Link's N'at

Looks the already shorthanded Penguins (Talbot, Sykora, Hossa, etc) will be hurting even worse tonight. Pens captain Sidney Crosby will miss tonight’s game against the Sabres with pain in his right ankle.

It is definitely a little premature to think about this considering he hasn’t even played a full game for us yet. However, Scott Taylor from the Canadian National Post is already asking, does Hossa have a future with the Pens?

Pitt looks for redemption tonight against Cincy at 7 PM (and throughout the Big East tournament for that matter) as they play at their home away from home, Madison Square Garden.

More Big East awards for Pitt hoops players. Sam Young has won most improved player, Dejuan Blair won rookie of the year, and Ronald Ramon won sportsmanship award.

Ex-baseball star Lenny Dykstra is a Wall Street tycoon worth about 150 million. How does that work? According to Dykstra himself, he doesn’t even like to read because it “hurts your eyes” and “makes you think too much”. Did Lenny go to Pgh public school?

Everyone is Irish on St Patty’s Day, except for Luke Ravenstahl that is. St Patty’s Day (parade is this Saturday) is one of the few times it actually pays off to live in Pittsburgh, and that little punk, Luke Ravenstahl,is trying to ruin that. It’s ok for him to go to country music concerts and party in publicly owned vehicles, or be drunk and disorderly at Steelers games, but when the rest of us wanna do it he tries to put a stop to it. You suck Luke, fun ruiner! I am pretty sure Bob O’Connor or Tom Murphy never woulda done this nonsense.

(Pic from blog.kreedphotography.com)

Hater of the Irish and Jagoff of the Week here at PNA...

Monday Morning Hangover...

Note from Snack - Sorry it's a day late, Diego got it to me on time, my fat ass just fell asleep after work yesterday so I didn't get it posted. My bad. But enjoy, all the links are still relevant, and I think it'll be a nice lil addition to your Tuesday...

It is March again which means two things for Diego, March madness NCAA hoops and St Patty’s day drunken mayhem. Neither are quite here yet, but both are on the horizon. This weekend wrapped up the regular season of NCAA basketball, so that means that this week is conference tournament week. I also got a chance to see Pitt live this weekend so lets start the Hangover with some hoops talk.

Pitt gives the DePaul hoops team a chance to enjoy their spring break

Pitt finished its season yesterday with a 98-79 victory over Big East team DePaul, at home at the Pete on senior day. The loss for DePaul means they will not be making an appearance in this years Big East tourney at Madison Square Garden. This was the last home game for seniors Ron Ramon, Keith Benjamin, Mike Cook (out with injury), and Maurice Polen.

(Pic from post-gazette.com)

Introducing the newest members of the Pittsburgh XPlosion!!!

After losing three in a row, the Panthers have bounced back to win three of their last four games to end the season. It was mostly all offense on Sunday at the Peterson center, as Pitt managed to score 98 points (their 2nd highest point total all year) with six players kicking in to score double digits (all 5 starters plus Gilbert Brown). DePaul stayed in the game due to freshmen Dar Tucker who scored 23, and gave the Pitt defense trouble all game long.

The balance of the offense was key in the victory for Pitt, but their defense is still suspect. Allowing a team like DePaul to score almost 80 points is never a good sign. Still the Dixon led Panthers will be making the big dance for the 7th straight season, which is an impressive accomplishment. It is easy to complain about Pitt never making it past the sweet 16, but this basketball team stunk for so many years (in the 1990’s) it’s good to see that they have turned the program completely around.

-Levance Fields is feeling better, finally. Fields had his best game since injury, and arguably best game of the season yesterday. He had 9 rebounds, 9 assists, and 11 points. Fields was looking very Jason Kidd like hustling, making plays on both ends, and leading the Pitt offense.

- Dejuan Blair is a monster. I know I have been saying this all year, but this kid has game. He snatches up every rebound near him, and just looks bigger and stronger then his opponents. He plays psychical and I like it. I’ll keep the NBA comparison’s going and say he’s got some Elton Brand game for sure.

- There are times when Sam Young is unstoppable out there. Young is a gifted scorer and playmaker, if he doesn’t take his talents to the NBA next year, Pitt may have a candidate for not only Big East player of the year, but player of the year period.

*** Pitt’s Sam Young has been voted to first team All-Big East team, while freshman Dejuan Blair received honorable mention (aka he got shafted).***

NCAA and Conference Tourney News

Pitt has Cincinnati in the first round of the Big East tournament Wednesday at 7 PM.

Robert Morris lost Mt. Saint Mary’s 83-65, killing their chances of a NCAA tournament bid.

Duquesne has a first round match with LaSalle also on Wednesday in the A-10

Penguins- Time to get down to it.

For once we are on point here at PN@ and have already posted a recap of yesterday’s Pen’s action, so here is just a few thoughts about the team…

-Fleury is the man. The Penguins higher up’s have shown that their allegiance lies with the Flower. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing wrong with this as he is our franchise goalie. On top of that, Fleury’s ego is more fragile then Conklin’s is so it's better to give him his PT (playing time) so it won’t mess with his head.

-There has been debate about what to do with the power play lines once Hossa returns from injury. I like the idea of splitting up Malking and Crosby, and giving each their own PP line. It seems Malkin plays with more confidence without Crosby by his side. Also, keeping the two separate will drive opposing coaches crazy, as they try to match up their top penalty kill units against each superstar’s line.

Goodbye Wire

In un-sports related news, the series finale of The Wire aired last night on HBO. The Wire is my favorite TV show of all time and after 5 seasons, it concluded in true Wire fashion, conveying the message that the more things changed, the more they stayed same. I won’t snitch as to what happened, but if you haven’t seen it already you need to get on demand and check it out ASAP. The Wire will be greatly missed here at PN@.

(Pic from hbo.com)

Is it Slim Charles' time to shine?

(Pic from hbo.com)

Or is Cheese in charge?

(Pic from flowtv.org)

Or is Marlo still the man?

Until lata...

Pens Win 4-2

The Penguins battled against an eastern conference team. the Washington Capitals, early on Sunday. Before the game even started, when the TV cameras where panning the crowd, I saw almost the same amount of Penguins fans as I did Capital fans - it was as if the game was to be played at home in Pittsburgh. The first period ended scoreless and it was looking as this game was going to be won by fighting hard for the puck down deep in the corners.

The second period started out much like the first period ended. After a hard hitting beginning to the period the Capitals took the lead when Brooks Laich scored a power play goal. Not more than Ninety seconds later did Geno Malkin send a beautiful pass to Petr Sykora, who fanned on it but still scored to tie the game at one. Ten minutes later Geno had another great pass to Sid "the Kid" Crosby who scored with a low line wrist shot. It looked as if the Penguins would enter the locker room with a one goal lead, but they were penalty plagued and allowed the Caps' Alexander Semin to score another power play goal with only seconds left in the period.

(Pic from img.timeinc.net)

First goal since he returned...

At the beginning of the 3rd period both teams seem to have a little more jump in their skate, and both teams had great goal scoring chances in the gridlocked game. With less than thirty seconds left to go, it looked to me that both teams would get at least one point and the game would go to overtime. Sid the Kid threw the puck to the front of the net hoping that something would happen……. And something did! Trying to clear the puck the Capitals' Nick Backstom ended up putting it into the back of his own net, which gave the Penguins a one goal lead with seconds left. With an empty net Geno showed how unselfish he really was by taking another assist on the night and handing the game ending goal to J Staal.

PS - This was our boy Danny "Tteado" Hahn's recap of the game. Not too shabby, me thinks. So thanks buddy.

Until lata...

A few quick links for yinz...

Diego made some links up yesterday - and I forgot to post them. So I'm an idiot. But here's some links I found and he told me about to hold ya over until we post our pens game recap. Enjoy....

The Steelers are looking at Chris Crocker in free agency. I personally don't know much about him, but we need all the help we can get at safety. But he did just come off a stint playing with the Falcons, so god only knows what kinda attitude this jagoff has...

The Pens look to go 2-0 with Sid back in the lineup when they face Florida tonight at 7:30. Let's hope they don't stink up the joint like they enjoy doing against crappy teams - especially crappy teams from Florida...

(Pic from steelerstuff.com)

Here we go Steelers, here we go!

Speaking of the Penguinos, PNA's boy Gary "I'll Eat Your Children" Roberts seems to be rounding into form right in time for the playoffs. The Trib is saying his goal is to play 5 regular season games to "warm up" and be ready to kick a lil' ass come playoff time.

Some people think Old Balls Roberts is too old to make an impact on our playoff run - I say he's a proven playoff winner and should be added to our playoff roster every year until he's 50. The way he was punishing people in Game 5 last season, even when it was clear we weren't going to win, was an inspiration to the guys. Plus, he scored 2 goals in 5 games, which ain't shabby for someone roughly my dad's age.

(Pic from postgazette.com)

"...and you can count, on me, waiting for you in the parking lot."

PS - I searched Google Images for this pic of Gary Roberts, like I would for any picture. But when I typed his name in, let's just say there were some images DRAWN by some jagoff named Gary Roberts, and they're f-ing crazy. I won't even link you up to Google Images they're so wild, but if you're daring, you can check it out for yourself...

In celeb news, Patrick Swayze has cancer. It's a sad day for me (and apparently Mark Madden - who knew?), mostly because I always like Road House. Luckily, the reports of him having only 5 weeks to live were untrue, but his prognosis isn't necessarily all that good. So we'll have to see how this one plays out.

And finally, It's Always Sunny in Philadephia, a show Snack and Diego both think is funny as hell, has been picked up for another season. Check it out on F/X when the new season rolls around. And don't forget to catch the series finale of The Wire on HBO. It's on Sunday night at 9, and it looks like Marlo and Chris are about to get busy livin', or get busy dyin'...It's gonna be sweet.

(Pic from hbo.com)

RIP Snoop - someone will be joinin' ya shortly girl.

Until lata...

Welcome aboard?

The Pens lost 5-1 to the Boston Bruins last night, but that might not be all they lost - uber star Marian Hossa hurt his knee, but thankfully, it doesn't appear to be all that bad. Initial indications are that he'll miss up to a week, but he's going to be re-evaluated today.

(Pic from postgazette.com)

Nice game, Conk.

Check back with PNA for an update if any more news on his injury becomes available.

As for the game, Ty Conklin looked like crap, and had to be yanked in the second. Granted, one of the goals was a deflection that he couldn't do anything about, but still, he let in a softie and didn't look as sharp as he did in his 50 save performance a few nights ago.

Pascal Dupuis looked good on the top line with Malkin and Sykora, and he also netted our only goal of the evening. I like the way he plays, and I hope we sign him for a few years after the season - he shouldn't cost all that much.

But back to Hossa. He looked pretty good out there - although that knee-to-knee hit looked bad. Hopefully Sid and him both return on Sunday...wouldn't that have this city in a frenzy? Two of the top players in league making their "comeback" performance on home ice to start the playoff push; it doesn't get any better then that.

Until lata...

We're in...

Just a quick lil' note from Santa Snack to let yinz know our beloved Steelers are in the playoffs...Our early Christmas gift was Derrick Andersen pooping his pants in the final two minutes of the first half, throwing two picks that led to Cincy TD's...And, thankfully, the Bengals didn't lose their minds and give the game back to them damn Brownies in true Cincy style...

Congrats guys, let's see how far we can take this thing...I thing Coach Ditka said it best when he stated that we looked like the old Steelers when Dookie was running the ball...hopefully he don't break his leg like he did when he played for the Pack, or, as we like to call it, "Willie Parker" himself...I think Dookie may have been looking to "Charlie Batch" it for a few years and collect a payday without doing nothing, but now his nuts are in the vice...Step it up Dookie...

Pens are looking good for the time being, leading 3-1...Scary Gary and Big Georges both had goals along with Geno Malkin...I'll post something about it in my Happy Holidays post tomorrow...

Until lata...

---

Pittsburgh Parlay...

All I can say about last night is WOW...Three big games for our local teams and three huge victories...Snack's penthouse loft was bumpin all night long, and the celebration will undoubtedly go on all weekend...

First off, the Steelers beat the Rams 41-24...It was nice to get a road win, and it definitely helps us as far as the playoffs go, but we lost Fast Willie for the season to a broken fibula...Dookie Davenport filled in admirable, and Carey Davis didn't play too bad, but they'll both have to step their game up another notch if we wanna make any kind of run...Kudos also go to Big Ben, who threw 3 TD's and had a perfect passer rating...Good job boys...

The Pens also beat the Bruins 5-4 in a shootout...Sid the Kid had his first "Gordie Howe hatrick", scoring a goal, assisting on two others, AND busting up Andrew Ferrence in a fight...Way to go Sid, I love that the first guy you maul in the NHL used to be a Penguin...very fitting...Am I crazy or did I see some blood coming from Ferrence's face?...Way to go Sid the Slasher, way to go...

And finally, in what was probably the biggest upset of the night, Pitt beat Duke in OT, 65-64...Levance Fields hit a 3 with 4 seconds left, and Dejuan Blair had 20 rebounds in this huge victory...this may even pop us into the top 5 in the polls, but we'll see...The bad news is that it appears Mike Cook is done forever, as he fell pretty damn hard and couldn't put any weight on his knee at all...Coach Dixon was almost in tears talking about him after the game, which is never a good sign...

Until lata...

---

Pens lose 3-2...and a link or two...

The Pens lost last night, 3-2 to the Colorado Avs...It was an OK game, with the Pens jumping out to a 2-0 lead, but, of course, the hometown Avs made a rousing comeback and put young Danny Sabourin in his place...At least Sid had two goals, maybe this and his four point game against the Wild will get him back on his usual God-like pace...

Hang your head buddy, hang your head ...

It looks like no matter who we have in the crease, the soft goals continue...I think we may need to get another goaltender for the stretch run if we plan on winning the Cup this year...Maybe a Chris Osgood sighting? And what ever happened to Moose, he'd be a great fit...Here's a recap of the game from ESPN for you to check out...

As far as last night went, we went to the William Penn Tavern in Shadyside...since Snack's back was in shambles he wasn't there long enough to review the bar, but he did notice low priced drinks and that the waitresses were pretty good lookin...All in all, not a bad joint, definitely worthy of your time...

For links, I'm only going to put up a couple this morning as Diego (hopefully) is doing a bunch of links and his usual Pens recap for this afternoon...

Hope you like re-runs...The Writers Guild of America is discussing walking out, which would mean production would halt on all shows using WGA writers...so basically everything but reality tv...God help us all...

Please, WGA, don't let this be all we see on TV...

Finally, it looks like Dog got ratted out by his own son, Tucker...It was Tucker's girlfriend Dog was going off about, but I think old Tucker's just pissed cause he's never on the show. His cage fighting, bounty hunting, Dog loving brother Leland is gonna beat the snot outta him...

Would you want this big-eared bastard coming after you?

Until lata...

---

Dinner Time...

Here goes what will probably be the final post of the day...enjoy, and don't forget to watch the Pens tonight on FSN at 9 PM...GO PENS!

First off, Andy Reid's kid is a complete druggie; he just got sentenced to almost two years of jail for his drug habit and then he goes and smuggles 89 prescription pills into the pokey with him...Make sure you read page two of that article to see how he got them in there...If you think like us you're probably guessin' right.

In other drug news, Martina Hingis retired today amid a cocaine scandal....She apparently tested positive but completely denies it (of course)...Guess we won't find out who's telling the truth since she's retiring...Deny then retire...that's not incriminating at all...

I can't feel my face...

So our young mayor is involved in another scandal, this one involving a city employee rigging an online poll for his bossman. Come on, Luke, if you're going to do some rigging, do it when it counts, not in some crappy poll...

Who is it? And what did they do?

And finally, to get everyone in the mood for the game, here's a story about the two newest members of the Penguins Hall of Fame.

Only defenseman in club history to break 100 points twice...

GO PENS!!!!

---

Pens Win 4-2

The Pens won 4-2 tonight against the Wild in Minnesota, showing they put that overtime loss to the Habs behind them.

The first period of tonight's game was some of the most boring hockey I've ever seen. The scoring chances were few and far between, and it seemed as if they were just feeling each other out...Thankfully, the second period brought some excitment.

The scoring started at 3:30 of the second when Geno Malkin wrapped one under goalie Josh Harding for a 1-0 Pens lead. Sidney Crosby made a charge to the net but lost the puck behind the net, where Malkin took the puck. The Wild followed it up with a goal at 6:14 by Veilleux to tie it up at 1..The original shot hit the post and Danny Boy was a lil too slow finding the puck and made a lunging effort to save it. But 15 seconds later Malkin tickled the twine again, finding a rebound and slamming it home. Crosby and Malone had the assists on both of Malkin's goals.

In the third, things started off with an Adam Hall vs. Jake Sheppard fight that looked more like a slow dance. That punk Sheppard high-sticked Hall and then leveled him in the neutral zone...My guess is Hall said enough with this crap, I'm gonna teach this kid a lesson, but Sheppard wouldn't let go of his arms...Grow some nuts Sheppard.

Danny Boy let in a stuffer of a shot with a little more then 13 minutes left to tie the game at 2. The puck was just sitting in the blue ice and he shoved it in the goal. Peter Sykora gave the Pens the lead at 10:05 of the third on the power play with a wrister from the middle that found it's way behind Harding. Crosby got the assist on that one too, along with Sergei Gonchar.

The Pens gained a two goal advantage when Crosby scored on a break away at 14:29 and in doing so shut the door on the Wild. It was another good showing by Danny Boy in goal and Sid the Kid ended up getting four points on four goals, netting one and gettng three assists.

This is just the kind of convincing win I was talking about us needing earlier, however the Snackster was wrong about Fluery getting another shot. Hopefully this send us on the road to another 100 point season. We'll see... GO PENS!

PS: Did anyone catch Brian Engblom's hair on Versus? Good Lord the man looks like he's wearing a hair piece made of cat fur. Either that or a small marsupial fell asleep on his melon, I'm not sure which. He'll be on the 10 worst haircuts in hockey list for f-ing sure.

---

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...

---

Welcome to the site....

Pierogisnat.com is your one-stop shop for all things Pittsburgh. We’ll have a daily segment written by one of our staff writers (Big Snack and Diego) and will have links to pages that yinz guys will like. Our segments will hit on the hot topics of the day, or whatever the hell we feel like talking about. Nothing is off-limits, and any topics you wanna hear us take on just send us a message or post what you think under our original article (trust me, we won’t be offended if you think we got it wrong…Diego maybe, but Snack’s cool).

Check PNA after all the Pittsburgh games and get Snack and Diego’s take on why we won or why we need to shoot the coach, and for our preview of the next opponent that our Pittsburgh (insert Steelers, Pens or Bucs here) will be running over (well, probably not the Bucs). We’re also going to give our take on any big game or story going on in the world of sports and we’ll follow our favorite college team, your Pittsburgh Panthers. If you are a Penn State fan, this may not be your spot (and we’ll meet you in the parking lot to prove it…).

Our inside sources give us the best trade rumors and our slight gambling problem gives us the edge when we tell you who to bet on come Sunday afternoon. We’ll pick all the big games and give you our reasoning…we won’t guarantee a win and nobody in their right minds would listen to us (especially Snack) when it comes to working the lines, but it’ll be another resource for yinz guys going to see your man over in Bloomfield.

Snack and Diego are recent college grads who have bled black and gold for 25 years a piece, and this site is their way to add their twisted take on everything Pittsburgh and to makes yinz guys laugh your buns off watching videos (like the classic Brian Trottier and Kevin Stevens versus Brian Bellows during the Stanley Cup…hilarious) and reading our homemade Top 10 lists (such as the Top 10 biggest criminals in sports and Top 10 most beloved Steelers of all-time).

Our most important section by far will be our bar review section. Snack, Diego and crew are quite the men-about-town and enjoy an occasion cocktail (Jagabomb! Jagabomb! Jagabomb!). We will be doing an all inclusive look at the bar scene in the Burgh, telling you which bars are Snack approved and which ones Diego wouldn’t even sucker punch somebody in. We’ll let u know all about the “atmosphere” (code for ladies) and which drink specials are worth pulling yourselves away from Halo 3 for (best game EVER…definitely Big Snack and Diego approved.).

PNA is all about interacting with the readers, and we would really like your help making this site all it can be. If any of yinz have a funny page or a comment about what a jackass Snack is, holler at us at pierogiesnat@gmail.com.

---