Kids Book Predicts Steelers-Patriots Game

Back in November, I traveled to Portland and made sure to visit Powell's Books the "largest used and new bookstore in the world." While trying to find Ron Lippock's Steelers Takeaways among the approximately 1 million books in stock, I stumbled upon Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go and bought it for the sake of a future blog post (and to read to my kids, but mostly for blog content). What I didn't realize is that this predicts the outcome of Sunday's Steelers-New England Patriots AFC Championship game.

Before we see the pictures below, I think it's fair to point out several inaccuracies. First, the game in the book takes place at Heinz Field which makes perfect sense for a children's book about the Steelers. In addition, most of the uniform numbers don't match up with current players. So with that, let's witness what will happen on Sunday.

Coach Mike Tomlin, arguably the greatest cheerleader in this country's history, leads the team in a rousing edition of Give Me An S, Give me a T, etc. so that the entire team spells the word Steelers. Antonio Brown is front and center this time to get a better camera angle for Facebook Live.

In the spirit of the referee's message of good sportsmanship, Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount and Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell decide to get high together right at midfield.

The role of James Harrison in this picture is being played by Anthony Chickillo. After the sack, Jim Nantz will refer to James Harrison as "ageless." (And yes, that is my cat Ziggy's tail next to the book.)

After last week's struggles in the red zone, the Steelers decided to hand the ball to Le'Veon Bell (being played by Fitzgerald Toussaint in the book) for a touchdown on a 4th and goal. Smart call!

Chris Boswell has been terrific this season, so why wouldn't he (and not the pictured Jeff Reed or Landry Jones) kick the game-winning field goal?

Celebration time! I'm sure Julian Edelman will be all smiles shaking hands after the game since that's how his team is run." Meanwhile, Steely McBeam is out haunting people in the parking lot.

So there you go. The Steelers will win on Sunday with a late field goal. Enjoy the game (even though you already know the result)!

Pittsburgh Festival In Washington

Perhaps it's because Celebrate Fairfax is only days away, but I'm getting into the festival mood. I also realize that it's unlikely I'll be able to visit Pittsburgh this summer (this year?) and that makes me a little sad. Therefore, why not put the two together. That's right. I want to create a Pittsburgh festival in the Washington, DC area.

I could worry about the details like location (Dulles Expo Center?), insurance, security, etc., but today, I'm going to be an ideas man. There are thousands of Pittsburgh transplants that live in the Washington area (see the 2008 Steelers game at FedEx Field and the Post-Gazette series detailing Pittsburghers that moved away) and even more if you expand this to Baltimore. Why not celebrate our Pittsburgh-ness and expose the city to the greater Washington DC area?

The first step would be to partner with Visit Pittsburgh, the official tourism office for Pittsburgh. They are the experts on all the great things to do and see in Pittsburgh.

Here is what else this festival should have (some of this is unrealistic but others could definitely work):

- Food: You can't have a Pittsburgh festival without Pittsburgh food. Primanti's sandwiches, Quaker Steak & Lube wings, hot dogs from The O, Potato Patch fries, Peppi's Roethlisburger, pierogies, Eat 'N Park Smiley Cookies, anything from the Oakmont Bakery, Prantl's Burnt Almond Torte, Vincent's pizza, Sarris Candies, Dave & Andy's ice cream and lots of Heinz condiments. Yes, there will be Iron City beer too. I'm getting hungry!

- Some type of presence from current or former Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins. Heck, we can have some Riverhounds or Maulers too. Yes, I'll even allow a visit from Steely McBeam.



- We need to have some type of Kennywood exhibit. Maybe they can build The Racer or Thunderbolt for this festival.

- Music: Let's get Wiz Khalifa, Rusted Root, The Clarks and Mac Miller, who recently wrote "I am Pittsburgh" on Twitter.

- Admissions officers from Pitt, Duquesne, CMU, Robert Morris, Chatham, Point Park, and Carlow to help recruit high school students.

- Bring a dinosaur from Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum. With the dinosaur hall at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History closed until 2019, folks in DC will want to see a real dinosaur skeleton.

- An exhibit from the Andy Warhol Museum.

- A Mister Rogers and/or Daniel Tiger exhibit. Mr. McFeely could make the trip to DC again.

- Birds from the National Aviary.

- Have a giant poster showing the view of Mt. Washington where people can take a picture standing in front of it.

- Booths from some of Pittsburgh's biggest employers such as UPMC, Giant Eagle, Highmark, US Steel, and PNC Financial Services to recruit potential employees.

What else would you want to see at a Pittsburgh festival? Do you think this could happen?

2012 Sean’s Ramblings Visitors

Have you ever wondered who visits Sean's Ramblings and how they found this blog? No? Really, it's just me? Well, here is 2012 data of Sean's Ramblings visitors and how people find this blog through internet searches.

1. Pittsburgh, PA

2. New York, NY

3. Washington, DC

4. London, United Kingdom

5. Chicago, IL

6. Chantilly, VA

7. Philadelphia, PA

8. Elizabeth, NJ

9. Bethesda, MD

10. (tie) Baltimore, MD & Arlington, VA

Pittsburgh-New York-Washington earn the top three spots for the third consecutive year. London finished in fourth which is the highest ranking for a non-United States City since San-Ch’Ung, Taiwan finished third in 2009. I expect London to fight for one of the top spots next year as a result of my coverage of the Steelers game there. Maybe I'll even go to London to cover the game live!

Now for the top referrals of 2012:

1. Seans Ramblings

2. Ricardo Blas Jr

3. LeBron James

4. Ben Roethlisberger house

5. Erica Blasberg

6. Corduroys

7. Jaromir Jagr

8. Songs with alcohol in the title

9. Songs with beer in the title

10. Why do people hate Hillary Clinton

"Pittsburgh Steelers Mascot," which was #1 last year fell out of the top ten. Steely McBeam is not happy. Meanwhile, congratulations to Ric Blas for being #2 on this list. Good guy who performed very well at the London Olympics. I need to catch up with him soon for a return appearance here.

Thanks again to everyone for visiting this blog in 2012! I hope to see you here in 2013 too!

If you’re interested in seeing the search and location statistics for the previous three years, click here.

2011 Sean’s Ramblings Visitors

I love numbers and statistics, so naturally I’m fascinated by the data related to where people live that visit this blog as well as how people find Sean’s Ramblings through searches primarily via Google and Yahoo.

Here are the results for 2011:

1. Pittsburgh, PA

2. New York, NY

3. Washington, DC

4. Chantilly, VA

5. Chicago, IL

6. Arlington, VA

7. Deerfield Beach, FL

8. Los Angeles, CA

9. Baltimore, MD

10. Columbus, OH

Pittsburgh-New York-Washington earn the top three spots for the second consecutive year. Only a third place finish by San-Ch’Ung, Taiwan in 2009 prevents this trifecta from back-to-back-to-back top three finishes.

Now for the top referrals of 2011:

1. Pittsburgh Steelers Mascot

2. LeBron James

3. Songs with Alcohol in the Title

4. Seans Ramblings

5. Jim Shearer

6. Top Songs of 2010

7. Erica Blasberg

8. Cosi Prices

9. Myron Cope Sound Bites

10. Sean’s Ramblings

11. Songs with Drinks in the Title

Seans Ramblings and Sean’s Ramblings together would have been #1, but the variations put these two at #4 & #10 respectively. Therefore, congrats to Pittsburgh Steelers Mascot for moving from #5 in 2010 to the top spot in 2011. Steely McBeam is quite happy.



Meanwhile, I am clearly the source for LeBron James news as evidenced by the impressive second place finish for LeBron James searches. In addition, Fleetwood Mac concert reviews, Hamburger Helper Rice Oriental and Spider Pig lyrics fell out of the top 10.

Please click here if you’re interested in seeing the search and location statistics for 2009 and 2010.


Trivia Tuesday will return next week though there could be a special edition later this week.

Are Pillow Pets a Thing?

Only a few weeks ago, I shared a picture of the Pittsburgh Steelers Steely McBeam Pillow Pet. It was quite terrifying. Now the Pittsburgh Penguins are selling their own Pillow Pet.



This isn't quite as scary, but as I indicated by the title of this post, are pillow pets the next big thing? Are they like the new Tickle Me Elmo or Chia Pet?

Trivia Tuesday: What The Heck Is This?

I recently received an e-mail from NFL.com regarding a new Pittsburgh Steelers product. If you haven't already seen this, I am honored (sure, let's go with honored) to introduce you to the Pittsburgh Steelers Pillow Pet



Your challenge this week is to provide a caption of this product since I honestly have no idea what this is. Sure, I guess the face is that of the silly Steelers mascot Steeley McBeam, but I don't get it. Good luck!

Heinz Field Easter Brunch and Easter Egg Hunt

Voting for the first round of the Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament concludes today (Friday) at 5:00 PM Eastern time. Please scroll down to vote. In the meantime, here is a new post that has nothing to do with the Tournament.

I recently received the following e-mail from the Pittsburgh Steelers:



The text might be small, but this e-mail invited me to the 2010 Easter Brunch and Easter Egg Hunt at Heinz Field. For only $27.95 (tax, administrative fees, and parking not included), I can have brunch and hunt for Easter eggs. I haven't been to an Easter egg hunt in many, many years, but I'm guessing they don't let adults search for the eggs. Therefore, I would attend for the opportunity to meet Steelers, right? For $27.95 plus fees, I expect that Mike Tomlin or some Steelers players would be in attendance. I'm not asking for Hines Ward or Troy Polamalu; Piotr Czech, Sean McHugh or Tony Hills would suffice. Um, no. It doesn't appear that any Steelers will attend. Instead, I can meet the Easter Bunny and Steely McBeam. I guess the food must be excellent!

Steely McBean Is a Steeler

There are a lot of great Pittsburgh sports blogs out there that I respect and read frequently. However, I want to give myself a little bit of credit for the extremely creative nickname for Steelers rookie Ryan “Steely” McBean. You see, I dubbed Ryan McBean Steely way back in August (here and again here) and also in September when he was cut and signed to the practice squad.

Now that Ryan McBean was signed to the 53-man roster in place of the injured Aaron Smith, everyone seems to be using the Steely McBean nickname. Here are just a few examples:

- Joey Porter’s Pit Bulls
- Behind the Steel Curtain
- Doubt About It
- Mondesi’s House

Just wanted to point this out.

Steelers-Browns Notes

I attended Sunday's Steelers-Browns game and here my thoughts from Heinz Field:

- In my opinion, Joshua Cribbs has now replaced Eric Metcalf as the scariest Steelers' opponent. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I missed his kickoff return for a TD as I was in the bathroom.

- I was shocked (sarcasm added) that a county act performed the national anthem and a song before the game. I generally only attend one Steeler game in Pittsburgh per season, but every game recently has featured a country act. This week's country group that I've never heard of: Lady Antebellum. For country fans that read this, have you ever heard of them?

- The Steelers struggled to get a pass rush most of the game, so I think they made a nice adjustment by having more defenders in coverage in the second half.

- Since I don't listen to Cleveland talk radio, I wonder if Romeo Crennel is being criticized for his terrible decision late in the game to take a time-out, then challenge Heath Miller's TD catch only to lose the challenge and the second time-out. The Browns really could have used the extra time in the final drive to attempt a field goal closer than 53 yards. These are the kind of poor decisions that will open the door for Bill Cowher to become the Browns' head coach next season.

- Browns' offensive lineman Ryan Tucker's right arm is entirely covered by tattoos. However, his left arm features no tattoos. I feel like this was important for me to share.

- When did Roethlisberger become Randall Cunningham and Fran Tarkenton?

- In the final play of the game, a Browns' player was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. However, since the game ended, no penalty was actually assessed. I think the Browns should be penalized 15 yards in their next game against the Steelers.

- There was no sign of Steely McBeam in the stadium. His only appearance was on the scoreboard as part of a visit to a school. McBeam got booed.

- When Steelers' General Manager Kevin Colbert checks his voicemail today, I'm guessing there will several messages from Chidi Iwuoma just saying hi. Based on the team's special teams performance, Colbert will probably return the call.

For a recap of the game by professional journalists, check out ESPN & the Post-Gazette.

Steely McBean Cut, Signed To Practice Squad

Over the weekend, the Steelers finalized their roster by cutting, among others, Ryan “Steely” McBean, the team’s fourth round draft out of Oklahoma State. McBean was one of the eight players signed to the team’s practice squad.

In other Steelers news, none of the other cuts seemed to be a major surprise. The biggest names cut by the team were Verron Haynes, who I like and hope makes it back to the NFL soon, and special teams ace Chidi Iwuoma. I tend to agree with Mike Prisuta of the Tribune-Review in that the Steelers should have kept Iwuoma, but I am not at the pay grade to decide who should have been left off the roster in his place.

Steelers mascot Steely McBeam is still around and should be available for birthday parties and Bar Mitzvahs.

Follow Up on Steely McBeam

Apparently, the nickname Ryan “Steely” McBean has been catching on for the Steelers’ rookie defensive end out of Oklahoma State as I have received scores of hits today from people searching “Steely McBean” on Google. Of course, there is a slight possibility people are just typing the name of the new Steelers’ mascot incorrectly.

I’ve thought about starting an online petition (if there isn’t one already) to stop the existence of Mr. McBeam. However, I realize that in the grand scheme of things, the addition of a new Steelers mascot, while silly and unnecessary, is not really a big deal. If the purpose of the mascot is to get the home team fired up at games, that’s not going to happen. In reality, while you can name the Pirate Parrot or San Diego Chicken, how many people know NFL mascots? Therefore, if the purpose is to have the mascot visit schools or attend community functions to benefit non-profit organizations, then I’m completely OK with the mascot.

The only recent mascot experience I have to compare with Steely McBeam is the debut of Screech for the Washington Nationals. Screech is an ugly part-owl, part-eagle that needs to lose a few pounds. In my mind, Screech is useless. With that written, I attended a Pirates-Nationals game earlier in the season and sat next to a father with his son who could not have been older than four. When Screech came to the section, the kid was thrilled and gave Screech a huge hug. I just hope that kids don’t get too attached to McBeam.

All About the Steelers

I have not written about the Steelers for some time, so I wanted to share my thoughts about the preseason and the new mascot. As all Steelers fans already know, the team won their first preseason game on Sunday night against the New Orleans Saints. woo-hoo. I seriously could care less about preseason games. My only hopes for a typical preseason is that the first team plays decently in the few series they are actually in the game and, more importantly, that no one gets hurt.

This year is a little different since Mike Tomlin is in his first year as a head coach, so I care that he’s getting “game” experience in that position. However, I still vividly remember Steve Spurrier’s debut as the head coach for the Washington Redskins. The team was very impressive in his first preseason going undefeated. Over the next two seasons, the Redskins went 12-20 and the "ball coach" returned to the SEC. While I truly believe that Tomlin will have much more success as an NFL head coach than Spurrier, this just goes to show that the preseason means little. Therefore, I’m done writing about it...except for this:

The Washington Redskins are promoting a “Preseason Special Package” for the August 18th game against the Steelers. Here’s the details:

Purchase the Preseason Special Package and receive the following for only $499.00...over a 50% savings:
• Two (2) Prime Sideline Seats
Enjoy the best sightlines in the stadium plus access to the club level concourse where you find wonderful amenities including hundreds of flat screen TVs, two sports bars, Club Macanudo - Washington's largest cigar lounge, Hooters, Johnny Rockets, Phillips Seafood & much more.

• Two (2) Tailgate Club Passes
o Opens three (3) hours prior to the game
o An all-you-can-eat BBQ
o Meet & greets by Redskins Alumni and Cheerleaders
o Receive a complimentary Redskins Yearbook
o Games for all ages

• One (1) on-site Parking Pass
o Park close to the stadium and be a few steps away from FedExField

If you're interested in this wonderful opportunity to spend $500 to watch back-ups and practice squad players for three quarters, call (301) 276-6800 and order the Preseason Special Package today!


Finally, the Steelers announced the name of the new mascot. I already wrote about this atrocity when the mascot was revealed suggesting “Unnecessary” as the name. Instead, the mascot will be called Steely McBeam.

I hope I'm the first person to give Steelers rookie defensive end Ryan McBean the nickname Steely McBean!