Ray Lewis looking up to heaven following the Ravens 34-31 victory over the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, or the ceiling of the Super Dome. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

What We Learned in the Super Bowl XLVII Weekend:

• Jerome Bettis snubbed from HOF for another year
• Adrian Peterson wins the Orange Peanut…MVP
• Ray Lewis talks murders before Super Bowl
• Lights go out in Super Bowl for everyone and then just for the 49ers

To all those Steeler fans that thought it would be better to root for the Ratbirds so that the 49ers wouldn’t tie the Steelers for the most Super Bowl wins, how’s that working out this morning?  Not as satisfying as you thought it would be maybe?  Yeah, I didn’t think so.  The worst possible scenario for a Steelers fan has come true, the Ravens are the Super Bowl Champions and Joe Flacco is the MVP.  Ew.  Grab your big gulp of haterade and take some cheap shots with me.

Another Super Bowl weekend has passed and yet again the NFL’s 6^th all-time leading rusher has not been voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Jerome was snubbed yet again in favor of a HOF class that included Warren Friggin Sapp as a first ballot HOF’er.  Nice connections with the NFL Network huh Sapp?  How on Earth Sapp is a first ballot HOF’er and not even Michael Strahan is I have no idea, but I can guess that Sapp is probably already having his bust appraised to be pawned to cover his debts.  The 2013 Pro Football Hall of Fame class is as follows: Warren Sapp, Cris Carter, Jonathan Ogden, Larry Allen, and Bill Parcells.  The two senior selections were Curley Culp and Dave Robinson.

The NFL Honors awards show has gone the way of any typical awards show now for some reason.  It was held Saturday night and has finally settled the debate over the MVP for the league.  Adrian Peterson took home the award along with the award for Offensive Player of the Year.  Whoever was in charge of this shindig really dropped the ball by not presenting Peterson with an orange peanut for either of those awards.  That would have been comic gold.  Peyton Manning took home the NFL Comeback Player award and naturally the NFL Play of the Year was the Ravens converting the 4^th and 29 against San Diego.  So officially nothing has gone the way of Pittsburgh this sports year.  Some things have been self-inflicted and the rest just seems like we’re being punished for something doesn’t it?

The coverage of Ray Lewis and his last ride has been disgustingly constant like a bad case of diarrhea and the crescendo naturally was the Super Bowl.  Ray Lewis sat down with Shannon Sharpe for an interview prior to the Super Bowl on Sunday and for some reason decided to address the families of the murdered young men from that fateful night in Atlanta in 2000.  In what can be gathered from his otherwise mindless blubbering about God and his will, Lewis actually took the opportunity to inform the murder victim’s families that “God makes no mistakes.”  Seriously, he actually said that.  Also adding to the at the very least, insensitive comments Lewis said in response to how he would address the families who still hold him responsible for the slayings,

“If you knew, if you really knew the way God works, he don’t use people who commits anything like that for his glory.  No way.  It’s the total opposite.”

That makes sense.  Ray Lewis couldn’t have played a part in those murders because he’s now so Godly and God wouldn’t have let that happen if he was a murderer.  So that’s that I guess.  What an awful piece of vile trash to say something like that.  And that’s not the only Godly nonsense Lewis spewed during Super Bowl Sunday.  Naturally Lewis was for the most part invisible during the game because he rarely plays a part in any actual football plays anymore, but it still credited for half a million tackles in the playoffs.  Lewis is also taking credit for Jacoby Jones’ 108 kickoff return touchdown to start the second half.  Lewis said that he was told (by God presumably) to place his hands on Jones’ chest before the play and what followed was not by the skill of Jones or the missed tackles on the 49ers special teams, but the divine intervention brought on by Ray Lewis.  Awesome.

Thankfully for the 49ers, following that miraculous kickoff return touchdown the lights inexplicably went off in the Super Dome for a total 34 minutes.  The Ravens were holding onto a 22 point lead at the time and looked to be in total charge of the game.  In the first half Joe Flacco threw 3 touchdowns like it was nothing and Colin Kaepernick was off in his throws and running.  After the power was restored, the 49ers exploded on offense and defense scoring 17 unanswered points and forcing a Ray Rice fumble.  Unfortunately for the 49ers the refs’ purple was sticking out from under their jerseys the entire game.  I’m not saying the game was fixed, but it’s worth pointing out that of the total 7 penalties that were called in the entire game, 5 of them went against San Francisco.  The Ravens seem to be the only team that gets the benefit of defensive pass interference calls these days, which seems to cause their “just let Joe chuck it up in the air” offensive scheme to work so greatly.  Must to every Steeler fans dismay, Joe Flacco was named Super Bowl MVP and will now be paid an embarrassingly large amount of money this offseason by Baltimore to continue his “eliteness” for them for years to come.  If Flacco knows what’s good for him he’d be awful nice to his offensive line and wide receivers once he gets his big money because without them playing out of their minds and catching anything and everything almost in their reach, Flacco and the Ravens don’t get passed Indy in the first round.

Well, there you have it Steeler Nation, the 2012-13 NFL season is a wrap.  Stay tuned to Nice Pick Cowher all offseason long to fulfill all of your Steeler needs with undeniably thorough draft coverage by Dom, breaking news by Craig, offseason storylines by Lori, and smart ass remarks by yours truly.  Here We Go Steelers!

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Unfortunately for Biz Markie, he and Warren Sapp look a lot alike when they talk.....

Confused about the picture above?  I’ll give you a minute, and we’ll get to it later….

Update: Sapp tweeted a rebuttal when confronted by Steelers Depot Wednesday afternoon.  Sapp said ‘@Steelersdepot Ike Taylor played the worst# game in NFL History as a DB #BiggerIssues Who’s The Other Guy!? #NeedPhoto&Bio’  The feud continues, but will it heat up on the Steelers’ side?  I think the players will let the season record do the talking from here on out.

Last year Warren Sapp opened up that big ol’ mouth of his last season and said the Steelers were ‘old, slow, and done.’  The Steelers rebounded after stumbling out of the gates, finished 12-4 on the season, and had the No. 1 ranked defense.  How’s that for old, slow, and done?  Turns out that in this case Sapp’s mouth was cashing checks he couldn’t afford because The Man has come a knocking at Sapp’s door, and he’s filed for bankruptcy.  Wahh Wahh.

Apparently, he thinks he has mass amounts of credibility because he’s running his mouth once again that paints a less than favorable picture for the Steelers in 2012.  He has recently predicted that the Steelers won’t make the playoffs this year and will be lucky to finish over .500.  Why?  Because of the loss of just a few key veterans – specifically Hines Ward, James Farrior and Aaron Smith.  *scratching head*  Last time I checked Ward, Farrior, and Smith were part of the Blue Hair Club that Sapp so vehemently railed against last season as being old, slow, and done.  So wouldn’t their departure be a good thing?  And if it’s not a good thing, then doesn’t that mean you were wrong in your assessment last season?  Either way Sapp makes about as much sense as an alien working a mail room….

Ahhh now we come to the picture above.  If you ever saw Men In Black 2, you might remember a scene in which rapper, Biz Markie, appeared in the mail room scene.  In this scene Will Smith’s character beatboxes to a large black guy – who turns out to be an alien – who beatboxes a bunch of nonsense back.  Well, Sapp looks and sounds just as foolish as that dude in the mailroom when he talks about the Steelers.

But don’t fret, Nation.  The Steelers D stepped up to the mic Tuesday and gave Sapp their own tongue lashing.  Ike Taylor (who has decided that part of his new contract last season was to say all the RIGHT things) and Larry Foote  went after Sapp during Face Me Ike’s weekly radio show.

“He has other issues. I don’t even want to talk about his other issues.  Man, he is worrying about the wrong thing right now. People are coming knocking at his door.”  - Ike Taylor

Taylor is clearly going after Sapp and his bankruptcy problems.  Foote joined in the volley by citing the reason why Sapp has such a grudge over the Steelers.  He recalls the Monday Night game from 2002 when the Steelers played the Bucs and Sapp crossed team lines during warm-ups.  Foote said that Joey Porter and Jason Gildon grabbed the Sapp and Nate Webster by the throats before things got out of hand with the larger group of players.

“He came out there hopping like a little girl, and they snatched them up. If he disagreed with what I said, have him call in. I am sure we have footage.”  - Larry Foote

It’s no secret that Sapp has a beef with the Steelers because of this.  I know that Sapp gets paid to give his opinions on NFL Network.  But, his shock jock’ing by saying ludicrous things about teams, especially the Steelers, is a bit much.  It’s about as annoying as some shock jock political a-holes out there – pretty soon it’s just a bunch of white noise to my ears.

I’ll just end this by saying the obvious.  Warren Sapp, grow up.  Flush your bitter pills down the toilet along with your football and analytical careers AND all your money.  The Steelers will end the season over .500.  In fact, anyone with half a football brain knows that they will be in hot contention for the AFC North (as always) even though they have a new offense under Todd Haley.  And, in case you couldn’t understand me, let me put it in terms that you can understand – blerp bleep bloop bwap pwherft flibbity boodah bing dabba dabba ahemina ahemina.  Got it?  Great.

Warren Sapp is filling for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

I know it’s Easter, but well it’s hard to pass something like this up.  A favorite critic of the Steelers last season, Warren Sapp has filed for bankruptcy in Florida.  Just five years after retiring, and with a lucrative career on the NFL Network, Sapp is filling out the ol Chapter 7 form.  Sapp is worth $6.4 million but owes $6.7 million - including child support payments to four women (how fun).

What makes this story even juicier sadder is that Sapp reportedly has lost his National Championship ring from his college days at Miami AND lost his Super Bowl ring from the 2003 Tampa Bay Bucs championship run.  Sapp makes over $500,000 a year by working for the NFL Network.  So what’s it like to be old, broke and done – and well, just plain dumb?  Just ask this guy…