The Steeler's Big Ass

I know this is the most talked about NFL issue to date and we'll all be saturated with coverage for weeks all thanks to 24 hour news coverage and Mr. Safety. The Steeler's Big Ben looks like a Big Ass. How's that 9 inch laceration on the back of your head feel now Mr. Safety? I'm not too hyped up about the no helmet issue. It may be perfectly legal to ride without a helmet but it's not very smart. My issue is the attitude Roethlisberger has regarding riding motorcycles. You're not invincible and the "it won't happen to me because I'm safe" never works out. It's only a matter of time before it comes around and you find yourself in the hospital undergoing seven hours of surgery. Just ask anyone who's ended up in a car accident. Go say that ignorant statement to the folks in wheelchairs who travel across the country to speak at public schools about the dangers of drinking and driving and general auto safety. Probably every single one of those speakers had the same attitude as you. Talk to the families who lost a child in an auto accident. I'm sure they never thought it could happen to their children.

You are a young stud, make millions of dollars, a professional athlete and most importantly whether you like it or not, a role model. All sorts of people look up to you, young and old, and the cavalier attitude you have regarding riding sends a bad message. Hopefully those who look at you as a role model see the error in your ways and decide to at the very least take every precaution they can to keep safe. Maybe even you will now change your attitude a bit and realize it can happen to you because it just did.

Superstition

I'm shaking as I right this. I fear I may be doing in my team just by even talking about it but I'm way too excited to hold it in. The Cleveland Cavaliers just evened their playoff series with the Detroit Pistons at two games a piece. It's now a best of three and the two time defending Eastern Conference champs and the once removed NBA champs could very well blow the Cavs out of the water. However, I'm still compelled to watch and continue my superstitious acts. I nearly forgot that the game was on(shame on me-I call myself a sports fan...please) and as I watched the second half, realized something was missing. The Cavs were trailing and could see the game about to slowly fade away. Then it hit me, I didn't have any beer. Two follies would certainly sink the Cavs but I quickly grabbed a beer and assumed the position. Before my very eyes the Cavs battled back and behold, they squeaked out a victory. Despite running out of Heineken this past weekend, the Miller Lite worked just fine so Wednesday night it'll be two Miller Lite's and me putting all my energy to will another Cavalier's victory.

Another sad situation

Well, not really sad in that I'm broken hearted over the NFL's labor issues. It's sad that neither side could agree on $$. Did you all see what happened to the NHL, they missed a whole season and eventually the owners punked the players. Sure, NFL contracts aren't garaunteed so if you get hurt, you don't get paid, which leads players to over value themselves and try to get as much money as possible quickly. Of course it's not just owners vs players, its also owners vs owners. Some thing called revenue sharing is also an issue and about eight owners would greatly benefit from not having to share the wealth. Kinda sounds like baseball. Honestly, I could care less about the details of the issues. My point is that some very talented players, who perhaps are over paid, will be cut as a result of no new collective bargaining agreement. Teams will soon begin cutting big name players and I'm not sure if there will be a team for them unless they suck it up and take a huge pay cut. There's only a handful of teams that have a good amount of money to spend and they were all really bad teams, including my Browns. What's even more interesting is in 2007 there will be no salary cap so teams like the Cowboys and Redskins can write big fat checks to whomever they want to purchase a championship. Of course, I'm sure there will be some kinda downfall after that year because, if a new CBA is finally agreed upon, they'll have to purge again to get under the cap. Oh, and the players can walk if they want. I didn't mind the replacement players in 1987. I stilled watched every game. But the weird thing is, I don't hear much from players. It seems to be a battle between the union and owners and not really involving the players. Baseball and hockey players were very vocal about their labor issues and really came off as greedy, overpaid and selfish people. We'll see what happens I guess.

Operation Slap Shot

Wow, is this for real? It sounds like it's a sequel to the movie "Slap Shots." I'm sure this will get much more interesting when and if they figure this whole thing out. It doesn't surprise me that some big names are denying everything. Yeah, yeah, innocent until proven guilty. But if you know you did something wrong, then why lie about it. Look Wayne, you may be the Great One, but if you are involved don't lie in front of the cameras. Let your wife talk as well. Her name popped up first and only after a review of some wire taps did your name surface. Denial is another thing not high on my list of things I like. Come on, spare us the lies, tell the truth and maybe we can forgive you. Athletes like Bonds, Palmeiro, Sosa and McGwire come off as idiots by continuing to deny. Palmeiro more than others since he actually tested positive for steriods. I think the guy still denies the whole thing and even tried to blame another player for the positive test. Classy, real classy.

Bad officiating

I'm not a fan of coaches and players blaming a loss on bad officiating. The refs have a very difficult job and one job I really wouldn't want. I remember the days I volunteered to be an umpire for little league baseball. My first game was horrifying. On that particular day, I was on the field making calls. Since there were only two umps to a game, I positioned myself behind second base. I'd then have to run to first to make a call when a batter hit the ball into play. No complaints that day. I did a pretty good job. The next game I found myself behind home plate calling balls and strikes. Even though I played catcher in most of my playing days, this was a totally different perspective. It can be difficult to tell if the ball nipped the edge of the plate within the strikezone and you can't delay the call. You have to make a decision whether right or wrong almost without thinking. Oh and of course there had to be a close play at the plate. Goodness gracious, I probably made a few bad calls on both sides so it sort of balanced itself out.

Back to my point. The Super Bowl officials made some horrendous calls and all went against Seattle. I expect fans, spectators and the media to talk all about the bad officiating for weeks. I can understand that players and coaches would be mad as hell but you shouldn't continue to "blame" your loss on the officials. Mike Holgrem sunk down low and continued to criticize the refs in a very public setting. He came off like a sore loser and drew attention away from the fact he made some bad calls of his own especially at the end of both halves.

The latest whiner, Phil Jackson, Mr. I have nine NBA championships, complained about the refs making poor calls and blowing their whistles in favor of the Dallas Mavericks. He then blamed it on the Mavs owner Mark Cuban because Cuban reviews the tapes, files complaints to the league about bum officiating. This causes the refs to be fearful of Cuban so they call more fouls on the Mavs opponents. Dude, your team got blown out of the water and you blame the poor effort of your team on the refs. Classy, real classy.

My advice, stop complaining and just play the game. Do your best to win the game and overcome any calls that go against your team. If you lose, oh well. Bitch all you want at home and in private. You can talk about it publicly if that's not your only excuse for losing.

Winter Olympics??

Huh, does anyone care that the Winter Olympics will begin Feb 10th? I'm not overly excited about watching any olympic events this year. Maybe hockey, figure skating and uh...oh yeah speed skating. Storylines of interest....I suppose Michelle Kwan's quest for gold and perhaps Bode Miller. I imagine that the olympics mean much more to those from other countries. I can't imagine that many Americans go crazy about their olympic athletes. I'm sure once the games begin I'll develop an interest in the games. I'll probably Tivo a few events. Even as I write this, I'm gaining interest. In fact, I wonder what will happen in the bobsled and skeleton events. We'll see once the games begin. The NFL is over with for a month or so. Spring training will begin in a few weeks and in a month the World Baseball Classic begins. The NBA and NHL seasons are moving into the second halves of their seasons so the playoff pushes will swing into motion. So the winter olympics will have the window of opportunity to capture the interest of America for the two weeks or so.

Super Bowl XL

I was hoping for a great game. What I got, a very mediocore game with some lousy calls, a sentimental victory and some very boring commercials. At least it wasn't a complete blowout. The Steelers victory is gut wrenching, mostly because I despise the Steelers. I hate Pittsburgh and love every one of their failures. Right now, I'm jealous. I wonder when the Browns will ever win or even play in the Super Bowl.

The game itself was okay. There wasn't anything special about the game. Even the commercials were tame and lacked spirit. Of course anyone outside of Steeler town will be talking about the refs and what seemed to be a string of calls that changed the game. Seattle can only blame theirselves for not finishing drives and getting into the endzone. They mismanaged the clock late in both havles. Statistacally, the Seahawks beat up the Steelers in most categories early on, but it's the scoeboard that counts. Matt Hasselbeck probably would have won the MVP award and was the best player on the field. Unfortunately, Seattle crumbled and handed the Steelers the game.

The bum calls: offensive pass interference, come on. The defensive back was beat and only after he whined, did the ref throw the flag. Please, the receive barely touched him. The call kept Seattle out of the endzone. After that, Big Ben's touchdown dive was clearly not a touchdown. Roethlisberger made on attempt to get the ball over the goal line and it showed. Even after a replay, the refs stilled considered it a touchdown with no explanation. I'm sure Leavy is an outstanding referee, but the best refs at least give an explaination for their call, especially after a replay of key plays. Then there's the mysterious holding penalty. Come on, if that was holding, then you might as well call holding on every play. Seattle would have had the ball on the two, instead, Hasselbeck threw an interception and then was called for a low block. Um, he was tackling the guy you intercepted his pass. What were these refs watching?

Though, Seattle's receivers ran too many routes near the sidelines, making it difficult to catch the ball inbounds and Jerramy Stevens (I think that's how you spell his first name. I know he spells it differently than the normal Jeremy) dropped a some key passes. He did redeem himself by catching the touchdown and the pass which was called back by the invisible holding call. But with the trash talking he did early in the week, he should have caught them all.

Needless to say, I was disappointed in Seattle but mostly about the game. It was hardly interesting to watch and nothing really dramatic happened. Just another average game.

The 11th Hour

Better late than never. This weeks conference championships should all be great games. I don't expect any blowouts. Pittsburgh at Denver should be a very physical game. The Steelers will play smashmouth football and there defense will be pressuring Jake Plummer all game long. In the end, Denver will win this game. They are extremely tough at home and no team has ever won three road games in a row to reach the Super Bowl. So the odds are stacked against the Steelers but they'll play hard and anything is possible when you play tough. Denver 24-21.

Next is Carolina at Seattle. Tucked away in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle has played perfect football with hardly anyone outside of Seattle taking notice. Carolina on the other hand, has been up and down all season until of late. Like the Steelers, Carolina will have to win their third straight road game to reach the Super Bowl which hasn't been done. Another strong home team and road team trying to overcome the odds, adds up to another Seattle win, 27-24.

Surprise, Surprise

I'm uber late on this post. In fact, this is the 11th hour. Let's just say I had a very bad week.

In review of last weeks divisional games, there were a few surprises. First, the most unexciting game of the week, Seattle's win over Washington. Not much to say except all went according to predicted. Washington played a tough game, but in the end Seattle proved to be too much for the Redskins. Seattle's very quiet and amazing season continued. My record 1-0.

Next, Golden Boy Tom Brady and Company lost for the first time. Denver is extremely tough at home and Jake Plummer didn't fall apart. A few bad calls, and being outplayed for most of the game lead to a 27-13 Denver win. A pass interference call in the endzone against Asante Samuel changed the game. It shouldn't have been called but you can't dispute an official's penalty call. Later in the game, Champ Bailey intercepted a Brady pass and ran in back from the back on Denver's endzone down the field to the opposite endzone. Ben Watson, ran all the way from the other side of the field and laid out Bailey just before he reached the endzone. The ball came loose and flew out of bounds. After a replay, the evidence was inconlusive according the officials that the ball went out in the endzone, which would have resulted in a touchback and New England would have the ball at the 20. Instead, Denver had the ball at the 1 and lead to a touchdown. Even with the two bum calls, Denver played extremely well and deserved the win. Without the two bad calls, the game would have been much closer and gone the other way but it didn't and Denver won because they outplayed New England. Now I'm 1-1.

This game was the last game but I wanted to leave the biggest shocker for last. So, the Chicago - Carolina game went as predicted, except for the score. Steve Smith's big plays crushed Chicago. I only said there'd be one, but a Smith had two huge touchdowns on a 12 reception 218 yard performance. This led to a 29-21 Carolina win. The shocker was the amount of points these two defensive teams put on the board. That's 2-1 for me.

The biggest surprise of the weekend was the Steelers victory over Indy. The Colts were the heavy favorites and Pittsburgh only won there first road playoff game in a long time last week against Cincinnati. So no one expected a 21-18 Steelers win. Unfortunately, the Colts seem to fold against a more physical team, which was exactly what happened. The Steelers were more physical and the Colts didn't adjust to the pressure. Peyton Manning and how people talk about how smart of a player he is, didn't adjust to the pressure. The game got very exciting at the end. Peyton was sacked twice including on fourth down to offically end the Colts last chance drive. Pittsburgh took control at the 2 yard line and ran Jerome "I haven't fumbled all year" Bettis to the right. The Colts plunged forward in Bettis' path and knocked the ball loose and Nick Harper picked up the ball and ran it back. Ben Roethlisberger made a touchdown saving tackle near midfield. Peyton took over made a few nice plays but the drive stalled after two passing miscues. Again, the pressure seemed to rattle him into making poor decisions. So it was left up to quite possibly the most accurate kicker in the league, who hadn't missed a field goal in the playoffs yet, to tie the game. Well, Mike Vanderjagt missed a 47 yard field goal by about 20 yards to the right. He wasn't even close and the Steelers pulled off the biggest upset of the year. Sadly, I ended the day 2-2. Total playoff record 6-2.

Weekend Picks

Well, it's almost time for the weekend round of NFL playoff games. So here are my picks:

I'll start with the easy one, Indy over the Steelers. Other than fans of the Steelers, I don't know anyone picking the Steelers to win. Both these teams met earlier in the year and Indy opened a can of you know what on Pittsburgh. Indy rolls 31-10.

I'm taking New England over Denver. I'll ride Golden Boy Tom Brady until he loses. Jake Plummer has played well this year but New England's defense will pressure him to no end and we'll all see the old Jake Plummer. Brady will improve to 11-0, which will set up another rematch between New England and Indianapolis. NE win 24-7.

The next two games I have no idea what to expect but I'll give it a shot. I believe the Seahawks will beat out a tough Washington team. Seattle is too tough at home, has more offense and will pound Shaun Alexander. I usually like to pick the strong defensive team but in this case, home field advantage means everything. Seattle is undefeated at home and the playoff losing streak for Seattle ends now. Seahawks win 24-20.

The game between Chicago and Carolina is an absolute toss up for me, but I'm taking Carolina. They were the sexy pick at the beginning of the season to go to the Super bowl and they are hot right now. This game will be a defensive struggle but the big play will win this game. Both teams will grind this game out running the ball and playing extremely good defense. Carolina has the x-factor in Steve Smith and I think one huge play from him will be the difference. Carolina holds on to win 13-10.

There you have it. Those are my picks and I'm stick to it. I'm 4-0 so far.

Get well Carson

I can only hope that Carson Palmer fully recovers from his injury. If he plays football again, that's an added bonus. In only his third year, he suffered a severe injury in his first playoff game and first for the Bengals' franchise since 1990. I hate to see players go down with an injury, especially ones who are so young and talented. For more on his injury check out the ESPN article.