Archive for April, 2008

That’s head coach Mike Tomlin basking in the afterglow of his first two picks in the 2008 NFL Draft. Tomlin and Director of Player Personnel Kevin Colbert have every right to be pleased with their work as the general consensus seems to be the Pittsburgh Steelers had themselves one of the finest hauls in this year’s draft. Scanning the interwebz, it appears many of the so-called “experts” graded our picks quite generously. Jason Cole (Yahoo Sports) – A Paul Zimmerman (SI.com’s Dr. Z) – Very Good Larry Weisman (USA Today) – B+ Mel Kiper (Great Hair) – B NPC (Me) [...]

Day Two of the NFL Draft. Sorry, no awesome Kiperrific sound bite clips today as I had to watch the Pens lay some smack down on the Rangers and my computer doesn’t have enough memory to save the entire draft with my capture card. 3rd Round: Bruce Davis LB UCLA Height: 6-25/8 Weight: 252 Pros: Good athlete with decent speed (4.78 sec in the 40). Outstanding quickness off the blocks and is a great closer. Scary as an edge rusher. Very active with a motor that does not stop. Rangy player who will make plays in pursuit. Has played both [...]

1st Round: Rashard Mendenhall RB Illinois Height: 5-105/8 Weight: 225 Pros: Excellent size and strength. Big powerful back in the true Steeler tradition. Timed at 4.45 sec in the 40 which is tremendous speed for a back his size. Very natural runner with great vision who picks his hole and hits it fast. Has learned to keep those legs churning on contact to pick up extra yards. Has pretty good hands and can catch the ball out of the backfield in a pinch. More than holds his own as a blocker. Is only a Junior and played fairly sparingly his [...]

Rejoice!! The NFL Draft is almost upon us. Two days of hopes, dreams, triumph for some, heartbreak for others, quarterbacks waiting in anticipation with their hot girlfriends and Jet fans eager to boo whatever unfortunate sap is taken by their team. ‘Tis truly one of the most wonderful times of the year. I dare say it’s even better than Christmas. Yes, Mel Kiper is my Santa. Except this jolly old elf has perfectly-coiffed hair. As you surf around the interwebz, you will probably come across a mock draft or two. Or four. Or three dozen. Concocting mock drafts seems to [...]

by John Cihon   As we near Pennsylvania’s primary election, an unprecedented number of former Pittsburgh Steelers, as well as team chairman Dan Rooney, have chosen to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.  The two most surprising endorsements come from Jerome Bettis, who donated to George W. Bush’s campaign in 2004, and Dan Rooney, who has largely resisted offering political opinions in public before now.  Other former Steelers Obama supporters include Franco Harris, Dwight “Mad Dog” White, J.T. Thomas, Robin Cole, Larry Brown and Edmund Nelson.   No current Steelers players, possibly due to fear of NFL reprisals, have publicly [...]

Tomorrow is Primary Election Day here in good old Pennsylvania. I hope you registered to vote. It’s important that the collective voice of Steeler Nation is heard. At least, that’s the message I seem to be getting from Democratic front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Either that or their highly paid, Harvard-educated political operatives have cleverly deduced that the best way to be popular in Pittsburgh is to pander to Steeler fans. Works for me. Although, I’m still left with a torturous choice. Do I go with Hillary, who smartly traded her ill-fitting, semi-mannish pantsuits for an always stylish Steeler [...]

The Infinite Monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter for an infinite amount of time will eventually type something that actually makes sense. Clearly, this is the how the NFL created their schedule for the 2008 football season. How else can you explain the murderous slate handed down to our beloved Pittsburgh Steelers? We didn’t receive the 9th hardest schedule, which would logically correspond to our position in the draft. We didn’t receive the 5th hardest schedule, which is where we finished in overall defense. Where does our schedule rank you may ask? Numero [...]

When did Pittsburgh become the new Cincinnati? This week saw yet another tally added to the litany of off-season woes when Steely McBeam, our much beloved reviled mascot, was arrested and charged with a DUI. Acting swiftly, the Steelers Cedric Wilson’d his ass before the ink on the police blotter dried. Whether his firing means that we have now lost our second cartoonish figure with an absurdly large chin in as many seasons is not known. What is known is sadly, this is not the worst Pittsburgh mascot related scandal in city history. That honor would go to the Pirate [...]

by John Cihon The Pittsburgh Steelers used to consider themselves to be a classier organization than the other clubs in the National Football League. The Pittsburgh Steelers used to pride themselves on not having players on their team who were beset by the bad behavior and problems with the law that seem to follow some other clubs. They can’t possibly think that anymore, can they? Recently, the Steelers had two players arrested and charged in connection with domestic violence incidents: linebacker James Harrison and backup wide receiver Cedrick Wilson. Harrison was the first to be charged, and the Steelers responded [...]

Thanks for nothing, asshole. Yesterday, at the NFL’s annual Spring Owners Meeting/Wet T-shirt contest down in sunny Palm Beach, the NFL’s head of officiating, Mike Pereira, conceded that, yes, perhaps there was a wee bit of holding on the play that ended the Steelers season in heart breaking fashion. Gee, ya think? Considering Jacksonville Jaguar quarterback David Garrard has the fleet-footed nimbleness of a rampaging bull elephant, I’m shocked to find out his Kordell-esque escape was aided and abetted by shenanigans along the offensive line. So thanks, Captain Obvious. Thanks for acknowledging what everyone but the guys on the field [...]