That right there is why last week’s game against the Miami Dolphins was simultaneously the greatest and the worst game you’re going to see this season. Shockingly, it was the third highest rated Monday Nighter of the year which tells me either Steeler Nation is more powerful than I thought or there are a lot of football fans who like good, old-fashioned, mud and rain slop ball. Fallout from the Sod Bowl continues in all quarters, as the Steeler players weigh in favor of keeping the field as is, while the national media waggle their figurative fingers [...]

by John Cihon 

Unfortunately, the tragedy involving Sean Taylor reminds us that football is not the most important thing in the world.  There are those who have already talked about Taylor’s checkered past when covering the story, as if that somehow means he deserved what happened to him.  But nothing he had done in the past could ever justify or explain what was cruelly done to him.  Making the tragedy all the greater is that Taylor seemed to be maturing as a player, a person, and a father when this happened.  My thoughts and prayers and the thoughts and prayers of [...]

That about sums up last night’s “game” against the Dolphins. As much fun as pulling for a 0-0 tie or watching a punt land on the ground and get stuck like a lawn dart was, there’s no way professional football should be played on a piece of shit like Heinz Field. I’m no grass growing expert, but 11 games in 7 days in late November in the Northeastern United States couldn’t possibly end well, even without the downpour. I hope Roger Goodell really comes down on the Rooneys about this fiasco, just like the league slapped [...]

by John Cihon
. . . That if the one-win New York Jets can beat the Steelers, than the no-win Miami Dolphins could beat the Steelers (even though I don’t think they will).  These guys are still professionals, after all.  Enjoy the game!

I contacted Brian Miller of the Miami Dolphins website www.Phinphanatic.com earlier this week to talk about writing previews on each other’s web sites. I also suggested we place some sort of crazy bet on the outcome of the upcoming Steelers-Dolphins Monday night football game where the loser has to write something embarrassing on their forehead for posting on the winner’s site. Mr. Miller responded, ‘as far as the “writing” something on their forehead…Im a freaking Dolphins fan, I wear a hat with their logo on it, what more do you want……LOL.’ You’ve got to appreciate Mr. Miller’s [...]

A well-placed source has passed on a rumor that the reason Chuck Noll did not have a large presence at the Pittsburgh Steelers’ recent seventy-fifth anniversary events is because Coach Noll is currently battling Alzheimer’s disease. All of us associated with nicepickcowher.com send our best wishes and prayers.

by John Cihon

 
A lot of Pittsburgh Steelers fans are still trying to decide who’s to blame or what decision the coaches could have made to avoid a loss to the New York Jets last week. I’ve got to tell you guys; sometimes it’s not that easy.
‘But the coaches should have-‘, you say. I say thee nay! Sometimes you just get outplayed. Sometimes you just get your behinds kicked in the trenches. The offensive line failed. You cannot strategize around that. No amount of trickeration can make up for a non-existent offensive line. [...]

Hope everybody had a nice Thanksgiving. Our yearly gathering to feast on the finest genetically mutated bird meat money can buy was the usual well-attended affair. I come from a big family (in both number and poundage) with greatly varied tastes so we’ve found it best to cover all the bases in one fowl swoop. Thank you, John Madden, for cluing us in to this wonder of modern science. If it wasn’t for your constant pimping of the turducken on Thanksgiving football, I can only imagine the yearly chaos we’d have at the dinner table. [...]

…but I toldja so.
All the signs were there if you know what to look for. It almost seemed inevitable the Steelers would lose to the hapless Jets. Yet, I’m sure we all wished upon our lucky stars, four-leaf clovers, and bald-headed midgets that somehow, some way, the Steelers would manage to pull off a win. It was not to be.
Now we know where the Steelers truly stand in the hierarchy of the NFL. We’re not a #2 seed. We’re not better than the Colts. We might be a little better than the Chargers, but [...]

by John Cihon

Before we look forward to the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Jets, let’s look backward for a minute at these articles of interest on the Cleveland Browns’ web site.
The first are the results of a survey about the Steelers that was posted on the Brown’s site, which among other pearls of wisdom reveals that Joey Porter is the most hated former Steeler in Cleveland.
In the second article, scroll down to the bottom part labeled ‘Connections’ for tales of how you always remain a Steeler at heart, even when you’re on the Cleveland Browns’ [...]