times yesterday where a guy steals films by shooting the employee with a blow dart? After the guy missed with his initial shot, shouldn’t the employee have tried to run? He just sat there as the attacker reloaded the second blow dart. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the “See It Before It’s On Netflix” video on the “What To Watch” section of the DirecTV website.

Next week in South Florida!

Charlie Batch Haunts My Dreams

I had a dream last night/this morning that I was on a school bus with members of the Pittsburgh Steelers. At some point, there was a radio announcement that QB Ben Roethlisberger would miss the entire season. This was not due to an injury but because he wanted to sort things out and get himself together. While this may not be realistic in real life, this seemed to make sense in my dream.

Anyway, there was certainly shock and surprise among the people on the bus. While people started talking to their neighbors about this development, I started a conversation with someone at the back of the bus even though I was a few rows up. I basically yelled to this person that the Steelers would be okay. I stated that I was confident in Dennis Dixon's abilities and that I was excited to see him play. I also yelled that Byron Leftwich is a solid QB. However, I concluded that Charlie Batch was D-U-N, done. There was only one problem: Charlie Batch was on the bus. I don't think he heard me, but I immediately felt bad about this. Charlie Batch has had a nice career, is a perfect QB to play a few games if needed, and has done great things in the community.

I questioned the person sitting across the aisle from me whether he thought Batch heard what I said. This person was a member of the Steelers, but I don't know who he was. For the sake of this post, let's say that it was William Gay, just so that I can write that I had a gay dream (not that there's anything wrong with that). He said that I needed to apologize to Batch, but that's where the dream ended. I don't remember anything else or even if there was more.

So let's analyze this dream shall we. Either I haven't written enough about the Steelers the past few months, or I'm ready for the football season! I'm going with the latter since I read Matthew's Berry fantasy football article on ESPN.com yesterday and also received an e-mail from a friend trying to finalize plans for the Steelers-Dolphins game. Are there other possibilities that wouldn't insult Charlie Batch?

Beano Cook Takes Shot at Roethlisberger

Yes, I'm posting a video two days in a row. In this ESPN video, Pittsburgh's own Beano Cook calls Sidney Crosby a class act. I don't think anyone in their right mind would disagree. (Please note that most Capitals fans are not in their right mind.) Anyway, near the end of the video, Beano subtly (or not so subtly) calls out the Steelers' QB.

"I'm just grateful Pittsburgh has Sidney Crosby right now. We need somebody, an athlete, with class. And that Crosby has. Lots of class. On the ice and off the ice."



Am I misinterpreting Beano's statement?

Random Ramblings

There are times that I have random thoughts that probably don't deserve their own post. This is one of those times where I put them together to share with you.

* NHL Center Ice offered a free preview this week. As a result, I had a wonderful opportunity to watch hockey games from local broadcasts throughout the continent. So here’s my question: why is McDonalds offering free coffee from March 1-14 in Canada but not in the United States?



* Speaking of NHL Center Ice, I may throw the TV out the window if I see the, “We may live in New York now, but our seats our definitely Center Ice” commercial one more time.

* I recently joined my neighborhood e-mail listserv which has made me laugh. Here are some sample messages from this weekend:

- Maybe you are afraid of dogs and that’s why they are attacking you. Don't be afraid. Dogs are better than most people. They don't complaint about stupid things.
- I just drove by the course and saw a dad on a walk with his two young daughters. Should I call the police?
- I haven't been following all of this that closely, but I think it depends on whether or not they are on a leash??

* Raise your hand if 20 years ago, you thought this guy would be a two-time Academy Award nominee?



* The number of e-mails I’ve received from TMZ prior to Friday: 0. The number of e-mails I’ve received from TMZ the past 3+ days thanks to Ben Roethlisberger: 6.

* Mainstream movie that sounds like it could be porno: How To Train Your Dragon.

* A few weeks ago, someone put $5 on my car windshield. I immediately wondered if someone hit the car and either left $5 as a note or to pay for damages (which wouldn’t have gone very far). However, it looks like someone just left $5 to give us $5. Strange.