I hate how ESPN does their stupid time killing segments during the “off” season (summertime). They are pointless. Why should anyone give a crap about them just because ESPN repeatedly pounds it into your brain? EX. that stupid ass tournament they with all the different athletes from different sports. (I can’t remember what it was called cuz I turned it off every time)
ESPN is at it again this summer, but this time its dubbed “Titletown”. Anyways if you give a crap about it, here’s the link to the Pittsburgh nomination for “Titletown”.
(PS - at least ESPN got something right, they fired Sean Salisbury)
Hossa negotiations should be heating up real soon according to the Trib. Hossa is the top free agent in the NHL so hopefully we can get him signed before the Rangers, Senators, or Bruins can try to dig their claws into him.
Here's some of the good and bad that comes with signing Marian Hossa. (Does this guy have a nickname? If not, he needs one if we resign him) Also, some other news from around the NHL.
There’s a 3 day sports festival called The Parade of Champions this weekend at the History Center in the Strip District. They are even filming part of Sportscenter from there on Saturday.
The best part of sports is winning and being able to rub it right in your opponents' face; it doesn't matter what your playing, or playing for. The best way to do so is to celebrate. Celebrations come in many different forms, but they are universal. The greatest celebrations come from professional sports, hands down. With that mind Pierogi's N'at brings you the Top 10 Worst/Best Sports Celebrations...
10. Tiger Woods 2008 US Open
We get it Tiger, you're good, you're real good, and you're not afraid to show it. The thing is, this is the most emotion I think I've ever seen Tiger show. He is definitely excited out there; and that knee looks to be holding up pretty well during the Hulk Hogan flexes. Nice job on the WWE style celebration. This celebration actually gave me the idea for this so I had to include it on the list.
9. Detroit Red Wings- The Twirling Octopus
I'm from Pittsburgh yes, but my opinion towards this celebration was solidified long before the Penguins lost the Cup this year to the Wings. I just think it takes way too much time and effort to sneak an octopus into the arena, just to get booted for tossing it. And the octopus creeps me out. (I'd rather just twirl a yellow towel personally) But I will admit it takes some hard work and dedication to get this one done, so I have to give 'em some credit.
8. Sammy Sosa and his handshake
Sammy Sosa, you got caught cheating by using a loaded bat and chances are you were on the juice. If people don't remember you for that then chances are they will remember you for hitting 600 homers. I will always recall Sammy's trademark ghetto ass Dominican handshake, pound, hand kiss, whatever the hell it was. Thanks for inspiring jagoffs to do things like this Sosa, thanks to them we'll never forget you.
7. Joey Porter "The Boot"
I loved Joey and I loved when he would get a sack because everytime he got one you knew the boot was coming. That was the thing you knew it was coming every time. It's not just Porter who's guilty; there's plenty of other NFL players who do it as well, but the least JPizzy coulda done was be a little more original and mix it up and try something fresh and new.
Das Boot!!!
6. Dale Sr. Wins the Daytona 500
Snack thinks this is a very heartwarming moment in the sport of the hill people, when Dale Sr. wins his first Daytona 500 after about 59 million tries, however the celebration was a little bit too Days of Thunder for his liking. Once the race was over, every pit crew member came down to pit road and congratulated Earnhardt by slapping 5 or slappin' his car - all this after he does some good ole fashioned shredding in the infield of Daytona. I think I'm going to go drink a Bud and flip the bird at someone in his honor right now....(PS - look at the impressive rat tail on his boy at the very beginning of the video. I thought it was 1998 not 1988, good lord he's creepy lookin')
5. The Bash Brothers- Mark McGwire and Jose Cancesco
Back in the day, these guys were known for crushing homeruns, and now-a-days we realize why. (They sacraficed shruken balls for long balls) Everyone who watched baseball in the late 80's remember's the 'Bash Brothers' and their manly celebration of bumping forearms after taking one yard. They probably thought up this celebration while shooting each others butt cheeks full of roids in the locker room before the game.
4. "Prime Time" Deion Sanders
Love him or hate him, Deion Sanders could always play ball. Lucky (or unlucky depending on how you look at it) for us, the viewer, Deion's playmaking ability allowed us to see plenty of his dance moves and hot-dogging. Granted, Prime Time did indeed play football, but he never hit anyone; at least you could look forward to his high stepping and famous end zone dances to make up for it.
Port Authority Police? What he do, drive in a bus lane?
3. Dikembe Mutumbo "Finger Wave"
Mutumbo was always one hell of a shot blocker over the years. However, he has indeed played many, many years in the NBA. He always liked to celebrate by waving his finger in an opponents' face after a block, and apparently it really pissed some people off. The reason I say this is because after being posterized by such players as Jordan, Shaq, and even Kenyon Martin, Mutumbo was taunted as they all waived fingers in his face humiliating him with his own celebration... ouch.
Top 10 Dunks on Mutumbo, impressive
2. Those Wacky NFL Wide Receivers
Why is that everytime you see some goofy, off the wall touchdown celebration using some type of prop or other clever gimick, it is always a wide receiver? I'll tell you why, it's because these group of guys are the biggest attention whores in pro sports. They are jealous because the quarterbacks and the running backs are always talked about, so they have to put on a production to steal the limelight away from them. Behold, the endzone dance.
Guilty Parties: Chad Johnson, Terrell Owens, Steve Smith, Joe Horn, and others.
The AFL WRs need to practice their celebrating
1. Robbie Fowler and Diego Maradona, Soccer Players-
Goal Celebration
Ridiculous stuff like this would never fly over here in the old USA. Judging by these videos, Fowler and Maradona put more speed up their nose then they have speed on the pitch. These guys prove the stereotype that soccer players like to party hard and bang super models; well at least the partying hard part. You've got to see these two videos to believe them, so check them out below. Both take place after game winning goals off penalty shots - those soccer players sure know how to celebrate a W.
Ok, so I decided to throw my two cents into the debate about who to keep, Bugsy Malone or Marian Hossa...If there's really any question in your mind about this one, then someone needs to go ahead and slap you on Big Snack's behalf.
Word is Ray Shero offered Hossa a 7 year, $50 million contract, and he's waiting on his response to see where else to go this offseason. It will really put his word to the test, as this will be only a very meager raise over his previous contract and he said he'd be willing to take less money to stay here and play with Sid. The true character of Hossa will come out here - do you make a grab at the cash or are you more concerned with winning a championship?
Will he stay or will he go?
As for Malone, it's quite evident if we sign Hossa, he's gone. He's going to command $5 million or more on the open market, and teams are already calling the Pens about trading draft picks just to NEGOTIATE with Malone before free agency begins. So even if we don't sign Hossa, we may well find out someone is willing to overpay Bugsy by about $3 million and decide he's not worth that much to us. So unfortunately, I think we're saying goodbye to Bugsy...
Bye bye Bugsy...
Brooks is an interesting case - he could go either way as far as staying or going. He's going to command about $4 million on the open market, but he has also expressed a willingness to stay for a lesser price in order to win. The problem is, do we really want to invest $3.5 million for 5 years to him? He's a solid defensive defenseman and he hits like a freight train, but we also have another ship in the water in the USS Hal Gill. So the question becomes, is he worth it to us? I say let him go and use his cash to try and keep Bugsy or to extend one of our budding superstars. We got a hitman, we don't need two at that price.
We took Flower to arbitation, and Staal seems to be on the backburner till all this plays out, so that leaves us with one big guy left to go - Geno Malkin. What to do with Geno? He's under the impression he will sign a 5 or 6 year deal with the Pens sometime around July 1, when he's allowed to start discussing an extension with the team, but some outlets have him being on the trading block.
I like Geno, a lot, but he needs to show me he can stay fresh for an entire season and that he's mentally tough enough to finish where he started. He did a fantastic job while Sid was out, carrying the Pens on his shoulders, but it seems like when he plays with Sid he falls into second fiddle mode, which for a guy like Malkin is just about the worst thing you can do. He has to prove he can be 1B to Sidney's 1A, not #2 to Sidney's #1. And he has to stay cheap enough that we can afford him along with Hossa and Sid and the rest. If he can do that, then we'd be fools to get rid of him, but if his head isn't right around Sid, then maybe we do trade him somewhere (LA apparently is willing to part with a king's ransom for him). It's definitely a tricky, tricky situation.
Hey, call me Geno...
So the ball's in you court, Shero. Don't crap your pants big boy, this is your first real test - don't pull a Tampa Bay and overpay 3 guys at the expense of the rest of the team. Make it work jagoff!
