Super Bowl

Bad Weekend For Football

It started on Friday night.  My Alma Mater, Altoona High, lost to McKeesport 47-7.

And then there was the Penn State "game."  I popped a blood vessel on my eye.  I think it happened when I thought we had stopped Bama on the fake punt.  Might have been later but I remember seeing twinkles in my vision.  Pretty sure my blood pressure was up then.

And then the Steeler game Sunday . . . 35-7 ????  R U Kidding me????

Man, I'm almost glad Monday finally came.

There's Always Next Year, Right?

Super Disappointment

Every sports fan has those games--THOSE GAMES--which go beyond merely losing a friendly athletic contest.

The 1979 Sugar Bowl
Minnesota 1999
Iowa 6 - PSU 4
THEM 2005

For Penguin fans, there is the OT loss in game 7 to the NY Islanders in 1993

For Red Sox fans, there's the Bill Buckner game.

Heart breaking losses ingames that where the win just slipped away.

You get the picture.

This Super Bowl is among those infamous losses, at least for Steeler fans.

Of course, by all rights, it is simply surprising that they made it to the big game at all.  Their starting QB was suspended for the first four games.  The offensive line had only, I believe, two starters from the beginning of the season still able to play.  They had to get by the Ravens and the Jets.  Yet, despite all the odds, here they were. . . .in the Super Bowl.

But just as Christina Aguilera botched the national anthem (why can't they just sing our country's anthem without trying to turn it into some kind of Broadway operatic diva solo?  But that is a topic for another day!) the Steelers fumbled and bumbled away the opportunity to add trophy #7 to their already crowded showcase.

Three turnovers led to 21 points, and the Steelers fell 31-25.  Let's face it, Ben had a bad day and looked reminiscent of Matt McGloin in the Outhouse Bowl.  He wasn't on the same page as his receivers on several plays and the pick six was a dagger in the hearts of the Black & Gold faithful.

Yet, despite 3 TOs and a 21 point swing in favor of the G-men, Pittsburgh still had a chance with about two minutes to go in the game to win it with a touchdown.  But a stupid unsportsmanlike personal foul pinned them deep and poor play calling and execution doomed any chance for a winning drive.

I knew it was going to be a close game and I really thought that the losing team would be within a score and have a chance to win it in the final minutes, but I truly thought it would have been the Steeler defense closing the victory and allowing Dan Rooney to hoist another trophy amid the confetti.

Armchair QBs will argue things ad nauseum, but I think this loss falls heavily on the defense.  What happened to them?  Yes, it's tough to win games when your offense turns the ball over three times.  Teams are 35-4 in the Super Bowl when the opponent has 3+ turnovers.  Yet, the Steelers still were in this thing despite those mistakes.

And let's be honest, the fumble in the fourth quarter could have happened to anyone.  Those things happen.  Helmet meets ball.  Ball loses.  Other team recovers.  Bad break.

But a championship team should have stepped up and tried to get the ball back, or at least for crying out loud and for all that is holy, stop the other team from scoring.

It's not the defense's fault on the pick six.

But the other two turnovers still left the cheeseheads with a ways to go to score, and both times they did so with relative ease.  If we had just held them to field goals on those two turnovers, Pittsburgh would have won the game on the scoreboard, if not the stat sheet.  The Steelers outgained GB in total yardage and first downs.

Ghey looked lost in coverage.  Polamalu was a non-factor.  Seriously, where was he at?  One of the announcers made the comment on a play that he was out of position that that happens sometimes when you play on instincts.  Were his instincts wrong the whole game?  A single play I can live with someone being out of position.  But to be brutally honest, our best defense of the night was the Green Bay defenders that dropped passes.  This game could have been really ugly if not for those drops.

Defense wins championships.  That's why the Steelers don't have another Lombardi Trophy in their trophy case.  And with the age of this team, it might be a long time before they have another chance to climb the stairway to seven.

And apparently, Steeler fans aren't the only ones in pain.  According to Penn State Clips, Vegas took a pretty good hit on the outcome as well.  Serves them right for picking the Packers.

More Steeler Pictures

From the Winter Album of Teri Kitzmiller Thomas:

Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney Polamalu Day!

Punxsy Phil did not see his shadow . . . an early Spring!

Punxsy Polamalu did not see his shadow . . . another RING!

Here's the original TV ad:



HERE WE GO STEELERS . . . HERE WE GO!

Troy-a-saurus Rex Eats Cheeseheads

Loyal Fans

In case you haven't heard, Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl!

They are climbing the stairway to SEVEN.

They are knocking at SEVEN's door.

Genaro Armas of AP looks at the phenomenon of Steeler Fever:

Proud, tough and resilient. The same adjectives that could describe the Pittsburgh Steelers could also apply to their large and fiercely loyal fan base.

"It's in your blood. I have the Terrible Towel that I was wrapped in as a baby," said Rob Mowry, 35. The Pittsburgh-area native manages a trading company and owns a restaurant in Chicago, but still flies back to western Pennsylvania at least four times a year to watch Steelers games.

A yellow placard taped to a car window in a hotel parking garage offered a reminder through a new signature phrase: "Knocking On 7's Door."

After another AFC title trophy presentation at Heinz Field, team president Art Rooney II spoke Sunday night of "finishing the job."

"Steeler Nation, we're going to Dallas," he proclaimed. The Steelers, known as a model NFL franchise, have been run by three generations of the Rooney family.

It's the organization's mom and pop-type feel that resonates with its fan base, even if the Steelers are a big business and one of the top-selling teams in the NFL. The franchise's sense of loyalty appeals to the blue-collar sensibilities of western Pennsylvanians.

Many of those who departed [Pittsburgh] took their Steelers allegiance with them and passed it on to children and grandchildren. Those who stayed viewed the team as the common bond that offered a brief distraction from the economy's harsh realities.

"It's our way of life," Coen said. "If you're in this town, and you're not a Steelers fan, you're almost not accepted."

Just Ended Their Season

From LaMarr Woodley's Facebook Album:

Cooled the Jets!

Now Pittsburgh's Going to the SUPER BOWL!

Stairway to Seven

Fans: Born or Bred?

It is the off-season for Penn State football, recruiting notwithstanding.  And the Steelers don't play until tomorrow night.  I am bored.  So I thought perhaps I would blog to pass the time, but what pray tell should I blog about?

Penn State wrestling is hot right now, but to be brutally honest, I simply cannot get into that sport.

The men's basketball team is not as bad as usual--winning a couple games against ranked Big Ten opponents, and coming up just points short of upsetting OSU and Purdue.  But alas, basketball is a sport I cannot sink my teeth into, at least not without double dribbling all over my self.

So a friend of mine from high school sent me a link to his blog today, imploring me to read it.  It was titled Steelers Fans, My Family and Friends.  I can sink my teeth into that.

Basically, he attempts to explain that while he doesn't loathe the Steelers, he isn't a die hard fan.  He struggles to find an explanation to such a simple and easy question as, Are you a Steeler Fan?

This dilemma has nothing to do with whether or not I will be rooting for the Steelers. It has to do with … ‘The Question’! What is the question? It goes something like this, “Ready for the Steelers’ game, George?” OR the ‘other question’, which is worse … “So, are you a Steelers’ fan?”

When answering the first question, I can (and at times do) take the easy way out by responding with something to the effect of, “Sure, always ready for football!!!” And yet, there are times when for whatever reason I feel that I must elaborate and add, “But, I am not a diehard Steelers’ fan.” It is during these times that I see some of the dirtiest, confused looks on people’s faces. What can be worse are the situations when I must answer the second question. I will share my polite answer, but you must know that it does not always get me very far. When asked if I am a “Steelers’ fan”, I most often choose to respond with, “Not the way most people around here are. But I respect the team, everything that they have accomplished as a franchise, the Rooney family, and they way they seem to have done it with as much class as possible in an ever changing societal atmosphere.” As you might imagine, that answer often gets me out of further explanation.

To be perfectly honest, had you asked me before I read this blog if my friend was a Steeler fan or not, I would have said most certainly he was.  Why wouldn't he be?  But I am surprised.  Just like when I found out my neighbor was a Pitt fan.  Honestly, they look so normal sometimes it can be very deceiving.

My friend goes on . . .

“I am a HUGE NFL fan, but I just don’t have a favorite team. I tend to root for teams who have players or coaches whom I like and enjoy watching.” Most of the time, that type of answer will do it, especially if I immediately turn and walk away. It is simply not a very satisfying ending for me.

I can live with an answer like that.  I don't understand it, but I can live with it.  This is a very common fan type as I will discuss below.  But then he drops this bombshell:

The true response is that I grew up a Dallas Cowboys fan, bleeding silver and blue all over the place, crying my eyes out at 14 years old IN FRONT OF OTHER PEOPLE when they lost yet another Super Bowl to the ‘Stupid Steelers’.

OMG.  This is akin to finding out your first grade teacher was really a satanist.  You suspected it back then, but would never have believed it years later when she was caught sacrificing animals on an altar in her livingroom, even if it had been posted on Youtube with several million hits.  This is simply shocking. 

Just in case my first grade teacher is still alive and has taken time from her satanic rituals to read this blog, let me just say I made all that up.  But it would be shocking, wouldn't it?

My friend and I grew up in Altoona, Pa., the very heart of Steeler country, (and Penn State for that matter!)  In the 1970's, during our young formative years, the Steelers were the dynasty in the NFL.  Dallas was the Evil Empire, although the Raiders were worse, by virtue of having to face them in the play-offs so often.

So how is that a normal healthy boy in central Pennsyltucky grows up to be a Dallas Cowboys fan?  How can you not like Art Rooney, Chuck Noll, Terry Bradshaw and the Steel Curtain???  It's obviously not something in the water.  And this is not an isolated finding.

People who have never gone to Notre Dame, are not Irish, Catholic, or Irish-Catholic, and live nowhere near Indiana nor have ever been in Indiana root for Notre Dame.  People who can't even spell Notre Dame, root for that school.  These people also shop at Walmart at 3 am, but the significance of this information deserves more study than I can devote here in this blog.

Is it genetic?  Was his dad a Cowboy's fan?  Is there a gene with the lone star embedded on it?  I would like to believe that there is some explanation beyond just free rational choice to explain such a poor choice.  After all, if we can blame drug addiction as a medical disease and exonerate the individual of all personal responsibility, can we not do so for decisions like these???

But alas, I fear some of this may just be youthful rebellion.  I have a friend, who was once a cheerleader for Penn State, whose son now wears Notre Dame shirts as if that is a perfectly acceptable thing to do in public.  Another friend, who had seats right behind the Penn State bench (and lost them due to relocation for disability seating) has a son who wears . . .please forgive me God . . . an Ohio State shirt.  I KNOW!  I strongly suspect he does it just to irk me, but his parents don't know how to handle it either.

My own son, flesh of my loins, is a Flyers fan.  We are (Penn State!) Penguins fans.  This just dumbfounds me (and embarrasses me to no end in public.)  I don't know how to handle the situation either.  I do blame this on genetics, though, as my wife's family is from Quakertown and they are all Flyers and Eagles fans down there.

Now we are talking real fans here.  I am not talking about fans who "claim" to follow and support a team, but then allow life to go on normally after "their" team loses.  How can that be?  If you are a properly and emotionally invested fan, you simply can't shrug and say, "better luck next time." 

YOUR TEAM JUST LOST!   THERE MIGHT NOT BE A NEXT TIME! THE FABRIC OF THE UNIVERSE MIGHT UNRAVEL BECAUSE OF THIS!  DON"T THEY UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF WINNING?

Would we be here today if God had lost to chaos and the earth was never created?

Who lost to Polk in the presidential election?  If you know, big deal.  You are probably a history teacher, an idiot savant, or a seriously deranged intellectual.  Or you just Googled it, cheater.  Normal people don't know that!  Heck, normal people might not even know Polk was a president--I don't know, somehere back in the 1600's--but I know he must have won.  And no one cares about the LOSER except the LOSER.  In the case of Polk, we barely even give a hoot about the winner.

What in the bloody hell was I talking about before I digressed?

Fans?

Fans.

They are a nice alternative to air conditioning on a hot summer day.  Thank you for your participation.

How To Be a Rabid Football Fan on Howcast

Here We Go!

Pittsburgh's going to the AFC Championship Game!  Fourth time in seven years.

Enjoy!

Steeler Defense

Leapin' Lizards!

The following is Troy Polamalu's Leaping sack in Sunday's game against the Titans, featuring Kerry Collins at QB.



Compare and contrast that with the Lavar Leap (essay question):

Vote for the Steelers

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