Actual Video of Sean on Stage

Woodland Hills High School, just outside the Pittsburgh's city limits, is probably best known for two things: football where the team has been to the WPIAL playoffs for 22 consecutive years and produced nearly a dozen NFL players including Jason Taylor, Rob Gronkowski, and Steve Breaston and musical theater where the school has won countless Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater. About 7 years ago, someone who graduated from Montour High School started working at my organization. Upon learning that I went to Woodland Hills, he bitterly conceded that Woodland Hills always won at the Gene Kelly Awards.

Anyway, during my sophomore year of high school, I was on the stage crew for the production of Guys and Dolls. The fact that I actually helped build a set is funny since I have no building or repair skills whatsoever. (As a tangent, I really need to replace the fluorescent light bulb in the laundry room. I'm going to have to make a Home Depot trip, aren't I? Ugh.) During my junior year, I decided that I wanted to be on stage and not be behind the scenes. Although my singing audition probably went poorly since I have an awful voice, I killed in my dancing audition. Probably more importantly, the show needed a few more male cast members, so I earned the role of Government Man and part of the chorus in the production of Lil' Abner.

Recently, videos of the (gulp) 1992 production of Lil' Abner were posted on YouTube. While it's interesting (at least to me) to check out the videos, I wanted to share a few today.

The first is a scene before, during, and after the song Unnecessary Town. I'm wearing a suit and hat seated at the U.S. Army table. The last 30 seconds or so of the video shows my true acting range.

Oh, feel free to enjoy a Pittsburgh Steelers joke around the 1:10 mark. (The Steelers were coming off of a 7-9 season.)



There are/were some really, really talented people involved in this musical. Fortunately, they carried me!

The second video shows the cast dancing/singing to Rag Offen The Bush. Again, I'm wearing a hat and tie, and you can find me at the front right (scene left).

You can see all of the videos here. 25 years later, seeing the Confederate flag displayed so prominently is a little creepy. I guess that's part of the art of the show. Overall, though, this brought back some fun memories, and I think The Moose enjoyed watching me perform.

Who Is The Best Athlete You Ever Saw Live?

I think this will be fun. Today, I want to read stories about the best athlete you ever saw play live before they were stars, if they even became stars at all. Maybe this was your brother or a kid you played against in Little League, but saying that you saw Troy Polamalu make an incredible interception as a member of the Steelers is not what we're looking for here.

Since this is my blog, I'll go first. Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, I was fortunate enough to see plenty of amazing athletes. My high school football team regularly competed for the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League ("WPIAL") Championship and included future NFL players like Steve Breaston, Ryan Mundy, Lousaka Polite, Shawntae Spencer and Rob Gronkowski (for one season), though these guys were after my time. Tirrell Greene was an offensive lineman for my high school and later became an All-American at the University of Miami, and although I feel that he paved the way for future Woodland Hills graduates to play in college, I don't remember seeing him play live.

While my high school produced numerous NFL players, it was an opponent that makes the top of my list. As a college freshman home for Thanksgiving break, I attended a playoff game between Woodland Hills and North Hills. North Hills had a freshman running back that seemed bigger and faster than everyone on the field and ran for over 200 yards in a victory over the Wolverines. He also played linebacker, ended up going to Penn State, was the #2 overall draft pick for Washington, a 3-time Pro Bowler and now co-hosts a radio show in DC. His name was and is LaVar Arrington.

Some people who know me probably thought my answer would be Jason Taylor who graduated a year before me. I remember Taylor as being an awkward basketball player who hadn’t grown into his body yet and made only a few catches as a tight end. I never thought he would inspire Giant Jason Taylor.

Honorable mentions:

Gerald Thompson, Woodland Hills RB, who I thought was going to be a star after running for 1,600 yards and 25 TDs.

Brandon Short of McKeesport HS who later played for the New York Giants.

Michael Keyes of Woodland Hills who was a really good basketball point guard. He wasn’t flashy, but was a great leader and always seemed to make the right decision. He played D1 basketball at Towson.

Nia S. – When I was in junior high, I was responsible for shadowing her for nearly an entire soccer game. I felt extremely fortunate that I held her to only one goal and my team won. I believe that she’s a doctor now.

Your turn. Share who the best athlete you ever saw live in the comments section below.

Trivia Tuesday

I think it’s fun when I create my own trivia questions, so I hope that you enjoy this week’s Trivia Tuesday.

1. Besides Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster, name another actor in the 1976 film, Taxi Driver.

2. Name the best song by the band Cake.

3. Who won the 2012 Australian Open women’s title?

4. The MTV movie awards declared Project X as a cult classic. Did you see this movie? (Please note that this is not the Matthew Broderick movie.)

5. How did the late Richard Dawson meet his second wife?

6. In what year did current Queen Elizabeth become queen?

7. What rap star filmed part of his new video at my high school? (The video also includes a cameo of NFL wide receiver Steve Breaston.)

8. Name one of the hosts on the ABC talk show, The Revolution.

9. There is a hip hop artist named Flo Rida. What is the best potential name of a future hip hop artist based on the name of a state? (My suggestions are Virg Inya or I Daho.)

10. In what state is the Patuxent River located?

As always, please leave your answers in the comments section below and do not use the internet for assistance. Good luck!

Steelers-Chiefs (PIttsburgh Midwest?) LiveBlog

What better way to conclude the Thanksgiving weekend than joining us for the Steelers-Chiefs game. Everyone rightly refers to the Arizona Cardinals as Pittsburgh West; however, no one talks about Kansas City being Pittsburgh Midwest. Former Pitt Panther QB Tyler Palko starts for the Chiefs tonight while wide receiver Jon Baldwin also attended Pitt and Steve Breaston is a fellow Woodland Hills High School graduate. Coach Todd Haley is the son of former Steelers Director of Player Personnel Dick Haley and served as a ball boy for the Steelers as a kid. Um, Kendrell Bell and Steve Bono both played for the Steelers and Chiefs. I think that’s all I got. Go Steelers!

Steelers Links and Random Stuff

- Two fellow Woodland Hills High School graduates are on this year’s Super Bowl teams. I hope that Steve Breaston loses two fumbles on Sunday, but has 1,500 yards receiving and 10+ touchdowns next year (especially if he’s on my fantasy team). Meanwhile, is Ryan Mundy even on the Steelers' 53-man roster? Regardless, take that Penn Hills and Gateway!

- Sign up for a five-minute shift to be part of the world’s longest Terrible Towel Wave.

- Cotter wrote about the fact that there are 43 strip clubs in Tampa and the Cardinals arrival. I’m linking to the post because he is the first person I know to have bought a Snuggie. (One For The Other Thumb)

- Have you seen this picture (by Ross D. Franklin/AP) of Captain Bruce Meyer holding an Arizona Cardinals flag outside the cockpit window as the team arrived at the Tampa International Airport?



This doesn't seem very safe. Sully Sullenberger wouldn't hold a flag out of an airplane window!

- Your new addition to the Washington Nationals broadcasting team: Rob Dibble (DCist)

- Bob Smizik (Alf). He’s back. In blog (pog) form! Gold star to anyone who gets the Alf/pog reference. (Post-Gazette)

- PittGirl is also back, sort of. She is guest-blogging on Have a Good Sandwich.

- I found the message/question below on fellow DC area blogger Urban Bohemian, but the post has since been removed from Yahoo answers. There is no chance this is real, right?



(In case you can't read the picture or don't want to click on it, this is the text:

I’m concerned that my son has a secret girlfriend?

My 17 year old son has been very secretive with me lately, recently he has started to refuse to go to church with the family and tonight when I was going through his room I found a magazine with naked men in it. He obviously has a girlfriend that he is hiding from me that brought that magazine into my home and I am afraid they are having intercourse and I am greatly concerned that he is going to get her pregnant.

What should I do about this?

Edyta vs. George Novak

During Tuesday night’s Dancing with the Stars finale, Jason Taylor said that his dance partner Edyta Sliwinska, was the best coach he had ever had. (Yes, I’m admitting that I watched the season finale. Before you make fun of me, how many of you can say that someone who played sports at your high school was a finalist on Dancing with the Stars? I thought so!) Therefore, I thought we should go back and compare Edyta to Taylor’s Woodland Hills High School football coach, George Novak.


- Woodland Hills High School football coach for over 20 years
- WPIAL (Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League) Championships in 1996, 1999, 2001 and 2002.
- NFL players from Woodland Hills coached by Novak include Taylor, Ryan Mundy, Shawntae Spencer, Lousaka Polite and Steve Breaston.
- Has never won the PIAA (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association) championship.


- Dancer for over 15 years.
- Emerald Ball Latin Amateur Champion; 1st place - 2001 International Grand Ball (San Francisco); and 1st Place - 2001 Holiday Ball (Las Vegas, Nevada).
- Dancing partners include Taylor, Evander Holyfield, George Hamilton, Joey Lawrence and John Ratzenberger
- Appeared on all six seasons of Dancing with the Stars but has never won.


I’ll give the edge to Edyta simply because she is in much better shape than Novak (and since she would probably know not to run the ball while your team was trailing on a 4th and long late in fourth quarter).

Meanwhile, Nick Saban believes that he was the best coach Taylor ever had.



When asked about Saban, the jovial Taylor abruptly changed his expression and simply said, "Release giant JT."



If you want to see more pictures of Edyta, she has her own website and Myspace page. If you want to see more pictures of Novak, you’re out of luck. There don’t seem to be many pictures of him on the internet.

Weekend Review

I promised a thorough review of the weekend, so here you go. For non-sports fans, I promise some good stuff at the end of this post. I’ll start with the Steelers, who lost their first game of the season, 21-14, against the Arizona Cardinals. First, thanks to everyone for giving their comments and suggestions about how and where I could watch Sunday’s game during the engagement party. I was able to watch much of the first half at the party and most of the second half at a house. The Steelers obviously did not play their best, and I’m worried about the health of Troy Polamalu, Casey Hampton and Bryant McFadden. I was also disappointed by the offensive line as Willie Parker only had 37 yards rushing, the Cardinals had 4 sacks and it seemed like the line had about a half dozen false start or holding penalties. Ben Roethlisberger’s interception in the end zone while the team was on the Arizona 2 certainly did not help.

However, to put this in perspective, it’s not a terrible loss. Arizona has a decent team, and the Steelers were playing on the road. Let’s be honest, this was the Super Bowl for former Steelers coaches Ken Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm. I’m sure they have been preparing for this game since they got hired by the Cardinals. Plus, if the Steelers are going to lose a game, losing to an NFC team is much better than a defeat against a division rival or even against an AFC team. Conference wins and losses are factored into playoff tie-breakers. So now, let’s see how Mike Tomlin and the team respond to their first loss.

Two final notes from the game. Actually, two Arizona players. I had mixed reactions watching Larry Fitzgerald make incredible catches and seeing Steve Breaston return the punt for a touchdown. I really, really like both of those guys. Fitzgerald was amazing to watch when he was at Pitt, and I hope he turns out to be one of the best wide receivers in NFL history. Breaston is from Woodland Hills High School, so I’m glad that he’s representing his alma mater well.

I also had the opportunity to watch my first Pitt game of the year. After seeing Pitt get crushed by the University of Virginia, let’s just say that I am not planning on re-arranging my schedule to see another game this season. At the end of the first quarter, Pitt trailed 27-0 and had seven penalties, a botched on-side kick and a fumbled kick-off return. The offensive couldn’t move the ball and the defense couldn’t stop Virginia. The best part of the first quarter may have been ESPN’s interview with the Virginia Cavalier. With the game out of hand, the announcers also discussed how Thomas Jefferson was an anti-Federalist.

Overall, I had a lot of problems with the coaches in this game. Pitt ran this “Wildcat” formation where the running back lines up at the quarterback position about a dozen times. Maybe you run this formation once or twice a game to throw off the defense. Pitt has a freshman QB; let him try to pass the ball and run the offense. Don’t put the QB out as a wide receiver when the running back is never going to throw the football. Virginia knew this and stopped Pitt every time. On 3rd and 8, let the quarterback play quarterback! I also was not happy with Virginia coach Al Groh. Virginia was leading 37-14 with only a few minutes remaining and ran a fake field goal for a touchdown. That is simply running up the score, and my opinion, was classless. I guess Virginia was still upset losing to Pitt in 2006. Pitt Blather has much, much more on this game.

I’ll write more about fantasy baseball (damn you Dontrelle Willis) and fantasy football (damn you Brian Westbrook; actually damn you gametime decisions!) another time, but I wanted to finish with Vanilla Ice. As expected, I did not see him on Friday night; however, Arjewtino’s friends did. Great story and pictures!

Random Links

Here are a few articles to help pass some time:

The top 10 millionaire counties are out. Los Angeles County is #1 with 268,138 millionaire households; Cook County (Illinois) is #2.

Tired of being overshadowed by Barbara Walters, Rosie O’Donnell, Star Jones and anyone else who has ever appeared on or been associated with “The View,” Elizabeth Hasselbeck fights back by making news of her own with assistance from her husband Tim, who apparently is still in the NFL.

The supposed search to find a replacement for Tobey Maguire for Spider-man 4 is on. Val Kilmer is not listed as a possibility.

Congratulations to Steve Breaston on being drafted in the fifth round by the Arizona Cardinals. This will be the first time in probably eight years that Breaston has not been on the Wolverines.

Finally, this article by Gene Weingarten (about a month old now, but certainly worth the read) shows what happens when you put a world-famous violinist at a Metro station during rush hour.