Tuesday Sports Talk

LSU - 38

Ohio State - 24

The Blowout Championship Series concluded with LSU's victory against Ohio State last night in New Orleans. I guess I should be happy since I'm hardly and OSU fan and my team plays in the SEC but I have never been one of those "root within your conference" folks. Logically I suppose I should be since who's in your conference in important is important in the rankings but I really couldn't care less about last night's game. Now of course, the debating on if either team really belonged in the National Championship game continues....on that note the SEC and ACC are trying to establish a +1 playoff system. Anything would be an imporvment over the current system but I think they need to go with 16 playoff teams. That would include the 11 conference champions and give bids to five at large teams. We will see if anything comes of it. Of course the Pac 10 and Big Ten both oppose any kind of playoffs. Oh, the politics of sports!!!!

One of my Steelers peeps comments was published in the Jacksonville Times-Union's Monday Morning Quarterback.

"Pittsburgh's prevent offense displayed with three minutes left in the game once again takes the ball out of Ben's hands after scoring on the four previous possessions. The loss is on the Steelers coaching staff."

Well said, Ralph but I still can't forgive our horrendous special teams who did what they did best all year....SUCK! There is so many holes in the team that it really is a wonder looking back we ended up with a winning record this season. The off season agenda should start with Ben restructuring his contract. He has two years left on his original deal and is scheduled to pick up a pretty hefty bonus but considering Charlie Batch's salary was actually more than Ben's this year I can expect something will get done soon. Especially after Romo's outrageous deal in Dallas. Plus I want to go into next season knowing Ben's going to be around for long haul.

In happier 'burgh news Sidney Crosby led all NHL All Star voting again this year with more than 200,000 votes than the next player.

So far, he's the only Penguin heading to Atlanta but the remainder of the rosters will be announced later this week. Speak of the devil, Sid just scored to put the Pens up 2-0 on the Panthers....woot!

No surprise that Fred Taylor was added to the AFC's roster for the Pro Bowl but this did shock me a bit:

"Taylor initially considered turning down a Pro Bowl invitation if either Tomlinson, Addai or Parker couldn't make the trip for the Feb. 10 game -- he even said "maybe the Pro Bowl doesn't deserve Fred Taylor" -- but his wife convinced him otherwise."

He's a good back and has been an important player for Jacksonville but to think he deserved to go over any of those three players...okay, sure. He wasn't even one of the top five rushers this season. When he's been healthy he has been solid for the Jags and reaching the 10,000 yard mark is a great milestone for him but that's a lot of sour grapes to consider turning the invite down.

So American Idol is starting up again here soon. I know millions and millions of folk religiously watch this show and I am not one of them. I did watch quite a bit of the season with Chris Daughtry, Elliott Yamin and company. I love those guys but of course neither one of them won despite being the most talented vocalists. That's why I don't watch, it has nothing to do with who is the best singer. Case in point...this guy.

He was dropped from his record dealwith J Records today. Shocking.

The New Hampshire primaries were today and with a majority of precincts reporting it appears McCain has won the Republican race there. Who says Americans won't vote for the old guy?

The Democratic race is too close to call but Hilldo has a slight lead on Obama at this point. There was record turnout today and that's great to hear. This is one of the most important Presidential races in history and it's good to see that people care.

That's it from me for the day. Until tomorrow....

Cheaters never win and winners never cheat...oh wait...yeah they do!

AP COACH OF THE YEAR....say what?

What a crock of shit! I have always questioned the integrity of the media but handing Bill Belichick Coach of the Year honors is an absolute disgrace. Let's recap....he gets caught CHEATING (yes Pats' fans...it's cheating even though you've convinced yourselves that everyone else does it) and the NFL finds the infraction serious enough to warrant a $500,000 fine for Billy and a $250,000 fine for the team and removal of the Patriots' first round draft pick. They went 16-0 with the best team in football which also has arguably the most depth on their roster. Since they play in one of the weakest divisions in the league the pretty much had half their season wrapped up before taking the field.

On the other hand, Mike McCarthy lead the youngest team in the NFL with no running game and an aging, kamikaze QB to a 13-3 record and manages this without stealing signals and being a complete asshole. Green Bay went 4-12 two years ago and Favre had one foot out the door. The team was a mess when Sherman left and has done a complete turn-around this year and McCarthy deserved the recognition.

As if I am not on edge enough this week!!!!!

Kansas Jayhawks - Orange Bowl Champions

On to the Blowout Championship Series....last night's Orange Bowl game between Kansas and Virginia Tech appeared to be taking the turn down blowout avenue in favor of the Jayhawks but Tech apparently made a game out of it sometime during the 3rd quarter after I quit watching. Kansas ended up winning by 3 points but from what I hear it was never really that close. Congrats to Kansas, a big win for their program.

Hmmmm...what else can I bitch about? Oh yeah, STEELERS FANS. Yes, that's right. I'm about to throw my own fans under the bus. I have been reading a lot of negative news out of the 'burgh the last few days about the lack of excitement in Pittsburgh for playoff football. Is our our team decimated by injuries? Yes. Did we just get beat by the Jags less than a month ago? Yes. Is it going to be cold? Yes. But selling tickets under face value? No "Here We Go" signs up all over town? I'm not sure what to say. I suppose it's easy to take attending games for granted when you live in the 'burgh, but how can we call ourselves the best fan base in football when it appears there are quite a few fans out there who don't have much faith.? Look, we have to play a great game to beat the Jaguars. They are a good team with a lot of confidence and have had much success against us in the last 10 years. But our team got their asses into the playoffs and after the letdown of last season I happily stand behind them as they approach January football. You owe it to them to do the same.

So with that I have a little motivational video for you....seeing this never gets old to me. Even Sally Wiggin tears up!

Steeler Nation

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So far...not impressed with '08

Happy New Year all! Took a few days off to head home to the 'burgh again. Drank too much beer, spent a lot of $$ and had my roast beef from Primanti's. In other words, it was a full trip. Ready to get back into the swing of things (if this damn computer would cooperate) so let's get to it....

I thought this was an appropriate photo to represent a game that I would be sorry I attended if it wasn't for the motorcoach ride complete with a police escort and the sweet tailgate. The Gators lost to Michigan in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando yesterday. Timmy spent most of the afternoon running for his life and the defense made Lloyd Carr look like he knows what he's doing. Chad Henne had all day long to throw the ball and I think Florida was penalized at least five times per quarter. Afterwards they carried Carr off the field...after all...there is nothing like being Capital One Bowl champions. Do I sound like a sore loser? Well, if you haven't figured it out yet this must be your first stop here...

Speaking of losers....anyone spot Rich Rodriguez on Michigan's sidelines yesterday. BOOOO!

In other Gator news....former Gator, current Steeler Max Starks is out for the year. I'm waiting for the Rooneys to announce an open tryout for left tackle. Also looking for some help with our superb special teams, former Olympic skier/Philadelphia Eagle Jeremy Bloom was signed as a return specialist. I'm not sure about his football skills but he certainly ups the overall hotness factor in Pittsburgh.

In any case, at least he is used to cold weather.

If you are looking for sports radio here in Jax and you don't have satellite radio your choices are pretty limited. One option is listening to some douche bag named Mike Dempsey. Mr. Dempsey recently referred to Steelers Nation as a "myth" after he saw Steelers fans leaving the game against the Jags a few weeks back. Well, some Steelers fans in Jax got pretty pissed and starting flooding his in-box with nothing but kind words I'm sure. He ended up getting into a war of words with a guy called Mr. Steeler who runs a pretty large Steelers club here. It ended up being covered in the Folio Weekly, a local rag. Now one of the local stations is going to run a story about the large contigent of Steelers fans living on the First Coast on their Friday morning show. If you have some time check out the article or you can send Mike an e-mail at pressbox@1010xl.com.

More bitching out of J-Ville...Fred Taylor has called Heinz Field's turf "a lawsuit waiting to happen." A little foreshadowing perhaps...he is due for an injury. He can't possibly play for a full season AND in the post season, can he?

Finally...something good to talk about. The Pens defeated the Sabres 2-1 in The Ice Bowl yesterday afternoon, in front of the largest NHL crowd ever. Sid scored the game winning goal, natch, and brought the Pens to within a point of first place New Jersey. The Pens have won four straight games and take on Toronto at the Igloo tomorrow night.

The Blowout Championship Series got off to a predictable start last night as Georgia blew out Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. We'll see if WVU has better luck against the Sooners tonight. Although the Fiesta Bowl has not been kind to Oklahoma...I'm sure it was super fun watching those Statue of Liberty highlights all year long.

Looks like the WVU kicker is still not mentally recovered from the death threats either as he just missed his first field goal try. WVU defense is looking tough thus far but I think I am going to go with the new ep of Gossip Girl tonight. Yes, I love sports and trashy shows targeted at teens.

XOXO! (If anyone who reads this blog understood that sign off I should give you some kind of prize!)

...whew! I have lots to cover!

I have been out of commission the last few weeks and I don't even have a very good excuse why. Anyhoo, lots to talk about so let's get to it!


The writer's strike = a big poop sammich! The new television season seems to start later and later every year and it annoys me to no end when I have some time off, turn on the DVR only to see a repeat. For those of you who don't know, basically the writer's guild wants to re-structure their deal. With everything going techno these days the writer's want to ensure that with all shows being available for purchase and download and DVD sales remaining pretty high they want to get a bigger piece of the pie. Really who can blame them. All I know is LOST finally got good again last season and if I have to wait another year to see what happens to crazy John Locke and the apparently drug addicted Dr. Jack I'm going to be peesed off.

Now let's get to the really important stuff...SPORTS! Lots of good, well maybe not good, but at least interesting things happening. You know, like the already embattled BCS system taking a huge hit with the craziness that this college football season has produced. Now we have LSU leap frogging over 3 other teams to take a spot in the championship game in January. Yes, I am one of those people who preaches to anyone who will listen the need for a play off system. I also am one of those people that believes greedy corporate American will probably keep it from happening.

I'm sure everyone has their own personal favorite upset from this season but nothing was sweeter for me than watching Pitt beat WVU in the Backyard Brawl. This is the college rivalry I grew up even though it really doesn't compare to most rivalries here in the South. That is what happens when rivalries go completely one-sided for quite awhile. The refs did their damndest to keep the folks in charge of the BCS from combusting by calling two horrific penalties on Oderick Turner which could have been game killers for Pitt. To tell you the truth I was thinking they would be but Pat White wasn't any better in the 4th quarter than he was in the 1st sans injury. Kudos the the 'stache and LeSean McCoy and the rest of the Panthers for putting up a big win against huge odds (29-point underdogs) on national television. Just a few months shy of signing day...



Now on to the NFL or at least to the NFL team that counts....and nooooooo, I'm not referring to Satan and his pack of devils otherwise known as the Patriots. I meant the Steelers. Okay, stop laughing. I'll be the first to admit, at times I think our record makes us appear to be a better team than maybe we are, at least on paper. Decent showing last night but what is with the fumbling Willie? Truth be told I am not the biggest Willie fan. Or maybe I should say I am still not completely sold on him just yet. Yeah I know, he the second leading rusher in the league and he's "Fast Willie" and all that. He sure seems like a nice enough guy too but he's not exactly the best at finding the hole or the end zone. He is never going to pound out tough yardage and if I continue to find myself holding my breath whenever the ball is pitched his way I can only imagine what the more, shall we say "less sensitive" Steelers fans are going to start saying. No one turns faster on their own like Steelers fans.

Overall, it was a big win and an important one. Especially since we walk into the Hell Hole known as Foxborough next weekend. Remember 21 and done two years ago? Well, 12 and done might not be as catchy but it sure would be nice.