Archive for November, 2010

The FanSided network, along with our friends at our fantastic hosting company, Site5, are partnering to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club of America.  Our goal is $5,000 although I believe the generosity of sports fans like those who read this blog will ensure we blow by that amount like Mike Wallace blows by defensive backs. The Boys and Girls Club of America provides all young people, particularly those most in need, with a safe place where they can learn and grow into responsible adults through life-enhancing programs and character development experiences.  It’s an organization near and dear [...]

I don’t know how anyone can be a Buffalo Bills fan and keep their sanity… A week after turning in their finest performance of the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers stunk out Ralph Wilson Stadium but somehow managed to walk away with a 19-16 overtime win.  The Steelers lost the game on about three different occasions yet the Bills kept snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I had a feeling it was going to be one of those days when the Steelers dominated the first two quarters yet held only a 13 point lead.  The Bills had the ball for [...]

And you thought there was a conspiracy against the Pittsburgh Steelers… Ah, the 90s.  The X-Files being the best show on television.  The Buffalo Bills getting pounded in the Super Bowl.  Some things you could just count on year in and year out.  Of course, an uber-geek like myself found it endlessly amusing when the two intersected in a particularly memorable episode where the secretive and ultra-powerful Cigarette Smoking Man revealed he alone was responsible for Buffalo’s annual misery. Last year, the Bills thought they may have a chance to end a decade long playoff drought and even went with [...]

With Thanksgiving upon us, here are some things I’m thankful for, Pittsburgh Steelers-style. I’m thankful for:  Charlie Batch The first month of the season could have been a real mess thanks to the ridiculous suspension of Ben Roethlisberger.  It could have been an even bigger mess when Dennis Dixon went down with an MCL injury.  But Chaz stepped in and guided the Steelers to within 50 seconds of an undefeated start. I’m thankful for:  Skippy’s wooden leg. Jeff Reed forgot one important fact; he’s a kicker.  Kickers are like umpires or little children, the best ones are those you hardly [...]

The NFL is a joke.  And I’m not laughing. Richard Seymour perpetrated one of the vilest acts of cowardice in league history on Sunday.   His sucker punch of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was a criminal act which should have landed him behind bars courtesy of the Pittsburgh police department just like any other common thug.  Menaces such as him should not only face huge fines and lengthy suspensions but permanent banishment from the game. In short, a cheap-shot artist like Richard Seymour does not belong in the NFL. The NFL’s response to his reprehensible actions?   A $25,000 [...]

This is why you can’t have nice things… The Pittsburgh Steelers laid a 35-3 beatdown on the outclassed Oakland Raiders yesterday afternoon.  However, instead of talking about the Black and Gold’s finest effort of the season, we’ll probably spend the week discussing the pathetic events which occurred between plays.  This game was a travesty, a sham, a complete mockery of what we as NFL fans expect.  And I hold Roger Goodell, the NFL, and the Raiders responsible for this utter travashamockery of football. We should probably begin with Raiders DT and lead thug Richard Seymour, who sucker punched Ben Roethlisberger [...]

The Oakland Raiders continued their run of ineptitude last year, going 5-11 to extend their streak of 11 loss seasons to seven.  Of course, one of those five wins was against a reeling Pittsburgh Steelers.  That wasn’t the first time a defending Super Bowl champion Steelers team suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Raiders.  In 2006, the Black and Gold lost to an Oakland team which would win only two (TWO!) games that entire season. That was then, this is now.  I don’t know how many virgins (assuming you can find one in California) the immortal Al [...]

After spending way too much time talking about kickers, let’s talk about real athletes. With the exception of the sissies who boot the pigskin, football players are the toughest athletes in all of sports.   Let’s use concussions for example. Justin Morneau was concussed in July and couldn’t return for his team’s playoff run in mid-October.  Of course, everybody knows baseball players are a soft bunch of overpaid ball-scratchers.  Hockey players are tough but Pittsburgh fans may remember last season when Matt Cooke wiped out the Bruins’ Marc Savard with a beautiful (and clean) body check.  Savard missed almost two [...]

@ Yahoo! Video Sifting through the wreckage of L’Affaire d’ Skippy… The Pittsburgh Steelers bid farewell to their long-time kicker with a short bitterly worded press release which was as much a burial as a good-bye.  The final paragraph read, “Jeff Reed was in his ninth year with the team in 2010, but was just 15 of 22 on field goal attempts this season.  Reed ranks second in team history with 919 career points (307 PATs, 204 FGs).”   Ouch.   Either one of the ladies in the PR Department is an unhappy notch on Skippy’s bedpost or somebody in the front [...]

Allow me to take you back in time.  It’s 2002 and Kris Brown signs an offer sheet from a brand-spanking new expansion franchise called the Houston Texans.  The Pittsburgh Steelers elect not to match, allowing their solid if unspectacular kicker to leave.  In his place, they bring in veteran Todd Peterson.  Unfortunately, Peterson has no clue how to kick at Heinz Field, missing almost 50% of his attempts before getting “injured.”  Bill Cowher brings in three kickers, lines them up, and basically says, “Whoever puts the most balls through the uprights wins a job.” Thus, the Jeff Reed era begins. [...]