Kevin Durant With Guys Shorter Than Him

PAWRA's BACK, ALRIGHT! If you don't remember what PAWRA is, and really why would you know this, PAWRA stands for Pittsburgh Athletes with World-Renowned Athletes. Previous posts include Kenny Pickett with Wayne Gretzky, DeAngelo Williams with Christian Pulisic, and Sidney Crosby with Maria Sharapova. Well, we got a good one today. Pictured below is Kevin Durant, currently a member of the Houston Rockets and likely one of the 20-best NBA players of all time with Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Boko Imama of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Rockets visited the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night, and with the Penguins playing the Stars the following evening, it appears that Malkin, Letang, and Imama enjoyed a night out. In case you're wondering, Boko is listed at 6'1", Geno at 6'5", and Kris at 6'0". They look like me if I was pictured with them! No word on if Durant had any idea who he took a picture with. And did the Pens players not want a picture with Anthony Davis or Cooper Flagg?

Photo from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Wayne Gretzky and Kenny Pickett

Happy 2024! To celebrate the new year, I'm bringing back PAWRA or Pittsburgh Athletes with World-Renowned Athletes. On Sunday, the Steelers defeated the Seattle Seahawks 30-23 in Seattle. After the game, hockey legend Wayne Gretzky met up with Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett. 

Gretzky is in Seattle for Monday's Winter Classic game between the Las Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Park, home of the Mariners baseball team. I actually had no idea the Winter Classic was taking place in Seattle until I looked up why Gretzky might be in Seattle. Apparently, Gretzky golfed with Kenny Pickett and his dad back in March. I guess that they enjoyed the round together enough for Gretzky to seek out Pickett after the Steelers win.

Have a happy and healthy year!

Photos by Brooke Pryor on Twitter and the Steelers' Facebook page.

Joe Haden and Roger Federer

Although Joe Haden is a free agent and not currently a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I think he qualifies for a brand new edition of PAWRA! If you're not familiar with PAWRA (and why would you since I haven't had a PAWRA post in over 3 years), PAWRA is Pittsburgh Athletes with World-Renowned Athletes, just another of my many popular series (serieses?). Joe Haden is in Paris and apparently ran into Roger Federer, only one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

I reached out to Haden to see how and where he met Federer (presumably at the French Open or at an event associated with the French Open), but he's on vacation and surprisingly did not respond to my random question on Twitter. I don't know the identity of the person on the left in this picture.

Photo from Joe Haden's Twitter page.

Christian and DeAngelo (and Roosevelt)

Welcome to the latest edition of Pittsburgh Athletes with World-Renowned Athletes! (At this point, it’s more than a working title. I think it’s the actual title. PAWRA!) Recently, former Pittsburgh Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams shared this picture of him with Christian Pulisic.

I asked DeAngelo where and when this picture was taken, but I did not receive a response. My guess is this was from the summer of 2018 when Pulisic’s Borussia Dortmund faced Portuguese club Benfica as part of the International Champions Cup in Pittsburgh. Of course, English club Chelsea recently signed Pulisic to a $73 million deal, making him the highest-paid American player ever and by a significant amount.

Maybe we'll see Pulisic visit Pittsburgh again someday, but the next time with a World Cup trophy. (I can dream, right?)


Photo from DeAngelo Williams' Twitter account.

You can also click here for previous PAWRA posts.

UPDATE: The Steelers posted a picture of Roosevelt Nix with Pulisic. Apparently, he (and I assume Williams) spent time in Germany with the American Football Without Barriers Foundation. Here's a video of Nix and Pulisic.

Le'Veon Bell and 50 Cent

This post combines the Celebrities In Pittsburgh Gear series with the Pittsburgh Athletes with World-Renowned Athletes (PAWRA!) series. Rapper/entrepreneur 50 Cent met Pittsburgh Steelers Running Back Le'Veon Bell over the weekend.

You can also see 50 wearing a Pirates hat here, possibly inspired by or inspiring the team's 6-game winning streak, with Adam "Pacman" Jones, formerly of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Busy weekend for Mr. Cent! I'm sure that you're thinking, Sean, 50 Cent is responsible for In Da Club, one of the biggest hits of the 21st Century, but he is not a world-renowned athlete. I disagree. This video of 50 throwing out the first pitch at a Mets game in 2014 went viral all over the world.

As I wrote: World Renowned!


Photos from 50 Cent's Instagram.

Zlatan and JuJu

Welcome to a new feature here at Sean's Ramblings called Pittsburgh Athletes with World-Renowned Athletes. It's a working title. A few weeks ago, I wrote a post showing Sidney Crosby pictured with Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon. Today, I'm excited to share Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster with one of the most famous soccer players in the world, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, currently playing for the LA Galaxy.

Zlatan also just lost a bet with some guy named David Beckham.

Stay tuned for my next edition of Pittsburgh Athletes with World-Renowned Athletes (I need a better title!) which will likely feature LeBron James pictured with Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams.

Photo from JuJu's Twitter page.

Maria Sharapova and Sidney Crosby

Wimbledon starts in less than a week, and it appears that there may be a new player in the tournament: Sidney Crosby

With apologies to Milos Raonic, Genie Bouchard, and Denis Shapovalov, Crosby would easily be the most-famous Canadian player in the tournament. I have no idea why Sharapova and Crosby are together, but this is pretty cool since Wimbledon is an awesome place to visit.

By the way, if you want to go down a sad path, take a look at some of the comments to this tweet. (I really hope that Sharapova ignores this.)

- Looking gorgeous

- I and you on the beach!

- This is my fifth tweet and you are not responding. Love from Pakistan.

- Don't know if Sid and Maria are dating.. One thing for sure, they both have awesome legs!

Okay, this last one made me chuckle.

Photos from Maria Sharapova's Twitter account.