These are the times where being a sports fan is difficult. You give it your all, you give it your money, you give it your time. You believe that you're rooting for something real. You believe that those athletes you watch feel the same way.
But do they? Do they really?
It's times like this that make you really question what the point of all of it is.
After this performance put on by the "Pittsburgh Steelers", it's difficult to find a point in any of it.
It's easy to throw the cliche at us and say "You just won your second Super Bowl in four years, and your sixth of all time, you have no right to be angry". And it would be folly to totally dismiss that point. To a degree, it does make sense.
But not in Pittsburgh. Not for the Steelers. We want better. We expect better. We need better. But what we've received this season is anything but better. And the answer after this freezing, epically disappointing night in Cleveland is abundantly clear...
The players don't care.
It's not fair to us as city. It's not fair to us as fans. We expect more.
This is a team that returned 20 of 22 starters from a Super Bowl Champion. And those two new starters? They were on the team last year and they contributed. How many Super Bowl Champions can say that in the modern era? This is a team that statistically had the most difficult schedule in NFL history last year and went 12-4, 6-0 in their division and won the Super Bowl. This year, they had statistically one of the easiest schedules, and are currently 6-7, 1-5 in the division and all but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Frankly, it's embarrassing.
I know the Steelers followed up their Super Bowl XL victory with a lackluster 8-8 season but the comparison is ill fitting. That team was the 6th seed in the playoffs and basically had to win every game from Week 12 on to even make the playoffs. That team began with Roethlisberger nearly killing himself in a motorcycle crash, having an appendix removed and other numerous season injuries. That team was coached by a head coach already planning his retirement. That was a 10-6 team who got hot at the right time and lost numerous starters. This team dealt with none of that.
This years team inherited the majority of a 12-4 team with quite possibly the decades greatest defense. This years team had a mostly healthy Ben Roethlisberger, career years by Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes, discoveries of gems of young players in Rashard Mendenhall and Mike Wallace and a favorable schedule. Sure, Troy Polamalu has been injured the majority of the season (and everything he brings to the table ridiculously obvious now) as well as the always underrated Aaron Smith. But teams deal with injuries all the time. Great teams overcome injuries. The Indianapolis Colts haven't played a single game with their starting secondary and start two rookies, one undrafted and yet sit comfortably at 12-0. The excuses are over.
It's not that this team doesn't have the talent. Up until this game, they've never trailed any team by more than 7 points. When you think about it, that's silly. This team has an abundance of talent.
That's where we come back to our initial point. The team simply doesn't care. They have no focus and they have no drive. Through 13 games, not one cornerback on the team has an interception. Their quarterback throws way too many red zone interceptions. They can't tackle. They can't cover kicks. They can't hold lead late it games. All these faults point to one answer: the team simply doesn't care about winning. They have their paychecks and most of them have their Super Bowl rings. And that seems to make them perfectly content.
It leaves us utterly non-content. It's not fair to us fans and the Steelers deserve to give all of us fans one gigantic apology. I'll be waiting.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
A Calmer Look at the Last Five Days...
Okay. So let's recap.
Friday Night: Pitt Basketball plays New Hampshire setting the record for fewest combined points scored in a half in the shot clock era. Somehow Pitt wins, which in will no was set the tone for the next few days.
Saturday Afternoon: Cincinnati 45, Pitt 44. Pitt has to settle for the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
Saturday Night: Blackhawks 2, Penguins 1 in a shootout.
Sunday Afternoon: Raiders 27, Steelers 24. Blech.
Monday Night: Hurricanes (worst team in NHL by 9 points) beat Penguins 3-2.
Tuesday Night: Pitt Panthers lose to Indiana Hoosiers (coming off 9 win season, worst in Indiana history) at Madison Square Garden.
Yikes.
When the Pirates signing former Rookie of the Year Bobby Crosby, he of the .237 career average, is the highlight of the last five days, you know we've fallen on hard times.
It's hard for us to complain after the amazing last 14 months or so the Pittsburgh sports scene has given us, Pirates excluded. But this is a little difficult to take.
However, there's gotta be some positives to take away from this, right?
The Steelers: They theoretically can still make the playoffs. We've found our next great running back in Rashard Mendenhall. Troy is going to be back eventually. The secondary can't possibly get any worse.
Pitt Football: Wannstadt, who remains underrated as a college coach, has Pitt headed in the right direction. Dion Lewis and Jonathan Baldwin are coming back. As remarkable as Bill Stull's season has been, he'll be replaced by a quarterback who can throw the ball thirty yards. If Wanny can convince Greg Romeus to stay, Pitt should be a Big East favorite next year with a bonafide Heisman Trophy Candidate to boot.
Pitt Basketball: Ashton Gibbs is a budding star. Brad Wannamaker is coming into his own. They have a McDonald's All-American, freshman Dante "Falcor" Taylor ready to explode. Gary McGhee can't me worse than last year.
The Pens: They're not as injured as they were a few weeks ago. Mike Rupp is scoring goals. Jay McKee is blocking shots. You know Ray Shero will make a savvy deadline deal. They still have Sid and Geno. They're third in the East.
The Pirates: Bobby Crosby!
So it's not all bad. Things will get better. We'll be okay Pittsburgh. We are still the City of Champions.
Friday Night: Pitt Basketball plays New Hampshire setting the record for fewest combined points scored in a half in the shot clock era. Somehow Pitt wins, which in will no was set the tone for the next few days.
Saturday Afternoon: Cincinnati 45, Pitt 44. Pitt has to settle for the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
Saturday Night: Blackhawks 2, Penguins 1 in a shootout.
Sunday Afternoon: Raiders 27, Steelers 24. Blech.
Monday Night: Hurricanes (worst team in NHL by 9 points) beat Penguins 3-2.
Tuesday Night: Pitt Panthers lose to Indiana Hoosiers (coming off 9 win season, worst in Indiana history) at Madison Square Garden.
Yikes.
When the Pirates signing former Rookie of the Year Bobby Crosby, he of the .237 career average, is the highlight of the last five days, you know we've fallen on hard times.
It's hard for us to complain after the amazing last 14 months or so the Pittsburgh sports scene has given us, Pirates excluded. But this is a little difficult to take.
However, there's gotta be some positives to take away from this, right?
The Steelers: They theoretically can still make the playoffs. We've found our next great running back in Rashard Mendenhall. Troy is going to be back eventually. The secondary can't possibly get any worse.
Pitt Football: Wannstadt, who remains underrated as a college coach, has Pitt headed in the right direction. Dion Lewis and Jonathan Baldwin are coming back. As remarkable as Bill Stull's season has been, he'll be replaced by a quarterback who can throw the ball thirty yards. If Wanny can convince Greg Romeus to stay, Pitt should be a Big East favorite next year with a bonafide Heisman Trophy Candidate to boot.
Pitt Basketball: Ashton Gibbs is a budding star. Brad Wannamaker is coming into his own. They have a McDonald's All-American, freshman Dante "Falcor" Taylor ready to explode. Gary McGhee can't me worse than last year.
The Pens: They're not as injured as they were a few weeks ago. Mike Rupp is scoring goals. Jay McKee is blocking shots. You know Ray Shero will make a savvy deadline deal. They still have Sid and Geno. They're third in the East.
The Pirates: Bobby Crosby!
So it's not all bad. Things will get better. We'll be okay Pittsburgh. We are still the City of Champions.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Worst Pittsburgh Sports Weekend Ever???
When the highlight of the weekend is a 2-1 shootout loss by the Penguins against Marian Hossa and the Blackhawks, you know the weekend is shitty.
We like to say a loss is a loss, but these weekend was much, much worse. Pitt holder drops an extra point with 1:40 left in the game to put Pitt up 6, which of course resulted with Pitt losing to Cincinnati by one point ending all hopes of a BCS bid. The "vaunted Steelers defense" (laugh) lets fucking Bruce Gradkowski lead the fucking Oakland Raiders down the field in 90 seconds to win. And both these happened in Heinz Field. I feel sick.
Pitt was up 31-10 in the first quarter against undefeated Cincinnati. Immediately after going up by 21, Pitt pulled what is a common theme in Pittsburgh football this year: giving up a kickoff return for a touchdown. Despite a 47 carry, 195 yard, three TD performance from the amazing Dion Lewis, and the Pitt offense putting up 44 points, the special teams absolutely choked. The gave up a huge kick return for a touchdown, they continued to kick to the unstoppable Mardy Gilyard, including a pooch kickoff directly to Gilyard at the 40 yard line which he returned to the Pitt 20. Of course, there was the holder flat out dropping a fucking perfect snap. It makes me sick.
The Steelers? What the fuck is going on.
Actual question to Mike Tomlin at press conference from reporter: "What is your opinion on the playoffs".
Tomlin laughs and responds with "You know Coach Mora's response, that's how I feel."
Exactly.
How do you lose a must win game at home to the Oakland Raiders playing Bruce Gradkowski at quarterback. Fucking Bruce Gradkowski. He's throwing to Louis Murphy, Johnny Lee Higgins, some guy named Chaz and some guy named Watkins. Not exactly a recipe for "offensive explosion". In the 4th quarter though, Bruce throws a 77 yard touchdown to Murphy on 3rd and 2. Then, with the Steelers nursing a 3 point lead and with the Raiders at their own 10, the "vaunted Steelers" defense lets Bruce and Company go 90 yards in about 90 seconds using no timeouts to win the game.
How does that make us feel?
Fucking angry.
Let's talk this anger out.
The Steelers have the ball right inside the Oakland 10 with just under 2 minutes left. The Steelers are behind 20-17. It's first down and the Raiders have one timeout left. Mendenhall is over 100 yards and has a touchdown on the day. What does Bruce Arians do? He calls a pass play. Of course he does, he's Bruce Arians. The play resulted in a touchdown even though a strong case could be made that there was an offensive penalty on the play. I understand you want to score, but what's wrong with giving the ball to Mendenhall and taking some time off the clock? 90 second in the NFL is an eternity. It leads to one of the Steelers major problems: Bruce Arians.
So the Steelers go up 24-20 with about 90 seconds left. A penatly gives the Raiders the ball on their own 10 yard lines making them go 90 yards. Now last year, there would be no chance the Steelers defense would let anyone, let alone Bruce Gradkowski go 90 yards on them. This year, I half expected them to. It was like the first Bengals game all over again. Now Dick LeBeau has been amazing for so many years, I'm hesitant to point the finger at him, but there's something missing with this defense. They can't consistently get pressure on the quarterback. When you combine the lack of pressure with the zone defense the linebackers and secondary play, well that's a recipe for disaster. Ike Taylor, William Gay and Deshea Townsend consistently play 10 yards off their receivers making the zone easily exploitable by quarterbacks like Bruce Gradkowski.
The secondary is an absolute joke, especially without Troy. Ike is supposedly one of the fastest players in the entire NFL, but there he was getting burned by Louis Murphy for 77 yards. Was Ike supposed to have safety help on that play? Probably, and that's another absolute joke. I think Ryan Clark is underrated, but he's clearly more dynamic when playing next to Troy and not trying to be Troy. With Troy in, Clark is fantastic at laying people out. The other safeties? Tyrone Carter is a serviceable backup: solid in run support, awful in coverage. Ryan Mundy is fucking terrible. I think anyone who watched that game wouldn't argue against that. As for the secondary in general, I've never seen a set of defensive backs with worse hands. Without Troy, there isn't a single player who's a threat for an interception back there.
For the sake of brevity and posterity, let's point out the other embarassing shit about this team (which I fully intent to cover more this week):
Kick-Off Coverage
The Inability to Pull Away In Games
The Inability to Protect 4th Quarter Leads
The Inability to Tackle
Limas Sweed's Hands
The Lack of A Fullback
Bruce Arians
The Absence of Any Screen Plays in the Offensive Playbook
I'm done. This weekend was miserable. It's a great way to start my comeback tour on Operation Shutdown. Now it's time for me to kill a bunch of 13 year old's in Modern Warfare 2 and to make sure Riley is still alive.
Thanks Pittsburgh Football for giving me my weekends back.
We like to say a loss is a loss, but these weekend was much, much worse. Pitt holder drops an extra point with 1:40 left in the game to put Pitt up 6, which of course resulted with Pitt losing to Cincinnati by one point ending all hopes of a BCS bid. The "vaunted Steelers defense" (laugh) lets fucking Bruce Gradkowski lead the fucking Oakland Raiders down the field in 90 seconds to win. And both these happened in Heinz Field. I feel sick.
Pitt was up 31-10 in the first quarter against undefeated Cincinnati. Immediately after going up by 21, Pitt pulled what is a common theme in Pittsburgh football this year: giving up a kickoff return for a touchdown. Despite a 47 carry, 195 yard, three TD performance from the amazing Dion Lewis, and the Pitt offense putting up 44 points, the special teams absolutely choked. The gave up a huge kick return for a touchdown, they continued to kick to the unstoppable Mardy Gilyard, including a pooch kickoff directly to Gilyard at the 40 yard line which he returned to the Pitt 20. Of course, there was the holder flat out dropping a fucking perfect snap. It makes me sick.
The Steelers? What the fuck is going on.
Actual question to Mike Tomlin at press conference from reporter: "What is your opinion on the playoffs".
Tomlin laughs and responds with "You know Coach Mora's response, that's how I feel."
Exactly.
How do you lose a must win game at home to the Oakland Raiders playing Bruce Gradkowski at quarterback. Fucking Bruce Gradkowski. He's throwing to Louis Murphy, Johnny Lee Higgins, some guy named Chaz and some guy named Watkins. Not exactly a recipe for "offensive explosion". In the 4th quarter though, Bruce throws a 77 yard touchdown to Murphy on 3rd and 2. Then, with the Steelers nursing a 3 point lead and with the Raiders at their own 10, the "vaunted Steelers" defense lets Bruce and Company go 90 yards in about 90 seconds using no timeouts to win the game.
How does that make us feel?
Fucking angry.
Let's talk this anger out.
The Steelers have the ball right inside the Oakland 10 with just under 2 minutes left. The Steelers are behind 20-17. It's first down and the Raiders have one timeout left. Mendenhall is over 100 yards and has a touchdown on the day. What does Bruce Arians do? He calls a pass play. Of course he does, he's Bruce Arians. The play resulted in a touchdown even though a strong case could be made that there was an offensive penalty on the play. I understand you want to score, but what's wrong with giving the ball to Mendenhall and taking some time off the clock? 90 second in the NFL is an eternity. It leads to one of the Steelers major problems: Bruce Arians.
So the Steelers go up 24-20 with about 90 seconds left. A penatly gives the Raiders the ball on their own 10 yard lines making them go 90 yards. Now last year, there would be no chance the Steelers defense would let anyone, let alone Bruce Gradkowski go 90 yards on them. This year, I half expected them to. It was like the first Bengals game all over again. Now Dick LeBeau has been amazing for so many years, I'm hesitant to point the finger at him, but there's something missing with this defense. They can't consistently get pressure on the quarterback. When you combine the lack of pressure with the zone defense the linebackers and secondary play, well that's a recipe for disaster. Ike Taylor, William Gay and Deshea Townsend consistently play 10 yards off their receivers making the zone easily exploitable by quarterbacks like Bruce Gradkowski.
The secondary is an absolute joke, especially without Troy. Ike is supposedly one of the fastest players in the entire NFL, but there he was getting burned by Louis Murphy for 77 yards. Was Ike supposed to have safety help on that play? Probably, and that's another absolute joke. I think Ryan Clark is underrated, but he's clearly more dynamic when playing next to Troy and not trying to be Troy. With Troy in, Clark is fantastic at laying people out. The other safeties? Tyrone Carter is a serviceable backup: solid in run support, awful in coverage. Ryan Mundy is fucking terrible. I think anyone who watched that game wouldn't argue against that. As for the secondary in general, I've never seen a set of defensive backs with worse hands. Without Troy, there isn't a single player who's a threat for an interception back there.
For the sake of brevity and posterity, let's point out the other embarassing shit about this team (which I fully intent to cover more this week):
Kick-Off Coverage
The Inability to Pull Away In Games
The Inability to Protect 4th Quarter Leads
The Inability to Tackle
Limas Sweed's Hands
The Lack of A Fullback
Bruce Arians
The Absence of Any Screen Plays in the Offensive Playbook
I'm done. This weekend was miserable. It's a great way to start my comeback tour on Operation Shutdown. Now it's time for me to kill a bunch of 13 year old's in Modern Warfare 2 and to make sure Riley is still alive.
Thanks Pittsburgh Football for giving me my weekends back.
Last Steelers Post of the Year
I don't want to be affiliated with this team anymore. I've never seen such a pitiful performance by any team I have ever been a fan of. Never have I seen a team with any amount of talent roll over and die the way this team has. The coaching staff let them down almost from the start, but there has been an utter refusal to play with any passion whatsoever. I'm sorry that Troy has to play for a team like this. It really is unfair to such a great and passionate player to have to play with such ungrateful, lazy, pathetic teammates. And sure, this is probably unfair to most of the players on that team, and clearly 99% of the blame lies in the d-backfield.
But it's over, and I'm over it.
But it's over, and I'm over it.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Old Browns 20, Steelers 17 (OT)
Hm. Well, that blows. I didn't expect a lot out of Dennis Dixon. How could you? I think he's very talented, and has the potential to be an effective QB in the NFL, maybe not as a starter, but certainly as a very dangerous backup. As it turns out, Dixon's got a solid head on his shoulders. He was about as poised as you could hope a guy with one prior pass attempt to be. Mendenhall looked good, as always. As a matter of fact, the run game was really solid. Huh. Maybe we should consider using it more often.
But, clearly, there were a lot of issues. If we're going to lose to such a mediocre team, something must have gone awry. Well, the first place I'm looking is Bruce Arians. I am growing pretty weary of his pathetic play calling. Twice on 3rd and 10+'s, Arians called draws to Mewelde Moore. Now, I get it, you have a rookie QB and you don't want him doing anything stupid. But to win, the kid has to play well, and if you aren't going to give him the chance to succeed, you're taking points off the board. Also, Mewelde Moore should never have his number called. He should never ever, ever be the focus of the offense. The only time he should ever get touches like that is if we are up 21 points, and running the clock out late in the 4th quarter. Otherwise, he should be a safety valve and nothing else. Mendenhall does everything that Moore does. And yes, he may not be as consistent, but for Christ's sake, at least a draw to him has some chance of succeeding in that situation.
Arians' play calling has stopped making any sense whatsoever, and a change needs to be made.
I'm also more than a little concerned about the DBs. It had been suggested to me that maybe LeBeau was slipping a little bit - that his scheme was becoming haggard and that the rest of the league had figured things out. However, after watching Sunday's game, I'm convinced that it has nothing to do with LeBeau's scheme.
The trick is that Ike Taylor, William Gay and DeShea Townsend suck. Ike Taylor may be the fastest corner in the league, but it is clear that he is not playing with any kind of conviction out there. He just doesn't care, and as a result, he's getting beaten by lesser players who want it more. William Gay - I'm not sure that he isn't just a bad player. I'm not sure if he's lost confidence in himself or what, but teams have started exploiting him, and he seems powerless to stop it. Ryan Clark has been gashed for deep balls twice in as many weeks. It may be that he's overcompensating for the diminished range that the SS covers when you trade out Troy for Ty Carter, but he's been way out of position on both, and has let very, very average passing teams beat him at important times.
So, it isn't that LeBeau's scheme doesn't work. It's that the defensive backs aren't good enough to execute the scheme. If they give the front 7 any time at all, someone is getting to the QB. Harrison/Woodley/Timmons looked as good on Sunday as any time this year. But when the 9-yard out is open all game long because Ike Taylor and Will Gay aren't good enough to stop it, the pass rush isn't going to do a whole lot.
So, what does this mean for the rest of the season? Well, not much at all. The fact remains that the next two weeks, we have the Raiders at home and the Browns on the road. Now, we should have slaughtered the Chiefs, that's true. But wins in the next two weeks should still be expected. That leaves us at 8-5 going into a home rematch against Baltimore. And, frankly, you can understand Hines' frustration that Ben wasn't able to play (although this seems like it's all been blown out of proportion - it was Tomlin who said Ben couldn't play because the fucking team doctor wouldn't clear him... Shit, you gotta look big picture and recognize that your franchise and its $100 million investment need to last), because the team played relatively mistake-free football, and almost certainly wins with Ben at the helm.
Further, you have to expect that we'll be seeing Troy back in a few weeks. If he comes back healthy and ready for the Baltimore game, there's no reason that we don't win.
This team can certainly go 10-6 or 11-5. If they do that, they're in the playoffs. Lots of mediocre teams in the AFC this year, and lots of room for us to sneak in with a not-so-great season. Plus, if we somehow do make the playoffs, I'll take a team with a healthy Ben, healthy Troy and a head of steam any day of the week and twice on Sunday (which is important if they ever have to play a double-header).
So, 6-5 sucks. It reinforces just how important that loss to the Chiefs could end up being, too. If this team is 7-4 (and, ultimately, 9-4 after these next two weeks), I'd be sitting here saying, yeah, whatever, we lost with our backup in. Who cares? We're still basically a lock for the playoffs. But all hope is not lost.
And this season really isn't all that different from 2005, when you think about it. Coming off of a stellar season, everyone expected the team to be that much better. After a great start (7-2 that year, 6-2 this year), they lost 3 straight, in part due to an injury to Ben. During that 3 game losing streak, they also lost a disappointing home game to eventual division champ Cincy, and an overtime game to the Ravens on the road.
We were also playing the NFC North as our non-conference schedule, too. Well, all I'm gonna say is that if we do find a way into the playoffs, people should watch out.
As for the rest of the sports world:
But, clearly, there were a lot of issues. If we're going to lose to such a mediocre team, something must have gone awry. Well, the first place I'm looking is Bruce Arians. I am growing pretty weary of his pathetic play calling. Twice on 3rd and 10+'s, Arians called draws to Mewelde Moore. Now, I get it, you have a rookie QB and you don't want him doing anything stupid. But to win, the kid has to play well, and if you aren't going to give him the chance to succeed, you're taking points off the board. Also, Mewelde Moore should never have his number called. He should never ever, ever be the focus of the offense. The only time he should ever get touches like that is if we are up 21 points, and running the clock out late in the 4th quarter. Otherwise, he should be a safety valve and nothing else. Mendenhall does everything that Moore does. And yes, he may not be as consistent, but for Christ's sake, at least a draw to him has some chance of succeeding in that situation.
Arians' play calling has stopped making any sense whatsoever, and a change needs to be made.
I'm also more than a little concerned about the DBs. It had been suggested to me that maybe LeBeau was slipping a little bit - that his scheme was becoming haggard and that the rest of the league had figured things out. However, after watching Sunday's game, I'm convinced that it has nothing to do with LeBeau's scheme.
The trick is that Ike Taylor, William Gay and DeShea Townsend suck. Ike Taylor may be the fastest corner in the league, but it is clear that he is not playing with any kind of conviction out there. He just doesn't care, and as a result, he's getting beaten by lesser players who want it more. William Gay - I'm not sure that he isn't just a bad player. I'm not sure if he's lost confidence in himself or what, but teams have started exploiting him, and he seems powerless to stop it. Ryan Clark has been gashed for deep balls twice in as many weeks. It may be that he's overcompensating for the diminished range that the SS covers when you trade out Troy for Ty Carter, but he's been way out of position on both, and has let very, very average passing teams beat him at important times.
So, it isn't that LeBeau's scheme doesn't work. It's that the defensive backs aren't good enough to execute the scheme. If they give the front 7 any time at all, someone is getting to the QB. Harrison/Woodley/Timmons looked as good on Sunday as any time this year. But when the 9-yard out is open all game long because Ike Taylor and Will Gay aren't good enough to stop it, the pass rush isn't going to do a whole lot.
So, what does this mean for the rest of the season? Well, not much at all. The fact remains that the next two weeks, we have the Raiders at home and the Browns on the road. Now, we should have slaughtered the Chiefs, that's true. But wins in the next two weeks should still be expected. That leaves us at 8-5 going into a home rematch against Baltimore. And, frankly, you can understand Hines' frustration that Ben wasn't able to play (although this seems like it's all been blown out of proportion - it was Tomlin who said Ben couldn't play because the fucking team doctor wouldn't clear him... Shit, you gotta look big picture and recognize that your franchise and its $100 million investment need to last), because the team played relatively mistake-free football, and almost certainly wins with Ben at the helm.
Further, you have to expect that we'll be seeing Troy back in a few weeks. If he comes back healthy and ready for the Baltimore game, there's no reason that we don't win.
This team can certainly go 10-6 or 11-5. If they do that, they're in the playoffs. Lots of mediocre teams in the AFC this year, and lots of room for us to sneak in with a not-so-great season. Plus, if we somehow do make the playoffs, I'll take a team with a healthy Ben, healthy Troy and a head of steam any day of the week and twice on Sunday (which is important if they ever have to play a double-header).
So, 6-5 sucks. It reinforces just how important that loss to the Chiefs could end up being, too. If this team is 7-4 (and, ultimately, 9-4 after these next two weeks), I'd be sitting here saying, yeah, whatever, we lost with our backup in. Who cares? We're still basically a lock for the playoffs. But all hope is not lost.
And this season really isn't all that different from 2005, when you think about it. Coming off of a stellar season, everyone expected the team to be that much better. After a great start (7-2 that year, 6-2 this year), they lost 3 straight, in part due to an injury to Ben. During that 3 game losing streak, they also lost a disappointing home game to eventual division champ Cincy, and an overtime game to the Ravens on the road.
We were also playing the NFC North as our non-conference schedule, too. Well, all I'm gonna say is that if we do find a way into the playoffs, people should watch out.
As for the rest of the sports world:
- I'm bored with the Tiger story. However, the fact that Tiger Woods has texted the words "I am going to wear you out...when was the last time you were fucked" really is mindblowing.
- Deadspin posted a report by some ND blogger that says that Brian Kelly of Cincinnati's gonna take the job. I buy it, and hope that it's true. I could recruit quality talent at ND. What they need is someone who can actually coach.
- I never knew that there were articles written about poker players. Did you know that "Isildur1" is on the cusp of being in the top-10 in the world? That's right, a guy who is known by nothing more than a fucking avitar is considered one of the best players in the world. Fucking lame.
- I was looking at a site this week that brought me close to quitting the whole blogging thing forever. The website is called http://bleacherreport.com/. What I found was a bunch of sad, middle-aged men who I guess sit around pretending to be real live journalists, writing serious columns that are really nothing more than B- papers for a freshman journalism class. It was really depressing. The one guy uses the word "myopic" 3 times on his profile page. And you misspelled "fiancee".
Their Tiger Woods is especially interesting - with article titles such as "Alleged Tiger Woods Mistresses Need to Shoulder Some of the Blame" to "Tiger Woods Is in Deep Rough: Can He Par The Course?" Hehe, that last one is pretty great. Maybe I'll start titling everyone of my posts in pun form. We could call this one "Steelers stopped for a loss in Baltimore - face 3rd and long for remainder of season". Or maybe not. Maybe I'll realize how fucking hackneyed that would be.
But I guess that the site is intended to be a way for writers to "catch their big break". You know, publish some stuff in a very public forum and then hope that some of the folks at ESPN who have hiring power just happen to spend some of their day reading this grade-school dribble. True, this isn't any better, but at least I'm not fooling anyone. - Back to Tiger for one more second. Why does everyone keep using the word "transgressions". I propose that we change the word "transgressions", whenever used in reference to Tiger Woods to "fucking a bunch of women that aren't [Tiger Woods'] wife, potentially costing [Tiger Woods] hundreds of millions of dollars, and most importantly, creating a horrendously negative behavior model for his two young children".
- The Pens won again last night - beat the Avalanche 4-1, including a pair of empty-netters. For a team that was supposed to finish somewhere around 14th in the west, they're a feisty, well-coached team, and they're going to be a pain in someone's ass come playoff time. I can definitely see them in one of those 3OT games you used to see from the Stars and Canucks. They're really young, but things look good for Colorado for 2-3 years from now.
But on the team that really matters, the Pens have won their last 3 games by a total score of 17-6, with Sid putting in 11 points himself (7 goals, 4 assists). He's playing maybe the most dominating hockey I've ever seen from him. The switch from wood to composite, that Sid thinks has given him more power and control on his shot, has definitely coincided with an increased scoring touch. Whether its actually the stick, or an increased confidence in his own shot (and hence, more incentive for him to shoot) is unclear. What I do know, though, there isn't a more dangerous player in the league right now. - While we're on hockey, I was secretly pleased to see Alex Ovechkin snag a 2-game suspension for another knee-on-knee hit. It's a very interesting situation, because not only is he a face of NHL, but his "faults" are related, at least in most people's minds, to playing the game too hard and being too competitive. Now, it may just be that because he's such a talented player, people give him the benefit of the doubt, while guys like Sean Avery and Jarkko Rutuu are presumed to be "dirty" players. Either way, the guy seems to have a tendancy to stick his leg out, and to board players on a somewhat regular basis. And that's a problem.
If you ask me, I think it's related to Ovie trying to be something that he's not. He's so image-conscious that he's trying to hard to seem like the "ultimate competitor", the guys that will do anything to help his team win. But in reality, he probably never really learned how to check growing up. Additionally, the guy's playing style has always been to move at 100 MPH straight ahead all the time. This has created a lot of success in the offensive zone (though it does cause him to get caught out of position sometimes), but you really can't play that way on the defensive end.
He says he won't change his style of play, and that's his choice. But my question is - what happens when he takes out a big player the next time. He got away with Gonch in the playoffs because he had never really had issues with that before. But what happens if he takes out a team's star, like Kovalchuk in Atlanta, Gaborik in NY, or, god forbid, one of the two-headed monster for the Pens? What happens when the NHL's poster boy makes the next dirty play, and it happens to sideline a star of the league for a long period of time?
All I know is that the dude needs to learn how to play the game. He plays it like a child, and that will only work for so long. This isn't the minors anymore, and he can't dominate every player, every night. True, no one back in Russia could stop you like this. But he has to get over that. He might be the best player in the world. But he's not unstoppable, and that's OK. I actually hadn't noticed this until I watched the video in that link just now - after he skates to the bench, he sits down, and lets out an exhasperated "whaaaaaaat?" that was less frustration, and more shock and disappointment, like a spoiled 8-year-old single child who showed up at school and realized that not everyone was going to give him what he wants all the time.
So, my conclusion is that Ovechkin needs to grow up, both as a person and as a hockey player. He needs to recognize that there will be obsticles to his success, and that he won't win every time or every year. He further needs to recognize that playing with such a petty style where he feels that he has the right to drag his leg out to trip other players, or shove them head-first into the boards is going to shorten his career. We saw it with Eric Lindros (allbeit that his problem was skating with his head down too much, it was still a reckless, immature style of play that ultimately cost him when he got on the ice with the best players in the world), and we all know how his career turned out, despite his immense talent.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
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