Monday Morning Hangover...

Okay better late then never. Diego had the day off yesterday thanks to President’s day, but now its back to the hustle with another installment of Monday Morning Hangover. We had Pens in action, NBA skills competition, some fighting, and more drama from the world of baseball and steroids.

The highlight of the sports weekend from me was watching the NBA skills competition Saturday night. I hate the NBA and everyone knows that, but I can remember watching the dunk competition when I was just a young lad, then going out to a lowered hoop and attempting the dunks myself (often resulting in scraped up knees and bruised elbows). I could care less about the actual game itself.

The NBA skills competition has regressed in the past few years I will admit, but this year there was a lot hype surrounding the dunk contest. This was due to the fact that Dwight Howard asked for help on his dunk from NBA fans on Youtube, and also because there were rumors he and Rudy Gay would lift up the rim to 12 feet and attempt dunks. Rookie Jamario Moon predicted his own victory (didn’t happen). This kid really has some ups though and he has one hell of a story on how he made it to the NBA. He started off at a community college, played for the Harlem Globetrotters, and numerous minor league teams before making to the Toronto Raptors as a 27 years old rookie.

Howard single-handedly made sure that the dunk contest was entertaining this year; with three of the most creative and impressive dunks I have ever seen in my life. It is hard to pick a favorite, but I would probably go with the one where he ripped off his jersey to expose a Superman shirt underneath. Donning a cape he proceeded to fly through the air (his head above the rim) and throw down the dunk…

(Pic from shanghaidaily.com)

Up, Up and Awaaaayyyy!

The Pens got a quality win out of the boys on Sunday evening, with another impressive showing from Geno Malkin and Ty Conklin. Sid the Kid completed his first full practice on Monday since his ankle injury last month. Word has already come down that there will be no Sid tonight, but get ready though folks he should be back in the not too distant future.

Without Sid the Pens have still managed to come within two points of division leader New Jersey Devils. In Sid’s absence Geno Malkin has developed into the best player in the NHL. He simply can’t be stopped right now. The other team knows he is our bread and butter, but so far there has been nothing that they can do about it. Malkin, with 34 goals this year, is currently 14 goals behind fellow Russian Alex Ovechkin, but the way he’s scoring lately, he may catch him real soon.

It is crazy how well the Pens have meshed since losing their captain. It really looks like a whole other team out there at times. Before Sid went down its as if we only had one line doing the scoring, but after his injury the scoring has become more sporadic. This should help Therrien develop more lines with scoring ability and ultimately help the Pens win games in the playoffs.

Don’t miss the Pens tonight at 7:30 at home against the Panthers (PS - it's Jordan Staal bobblehead night)

(Pic from msnbc.msn.com)

Geno has good reason to be smiling...

There was also a couple fights that I wanted to see Saturday night, but I missed. First, there was Youngstown’s own Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik and his rematch against Jermaine Taylor. No one got KO’d in this one, like in the first match, but it was still a good fight. Most importantly, The Ghost got the win through a decision. Is Pavlik the next big thing in boxing? His record of 33-0 is impressive.

Also, street acclaimed street fighter and PN@ favorite Kimbo Slice took on a fat, sloppy, and man boobed Tank Abbot. This was Kimbo’s second mixed martial art fight, and he easily knocked out Tank in 43 seconds. Tank never stood a chance in this one, from the moment the bell rung he looked like he was about to crap his pants standing in the ring with the jacked up Slice. Personally I would like to see Kimbo take a shot at Mike Tyson. That would be just pure entertainment at its finest right there!

(Pic from w00tpwnoge.com)

Fight of the century...

In baseball news, the steroid drama continues… get used to hearing about this all summer long people because you most certainly will be. I am annoyed with it already, people cheat in sports deal with it. The greatest homerun hitter of all time cheated, and now its come to light that one of the best pitchers in the history of the game also is a cheater.

Andy Pettite is snitching on his friend Roger Clemens, and that isn’t right. However people who actually still believe that Clemens didn’t use performance enhancers are morons. Pettitte implicated his own father for supplying him with HGH, so why in the name of Brian McNamee would he lie about Clemens taking the steroids. It doesn’t make too much sense to me at all. Additionally whomever Roger Clemens hired as a defense team needs to be fired. You make over 20 million a year Roger don’t be an idiot, cuz they people that told you to get up there and talk about “misremembering” the past are jag offs.

Until lata...

Monday Morning Hangover...

Lots of Penguin action this weekend with back-to-back home afternoon games on Saturday and Sunday. It was a nice looking home stand for the Pens as they won both games outright and took over the number one spot in the Atlantic division. No Sid the Kid, no problem as plenty of other’s have stepped their game up in the captain’s absence.

Pens were the only action in town this weekend, but gotta show some love to the ‘Stache and his Pitt football program. Wannie had one heck of a recruiting class this year with 14 recruits coming from Pennsylvania (9 from WPIAL/ 6 of the top 11 in the state). This was such a good recruiting year that it was best in the Big East, and ranked No 25 in the nation by Scout.com and 29th by Rivals.com.

It is good to see Wannie’s hiring paying off with three solid draft classes in a row. Pitt definitely went entirely too long without recruiting players from the area, especially the WPIAL (where there is plenty of talent to go around). The QB position will be the biggest concern, with Bill Stull, Pat Bostick, and JUCO transfer Greg Cross all in the mix. Getting back Derek Kinder and adding 6’5” recruit receiver Jonathan Baldwin will certainly help the cause of whoever is chosen to be the signal caller.

Note from Diego: Pitt athletic directory Steve Pederson has decided to lower season ticket prices in order to sell out Heinz Field for Pitt football games this season. Pretty smart if you ask me as its always good to have that extra home field advantage. It’s a lot easier to get fired up playing in front of a full house as opposed to a half empty stadium.

No Sid, No problem

Those were two great games this weekend by our Pens. Here’s hoping that Geno’s parents stay in Pittsburgh forever, if that is the way he is going to always play whenever they are watching in person(7 points in two days). Also, winger’s Sykora and Malone are both increasing their production as well. Malone is just bullying players from around the opponent’s goal, especially with the man advantage; while Sykora is finding open ice and has been on the receiving end of a lot of Malkin’s assist’s. The chemistry between these three players has led Pittsburgh to three victories in a row at home, and given them 1st place in the Atlantic division.

So is it just me or is it a little weird how the Pens are now scoring like madmen on their power play? Part of the reason may be that the team is playing with a chip on their shoulder because many believed they would struggle to keep their composure with Crosby out with injury. Now the Pens are playing great hockey, and Sid is ahead of schedule and is practicing already with the team. As reader Benny’s Ghost suggested in the comments, with Sid due back in the lineup and Gary Roberts and the Flower coming back as well, Shero and Therrien have to make some tough decisions lying around the corner.

The first line- LW- Malone C- Malkin RW- Sykora

Malkin had 33 goals in 78 games played last season, but this season he already has 31 goals with 26 games remaining. Malkin had only 5 goals per month in October through December, but in January he had 13 games played, 12 goals, and 5 assists. So far this month he’s been equally impressive scoring 4 goals and 11 assists, in only 5 games played. There are 9 games remaining this month and Malkin hasn’t showed any signs of slowing down as he constantly looks like the best, and fastest, player on the ice, no matter who the opponent. Furthermore, scoring from Malone and Sykora has also increased, along with the team’s power play that is now ranked 3rd in the NHL. (scoring on 21.2% of all PP’s).

This is the line Therrien has been looking for all year, and breaking them apart right now would be silly. It is unlikely that this line will keep producing on the same pace it is right now; but it still makes sense to keep Malkin and Sid on different lines, once Sid returns. One reason that its important to keep the two superstars split up is so teams can’t stack all their best defensive players on one line against them both. The question remains, which other player’s should Therrien pair up with Sid?

That answer to that question may not be so simple, but Colby has shown some chemistry and scoring ability when playing along the Kid. As for left wing that may be a little trickier as the line of Staal, Christenson, and Talbot has also been playing very well together as a whole. As reader Beanie suggested, players like Sid make everyone around them better, just look how Lemieux did it with Bob Erray. Should the Pens give Kennedy a shot on Sid’s line? Or do they need more firepower then just Armstrong and TK? What about Roberts? He could fit in well with Sid. We will have to wait a couple weeks to have this question answered, but who knows by then Shero might make a move that shakes up the whole roster. This leads me to my next topic the trade deadline.

Trade Deadline- February 26

Last year it was ‘Scary’ Gary Roberts and Georges Laraque, who will it be this year? There has been plenty of talk about Ray Shero wheeling and dealing at the trade deadline again this year, but there hasn’t been any action yet. Who is the most expendable?

With the improved play of Malone and his emergence into a 20 score threat, does this mean that Staal could be on his way out the door? As Tim Benz stated on his morning show on 105.9 the X today, its not like they are going to get a scoring winger for Taffe and a bag full of pucks. If the Pens wanna make a move chances are they are going to have to give up some young talent, and Staal and Fleury have been two of the names coming up most frequently.

My belief is that Staal should go before Fleury, I would hate to see him leave but Sabby as the back up goalie in the playoffs is down right scary. On the other hand I don’t wanna just get a rent-a-player for one season because it wouldn’t be worth giving up such quality young talent for one shot at a title. What do you think the Pen’s should do?

Note from Snack - I still think we should try and get Hossa from Atlanta, as a line of Crosby - Hossa - Armstrong along with a Malkin - Malone - Sykora line looks pretty damn good heading into March...

Until lata...

Monday Morning Hangover...

Lots of sports action to recap this weekend. The Pens took a big loss, Pitt dropped another one on the road in the Big East, and championship Sunday lived up to expectations. Pretty disappointing for Pittsburgher’s as Sid the kid got hurt and the hated Pats continued their amazing winning streak.

I’ll start by talking about our beloved Penguins. The injury to Sid sucks, that’s for sure, and it happened on my friend’s birthday - way to go "Shiver me Timbers" Pricer, at least he was too smashed to remember it (most likely). Anyhow, the injury looked serious, and it was confirmed at a press conference this morning that Sid would be out till March, a good 6 to 8 weeks at least is likely.

Although this is bad news for the Pens, it could also prove to be beneficial as well. Just look at last night for example, no Sid, no problem. I know what your thinking, yes we did loose the game, but on the other hand we managed to score 5 goals without the captain skating. And that’s with a 4th line filled with players I’d never really heard of, and Sabourin pooping the bed for more then half the game.

Without Sid there a lot of players who are going to be forced to step up and be forced into bigger roles on the team. Undoubtedly Geno Malkin is the first name that comes to mind here, but contrary to popular belief and 7 goals, 2 assists, and +5 in the last 5 games, he can’t do it alone. Players like Jordan Staal, Max Talbot, Eric Christensen, and Petr Sykora will all have to step their game up and make plays in order to keep up the current pace that they’ve been on and keep a high seed going into the playoffs.

Also, the minor league players who are playing in the NHL for the first time will have a couple months to get accustomed to the speed of NHL play. This could prove to be valuable as #47 Tim Brent, #34 Jonathan Filewich, #48 Tyler Kennedy, #39 Chris Minard, and #33 Ryan Stone may be able to contribute come April. With that said, as long as we can get solid goalie play from Conklin and the Flower the rest of the way out we should be in good shape come March when Sid returns to the ice.

The Pens went 1-1-1 over the weekend, and managed to nab an extra point by going to OT last night against the Capitals. This was the battle for Red Square as Geno Malkin faced off against former roommate and Russian counterpart Alex Ovechkin. Versus got pretty lucky picking this one, as it was one of the most entertaining games of the season, and it didn’t even feature the game's best player.

Geno and Ovechkin stole the show; they each put up 2 goals and an assist, and both made spectacular plays throughout. Malkin finished with 7 shots and Ovechkin fired 11. The best play came in the 2nd, when Malkin was swooping in behind his own goal and Ovechkin came at him like a charging freight train from the opposite direction. Luckily, Geno saw him at the last minute and managed to shoulder check him and send him spiraling down to the ground like a Blackhawk helicopter shot down by an RPG (Note from Snack: That's a Call of Duty 3 reference for those of you not hipto the scene). This play almost resulted in Malkin dropping the gloves with his former Russian buddy, but alas, it never ended up happening. This coulda been a nice heavyweight battle as Ovechkin goes 6’1” 215 lbs and Malkin goes 6’ 3” 200. There’s always next time I guess (March 9th at Washington).

Crazy stat of the game: The Pens took 15 shots and scored on 5 of them...that’s pretty efficient shooting even though we were playing against Ollie the goalie.

Side note: The Pens looked good in the shootout again; Christensen and Letang both beat Kolzig, but both managed to miss the open net. Even though we lost, I like the line up the Pens used last night for the shoot out. I think that’s the line to stick with for the time being, as those guys have the ability to win a lot of close games for the Pens in the last couple months.

* Thanks to the reader for mentioning this in the comments - that hit by Staal on Donald Brashear was sweet, young Staaly really rang the big man’s bell on that one, way to go Jordan!

(Note from Snack: It's just been announced that Geno Malkin is in the All-Star Game, replacing an injured Sid. I'm glad this injustice was finally taken care of, but it doesn't diminish the fact that he should have been there in the first place.)

Pitt loses to Cinci

I'm not going to discuss much about the Pitt game, as I was stuck working and am relying on Snack's "expert" account. Here's a recap from someone who saw it, but I will say this - If Blair doesn't play well, Pitt doesn't play well.

It seems like as he goes, so does the team. The hard nosed, physical aspect of his game is missed every time he's not on the court, and to be honest, without his inside presence, we're just a perimiter team, and that won't get it done in the Big East.

Championship Sunday

Now on to some football action, and Sunday had plenty of it with both championship games taking place is some sub zero temperatures (the way football was meant to be played). The early game wasn’t such a good one, as the Pats pretty much held control throughout, but the night game was one of the best playoff games I’ve seen in quite some time.

Patriots vs Chargers

No one really thought the Chargers were gonna win this one, especially the odds makers who set a 14.5 point spread in favor of the Pats. The Chargers did have a shot, but they ended up with too many mistakes and not enough TD’s to get the job done.

Tom Brady did everything he could to keep the Chargers in the game by throwing three picks and looking very un-Bradylike. It was the Chargers who could not make the most with the opportunities given to them as they made four red zone appearances, but scored zero (count em zero) TDs against the rugged Patriots defense. It didn’t help that LT sat on the sideline in an overcoat and that tinted visor helmet of his the whole game. (Hey LT I know your pissed about not playing but how about getting your teammates a little fired up) That really made me mad that he was just sitting there like that, cheer your team on ya jagoff.

On the other hand, Phillip Rivers gained some points with me for the performance he put forth that cold afternoon in Foxboro. After the game it was released that Rivers has his knee scoped during the week, and he was noticeably limping all through the game Sunday. Rivers still managed to play a pretty solid game, even though he had two picks. I strongly disagree with the halftime assessment of Bill Cowher, Dan Marino, and company who all wrote Rivers off in favor of Billy Volek. It took balls for Rivers to play in that game, and I believe it was his game to be won or lost.

The true error in judgment came toward the end of the game when the Chargers were facing a 4th down and 10 from the Patriots 36 yard line. Norv Turner elected to punt in this situation. The Pats did what they do, and Norv and the Chargers offense were forced to watch from the sidelines as time ticked down and they lost the game and were sent back to sunny San Diego.

Note: TMZ posted pics today of Tom Brady going to his girl’s apartment in NYC with a walking cast on his leg. Could be trouble for the golden boy.

(Pic from bostonherald.com)

Poor baby...Waddle up to your supermodel girlfriend, jagoff...

Packers vs Giants

Now this game was a nail biter, with both teams repeatedly gaining and losing the opportunity to put this one away and move on to the Super Bowl. It was bitter cold in Lambeau with a wind chill temperature dropping down to a frigid negative 25 degrees. (It wasn’t much warmer in the Burgh Sunday) And I admit, I expected to see some maniacs with their shirts off, but I definitely didn’t expect them to be girls...those female Pack fans are hardcore, no doubt about it.

(Pic from viewimages.com)

How you doing?

I was rooting for the Pack in this one, and not just for Favre, but for Mike McCarthy as well. As you saw, friends of PNA from Pittsburgh made it to the game - all the way down to the sideline - and were kind enough to send us some exclusive pics. Who says we don’t know people? If the Pack woulda won please believe there woulda been some rowdy celebration pics...there’s always next year I guess. (That seems to be the theme of this post)

I thought this would be a good game, but I had no idea how crazy it would get. After battling back and forth for 3 quarters the score remained knotted up 20-20. Luckily for the Packers it stayed that way after Lawrence Tynes missed two field goals to send the game into OT. (I didn’t think there was a snowball's chance in hell he was missing the second one) Apparantly Tynes was wearing some leg warmers so he wouldn’t get cold...guess that didn’t work out too well for him.

Favre was forced to throw most of the day as the Giants D wasn’t giving the Pack any room to run the ball. A mistake by Favre in OT proved to be the turning point of the game, as he threw an INT on an out pattern in the second play of overtime. In my opinion, Corey Webster, the man who intercepted Favre, saved the life of Lawrence Tynes, who surely already had money placed on his head in NYC for missing those two easy kicks in regulation. (even my friend from Jersey who roots for the Giants gave up hope after miss # 2) Tynes, seemingly knowing his life could have damn well been on the line, booted a 47 yard game winner sending the Giants to the Super Bowl.

This has been quite the run for the Giants in the playoffs, winning all their games on the road to make it to Arizona in two weeks. Eli Manning is easily the playoff MVP thus far, as he has yet to throw a pick all post season (knock on wood). Also, how about Plax? This guy really learned to catch since leaving the Burgh...He was grabbing up everything thrown his way, finishing with 11 catches and 154 yards, and looked pretty unstoppable in the process.

Side note: Some jagoff called in Mark Madden yesterday talking about Santonio is a better WR then Burress. Madden basically laughed at the dude and told him there’s not a GM in the league that would take Holmes over Burress, and I agree. The Steelers really miss a player like Plax with an amazing combo of size and speed. Sure he might not be the toughest guy, but there is a lot to be said about a guy who plays hurt all season long and still manages to put up the numbers that he did this year… not to mention dominate in the playoffs.

See yinz next week…

Monday Morning Hangover...

What a weekend folks… what a weekend… no beating around the bush today I am just going to get right down to it…

I’d really like to write a recap of the Steelers game for you, but my tailgate party started at about 3 in the afternoon, and even though we lost, the party didn’t stop until 3 in the morning. Needless to say my memory of details of the game isn’t all that great. Therefore I will just talk about/recap the things I do actually remember and also the things that I’ve heard the most bitching about over the last 24 hours.

The first drive for the Lers started off so promising as we drove the ball down the field and scored a TD to open the game. So far so good, everyone is happy, and everyone is fired up, I couldn’t think of a better way to start the game off. Now it was time to kick off and as everyone who’s seen a Steelers game this season knows, kicking off is crapshoot and this time the Steelers crapped out. Maurice Jones Drew took the kickoff 96 yards to the 1 yard line and the game was quickly tied at 7. Way to go special teams coach (I don’t even know what your name is and I don’t care cuz you will surely be fired within days or weeks) Why wouldn’t you use the same type of high short kick that worked against the Jets? Jagoff...

The rest of the first half was a struggle for the Lers to say the least. The Jags D-line made the Steelers run game almost non-existent as they were just working our offensive line over, constantly pushing them backwards. Due to the fact that Dookie Davenport was struggling to find any room, Big Ben was forced to take the game into his own hands. Ben was forced to throw for most of the half, which ultimately led to 3 costly interceptions. Rashean Mathis picked Ben twice, returning one for over 60 yards and a touchdown. That INT hurt, but the one that proved to hurt the worst was the one Ben threw right before halftime, while the Steelers were in position to kick a FG before the clock hit zero in the half.

The third quarter came and went and the Steelers fell even deeper into the hole starting the 4th quarter down 18 points. At this point a lot of people were probably counting the Steelers out, but Big Ben provided some of his best play of the night while under tremendous pressure. Ben led two touchdown drives within a 5 minute period, throwing TDs to Santonio and Heath, and bringing the Lers to within 5 points of the Jags, after missing a 2 point conversion on the 2nd TD.

Now it was finally starting to get interesting. After being behind for a good majority of the game, the Steelers were back within one TD of taking the lead. The Steelers got some help from Gararrd as he threw his second pick of the night to Ike Taylor, who returned it to the 16-yard line. Shortly afterwards the Steelers scored again on a one yard Dookie TD run. Now the Steelers were up a point and going for 2 to make it a 3-point lead. Arians called a fade play to Hines, which worked, as he snagged the throw with an acrobatic catch in the back of the end zone… but wait what’s this? A yellow hankie on the field, holding on Sean “Turnstyle” Mahan, 10-yard penalty replay the down. Of course the Steelers missed the 2 and were forced to settle for the slim 1-point lead.

After forcing a Jags punt the Steelers held their destiny in their own hands, as all they had to do was run out the clock and the game would be over and we could all party like rockstars. This did not happen. The Steelers faced a 3rd and 6 in their own zone, and instead of calling a pass play to Heath Miller or the sure handed Hines Ward (which woulda ended the game) freakin Arians calls a QB draw…. Yes that’s right a QB draw play, maybe Arians was confused and he saw that #10 was on the field and thought it was Kordell still running the offense. Talk about your all time backfires, we can’t run all day long but Arians calls a run play when we need yards most… it doesn’t make any sense to me either, but I’m pretty sure that coach Wiz woulda had a better play call up his sleeve. (I’m sure he was probably thinking thesame thing as he watched the game from his lazyboy in Arizona)

We all already know what happened next… shitty punt, 3rd and long conversion, 4th down kick in the nuts QB draw run by Gararrd, field goal Scobee, 70 thousand people going home drunk and angry. You can bitch about the holding call on the running play by Gararrd, but whats the point it won’t change anything. I do think its BS you can call a holding on Mahan on the conversion, but you ignore the call against Hampton… such is life though I guess and this year just wasn’t the Steelers year. Good game played by both teams here, and definitely one of the more entertaining games I’ve ever had the pleasure going to see.

Now the question remains, where do we go from here? With an already depleted O-line and Red Beard Faneca almost certainly departing in the offseason, the Steelers will have a lot of challenges to face and questions to answer. Can we really afford to resign Faneca and Big Ben? Can the players stay out of the slammer during the summer time? Will Hines Ward every finally realize that the Locker Room bar in the Southside sucks and cut ties with it? All questions to ponder during this offseason.

Diego's Monday Morning Hangover...(Part 1)

Well folks this was the weekend we’ve all been waiting for, too bad it didn’t turn out how we all expected it to. I’m not sure what it is about Pittsburgh sports, but it seems like their can only be one team on a hot streak at a time in this city, and this week it was the Penguins. The Pens got three wins this week, all of which coming in overtime, and all of which coming against opponents from western Canada. Kris Letang proved calling him up from Wilkes-Barre was wise as he provided the game winner in the shootout two games in a row. The Flower got hurt early in the week, but Danny S came in and looked impressive in his two starts leading Bob Erray to state, “maybe they shouldn’t tell Sabourin when he’s gonna play in future games.” The Pens have won 8 of their last 9 games making their record 15-12 for the season.

It is good to see the Pens finally getting their act together. It seems like the lines that Thierren has going now are meshing well together. I know coach T likes to mess around with the lines a lot, but apparently there is a method to his madness, as he seems to finally have put all of the pieces of the puzzle together. I especially like the fact he is giving Malkin and Crosby minutes on the penalty kill, as their hard work seems to be supplying the Pens with more energy and goal scoring chances. It is also nice to see Danny S stepping in and playing on a high level in goal. All these factors combined with the fact that Mad Max Talbot is back in the starting lineup, are adding up to more wins and more points for the once struggling Pens team. Next up we’re in Philly tomorrow night for a rivalry game with Flyers.

(Pic from viewimages.com)

Could he give Sid a few pointers in the shoot out?

Pitt 75

Washington 74

The Pens weren’t the only sports action on Saturday, we also were treated to a Pitt basketball game. The Panthers played the Washington Huskies Saturday afternoon, and after 7 games in the Pete, and 1 game down the road at the AJ Palumbo Center, this game would be their first true road game. This would be no walk in the park either, as the Huskies were sporting a 31 game winning streak against non-conference opponents at home (4 years and 5 days incase you were counting), which was the longest such streak in the Nation.

Pitt struggled a little in the first half of this one, but managed to keep it close thanks to 16 first half points out of point guard and team leader Levance Fields. Fields had a game high 20 points going 7 of 9 from the field. Sam Young and Mike Cook each contributed 14 points. The highlight of the game came off of a steal and fast break opportunity, on a give and go pass with Young and Fields, which resulted in an alley-oop slam-dunk from high-flyer Sam Young (37 inch vertical leap). Blair also came up huge on Saturday posting a double double with 16 points and 14 rebounds. He actually grabbed 14 of the 31 rebounds Pitt had in the game, and he also had 3 steals and 2 blocks.

The Huskies were led by guard Appleby who came off the bench and scored 18 (on 6 three pointers), including a couple three’s late in the game that kept his team alive. Forward Brockman played a big role for Washington, scoring 17 points and grabbing 12 boards, 7 on the offensive end. Washington, trailing most of the second half due to a strong start from Pitt, actually had a chance to win this one at the end of regulation. Huskies point guard Dentmon hit what appeared to be the game winning lay-up, after a Fields missed foul shot, which led to a celebration from the crowd. The play was close though and after what seemed like an eternity the ref’s made the right call and waved off the winning basket because the ball hadn’t left his hand before the clock expired, giving Pitt their 9th win of the season.

Pitt may have got lucky in this one, but the Washington Huskies looked like a pretty solid team, especially playing on their home court. It is good to see upperclassman Fields and Young having a solid season thus far. There were ramblings that Young was unhappy with his playing time last year as a sophomore, but luckily for Pitt he decided to stick around, and it is paying off as Young is putting up points in bunches. The biggest difference between this year’s team and last year’s is that we now have an outstanding athlete at the center position. The presence of DeJuan Blair allows Pitt to play more of a transition game, which we lacked with super slow white boy Gray, and that seems to favor all of those NYC guards on the team who like to run and gun. Losing big-man Aaron Gray definitely hurts, but so far Blair isn’t playing like a freshman; his hard work ethic is translating into better chemistry with the players who surround him. Pitt gets a week break before they see Oklahoma at home next Saturday afternoon.

Until lata...

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Monday Morning Hangover...(Part 2)

The Steeler nation would have to get a through a long day of football on Sunday, not to mention a long work day on Monday, before getting to see the Steelers play on Monday night. When waking up on Monday morning, us Pittsburghers were treated to a dark, windy, cold, and rainy start to the day. It was definitely a sign of things to come for the game later that night. Hey, at least it was Monday and it was a football night in Pittsburgh.

Finally done with work after a day that seemed to go by oh so slowly, and after turning down a couple opportunities to go down to Heinz Field and stand around in the monsoon I made my way to a bar in the strip to watch the game. This game was pretty highly anticipated not only because it was on national tv, but due to the fact the Steelers were coming off a bad loss the previous weekend to the Jets. We all saw the game, and the way I see it, there were a few major story lines in this game. The two things that left an impression on me and that I wanna talk about are the field and the commentators.

First up, the field; ever since Monday night all I’ve been hearing is moans and complaints about the playing surface. People are saying that it was the worst ever in the history of the NFL, people are saying we need field turf ASAP, and Art Rooney even issued a statement apologizing for the field’s condition. I mean what did you people expect after 4 WPIAL games Friday, a Pitt game on Saturday, and a torrential down pour for hours and hours on game day? I know everyone keeps saying this field needs to be improved but I am thinking, maybe not so much.

Obviously, this theory of mine is considered as the minority opinion of the masses. I also know that watching that game Monday was almost as boring as watching me kick Snack’s ass in a game of Madden on 360, but this field is the ultimate home field advantage! All the Steelers have to do is move their practice facility from the Southside over to Greenfield, namely Magee Field. Sure, Magee isn’t 100 yards long and it doesn’t have field goal posts, but practicing in that sloppy, muddy, mess of a field worked for Central Catholic, who practiced there in anticipation for a muddy field and ended up winning the AAAA championship on Friday night. (Note from Snack: As a proud Central alum, I wanna congraulate the Vikings on a great win...Even Diego's City League loving ass thought it was a helluva game) The proof is in the footage from Monday: the Dolphins couldn’t run, pass, or kick. I know what you're thinking, we couldn’t do any of those things either, but hey, we already have one game under our belt...with a little more practice Fast Willie will be effortlessly wading through that mud. Not to mention the fact that Willie did rush for 80 yards Monday, Ben went 18 for 21 passing, and "Heinz" Ward pretty much caught anything thrown in his direction.

One group I’m pretty sure would agree with me is the Steelers defense; they played one hell of a game pitching another shut out for the national audience. Honorable mention goes to Tyrone Carter who was starting in place of Troy Polamalu, he had 12 tackles in the game, 11 of those coming solo. The D also sacked Beck 4 times, pressuring him many times on the evening. The field proved to be a big ally for the defense, but it also didn’t hurt that Miami’s top 2 running backs left the game with injuries. If it would help them get a shut out every home game I’m sure the defense wouldn’t mind getting their jerseys a little dirtier on Sundays. So Art Rooney, don’t yield to the pressure given by the NFL let the field stay the way it is and let our defense handle business. Skippy will eventually boot us a game winner just like he did on Monday night.

One other quick point I wanted to touch on was a comment by the MNF announcers. Let me start by saying I do like Kornheiser, I watch PTI, he is awesome with Wilbon, and also Jaws is certainly an improvement over Joe Theisman (who Diego personally would like to punch in the face). Yet, I found myself annoyed when listening to the crew this Monday.

(Pic from thebiglead.com)

One Korny Bastard...

When talking about Ricky Williams, the three announcers were laughing and joking around about how he gave up millions just to smoke pot everyday. Point taken, Ricky is most definitely a bonehead for not being able to quit smoking ganja while he was in the NFL. The problem I had with all these comments was that Ricky was being singled out, because there are plenty of players in the NFL making far worse choices then smoking a joint. Albeit Kornheiser did rectify his previous comments when he said something along the lines of “I guess when you think about it, smoking pot is far more harmless then a lot of the other offenses some NFL players have been committing lately”. Well-spoken Kornehieser.

Now listen, I am not advocating the use of pot here, but its not like the substance is going to be enhancing a player’s performance in any way, shape, or form. Pot is a harmless drug, a lot more harmless then say having an cache of guns in your home (Tank Johnson), being arrested four times in three states (Chris Henry), taking human growth hormone (Rodney Harison), or facing felony charges in two states (Pacman). All offenses that have occurred this year and all, except Pacman, have received lesser punishments then Ricky Williams has for smoking a few doobies. In closing, I just think its dumb to suspend a player for a year for taking a drug that isn’t helping him in any way shape or form. Hey, Goodell, save the suspensions for the real criminals will ya?

(Pic from nerdgasmic.com)

It wasn't me...

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Monday Morning Hangover...(Part 1)

Lots of action in sports this weekend I am going to jump right into it and talk some college football to start things off this week. Week 13 was a big weekend for college football, as there are only a couple of weeks left in the season and a National Title birth is still up for grabs. In action this week WVU readily handled Uconn 66-21 to win the Big East crown and guarantee a BCS bowl bid. WVU was looking sharp on both sides of the ball, and Pat White was just too much for the Uconn defense to handle as he ran for nearly 200 yards. This win puts WVU in the driver’s seat to make a run at the National Championship.

Also, it didn’t hurt that WV received a little help from some other teams on Friday and Saturday. On Saturday, the #2 team in the nation once again suffered a loss. This time it was #4 Missouri beating up Big12 rival Kansas, 36 to 28. (note from Diego: when did these teams get good at football?) The Kansas loss was big for WVU but even bigger was Arkansas, who knocked off the #1 team in the land, LSU, in a thrilling triple OT victory on Friday afternoon. Due to the turn of events this weekend, Missouri (11-1) took over as the #1 ranked team and WVU (10-1) jumped up to #2 in both the AP and BCS polls. Missouri and WVU both have only one game remaining on their schedules with Missouri facing a tough Oklahoma team in the Big 12 championship, and WVU locking it up with Pitt for the 100th anniversary of the Backyard Brawl.

Speaking of Pitt they lost again this weekend, this time to South Florida. Pitt actually was playing some aiite ball in the first half and they even managed to take a 14-10 lead into halftime at Heinz Field Saturday. Pitt’s defense came apart on the first play of the second half, when South Florida QB Matt Grothe outran all 12 men on the field for Pitt and scored on a 80 yards TD run. Bostick had a decent day passing for nearly 300 yards, but his 3 interceptions proved to be too costly for Pitt. The final score was 48-37. Shady Mc Coy was once again the bright spot for Pitt as he led the team in receiving and rushing yards, and also managed to get 3 TD’s on the ground eclipsing Tony Dorsett’s freshman record of 13.

(Pic from viewimages.com)

Will the real Shady please stand up?

Pitt has a chance to play spoiler and ruin WVU’s shot at the National Championship when these two teams meet at 8:30 Saturday night in West Virginia. Although Pitt has been looking more improved week after week they’re going to need a near perfect game to take out the #2 team in all the land. Also, the Pitt defense will have its hands full, to say the least, when it comes to stopping the potent offense of the Mountaineers. If Pitt had trouble stopping Grothe this past weekend they are surely going to have a problem with Heisman candidate Pat White this weekend.

(Pic from sportsillustrated.cnn.com)

Pat White will have the Panthers seeing red...

In my opinion, I hope WV does win (I’m still a Pitt supporter but come on gimmee a break it would be good for the Big East to be represented in the National Championship and Pitt isn’t even gonna make a bowl game this year). Also, I hope that Oklahoma can knock off Missouri. This would leave us with Ohio St. versus WVU for the National title, or how I like to refer to it, the Terrelle Pryor Bowl.

Saturday night was hockey night in Pittsburgh and Snack and Diego managed to score some seats in the club level west right at mid ice, I know people I’m a pretty big deal. Anyway the seats were really great, but the game itself was even better. The Pens seemed to carry over the momentum from their thrilling 6-5 shootout victory on Thanksgiving against the Senators. Everyone out on the ice seemed to be soaring around to the puck and the Pens unquestionably dominated play all night in this one. Therrien once again shook up the lines, putting Crosby, Armstrong, and Malone on the top line. This change was working nicely Saturday night as Crosby, Armstrong, and Malone looked to be playing with a lot of chemistry.

This game was huge for some players who had been recently in a slump. Three of these players were Armstrong, Staal, and Fleury. Staal and Armstrong ended long goal droughts by both scoring their second goal’s of the season in this game. With any luck, this will have a positive effect on both players giving them more confidence going into the next game. The same goes for the Flower, who managed to make a bunch of good saves while compiling 28 total and not letting in a goal for the second time this season. Good to see the Pens getting it together with this 5-0 win and two game win streak. Also a good sign is that their scoring has increased, with 10 goals in the last two games. Only unfortunate situation is that we don’t play again until Friday against a hot Dallas team, but as long as they keep playing like they did last week we will be good.

Part 2 coming soon...

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Monday Morning Hangover...

Alright, well after sobering up from the weekend festivities, it's none other than Diego the great here stopping in to write his first weekend recap for pierogis n’at hereby titled the Monday Morning Hangover. In this segment I’ll recap this weekend’s sports action, the stuff I care about at least, and give you some insights and observations I made while I was watching the games, greazing, and drinking some Irons…

The weekend in sports started off pretty f’n weak, as they didn’t even give as a World Series game on Friday night. I mean I am as sick of baseball as the next guy, but there wasn’t even a college football game on Friday night. So if you were looking for any sports action your best bet would have been to go to a high school football game and hit on some “mature looking” high school students. To quote Matthew McConaughey’s Wooderson from Dazed and Confused, “That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age.”

Speaking of high school football did anyone else see that Jeanette Greesburg CC game Thursday night on FSN? Ya, I didn’t either, but while tuning in before the start of the Pens game they showed one highlight of the two TD’s Jeanette had already scored. It involved All-Everything QB Terrell Pryor aka Superboy faking a handoff right and running a naked boot left, scoring about a 10 yard TD, and along the way just about decapitating a poor Greensburg CC linebacker… and not only did he just about knock this kid into next week but this kid was also rewarded with Pryor giving him the longest "f you buddy I’m sure you’ll remember this when your watching me play starting for Ohio St. next year in both football and basketball stares that I’d ever seen in my life". It looks like Pryor is already a pro at bruising both bodies and egos alike. If you don’t know about this kid check out and crawl out from whatever rock you’ve been living under.

I was looking forward to Saturday because its finally that time of the year when we are getting past all the BS in college football now that the Penn St.’s and OSU’s of the world are done playing teams the likes of Florida International and Kent St we can finally see some real ball and some rivalry games. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending how you look at it, I had tickets to the Pens game that evening, so I couldn’t watch highly touted OSU-Penn St match up at 8:00, I had to settle for a little Pitt-Louisville action at high noon.

My first thought after watching a few series from this Pitt game is the same thought I had after watching every Pitt game so far this year… these guys are hard to watch. With such a young group of players Pitt just looks disorganized and they have trouble executing, constantly starting out the game going three and out. Once again Pitt offense underperforms gaining only 270 yards on a team that hasn’t been able to stop anyone all year long. Pitt did do a good job of holding future NFL QB Brian Brohm to well under his season average in passing yards.

Still, the story of the game was Shady McCoy getting a case of fumbilitis on the one yard line, just as we were about to tie the game up. Although it’s easy to point fingers at Wannstache (shout out to Mondesi’s house) or Cavanaugh for the disappointing season, the bottom line is they are doing the best with a depleted roster due to injury, and with the young talent they have. After all, it’s not easy to win games when starting three true freshmen on offense in any conference, let alone the Big East.

On a positive note, the last two weeks have shown that Pitt isn’t giving up. After coming back to upset 23rd ranked Cinci, and this week almost completing a comeback against Louisville, Pitt showed that they have a solid core of young players led by freshmen starters McCoy and Pat Bostick. Hopefully Pitt can finish the season strong with a few more wins to have momentum built up for next year because after this disappointing season Pitt fans are just counting down the days till hoops starts. The Trib’s take on it

JoePA craps his pants again (figuratively) and Happy Valley is left dejected as #1 OSU silences critics and Penn St fans alike. Penn St. Sucks

West Virginia keeps their win streak alive and stays in contention for the Big East Title and BCS bowl birth. WVU Sucks

Uconn proves to skeptics they are for real taking out South Florida and staying at the top of the Big East standings. UConn Sucks Too

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Update...

So we didn't get as many articles as we hoped up yesterday, had some logistical problems but THEY WILL be up today...Diego's Monday Morning Hangover will be up tonite and it will blow yinz away...Diego isn't half the moron I thought he was...

As for what I, the Snack Master will be up to this fine Tuesday evening, I'll be at the Snack Shack (my crib) watching the Pens on Versus. Hopefully we start Danny Sabourin but I doubt it as I'm sure they'll try and get Fluery's confidence back up against the Wild.

I'd like to see us come out of our shell a little bit tonite too. I think a game where we score five or six goals and absolutely demolish a team could set us back on the track we were on last year. Playing .500 hockey as we are now is not good enough with the talent we have, and if we don't get hot quickly, I could very easily see Michel Therrien getting the axe around the All-Star break. He only got a one year extension, and there had to be a reason for that. Snack thinks Ray Shero wanted Therrien to prove last year wasn't a New Orleans-style fluke (with the Pens potentially leaving doesn't it seem like the team played for us the way the Saints played for New Orleans after Katrina?).

Who knows, maybe it's just a bad start and I'm making moutains out of mole hills.I guess only time will tell...

For the time being, yinz can check out this tribute to Sid the Kid I found on youtube..it'll get ya all fired up for our national TV broadcast tonite...

Until lata tonite...

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