Archive for February, 2009

Ever wish and pray something you knew would happen wouldn’t happen?  Ever hope things might go a certain way even though deep down inside you know they won’t? That’s how I felt yesterday when the Pittsburgh Steelers announced the resigning of RG Chris Kemoeatu.  Yes the man who my astute readers overwhelming didn’t want back next year is coming back for more. And not only is he coming back, his resume full of suck earned him a massive raise.  Hey it works for the auto industry, why not the NFL?  Why oh why didn’t my mother fall in love with [...]

With the NFL’s free agency period in full swing, the Pittsburgh Steelers made some news of a different sort with the surprising release of RG Kendall Simmons a short 18 months after signing him to a big contract extension. Rumors were that Simmons, who missed most of this season with a torn ACL, was coming along very slowly in his rehab.  This isn’t shocking as an ACL tear is about the most serious injury a football player can have.  It usually takes a full year for the elite athletic players to come back and another year before they even begin [...]

At precisely 12:01 tonight, the first stage of the 2009 NFL season kicks off.  That’s when Free Agency officially begins, sending the league into a wild orgy of cash and courtship.  No doubt the Washington Redskins will be one of the biggest spenders and no doubt they’ll end up on the outside looking in at the playoffs when December rolls around.  And if everything works out for us, Baltimore will lose two of their three starting murderers thugs linebackers so they’ll be even easier to beat every time we play them. The Pittsburgh Steelers have a number of players about [...]

It somehow escaped my attention that in the aftermath of the Steelers record sixth Super Bowl title, MVP Santonio Holmes was slapped with a fine for winning the game. Well, not exactly.  The ever-watchful Gestapo back at NFL headquarters issued a fine to Holmes for his Lebron James style post-touchdown celebration.  I guess in the game according to Herr Goodell, a player who just caught the winning TD in the biggest game of his life is expected to jump to his feet and excitedly hand the ball to the referee.  Nice job, Roger.  The fabric of society would surely crumble [...]

If you’re one of the people who voted for Max Starks in my little free agency poll on the right, please leave your name in the comments.  I’d like to congratulate you on being one of the 12 finest football minds regularly reading this site. Not that the other answers were wrong.  I certainly can’t fault anybody for picking CB Bryant McFadden.  He was a starting corner on the top rated pass defense in the NFL.  You could make an argument for WR Nate Washington, even though #3 receivers who drop one for every one they catch aren’t exactly a [...]

Just looking at that line-up makes me pine for the days of Francisco Cordova and Kevin Polcovich. Quick story for you.  Picture this:  it’s 1992.  Your humble blogger is a junior in high school.  He’s dating a girl whose sister works in the Three Rivers Stadium box office.  It’s the National League Championship series and your Pittsburgh Pirates have battled back from insurmountable odds to force a deciding Game 7.  MLB decides to print World Series tickets a day early because if the Bucs win, the Series begins two days later.  Thanks to my hook ups, I am lucky enough [...]

Editor’s Note:  For Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be nice to hear from a female member of Steeler Nation.  After an exhaustive search, I found someone witty and insightful enough to be NPC’s first outside contributor.  She chose to write about a very worthy topic:  Jeff Reed.  Turns out last night, upon hearing he was being compared to a Muppet, Skippy was cited for criminal mischief and disorderly conduct because he really really needed some paper towels.  There’s two images that should never be put together.  Take it away, Robyn… Hello there, my name is Robyn and I’ll be [...]

In an offseason which will probably be fairly quiet until the draft in April, there’s been some recent injury news which should be of interest to fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers. In injury report #1, star WR Hines Ward underwent minor surgery to “clean up” some issues with his right shoulder.  Yes, you read that correctly.  His shoulder, not his knee.  Evidently the sprained MCL which he suffered in the AFC Championship beatdown of the Ravens will heal just fine on its own.  Which is actually not that surprising because other Steelers have had a similar injury and came back [...]

Luckily for her ’cause by the time he finished knocking one out, she’d be walking funny for a week. Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes made an appearance on Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” this past Friday to talk about his post season heroics and show that Mike Tomlin isn’t the only snazzy dresser on the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’s auctioning off the gloves he wore when he made the game winning TD catch with benefits going to Sickle Cell research.  Last I checked the bidding was up to a whopping $15,000 so let’s hope the bidder comes through with a fat check [...]

An estimated 300,000 fans turned downtown Pittsburgh into Sixburgh on Tuesday afternoon as Steeler Nation showed up in mass to celebrate the legendary franchise’s unprecedented sixth Super Bowl championship.  Instead of posting a bunch of pictures from the event, I thought I’d share with you some of the best videos of the action, starting with the excellent effort above which is way better than some boring slideshow. My favorite is the picture of LB James Harrison holding the Lombardi Trophy high for all to see.  If I were surrounded by 300,000 screaming maniacs who would love to get a hold [...]