Steelers-Patriots Recap

I’m going to do things a little different for this week’s Steelers recap. If you’re looking for detailed analysis about how the Pittsburgh held New England to 10 points and the Patriots offense to 1 of 13 on third down conversions or the punting abilities of Mitch Berger, go somewhere else. May I recommend the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Instead, I want to point out the following real and fictional New England Patriots players who contributed to the Steelers win.

The turning point of the game occurred part-way through the third quarter. Leading 13-10 after a Jeff Reed field goal, Matthew "AC" Slater fumbled the kick-off, and the ball was recovered by Keyaron Fox. Two plays later, Ben Roethlisberger hit Hines Ward for an 11-yard touchdown.



Maybe this wasn’t noticed by everyone, but Sam "Clay" Aiken had two special teams holding penalties for New England. After another Reed field goal to give the Steelers a 23-10 lead, the Patriots returned the kick-off to midfield. However, Aiken’s holding penalty brought the ball back about 15 yards. Without the penalty, the Patriots would have been in field goal range after Ryan Clark’s unnecessary roughness penalty three plays later.



The Steelers sacked Matt Cassel five times forcing two fumbles. Offensive tackle Matt "Judith" Light deserves some of the blame for this as James Harrison beat Light on at least one sack/fumble.



Plus, who can forget the dropped passes by Randy "Kate" Moss, especially one in the end zone near the end of the first half?



Overall, the Patriots clearly missed Tom "Marsha" Brady.



By the way, it was nice to see former Mexican President Vicente Fox score a defensive touchdown for the Broncos against the Jets. I was wondering what happened to Fox since he left office. (Wahoo J deserves credit for this one.)



Yes, this may be the dumbest post I have ever written.

Happy Thanksgiving

No Heinz ketchup?

Over 30?

I have a lot to write about, but since many people are taking an early Thanksgiving, I’ll share this message I received from my mom instead. Enjoy!


When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways

yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter with a pen!

Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters. You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It coul d be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600!

With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square!

You actually had to use your imagination!!

And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever!

And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!

Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no on screen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!

You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire. Imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about!
You kids today have got it too easy.
You're spoiled.

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,
The over 30 Crowd

While I like this, I hope that this doesn’t encourage my mom to forward more messages like this. Since I’m sure she’s reading this, mom, I’m just kidding (sort of)!

Trivia Tuesday

Welcome to the pre-Thanksgiving version of Trivia Tuesday. Today’s challenge is to name the "dark" title from the description. (The quotes mean that the word dark is in the title.)

1. Series of 7 Stephen King books.

2. 1982 Jim Henson/Frank Oz fantasy film featuring animatronic puppets.

3. 1998 sci-fi film starring Jennifer Connelly, Kiefer Sutherland, William Hurt, and Rufus Sewell.

4. 1985 Grammy-winning song for Bruce Springsteen

5. 2008 movie that is the second highest-grossing movie of all time.

6. 1996 film about lion hunters, starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer.

7. 2000 first-person-shooter video game for Ninetendo 64.

8. 2005 horror film starring Jennifer Connelly, a remake of a Japanese movie of the same name.

9. 2000-02 Fox series starring Jessica Alba.

10. 1990 film starring Liam Neeson, directed by Sam Raimi.

As always, please do not use the internet for the answers. Either you know it or you don’t. Please leave your answers in the comments section below. Good luck!

Thanks to the fine folks at Stump Trivia for creating these quizzes.

Introducing Ziggy

You may have noticed that many of my posts last week lacked something called substance. I was able to provide a few links and some quick notes, but I really didn’t have the time or ability to write as much as I like. This is the reason why:



So this is Ziggy, who is obviously named for former Pittsburgh Penguin great Ziggy Palffy and current Penguin great Mike Zigomanis. Actually, the Fairfax County Animal Shelter already gave Ziggy the name and it seemed appropriate. Ziggy was born in mid-August and arrived in our home just last Tuesday. He is playful, affectionate, purrs constantly and always wants to be around people. We have also learned that he is a big fan of computers. He loves jumping on the laptop and he tries to attack the screensaver and arrow. This makes it extremely difficult to write this blog and visit other blogs and websites.



While some of you may be concerned that Sean’s Ramblings will become all about Ziggy, I want to assure you that this is not the case. I mean, I’ve read the lateset issue of Cat Fancy and purchased the Drinkwell Pet Fountain.



I've also made the cat toy as demonstrated in this video, but my life isn’t entirely about my kitten.



OK, so maybe my life is all about the kitten...and fantasy football. Anyway, enjoy a few more pictures of Ziggy:

Big College Football Day

Unfortunately the Michigan/Ohio State game is going to be cancelled for the first time ever this year. The reason is Michigan can't get past Toledo. In addition, I heard that U of M can't access the internet; they can't get three W's in a row.

I can’t take credit for these jokes. Anyway, the Michigan-Ohio State game starts in minutes on ABC.

In the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs, Ithaca College meets Curry. There’s no truth to the rumor that Curry is named for former MTV VJ Adam Curry.



The game is being broadcast on WICB and is also available on LiveStats. At the moment, I can’t find any live webcast of the game.

Why is Pittsburgh and Cincinnati playing twice in three days? Are they replaying the game to allow Chad Johnson to play? Oh, it’s the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Cincinnati for possibly the Big East title. I will take credit for these jokes. Anyway, the game starts at 7:00 and will air on ESPN2.

Finally, the Texas Tech-Oklahoma game at 8:00 on ABC should be a lot of fun.

Have a great Saturday!

Friday Links and Other Thoughts

Can we make a rule that no one can call a 9-5 office after 4:00 on Fridays? Getting a business phone call at 4:45 on a Friday afternoon is just painful.

The guys at Hugging Harold Reynolds created a great list of comparisons of Food Network starts and NFL Quarterbacks.

While watching the Steelers game last night, I felt that Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive end Jonathan Fanene has an unfortunate last name.

On a similar topic of names, I’m including this Yahoo story about scientists finding the remains and grave of Copernicus. The reason? My seventh grade World History teacher sincerely pronounced his name Copper-nicus. In addition, Socrates was So-crates (like Crates and Barrel)

I applaud Yahoo for including Izzie Stevens of Grey’s Anatomy in its article about five TV characters they would love to kill off. The episode where she killed her "fiancé" was the last one I watched. Yes, I understand that admitting that I used to watch Grey’s Anatomy will significantly lower my gender analyzer score.

PSAMP found a video of Sidney Crosby juggling a soccer ball. It’s only 13 seconds, but I’m impressed.

Finally, there’s a DC Bloggers Happy Hour tonight at 8:00 in Adams Morgan. Arjewtino and Lemmonex have more information. Although I won’t be able to attend this one, I’m sure it will be fun.

Have a great weekend!

End of The Burgh Blog

I'm a few days late on this, but one of the greatest bloggers out there has closed her blog. I'm not writing greatest just to use the word. When the major Pittsburgh newspaper, the Post-Gazette, and a television station anchor both write about then end of PittGirl's The Burgh Blog, you know this is a big deal. The Burgh Blog will certainly be missed.

Have a Good Sandwich has a wrap-up of tributes across the blog world. (h/t Scribbed Noise)

Gender Analyzer

If you have a blog, here's a fun website to try. Enter your web address and the Gender Analyzer will determine whether the author is a man or woman.

According to the analyzer, they think that Sean's Ramblings is written by a man (74%). I figured the number would be much higher as I don't know of any woman who would wait over 5 hours to earn free burritos for a year!

If the pregnant man had a blog, would the Gender Analyzer break?

Trivia Tuesday

Trivia Tuesday is back. Hooray! Today’s challenge is to name the Julia Roberts movie by her co-star or love interest in which they did not play themselves (they played characters). Given is the year of the movie release and the co-star.

1. 1999 Hugh Grant

2. 1997 Dermot Mulroney

3. 1993 Denzel Washington

4. 2007 Tom Hanks

5. 1994 Nick Nolte

6. 1997 Mel Gibson

7. 1998 Susan Sarandon

8. 2001 Brad Pitt (there are two possibilities for this year)

9. 1991 Robin Williams

10. 2004 Clive Owen

The usual rules apply. Please do not use the internet for the answers. Either you know it or you don’t. As always, please leave your answers in the comments section below. Good luck!

Thanks to the folks at Stump Trivia for creating these quizzes.

Steelers Questions

Is James Harrison the first person in NFL history to be responsible for a safety for both his team and the opposing team in the same season? I can’t take credit for this question as I think Messiah asked this during our liveblog of the Steelers-Chargers game.

Good question posed on DC Steeler Nation. Since the Steelers and Arizona Cardinals are both in first place and have identical 7-3 records, who would you rather as the coach of the Steelers: Mike Tomlin or Ken Whisenhunt? I may or may not share my answer later.



Photo: Getty Images

Nobody Beats the Wiz

I caught the end of The Wizard of Oz the other night and noticed something that I never have before. The Wizard may be involved in some illegal activities. Although we really don’t know the full extent of the Wizard’s powers, he is at the very least convincing enough to force Dorothy, the Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow to fight his battles. He won’t even consider their requests until they bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West. Best case scenario for the Wizard is that the group defeats the Witch so that he can take full control of Oz. I guess the worst case is that the Witch kills the group, but the Wizard doesn’t seem overly concerned about them. Although immoral, this doesn’t seem to be illegal.

My concern is when the group returns triumphant in their victory over the Wicked Witch of the West. (This is the whole "ignore the man behind the curtain" scene.) Instead of brains, the Wizard hands the Scarecrow a diploma for a THD, a doctorate in thinkology if I remember correctly. Since the Wizard seems to have these diplomas just lying around, I think he’s up to no good. That’s right; I believe that the Wizard is running a diploma mill. The following is from the U.S. Department of Education website:

What is a diploma mill? The dictionary defines a diploma mill as:

An institution of higher education operating without supervision of a state or professional agency and granting diplomas which are either fraudulent or because of the lack of proper standards worthless. - Webster's Third New International Dictionary

Diploma mills are schools that are more interested in taking your money than providing you with a quality education. You need to know how to protect yourself as a consumer.

Did the Scarecrow really earn his degree? I don’t think so. The Wizard felt cornered after being exposed by Toto (he blesses the rains down in Africa) and company and gave the Scarecrow the diploma. I’m sure that the Wizard generally sells these diplomas. Now the illegal part may be tough to prove. Many states have laws preventing diploma mills (thanks Wikipedia), but we may never know whether or not this is legal in Oz. My guess is that the residents of the Emerald City are part of the scam and probably all have advanced degrees. Of course, maybe the Wizard knew his diploma mill scheme was being exposed so he figured it was time to take his hot-air balloon and get out of Oz as quickly as possible.

Sunday Links

I attended my first ever blogger Happy Hour on Friday night hosted by lacochran. Although I was a little nervous, seeing that I have never met any bloggers before other than those I knew well before their blogging days, I had a great time. The following people were in attendance:

Charlotte Harris
The Restaurant Refugee
A Daily Dose of Zen Sarcasm
The Gilahi Blog
Urban Bohemian
It’s Toasted
The Chronicles of Tewkesbury
Culinary Couture
Live It, Love It
Who Invented Roses
(That’s Why) The Lady Is a Tramp

They are great people, and I encourage you to check out their blogs, which are now also included on my links section.

I will be part of a Steelers-Chargers liveblog today through White Nerdy Wonks. Stop by to share your thoughts about the game and you can get live updates of my fantasy football teams! (I’m sure my fantasy football team is exactly what you’d like to read about on your Sunday afternoon.)

Want an addicting game? Try Super Obama World. You’ve been warned.

I was again honored to be part of One for the Other Thumb’s Meeting People Is Easy.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Cortaca 2008

Take a look at the Division I college football schedule this week. There are no games featuring two ranked teams, and the big Saturday night games on ABC are either #13 Oklahoma State (8-2) against 5-5 Colorado or 6-3 Boston College at #19 Florida State (7-2). Don’t expect huge TV ratings.

So what’s the game of the weekend? The 50th annual Cortaca Jug game!



Not convinced yet?* Fine. You want to see a match-up of two ranked teams, right? Cortland State (9-0) is ranked #7 in the current D3Football.com poll while Ithaca College (8-1) is #17. Looking for drama? Although Cortland has already clinched an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III playoffs, a win could give the team a regional top seed. IC appears to be in decent shape to make the playoffs, but nothing is guaranteed. A win over Cortland would almost certainly be enough for a postseason berth. How about history? The schools started playing in 1930 and have met every year since 1948. Ithaca leads the all-time series 37-26-3 and the Cortaca Jug series 32-17. Oh, Sports Illustrated once called this rivalry the "Biggest Little Game in America." Atmosphere? I attended four games during my time at IC and had an amazing time at each game.

Since I can't be in Cortland on Saturday (I highly recommend grabbing lunch at the old-fashioned A&W; they deliver food to your car or you can order via a phone on the table.), the least I could do is provide everything you need to know about Cortaca 2008.

The Ithacan has a preview of the game as well as the history behind the jug.



The Cortland athletic website has complete information about both teams.

The Ithaca Journal has the Cortaca Jug Breakdown and two other articles about Ithaca's Connecticut Connection and Cortland's local talent.

WBNG has a video preview of the game as does News 10 Now.

Syracuse's Post Standard says that the modern rivalry started in the 1988 game.

The Vice Presidents of Student Affairs from both schools say be safe out there and act responsibly. Don't drink and drive!

The Sports Chick Blog says Go Cortland. I disagree!

Lots of insightful and thoughtful debate (or not) on the D3 message board.

IC Sports Radio also has their own preview.

The game, which starts at noon, is scheduled to be televised live in Cortland and Tompkins Counties on Time Warner Cable (Channel 6 in Cortland, Channel 16 in Ithaca). The television broadcast will not be available via satellite. The game will also be broadcast live by WICB (91.7 FM) - WICB’s broadcast will be available at http://www.wicb.org/; on Cortland's webcast; and on Live Stats.

Go Bombers! (That would be Ithaca College)

P.S. I would love a Cortaca Jug T-shirt if there are any for sale.


* Don't mind me as I ask questions to no one in particular.


UPDATE 11/15 @ 1:30: At halftime, Ithaca leads Cortland 14-10.

Update #2 @ 3:20pm: It’s a final. Ithaca retains the Cortaca Jug by defeating Cortland 35-13. Back-up QB Brian Grastorf threw for 274 yards and 3 touchdowns and ran for another 2 scores. Safety Jason Chier had three interceptions in leading a very impressive defensive performance. Cortland came into the game scoring 34.8 points per game but the offense only scored six points (the other TD was on a blocked punt). Way to go Bombers!

More Random Ramblings

I was the referee for a soccer game on Sunday that featured a predominantly Spanish speaking team. At one point, a player on the opposing team came up to me and said, "You know they are swearing in Spanish, right?" (Swearing can get a player a red card.) Um, no. Apparently, several players said "puta" during the game, which I now know means bitch. That seems like a very odd expression to say when your shot badly misses the goal. Perhaps son of a bitch, but just bitch doesn’t seem to fit. Regardless, my New Year’s resolution will be to learn Spanish swear words and the appropriate expression to tell the players that I know what they’re saying so knock it off.



I’m a little late in writing about this but Tuesday night’s Pittsburgh Penguins-Detroit Red Wings game was amazing. It's only November but the 7-6 overtime win will be the game of the year. I know there has been a lot of discussion about what to do with Jordan Staal, but if the Penguins are able to keep him at a reasonable price that fits under the salary cap, I think you have to do it. He’s only 20 years old! Of course, if he wants at least $5 million per year as has been reported, I don’t think that will be possible. The Pensblog and Empty Netters have much more about the game and the Penguins in general.

I watched exactly two minutes of the CMA Awards last night, but it was enough to see Lady Antebellum win the best new artist award. I actually heard of them since they performed prior to the Browns-Steelers game last year. I also saw Povertyneck Hillbillies perform at a Steelers game, so if they ever get back together, I’m sure they’ll win some type of CMA award.

My favorite Smithsonian museum, the National Museum of American History, is reopening next week!

Finally, congratulations to Arjewtino for getting interviewed by Washingtonian. Unfortunately, I was too late in reading the interview:

Washingtonian: Tips for starting a blog that’s not really about anything:
Arjewtino: (1) Don’t write about your cat.

D'oh!

Announcement

This blog gives me an opportunity to share important parts of my life. Whether it is writing about the various sporting events I have attended or trips I have taken, I feel like I can use this space as a forum to chronicle personal events and moments. Therefore, I am proud to announce a pending addition to our family...we’re going to get a kitten. Were you expecting me to write about something else?

Sometime over the next few days, we’re heading to the local animal shelter to pick out a kitten. Perhaps we’ll see the Obama family there. Although I grew up with both dogs and cats, I have never had my own pet. Maybe I didn’t know any better since I was a kid and not responsible for buying pet supplies or paying for vet bills, but things seem much more complex than I remember. For example, prior to the spay/neuter procedure, we have the option of having pre-anesthetic blood testing of the pet in order to detect certain conditions. For $50, we can have a mini blood screening analysis which covers six tests that screens liver and kidney functions. For $98.50, there is a full analysis of 31 tests (does Baskin Robbins perform this?) that screens blood sugar levels, CBC, white and red blood cell count, primary organ functions and liver and kidney functions. Is any of this necessary?

In addition, I remember litter boxes being basic trays on the floor. Now, there are "hooded cat litter pans" like this one pictured below. The first time I saw this, I thought it was a cat carrier. Now cats need their own privacy? Are there cat magazines or newspapers we should put in the hooded cat litter pan so that the kitten could be more comfortable while doing its business?



So to any cat owners out there, do you have any suggestions on, well, everything?

Random Ramblings

• There are moments of everyone’s life that you regret but they are generally not broadcast for millions of people to see. One such moment occurred on Monday’s The Price Is Right. The episode was taped in September and a college student made it on the stage. Just before spinning the wheel, Drew Carey gave the student, who was wearing a "Block O" Ohio State T-shirt and a buckeye necklace, the microphone. The student shared his excitement about how Ohio State would beat USC the next day. USC crushed Ohio State 35-3. At least the guy won a vacuum cleaner or something.

• I highly recommend visiting Wegmans at 2:00pm on a Monday afternoon. No lines and the friendly staff are even friendlier than they are on Sundays.

• Embarrassed by the thousands of Steelers’ Terrible Towels at the game last week, the Redskins are giving away burgundy towels to the first 50,000 fans at this Sunday’s Dallas game. Good luck with that!

• PittGirl was interviewed via Instant Message in Pittsburgh magazine. I love the fact that the interview starts with "Hi, u there?" I’m guessing that’s how Paul Long started all of his interviews!



• Thank you, Anquan Boldin. Being down 17 points going into Monday night and facing Neil Rackers in my 16-team fantasy football league, Boldin scored 29 points. I won by only 1 point.

• This Onion story titled "Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin To Staff: 'What If Ben Roethlisberger Is Bad?'" is not that funny after Sunday’s game.

• Finally, Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog reports that George Mason is getting a new mascot. In case you have never seen the current mascot, Gunston, here he is answering questions. (There are more videos still available on the Mason Metro website.)

We Are; Not Going to Win a National Championship This Year

Despite the Steelers' loss on Sunday, the weekend wasn't a total bust as the University of Pittburgh and Ithaca College football teams both won. In addition, as a Pitt fan, watching the Penn State football team lose on Saturday to the University of Iowa makes me extremely happy. You see, Penn State coach Joe Paterno is to blame for ending one of the greatest rivalries in college football: Pitt vs. Penn State. After 96 meetings between 1893 and 2000, the rivalry ended because Joe Paterno decided that he wanted the schools to play two games at Penn State for every game in Pittsburgh. Rightfully so, Pitt refused. Instead, Penn State chose to play Coastal Carolina, Syracuse and Temple in its non-conference schedule. So the fact that Penn State lost and will not win a national championship during Joe Paterno’s 104th season at State College seems fair to me.

In honor of his team’s accomplishments on Saturday, I encourage you to vote for Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year. It’s not just because of the win or the fact that he grew up in Western Pennsylvania (Upper St. Clair). Actually, that is enough for me. However, if you’re looking for more reasons, the NCAA recently released the 2008 Graduation Success Rate (“GSR”) for student-athletes. The GSR for Iowa’s football team is 75%, 8 points better than the national average, and is third in the Big Ten Conference behind only Northwestern (92%) and Penn State (78%). Plus, Ferentz has served as the honorary chair of the University of Iowa’s United Way campaign and, along with his wife, recently gave a $400,000 gift to the University’s College of Liberal Arts and University Children’s Hospital.

Did I mention that Ferentz's Iowa team defeated Penn State?

Metro Discount From Bus to Rail

Lena Sun of the Washington Post is reporting that, "beginning next year, tens of thousands of Metro riders who transfer from bus to rail will save 50 cents a trip if they use electronic SmarTrip cards, officials said yesterday. The long-promised change is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 4, the same day the agency is eliminating paper transfers."

This makes me happy. Bus fares are going up 25 cents in January, but now I'll end up saving 25 cents each day because of the 50-cent (you can find him in da club) transfer reduction.

Well, maybe not. According to this chart, I'm only going to save 10 cents a day. Now I'm slightly confused, which really doesn't take much to occur.

Election Maps, Steelers and Great Authors

My life the last few days has focused almost entirely on the election and the Steelers’ Monday night game, though not necessarily in that order. I have a few links about both:

I love maps and have spent way too much time looking at the county-by-county results of the Presidential election.

From the map, only one county in the six New England states went to McCain: Piscataquis, Maine.

Conversely, McCain won every Oklahoma county, and Obama only won two counties each in Wyoming and Utah and three counties in Kansas and Nevada. Of course, winning Clark County, home of Las Vegas, was enough for Obama to carry that state.

McCain also won both Mineral counties. That would be Mineral County, Nevada where 49 total people voted and Mineral County, Colorado which had a whopping 64 voters. I spent over 20 minutes trying to verify these numbers from the Mineral County government websites, but I don’t think these counties have actual websites.

According to the Pennsylvania map from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, John McCain won Mercer County with 24,321 votes versus Obama’s 24,319. That’s a difference of only two votes. Amazing! However, the Mercer County government site actually shows that Obama won 24,955-24,792. Did they find an extra thousand people at the Grove City Prime Outlets to vote late Tuesday night?

There are a lot of angry Redskins fans in and around Washington. It’s not the team lost handily to Pittsburgh on Monday night; it’s the fact that there were thousands of Steelers fans in attendance. Personally, I thought there were a larger percentage of Steelers fans at the game I attended in Jacksonville earlier this season (I thought about 25%) than at Monday’s game, but I have seen some people put the percentage of Steelers fans on Monday as high as 30%. Much more about this as well as some fun comments from Washington fans on the DC Sports Bog here, here and here (this one is the Redskins player reactions to the Steelers fans. The offense needed to use a silent count...at home!).

In other Steelers news (sort of), PSAMP and One for the Other Thumb interviewed Amos Zereoue.

Finally, I am always on the lookout for good books to read. While I am enjoying Don’t Know Much About Anything Else by Kenneth C. Davis (I like receiving free books), which has facts and quizzes on a variety of topics, there is not a plot or protagonist. Therefore, I am thinking about reading some books by historic authors. If you could choose one book each by Ernest Hemmingway, Charles Dickens and John Steinbeck, what would you recommend? I remember reading Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck in high school, and I must have read a Dickens book at some point, but I don’t recall which one. Any suggestions of books by these authors or others are appreciated.

Random Election Questions

What is the lowest moment of Anderson Cooper’s career: Interviewing a hologram of will.i.am or hosting the Mole?

Am I the only person who thinks President Bush could be a contestant on Dancing with the Stars in a few years?

Did anyone see Joe Biden on Tuesday?

Where were all the commercials featuring the Commissioner of the More Taste League? (Maybe I’ve been watching too many sporting events lately.)

How long will it be until all the election signs get removed?

Election Live Blog

The guys at White Nerdy Wonks have set up this live blog of Election 2008. Enjoy!

Steelers-Redskins Recap

I’m going on about five hours of sleep after attending Monday night’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Washington Redskins game. Since I need to head to work sometime soon (hooray for getting two hours off to vote so I slept five hours instead of four!), here are my notes from FedEx Field:

- I saw at least a half dozen signs of Cooley for President or Portis for President. We get it; there’s an election on Tuesday and you feel like Cooley and Portis will represent the country better than McCain or Obama. That’s very clever and unbelievably original! If only Portis or Cooley were over 35 and eligible to be President.

- The Redskins announcer sounded similar to Duff Man. Of course, his enthusiasm seemed to lessen in the fourth quarter. Oh, don’t tell me to cheer when the Redskins are on defense and to stay quiet when they are on offense. I’ll cheer when I want to cheer! Basically, don't tell me what to do as I may have the Reactance Bias.



- Are the Redskins the only team in the NFL with a marching band? I don’t ever remember seeing a non-high school band perform before the game or during halftime at a professional football game.

- Byron Leftwich looked good during the second half. I just hope that he doesn’t have to play much the rest of the season.

- The primary negative about being at the game is not knowing everything that is happening. For example, there was certainly a “what the hell” moment when Leftwich started the second half over Roethlisberger. I had to call a friend in Ohio to find out what happened to Roethlisberger and he also told me that Heath Miller was hurt. I still have no idea who blocked the punt.

- Negative #2 was sitting under a speaker.

- My ticket stub for Monday’s game features a picture of Antwaan Randle-El. That was the only time I remember seeing him all night.

- If I was a Redskins fan, I would be upset with the fact that the Redskins only tried to throw the ball deep once. Maybe Santana Moss wasn’t 100% healthy, but if he’s out there, try throwing the ball deep to him or Randle-El.

- The Steelers defense was outstanding! One player who may not get much credit, but I thought played very well was cornerback William Gay. I don’t think he ever got beat and the passes completed in front on him were quick throws in which he quickly tackled the receiver after only a few yards.

- Is punter Mitch Berger still hurt? His punts seemed to be short.

- My preview of Monday night’s game on MVN was pretty accurate. If the Redskins handed the ball to Portis on fourth and goal inside the 1 instead of trying to throw it, I would have nailed the score too.

Finally, I (partially) attribute the Steelers success to the fact that I decided to wear my Steelers jacket and not attempt to wear both the jacket and the Louis Lipps jersey. My streak of the Steelers winning while I’m in attendance continues to at least 12 games over almost 15 years.

I’m going to wear my Steelers jacket proudly on the Metro and walking around Northern Virgina. It’s going to be a great day! Oh, if you are looking for free election food (and made it all the way to the end of this post), Sabine…Shot the Food (h/t lacochran) has a list. Please note that I’m not convinced that Chick Fil-A is giving away a free sandwich as I ate at the Arlington location yesterday and did not see any Election Day promotion. In addition, if you bring your I Voted sticker to California Tortilla today, you will receive a free taco coupon.

As always, a real recap of the game is available on the Post-Gazette.

I Voted - Go Steelers

Thanks to early voting in Virginia, I cast my ballot last week. Therefore, to all political candidates in the Washington DC area, you can stop trying to convince me to vote for you. You can continue to show your television advertisements while I’m watching football, but I don’t need to look. Show Chris Berman interviewing Obama and McCain during halftime of Monday night football; I don’t care. I’m not going to watch it as I’ll be at FedEx Field. I just hope that the Redskins don’t show these interviews at the stadium.

Monday night’s game is the reason why I voted early. I won’t get home from the game until early Tuesday morning, so trying to wake up, wait over an hour in line to vote and then get to work at a reasonable hour just wasn’t going to happen.

One surprising name on the presidential ballot was a Wayne A. Root, the Vice Presidential candidate on the Libertarian ticket. Without knowing this individual, I wondered if it was Wayne Allyn Root, the Vegas sports handicapper who I used to hear commercials for on sports talk radio. As it turns out, Wayne Allyn Root IS running for Vice President. Who knew?

Finally, I need some advice on my attire for Monday night’s game. I have a heavy Steelers jacket as well as my Louis Lipps jersey. The team has won in games I attended when I wear one or the other, but I have never attempted to wear both at the same time. The temperature is expected to be around 50. Any suggestions are appreciated, as I know that my wardrobe, and not factors such as Jason Campbell or the Steelers offensive line, will determine whether or not the Steelers will win. If you have any doubt in my power, the last time the Steelers lost in a game I attended was the AFC Championship game against San Diego in January 1995.

Cortaca Jug 2008 Tickets

To any Ithaca College alumni out there, tickets for Cortaca Jug 2008 between IC and SUNY Cortland go on sale today (Sunday, November 2) at noon. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Sales are limited to four general admission tickets per alumnus/a, at a cost of $6 per ticket. Try finding a $6 ticket for a JV high school football game!

To purchase tickets online, you will be required to log on to the Ithaca College Online Community. Visit www.icalumni.net/cortaca2008 to purchase tickets (the "Purchase Ticket(s) button" will not be activated until Sunday, November 2 at 12:00 noon).

As for the game, it is set for Saturday, November 15, 2008 at noon at Cortland. I’ll have much more about the game in the upcoming weeks, but this is all that you need to know for now. Cortland is 8-0 and ranked #7 in the D3football poll while Ithaca is 7-1 and currently ranked #21, but will likely move into the top 20 next week. There’s a reason why this is called the biggest little game in the nation.

UPDATE 11/14: As promised, a full preview of the game is now available.

100,000 Milestone

At some point today, Sean’s Ramblings will have its 100,000th visitor. For some reason, I think it is fitting that this milestone is taking place on Halloween. Whether you visit this site multiple times a day (thanks mom) or are one of the thousands of people who have stopped by to learn about Ben Roethlisberger’s pool, Jenna Bush’s wedding plans, the Greg Lloyd Ebay auction, or why people hate Hillary Clinton, thank you.

To those people who continue to find Sean’s Ramblings by searching for pictures of a shirtless Richard Ruccolo (the guy who was not Ryan Reynolds on Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place), please stop.



Update: Congratulations to someone from Brownsville, PA for being the 100,000th visitor at 12:26pm Eastern time! For this honor, you win a picture of a shirtless Richard Ruccolo (if he allows you).

Obama Food vs. McCain Food

Although the Presidential election is still a few days away, some businesses, such as the three below, want to get into the action with their own election.

Visit your local 7-Eleven for the 7-Election (get it? 7-election instead of 7-11? clever) and place your vote by choosing either an Obama or a McCain cup of coffee. The website even has state by state results, although many "red" states have no 7-Eleven stores operated or franchised by 7-Eleven Inc.

If there's any post about food on this site, California Tortilla generally gets mentioned. In this case, California Tortilla is tallying the number of each of the candidate’s burritos sold from October 13th through November 3rd and they guarantee that whosever burrito sells the most will win the election.

The McCain-Chilada: Mexican rice, mesquite chicken, tortilla strips, velvety queso, fresh salsa, and shredded lettuce, rolled in a warm flour tortilla, smothered with green enchilada sauce and garnished with sour cream and cilantro.

The O-Chili-bama Burrito: Mexican rice, turkey chili, tortilla strips, jalapeño peppers, sour cream, and shredded lettuce, rolled in a warm flour tortilla, smothered with velvety queso and garnished with fresh salsa and green onions.

Now through, well, today, cast your ballot by ordering one of the special election omelettes at Silver Diner. The Obamalette (inspired by the candidate’s favorite hometown food, Chicago deep dish pizza – a pizza omelette?) vs. the McCainlette (indicative of the candidate’s home state of Arizona, as well as his favorite way to cook, Barbecue).

I’m sure there are more of these McCain-Obama food and drink election deals out there, but I couldn’t find any others. If you type Obama vs. McCain into Google, there are 31,900,000 results. I only got through about 13,154,120 before I gave up. If you know of any places doing this, feel free to share in the comments section.


Only five days until this is all over!

The Hank Williams Jr. Experience

I know very little about Hank Williams Jr., but I like him for two main reasons. First, the Monday Night Football theme based on his song "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight" is an incredible, pump-you-up song. Second, Williams is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. These may be shallow reasons to like Hank Williams Jr., but that works for me.

However, I’m starting to get a little worried about Williams. He sang the national anthem during the Monday night game this week while wearing a Tennessee Titans jersey. I can’t say that I agree with him wearing a jersey other than a Steelers one, but I guess that he wanted to make a good impression for everyone in Nashville (even though you would think he would already be well received by Tennessee fans based on Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year awards and the Monday Night Football song). Unfortunately, this seems to be a trend for Williams. In the video below, Williams is shown wearing a Denver Broncos jersey and a Washington Redskins jersey. Yes, there is video of him wearing a Steelers’ Joey Porter jersey, but he may be hanging out with Sarah Palin a little too much lately.

On to the video, just after the 3:35 mark, Williams states, "If [Obama’s] elected with his agenda the American restaurant business is over. Just plain and simple, it’s over." Now Williams is referring to a conversation he apparently had with an owner of a large restaurant chain, but, um, what? Neil Cavuto looks rather surprised and questions Williams by asking, "People are not going to eat," but Williams doesn’t hear him. What an odd comment by Williams from an odd interview. Just as a side note, I don’t think that Neil Cavuto will ever be confused with Edward R. Murrow as an interviewer.




h/t Messiah, now part of White Nerdy Wonks

Trivia Tuesday

We’re back on a normal schedule as I went to trivia last night. Today’s challenge is to name the highest grossing domestic box office movie in the following decades. The year the movie was released is included below.

1930’s (1939)

1940’s (1940)

1950’s (1956)

1960’s (1965)

1970’s (1977)

1980’s (1982)

1990’s (1997)

2000’s (2008)

The usual rules apply. Please do not use the internet for the answers. Either you know it or you don’t. As always, please leave your answers in the comments section below. Good luck!

Thanks to the folks at Stump Trivia for creating these quizzes.

Sean Blogs

Between watching the Washington Redskins-Detroit Lions game and monitoring my fantasy football teams, I decided to create a comprehensive list of blogs with Sean in the title. This is what happens when the soccer games I am supposed to referee get cancelled because of muddy fields. Anyway, check out the Sean Blogs!

One of the best hockey blogs out there is Sean Leahy’s Going Five Hole. The blog is so good, that I already linked to it.

Sean in Saskatchewan is Sean Shaw, who is a Professional Research Associate in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan and the Vice-chair of the Saskatoon Environmental Advisory Committee. This is the place to go for Saskatchewan politics. (I have no idea if this is true, but this is the only place I have gone for Saskatchewan politics!)

Sean the Baptist has been appointed as the Professor of New Testament Studies for the Uniting Church in Australia in the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, and within the Uniting Church's Theological College in Melbourne. Although the appointment doesn’t begin until January 1, 2009, Sean hasn’t updated the blog since October 10.

Although he is the manager/webmaster of AnimeUSA, this is Sean P. Aune’s personal website where he writes about who is the best James Bond, his hatred of Dirty Dancing and the PG Porn series. Of all of Sean blogs listed here, this is the one I will probably visit more than any other.

Sean Tiner works in advertising in Laguna Beach, California. He posts his own art on the website and recently wrote about the users of social media.

Sean and Heather, a married couple in Texas, are starting the adoption process. They invite you to join them on this journey. There is a big twist on the blog as Heather is pregnant. Well, that goes against the blog’s theme, doesn’t it? Congrats and good luck to both of them!

Sean O’Keefe’s Personal Blog written by a teacher assistant in Raleigh, North Carolina is relatively new to the blog world. He tells everyone to vote and has this quote from last month’s Vice Presidential debate:
"Also why is Sarah Palin incapable of responding to the debate where Biden is? Is she really that naieve, dumb, prone to shoot the interviewer like he/she was a moose????" Um, OK.

The Life of Sean and Emma - They are twins who just turned two years old. Awwwwww.

You may be an excellent illustrator, Mr. O’Connor, but seanoconnor.info is a lazy name for a blog.

Apparently, there is more than one person named Sean out there who is an illustrator. What are the odds? News from Sean Qualls shows some of his work including the children’s book Before John Was a Jazz Giant.

Sean’s Soapbox – Knitting, Spinning, Fiber, Politics: It’s All a Tangled Web. Now that’s a tagline! Plus, you can hear all about Rhinebeck. I don’t know what Rhinebeck is, but "the fiber and yarns are amazing."

Sean Percival’s Blog – Sean is a web developer and author with many years experience of messing around on the Internet for fun and profit. He also proposed at the top of the Empire State Building.

The winner of most successful person Sean in the blog title goes to Cardinal Seán, the Archbishop of Boston, for Cardinal Seán’s blog. Lots of pictures.

There are other Sean blogs I found out there, but they have not been updated in months or years. If you know of other Sean blogs, feel free to include them in the comments below. Please note that I am not including blogs with Shawn, Shawon, Shonn, or Chone in this list.

Steelers-Giants Recap

The Pittsburgh Steelers had a lead late in the fourth quarter at home and lost. Ben Roethlisberger was sacked five times, hit at least another dozen times and threw four interceptions. The team was 1 for 10 on third down, 0 for 4 on fourth down and had 8 penalties for 59 yards, many of them pretty stupid penalties. Plus, the Steelers defense who led the league in sacks coming into the game, failed to register a sack and rarely put pressure on Eli Manning. It was clearly not one of their best games.

However, let’s take a step back and put everything into perspective. The Steelers are 5-2 and have a one game lead over Baltimore, who they already defeated, in the AFC North. The 5-2 record is tied for second best in the AFC with New England and Buffalo behind only the undefeated Tennessee Titans. The Steelers are 5-0 against AFC teams, a very important playoff tie-breaker, which along with the Titans, is the best in the conference. Yes, the team has some work to do, but there’s no need to panic...yet.

A few thoughts from the game:

- Why was Dick Stockton so concerned about players getting out of bounds early in the game? Twice in the first half (Heath Miller’s catch on the first drive and Carey Davis’ catch with 12+ minutes left in the second quarter), Stockton stated that the Steelers failed to get out of bounds after making a catch.

- Ryan Clark and Brett Kiesel both played amazing games.

- Stupid Toyota commercial. I’m going to have "save by zero" in my head all day.

- Nate Washington has turned into an extremely solid receiver.

- The Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror XIX" looks really good. Unfortunately, I feel like I’ve seen the whole episode already during all of Fox’s commercials.

- Am I the only person wondering why Justin Hartwig, the Steelers’ starting center, wasn’t able to serve as the back-up long-snapper? Doesn’t Hartwig make a living snapping the ball and then blocking the guy in front of him?

- Can the Steelers have another bye week? I’m writing this on Sunday night, so I don’t know the health status of Ryan Clark, Greg Warren, Mitch Berger and any other Steeler. Regardless, with Willie Parker and Bryant McFadden already out, it seems like the team could use a week off to get healthy.

I will be at FedEx Field for next week’s Steelers-Redskins game. If I was told that the Steelers could only win one of these two games against the Giants and Redskins, I would gladly take a Steelers win against Washington.

More about the game is available on the Post-Gazette website.

Sunday Links

At what age does it stop being fun to play in the rain? I worked two games as a soccer referee yesterday in miserable cold and rainy conditions. In the second game, where the weather turned worse than the first one, some of the 15 and 16 year-old kids seemed to be having a great time. I did not, but of course, I was not actually playing. On to the links:

According to WJLA, Presidential candidate John McCain’s brother, Joe, called 911 to complain about traffic on the Wilson Bridge. Not very smart.

I don’t want to write about the Pitt and Ohio State football teams (it’s so frustrating being a Pitt fan; I may write about this in length some day), but at least Ithaca College won defeating Utica 42-7. The win guarantees Ithaca’s 38th consecutive winning season, the second longest such streak in any level of college football. If only the Pittsburgh Pirates would have one winning season!

Jason has a video of the Wazzup guys eight years later.

Puck Daddy interviews Kevin Smith, the director of the upcoming movie Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which was filmed in Pittsburgh.

I was honored to be part of Cotter’s Meeting People is Easy. He does an amazing great job with this weekly feature.

Cotter, of the previously mentioned One for the Other Thumb, and I were featured in a debate about whether the Tennessee Titans will win the AFC. The short answer is no.

Finally, Terry Tate: Office Linebacker is back!





h/t Scribbled Noise for these videos.

Get Off the Express

Perhaps you have heard of the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award in which the winning college football coach receives $70,000 to donate to charity and the school’s alumni association. Perhaps not. Regardless, I want to write about one person who definitely does not deserve the award: Greg Robinson of Syracuse University.

During the mid-1990s, I attended college in central New York about an hour away from Syracuse. I was surrounded by Syracuse University sports fans who always thought that this would be the year where they would win the national title. However, each year, it seemed like Syracuse would be ranked highly, lose a few games early to knock them out of national championship contention and then finish strong, so that they would be ranked highly again the next season. Although they never made it to the “next level,” the team was always competitive and won bowl games and/or Big East titles regularly.

The mid-90s teams featured future NFL superstars Donovan McNabb and Marvin Harrison. Looking back further in Syracuse’s football history, you see legendary names like Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Joe Morris, John Mackey, Art Monk and former Steeler Gary Anderson.



So what happened at Syracuse? I haven’t followed them enough to know. I do know that Greg Robinson has not done very well. In his first year as head coach (2005), Syracuse finished 1-10. In 2006, the team was 4-8 followed by a 2-10 record in 2007. As I am typing this, Syracuse is 1-6 so far this season. Robinson may be a great person, a wonderful teacher and someone helping his players become excellent citizens, role models and college graduates. However, an 8-34 record is not very good, particularly at a school with the football history of Syracuse. Actually, that’s not a very good record for a team consisting of me and the writers of all the blogs listed in the links section!

Finally, you know things aren’t going well when the New York Times reports that the school has hired a search firm for a new coach even though the current coach is still there and has one more year remaining on his contract.

Therefore, I encourage you to vote for anyone for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award; except for Greg Robinson.

In case you were wondering, the slogan for the 2008 Syracuse football team is Get on the Express hence the title. Yes, I wrote hence!

Trivia Thursday

This is not a typo. Today really is Thursday. We missed trivia on Monday but went to another one last night instead. Your challenge is this: listed below are the artists. Name the Top 40 song they had beginning with the word "Ain’t."

1. Jennifer Lopez

2. Bill Withers or DMX

3. Diana Ross

4. McFadden & Whitehead

5. Helen Reddy

6. Rufus and Chaka Khan

7. Rolling Stones or Temptations

8. Fats Domino

9. Kid ‘N Play

10. TLC


This may be the hardest trivia ever; however, the usual rules still apply. Please do not use the internet for the answers. Please leave your answers in the comments section below. Good luck!

Update: One time deal - Since this is the hardest trivia ever, feel free to use the internet if necessary.

As always, the quiz was created by the folks at Stump Trivia.

Fairfax Connector Fare Increase Proposal

I feel like I’m up on my current events. I read the Express everyday so I can discuss Pearls Before Swine and the Blog Log with everyone on the Metro. (You should hear the deliberations as the entire car solves the Sudoku puzzle together!) I generally watch the first 20 minutes of Good Morning America and read the headlines on both the Washington Post and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette websites. However, I’m in my own little bubble when it comes to local news. I usually have no idea what’s going on in the DC area unless someone tells me.

So when my colleague asked me about the proposed fare increase on Fairfax Connector buses, which I ride to and from work everyday, I had no idea what she was talking about. Perhaps it’s that bubble thing, but I haven’t seen or heard anything about this. When Metro fares or Metrobus fares go up, the news seems to be everywhere. While the 20,000 Connector riders a day is much smaller than those who use Metro and Metrobus, this is still a fairly significant number.

I visited the Fairfax Connector website, and sure enough, it looks like the fares are going up. The proposed increase would take effect on January 4, 2009 and would be the first increase since 2004. After a little digging, I found that Robert Thomson, AKA Dr. Gridlock, also posted information and his thoughts about the increase on his Washington Post Get There blog. My question is this: are the Fairfax Connector folks going to let its riders know about the hearings set to get public comments on the proposal? I posed this question to Dr. Gridlock, but he didn’t know whether there would be flyers or posters on the buses to inform us passengers. I guess I could have contacted Fairfax Connector about this but, well, asking one person was too much for one day.

For more information about the proposed fare increase visit the Fairfax Connector website, or do what I didn’t and actually contact them with any questions or comments.

Oh, if there are any other Fairfax Connector riders out there who happen to read this, did you know about the increase prior to seeing it here? It would be really cool if Sideburn Guy or Smoking Man read my blog.

Joe The Plumber Moment

Have you ever met a political candidate at the grocery store while wearing pajama pants? I bet that you are thinking that I’m writing about a personal experience. You would be correct. After coming home from work last night, I changed into pajama pants and a T-shirt and ate dinner. Then, I walked over to the grocery store to pick up some very important items such as milk, bananas, and Apple Jacks. Just outside the store, I noticed a guy wearing a suit handing out flyers and introducing himself to everyone walking in and out. The guy turned out to be Mark Ellmore, a candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 8th district. He handed me a flyer as I entered the store. As I was grabbing Kleenex and frozen vegetables (and forgetting to pick up granola), I started reading said flyer. The first thing I wondered was the political party of Mr. Ellmore. It was difficult to find as Mr. Ellmore is a Republican. I’m sure this is something that he does not want to promote in Northern Virginia, the "fake" portion of Virginia.



As I checked out, I decided that if Mr. Ellmore was still outside, I should ask him something as it’s not everyday when I can talk directly to a political candidate. Luckily for me, he was there. So wearing my pajama pants and carrying my two bags of groceries, I asked him about the #1 issue facing Northern Virginians: transportation. He said that he supports extending Metro to Reston and that the incumbent Jim Moran has done nothing about this in his eighteen years in Congress. He did switch away from criticizing Moran back to transportation and said that he would support getting federal funds for Metro. I may be a little off on the exact quote but he said that Metro funding was not an entitlement or an earmark but a necessity. I agree with everything he said about transportation; I just wish that he didn’t start by criticizing his opponent.

Ellmore then he went back to handing out flyers and introducing himself to more voters as I’m sure that he didn’t want to talk too long to a guy wearing pajama pants.


Photo from Mark Ellmore for Congress.

Pittsburgh Sports Memories

As part of Mondesi's House Readers Rule Week, I was invited to answer the Pittsburgh-centric questions listed below. I think that this will be posted on the site sometime Tuesday (update: it has been posted; click on the link above), but I wanted to share my responses here anyway.

1. What is your all-time most memorable moment in Pittsburgh sports history?

On Tuesday, May 8, 2001, I was living in Columbus, Ohio and watched game six of the Eastern conference semi-finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres with some friends. After the Penguins won in overtime, the ESPN announcers innocently stated that there were still tickets available for game seven. My friends and I looked at each other, decided to call the Sabres’ ticket office and managed to buy tickets in the last row of the arena. We all left work around noon on Thursday, drove the 325 or so miles to Buffalo and watched live as the Penguins defeated the Sabres in overtime when Darius Kasparaitis beat Dominik Hasek and dove on the ice in celebration. After jumping around and making our way down to the lower section (where I happened to be in the background of ESPN’s interview with Kasparaitis), we drove back to Columbus, had a horrible 4:00 am breakfast at Denny’s and made it to work on Friday.



1A. What is your all-time most forgettable moment in Pittsburgh sports history?

Everyone is going to write about the Francisco Cabrera, Sid Bream and the 1992 National League Championship Series. I still remember staring at the television in disbelief and watching Deion Sanders chase Tim McCarver around the locker room. While this is definitely #1 on my list, I’ll share my #1B least memorable moment in Pittsburgh sports history: the 1994 AFC Championship game between the Steelers and San Diego Chargers. The Steelers were huge favorites, and as we later learned, had plans to create their own "Super Bowl Shuffle" style video. However, Stan Humphries, Tony Martin and Alfred Pupunu ruined it. Trailing 17-13, the Steelers had one final chance on fourth and goal, but the Neil O’Donnell pass was batted away. I never heard Three Rivers Stadium and 55,000 people so quiet. It was silent walking out of the stadium.



2. What makes the city of Pittsburgh special to you?

The pride that people have in the city and its citizens. Maybe it’s just me (though I don’t think so), but we love to tell people about famous Pittsburghers such as Mr. Rogers, Andy Warhol and August Wilson. We love our teams and players from Western Pennsylvania like Jason Taylor, Curtis Martin and all of the legendary quarterbacks (Marino, Unitas , Montana , Kelly, Namath, etc.). I get so excited when I see positive things written about the city as was the case earlier this year when the New York Times and USA Today each published stories about traveling to Pittsburgh . Conversely, we get defensive when an outsider speaks ill of the city as a Seattle writer did prior to the Steelers-Seahawks Super Bowl. Again, I don’t think I’m alone on this. We even have pride in our food and restaurants like Primanti’s, The O and Eat ‘n Park! Maybe other places have this, but I haven’t seen it.



3. What would you consider your all-time favorite Pittsburgh sports team, specific to a single season? (For example, the '90-91 Penguins or the 1979 Pirates)

The 1990-91 Pittsburgh Penguins. I was too young to remember the Steelers’ Super Bowl championships so this was my first opportunity to celebrate any type of Pittsburgh sports title. I have several specific memories during the season. John Cullen was probably my favorite player on the team, and I remember being upset that he got traded to Hartford . Since the Penguins received Ron Francis, Grant Jennings and Ulf Samuelsson in return, I guess things turned out pretty well, but at the time, I knew very little about these guys. I just didn’t understand why the Penguins traded one of their best players. I also remember being at Kennywood during game one of the Stanley Cup Finals (it was our school district’s Kennywood Day) going around the park trying to listen to the game. Finally, and probably the reason why this team is my all-time favorite, the Penguins were all that we talked about during high school after each playoff game. I guess we had tests and homework but there seemed to be nothing else going on in our lives besides the Pens.

Feel free to provide your own answers to these questions in the comments or, if applicable, your own blog, and I'll be happy to link to your post.

Fast Food News

Perhaps you heard about the Wendy’s 60th anniversary special this Wednesday, October 22 in which all hamburgers will be sold for 25 cents, cheeseburgers for 30 cents, fries for 15 cents, and drinks for 10 cents. Unfortunately, it’s not true. For one thing, you would think that the Wendy’s website would promote this heavily. They do not. The biggest indication that this special is false is the fact the first Wendy’s opened on November 15, 1969 in Columbus, Ohio. It’s hard to have a 60th anniversary when you’re not even 40.

In other fast food news, Long John Silver’s is awesome. I don’t get to eat there very often, so when I have the opportunity, I take full advantage, even if the meal and the crumbs take several months off of my life. I’d like to thank the staff at LJS in Abingdon, Virginia for providing an excellent meal and superb customer service. Everyone there was so friendly. It’s basically the exact opposite of the experience you receive at COSI in Arlington, Virginia. LJS is also introducing its first non-fried fish menu items later this month. It may be healthier but it can’t taste as good as the current menu, can it?

Washington Fans Will Love This

Even though he has nearly completed his first term in the House of Representatives, this sign still looks odd, particulary for Washington Redskins fans:



Photo: Sean's Ramblings

Short Vacation

I’m heading to Asheville, North Carolina where I may or may not see Jennifer Thornburg, who has legally changed her name to Cutout Dissection.com to protest animal dissections in schools. For some reason, I can’t imagine her taking a tour of the Biltmore with us.

Here are some other links to entertain you while I’m away:

Puck Daddy breaks down beer costs throughout the NHL. Just for the record, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a $4.50 beer at the Verizon Center.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who will always be known as Zack Morris, chats on WashingtonPost.com about Saved by the Bell, his new show and his new hair.

PSAMP (Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies) found an awesome commercial of the KDKA sports team from at least 15 years ago.

A pole dance exercise studio has been permitted in Butler County, PA. Unfortunately (or fortunately), there will be no nudity at the studio, and no spectators.

Troy Polamalu speaks out about the recent fines against the Steelers.

Finally, here is a link where you can compare neighborhoods in one city to another. For example, Stanton Heights in Pittsburgh is like Friendship Heights, Brentwood or Brightwood in DC.