President Barack Obama met with our World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday. He immediately displayed his folksy charm by reading some lame prepared remarks, then continued to push his populist agenda by putting the Steelers to work preparing USO care packages. Not that I have anything but the deepest respect for our troops serving overseas but isn’t it kind of tacky to invite the Super Bowl champions over to salute their accomplishments then turn that platform into a lecture on civic duty? This isn’t elementary school for crying out loud.

Conspicuous by his absence was 2008 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and author of the greatest defensive play in Super Bowl history, linebacker James Harrison.

Now perhaps you’ve been living under a rock the past week or perhaps you’re just blissfully unaware of the swirling controversy. In which case, I envy you. For the past week has seen an almost daily media blitz directed at the Silverback. HOW DARE HE NOT GO! HE’S SPITTING ON THE FLAG! COMMIE!

Okay, perhaps I’m exaggerating just a tad. But for the past week, every media outlet from USA Today to ESPN and every talking head on every talk show has seemingly weighed in with his or her opinion on whether James Harrison should have gone to the White House. Which is great, we do enjoy free speech in this country. However the only opinion I care about in this case is that of, oh I don’t know, JAMES HARRISON?

If the man doesn’t want to visit the White House, he doesn’t have to visit the White House. It doesn’t make him unamerican. It doesn’t make him classless. It doesn’t make him immature. It makes him a man, a big scary quarterback killing man, who made a choice. And I have no idea why that’s such a problem for some people.

This entire situation reminds me of the recent controversy over that bubbleheaded bleach blonde Miss America contestant. She supposedly lost the crown when her answer to the question of supporting gay marriage was decidedly not the politically correct one. Look, I’m not taking one side or the other in that debate but she stated her OPINION. When did that become wrong? So am I to understand people should say things they don’t believe or attend functions they have no interest in just because OTHERS think they should? Huh?

When Silverback declared he was going to miss the festivities, the media went into a frenzy trying to figure out why. Let’s be honest, most athletes are meatheads. They don’t go to college to learn, they go to audition for the NFL. So they don’t always explain themselves well and are seldom deep thinkers. Sticking a microphone in front of them and expecting them to give a sound philosophical answer to something that doesn’t need explaining in the first place is a sure recipe for disaster.

And so it was. Harrison said “This is how I feel — if you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don’t win the Super Bowl. As far as I’m concerned, [Obama] would’ve invited Arizona if they had won.” This quote sent the talking heads into overdrive because of the seeming ridiculousness of the logic.

Except it does make sense. Luckily, I speak meathead jock so allow me to translate. Suppose you get an invitation to a wedding or a birthday party. Now suppose instead of the invitation being addressed “Dear Your Name Here” it said “To Whom It May Concern.” Would you still go? The President meets the Super Bowl champion, he doesn’t care what team it is. It’s basically a form letter.  James Harrison doesn’t do form letters.

Then things got more ridiculous when the Rooney Family went into spin control mode. I love the Rooneys but they’re damn lucky the Steelers are the most honorable organization in sports. If they ever had a negative PR issue, they’d be screwed because they are totally inept at handling bad press. They clearly issued an order to their puppets at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (you may know them as “the sports department”) who then came out with a ridiculous story that Harrison was afraid to fly.  Next you’ll tell me that’s really why Tony Kornheiser left Monday Night Football.

The problem with this story is Harrison flies at least 8-12 times per year during the football season. He also flew to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. And, um, he played one season in NFL Europe. Do you know how long it takes to fly to Europe? Pretty damn long.  Not to mention D.C. is about 5 hours by car. Well, I can make it in 4 but I tend to see speed limits as more suggestions than rules.

Anyway, that bullcrap story created yet another round of speculation. Look, Harrison didn’t go to see George W. Bush when we won back in ’05 so it’s not a political thing. He just didn’t see the point in wasting his time on an empty promotional fluff piece when weights needed lifted and sprints needed, um, sprinted.  He is an adult and he decided he had no desire to visit a place and meet a man he has no reverence for.  And I have no problem with that.

As long as he keeps sacking the quarterback.

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 a player were allowed to show even the slightest bit of emotion after making a spectacular catch to clinch a championship for his team.

Goodell must have some secret deal with President Obama where he helps fund the bailout of millions of deadbeats who bought houses they can’t afford through fines levied against Steeler players.  I haven’t been keeping track but the Black and Gold have been docked approximately half a trillion dollars this year.   James Harrison lost a good $50,000 on a sack where he evidently failed to fluff a nice pillow for the QB before gently setting him down.   Hines Ward was fined $20,000 two consecutive weeks for blocking DBs playing football.  Neither of these plays drew a flag by the way.  Ironically, Hines wasn’t fined for breaking Bengals LB Keith Rivers jaw so I guess a hit is only illegal if it doesn’t cripple the other guy.

In other news, the gloves Holmes wore when he made that catch ended up selling for $70,000. Which means Santonio has contributed about eighty grand to charity this week…

Speaking of charity, I appeal to the kindness of you my fine readers.   Nice Pick Cowher has successfully won their first round match up in the Great Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament but now we face a major threat in the sweet 16.  We’re matched up against one of the most popular Pittsburgh Penguins blogs which is fine, I don’t mind the Pens, they aren’t a total embarassment to the city like the Pirates.   But do they deserve to advance?  The team isn’t even going to make the playoffs this year.  Meanwhile, the Steelers (and by extension, ME) have brought you fine ‘Burgers a Lombardi Trophy.  Shouldn’t we reward the teams that WIN?  Please take 30 seconds to click this link and vote for NPC in our second round bracket. If you do, I promise to never again make a Three Legged Man joke about Santonio…

Since the Big Game is fast approaching, I thought I’d take a minute to help you add to your Black and Gold wardrobe.  After all, I have an entire drawer dedicated to my Pittsburgh fanaticism.   Believe me, nothing is sweeter on game day than busting out a brand new Steelers T which immediately makes you every man’s envy and every girl’s dream.  At least, that’s what I tell myself.

Speaking of sweet, the BRLTCFB M&M’S Contest went over like gangbusters.  Congratulations to the winners and your shipment is on its way.  To those of you who guessed poorly, the M&M’S people have extended you the amazing chance to order your own Steeler M&M’s for 15% off by clicking this link and entering code BIGGAME (one word).

Now on to the shirts:

Click Here To Order

Homage Clothing is a new label designed, owned, and operated by Ohio native Ryan Vesler.  They concentrate on retro designs intended to reference sports and pop culture events from decades past.  Basically, he took the idea behind the millions of people in Throwback jerseys and applied it to t-shirts.

The results are many sweet designs, including this one which harks back to the 1970′s when the Steelers were a Steel Dynasty and the Pirates were good.   Yes my young readers, there once was a time when the Pirates actually had talented players and those players and the people in charge actually tried to win championships (which they did, twice).

Click Here To Order

In honor of your swank new President comes this swank t-shirt playing off Barack Obama‘s photoshopped campaign posters.  Isn’t it nice to have a president who knows that photoshop exists?  Somebody got the bright idea to do this with Mike Tomlin and the result is one of the best t-shirts out there.  I think there’s a McCain version where Tomlin’s picture looks like a Polaroid, if that’s how you roll.  In either case, check the rest of their site for other designs.  Buy one for yourself or one for you girlfriend since Tomlin is the NFL’s Sexiest Coach.

Click Here To Order

LaMarr Woodley is my favorite player.  I don’t usually admit that but anybody who reads my recaps can probably figure it out.  Mr. Woodley is so tough, I’m convinced an asteroid didn’t wipe out the dinosaurs, they voluntarily left because they knew if they survived Woodley was coming for them right after he’s done sacking opposing quarterbacks.

Click Here To Order

These are on sale at Giant Eagle but for those of you who live outside the Golden Triangle, you can order them online.  To be honest, I’m not a fan of the “Sixburgh” slogan.  It’s a poorly thought out and clumsily executed pun.  The shirt is sweet, though, with James Harrison looking all badass.

History.

Last night, our country finally embraced the Rooney Rule on a national level when they elected Barack Obama the 44^th President of United States. As you can tell by the picture above, Dan Rooney is probably pretty happy about the result. Regardless of your political leanings, everyone should feel at least a little pride in the historic event which took place yesterday. When a man of mixed heritage, a man raised by his mother and grandmother, a man with such a diverse cultural background can rise to the level of President, it really says a lot about how far we’ve come as a society.

Of course, we all know who President-elect Obama has to thank for his victory.

The Pittsburgh Steelers.

By defeating the Washington Redskins on Monday night, Obama’s victory was all but guaranteed. Forget the polls. Forget Zogby. Forget CNN. The best indicator of who will win a Presidential election is the Redskins. For the last 30 years, with only one exception, the Redskin Rule has been 100% accurate in predicting the outcome. If the Skins win their last game before Election Day, the party in office stays in office. If they lose, the opposing party takes control. Therefore, by pulling out the win, the Steelers made it a lock for Barry O.

Speaking of history, those who don’t learn from it are doomed to repeat it. Two seasons ago, the Steelers were defending Super Bowl champs but QB Ben Roethlisberger ran afoul of a Gray Hair on the Seventh Street Bridge while on his motorbike. Then, the last week of preseason, he was felled by an emergency appendectomy. Replaced by Charlie Batch for the season opener against Miami, the Steelers won easily while Batch had an outstanding game. It was his last action of the season as Ben came back the following week against Jacksonville. He muddled through a terrible performance where neither team scored a TD, ending with a 9-0 loss. He played pretty poorly for several weeks, including in a loss to the hapless Raiders, a team which would only win 2 games all year.

After the loss to the Jags, disturbing rumors surfaced. Some said Ben played the game with a 100 degree temperature. Others said his stitches were so fresh that one of the sacks had caused them to pop. There were other rumblings that the head trauma from the accident had caused a sort of punch drunk effect where Ben was unable to think and react as quickly as before. The question became why was Coach Bill Cowher starting him?

I’m not privy to behind the scenes info so I don’t know exactly what was true and what wasn’t. But I do know Ben didn’t seem right. And not being right cost us at least one probably two games. You know how many games we missed the playoffs by that year? ONE.

That brings us to this year. The press is reporting the MRI on Ben’s injured right shoulder showed no significant change from past weeks. If that’s true, how was he playing before yet couldn’t on Monday night? Are they saying that he’s constantly playing through this excruciating pain, except that one time when it became a little more excruciating? Why would you take a valuable player like Roethlisberger, a player you invested close to $100 million in, and potentially threaten his health and longevity by allowing him to play when he’s seriously hurt?

Not to mention the fact that current coach Mike Tomlin can spin things however he likes but the injury IS affecting Ben’s play. Our offense wasn’t this bad last year under the same set of coaches so you can’t lay the blame entirely on them. I applaud Big Ben’s toughness and desire to help his team but if you’re playing with a crippling injury and it’s affecting your game, you’re actually hindering more than helping.

That’s why I’m hoping Tomlin learns from history and starts Byron Leftwich this Sunday in Indianapolis. The Steeler might get a bye (if they make the playoffs) but otherwise there are no more breaks from here to the end of the season. Ben clearly needs some time off and rest to get his body somewhat back together and this week is just as good as any. You want him ready to go for important games like division match-ups or against Dallas. This week is the perfect week to give him some rest as it’s at home against a rather mediocre Indy team that Leftwich knows very well after playing them twice every year when he was in Jacksonville.

I don’t want to lose games we should easily win because our quarterback is a functioning cripple. I also don’t want him to prove his toughness by playing through a nagging injury that eventually turns into a big huge season ending injury. We need Ben for the stretch run and we need him for the playoffs. But for this week, he needs to ride the bench.