Archive for August, 2009

Steeler Poodle is clearly a card-carrying member of Steeler Nation. In the spirit of opening this forum to different voices, I invited him to share some thoughts on NFL related happenings. Michael Vick made his return to the NFL on Thursday night. What did you think I was gonna write about? Keyaron Fox? What really burns my balls (or would burn them, if my owner didn’t HAVE ME NEUTERED!) is some people actually think the Pittsburgh Steelers had an interest in Michael Vick.  We all know humans are a gullible bunch who’ll do whatever you want if you give ‘em [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau was named one of the two senior nominees for NFL Hall of Fame induction.  He was nice enough to share his thoughts on the matter with us here at NPC. Coach Tomlin told us after practice that I’m a finalist for the Hall of Fame thanks to the senior committee.  Good kid, that Coach Tomlin.  Reminds me of Lem Barney.  As for the Hall of Fame, all I can say is about time. The damn sports writers only had 51 years to elect me to the Hall.  Yep, I joined the NFL back in [...]

How’s that for a headline? Last Friday, the lawyers for Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger fired their first major salvo in the sexual assault lawsuit pending against their client. They filed a 51 page(!) document with the Reno court in what amounts to the legal equivalent of an all-out blitz. Dick Lebeau couldn’t have drawn it up any better. Click here to read an overview of the not-so-brief brief. Or, to save you time, I’ll give you the highlights. Ben’s lawyer basically presented his accuser, Andrea McNulty, with one of two options. Option #1 is to undergo psychiatric evaluation in [...]

“The Diesel.” “Shaq Fu.” “The Big Aristotle.” “Big Daddy.” “The Big Cactus.” “Shaq.” Those are some of the nicknames for NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq is a four time NBA champion, 15 time All-Star, and future Hall of Famer. This off-season, he decided to add “reality show participant” to his resume. The result is called Shaq vs. where he takes on the best players other sports have to offer. This past Tuesday, Shaq took on Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in a football challenge. Luckily for you, I taped the show and finally got around to transferring the results off [...]

Tuesday was a busy day for Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He took on the NBA’s Shaquille O’Neal in a football challenge for the new show Shaq vs. A few hours later, his lawyers released a salvo of emails pertaining to the ongoing civil lawsuit against him.  Andrea McNulty has some ‘splainin’ to do. The woman who has accused Ben of raping her in a Reno hotel room in July 2008 seemingly suffered no ill effects from the traumatic event.  She fired off a number of text and email messages in the days immediately after the alleged assault, then spoke [...]

As I stated in a previous post, I usually skip preseason games. The tedium of watching fourth and fifth stringers compete for the honor of becoming practice squad fodder simply doesn’t interest me. However, it’s been so long since my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers last took the field, I was compelled to watch their inaugural effort last night. Since I took the time to highlight a few select training camp battles here, I thought I’d share some early observations on those competitions. I’ll also throw in a couple snap judgments about some notable players suiting up this season for the Black [...]

Lost amidst the hoopla of the Ben Roethlisberger lawsuit was some genuinely great news for one of the finest Pittsburgh Steelers of all time. Rod Woodson, a ten year starter at cornerback for the Steelers, was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame on Saturday. Woodson is the career leader in interceptions returned for touchdown.  He also holds the record for most career interception return yardage.  Deion who?   Woodson was the 1993 NFL Defensive Player of The Year for yet another Steeler defense ranked 1st overall in the league, an 11 time Pro Bowler, and was named to the [...]

Yes, that woman there. She’s his type. Deal with it, people. New information has finally come to light concerning the sexual assault claim filed against Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Although it’s still too soon to make any definitive judgments, it’s beginning to look more and more like the rape accusation made by Andrea McNulty is actually a case of romance gone sour. Man, it makes me squirm just typing that. An affidavit filed in Nevada court by a former co-worker of McNulty’s may provide the clearest picture yet of what happened in Ben’s hotel room back in July 2008. [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers have experienced their first notable injury of the season. And it comes in the one area of the team which can ill afford any changes. Further, it looks like one of the position battles mentioned in my previous post is over before it got a chance to begin. RG Darnell Stapleton is scheduled to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery later this afternoon.  Which means the Steelers will be missing at least 20% of their starting offensive line for the foreseeable future. It also means the hair on our team is 35% less cool without the Stapler’s Hall of [...]

At last! Friday marked the beginning of training camp 2009 for our beloved Pittsburgh Steelers.  Camp Tomlin will be but the first step in what is sure to be another glorious season for the Black and Gold. The Steelers are very fortunate in that unlike the last time they were defending champs, this team has suffered no major losses during the off season.  Still, as it is with every training camp, there will be some positions up for grabs.  I thought I’d highlight some of the key training camp battles for you now. Dennis Dixon vs. Charlie Batch for the [...]