What a Great NFL Weekend; And a Season End GPR

Everyone Steelers fan worth his or her Terrible Towel knew what was at stake entering Week 18 of the season.  The Steelers could make the post season if several things happened:

• First and foremost, the Steelers had to beat the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday afternoon, which they did, 17-10, behind the the quarterbacking of Mason Rudolph and the running off Najee Harris, plus some strong defense.

And on Sunday....

• Tennessee needed to beat Jacksonville, OR
• Miami needed to beat Buffalo, OR
• Miami and Buffalo could tie

Tennessee had nothing to play for.  They were not making the post-season regardless of the outcome, and all Jacksonville had to do was win, and they would make the playoffs, win the division, and get a home game in the playoffs.  The Titans, playing for nothing but pride and, one could argue, the integrity of the game, laid one on the Jags, 28-20, and eliminated them from the post-season.

This rendered the results of the Bills-Dolphins game moot, from a Steelers standpoint, except to determine who and where the Steelers will play this weekend.  In an absolutely terrific, albeit not totally artistic, game, the Bills defeated the Dolphins, 21-14, and secured the #2 seed in the AFC.  Thus, the Steelers will travel to Buffalo on Sunday for the 1:00 game.  And if they win, they will once again head to Baltimore to take on the Ravens in the Divisional Round, and how delicious would that be?  

One step at a time, though.

As everyone knows, the Ravens team that Steelers defeated was not the Ravens team that at the moment appears to be the best team in the AFC, if not the entire NFL.  With nothing to play for, QB and presumptive MVP Lamar Jackson was only one of several notables to sit out this one.  The Ravens were not unique in this regard.  The 49'ers sat Brock Purdy, and Joe Flacco did not play for the Browns, and there were others throughout the League.  By the time Jackson and Purdy play in the Divisional round, it will have been three weeks since they would have played any real football.  Time will tell if this proves to be the right decision for these players and teams.

I will save my ruminations on who I think will win and advance to the next round for later in the week, but until then, here are the Grandstander Power Rankings including all fourteen playoff teams.

1. Ravens 13-4 (Last week - 1)
2. 49'ers 12-5 (2)
3. Lions 12-5 (3)
4. Cowboys 12-5 (6)
5. Bills 11-6 (7)
6. Browns 11-6 (4)
7. Rams 10-7 (9)
8. Dolphins 11-6 (5)
9. Chiefs 11-6 (10)
10. Eagles 11-5 (8)
11. Steelers 10-7 (unranked)
12. Packers 9-8 (unranked)
13. Texans 10-7 (unranked)
14. Bucs 9-8 (unranked)

********

I would be remiss if I didn't make mention of tonight's College Football Playoff Championship Game between the Universities of Michigan and Washington.

I am looking forward to watching this one and can only hope that it will be prove to be as entertaining and as competitive as the two semi-final games that produced this matchup.  For what it is worth, I put some money on Michigan at -5.5.  

In actuality, what has been rolling around in my cranium for the last several weeks has been a column on the state of college football, which served to produce a bowl season of stunningly mediocre, boring, and downright lousy and meaningless games except for the two CFP semi-final games, and, we hope, the title game this evening.  However, the busy-ness of the Holiday season, a brief two night vacation, and the NFL have served to allow whatever ire I had over the whole thing to dissipate and made me put this idea on the shelf.  Perhaps for another day.

The Steelers Debacle

I'll be brief.

I go back to 1959 in watching the Steelers, so I have seen a lot of bad Steelers teams.  I mean, Leonard Pinth Garnell bad.

However, given the expectations for this season, and, yes, the STANDARDS that have been established by the franchise over the last fifty years, I have a hard time recalling any three game stretch that has been as just plain awful as these last three weeks against the 2-10 Cardinals, the 2-10 Patriots, and the middle of the road Colts team led by Gardiner Minshew.

Art Rooney II has a lot to think about between now and the middle of January,

Steelers at 5-3 (Not Sure How), and Other Football Thoughts

The Steelers defeated the Tennessee Titans last night 20-16 and bumped their record to 5-3, good for second place in the AFC North pending the games to be played this weekend.  The victory followed the team's tried and true 2023 formula:  a tenacious defense led by outside linebackers TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith, a key turnover at the end the game that sealed the deal, and yet another  fourth quarter  comeback led by QB Kenny Pickett.  This one was a 92 yard drive that culminated in a touchdown pass to Dionte Johnson.  It was Johnson's first touchdown since week 17 of the 2021 season.

The Steelers also did something a little different in this game from what we have become accustomed to - they scored a TD in the first quarter.  This was a  ten yard run by Najee Harris at the end of a length of the field drive to open the game.  Harris and Jaylen Warren also combined for 166 rushing yards, easily the best Steelers rushing performance of the season.  Both of them outgained Derrick Henry, as a matter of fact.

Despite all of that, the Steelers offense still leaves much to be desired.  Fourth quarter comebacks are fun and exciting, but how sustainable a formula is that?  Would it be too much to ask for something like a 38-14 win at some point?

A small bone to pick with the Amazon Prime telecast last night.  It became apparent from the pregame chatter with the Amazon Talking Heads and with the Al Michaels/Kirk Herbstreit announcing duo, that the main storyline of the game would be Titans rookie QB Will Levis, who had made his debut the week before and threw four TD passes.  Perhaps it's just Steelers Fan paranoia in me, but everything was framed around what Levis did.  Even when getting sacked by Watt or Highsmith, it was, "let's see how Levis can come back from this" kind of stuff.  Oh, well, that's showbiz, I suppose.

As for Levis, he appears to be pretty good.  He certainly outplayed Pickett for most of the game.  Until the fourth quarter that is, but had Kwon Alexander not intercepted that last pass, the ball appeared to be headed right into the hands of a Titans receiver for what would have been the game winning touchdown for Tennessee.  As I say, he appears to be pretty good, but he's played two games so far, so slow down on ordering that Gold jacket for him.

For the "OVER" betters....

The over/under on Steelers wins for the season was set at 8.5.  So, at the halfway point of the season, how is it looking for us OVER betters?  The Steelers have five wins with nine games remaining.  Can they go at least 4-5 to enable us to cash our tickets?

The five out of division games are home games with the Packers, Cardinals, and Patriots, and road games with the Colts and Seahawks.  Looking at things on this November 3, the Steelers should be favored or, at the least, short odds underdogs in at least four of those five games.

They have four AFC North games @Browns, @Ravens, and home and away with the Bengals.

They will not win all five out of division games, but I also don't think that they will lose all four AFCN games, as many predict.  I think that they could split the North games, and win three of the five other games, so a ten win season is not out of the question.  However, we have watched this team all season, so don't bet the house on any of these predicted scenarios, but I am liking my OVER 8.5 wager at this point.

My wager on Kenny Pickett to throw OVER 17.5 TD passes?  That appears to be money down the drain at this point.

For the weekend....

There are three really attractive match-ups for this coming Sunday in the NFL.

• Chiefs -1.5 over Dolphins in Germany
• Eagles -3 over Cowboys in Philly
• Bengals -1.5 over Bills in Cincy on Sunday night

Myself, I think that I would go with the favorite in each of those games.

An Improbable Win for the Steelers

First, the sad news.

I was supposed to be at the the Steelers - Rams game at SoFi Stadium in LA yesterday.  Booked a hotel, made airline reservations, and bought two tickets to the game from the Rams website back in September.  I would be visiting and going to the game with my nephew Zach Stoner who lives in LaLaLand.  We were going to visit the Motion Picture Academy Museum on Saturday and go to the game on Sunday, and on Sunday night, I was going to visit with grade school and high school buddy Bill Tarrant, also now residing in LA, in the hotel bar where we would drink and tell lies about the good old days until who knows  what time.  It was going to be one whale of a trip.

Then there was the medical incident that I had that required two nights in the hospital at the beginning of the month. I got home and rethought the whole thing about flying three thousand miles by myself, and came to the conclusion that discretion was the better part of valor, and Linda and I decided that I should not make the trip.  So I canceled the hotel reservation, got credit for my flight tickets, and gave the tickets to Zach, who took a buddy and enjoyed what was essentially a home game for the Steelers. It was the correct decision, but I hated it.

Then there was the game itself.

Frankly, I didn't have high hopes for this one, as the Steelers' play, even with a 3-2 record, has been spotty at best and that is being kind, and being down 9-3 at the half with the Rams set to receive the second half kick-off, well, it wasn't looking good for the Black and Gold.  Then this guy made his presence felt:

The Rams did everything that they could to take TJ Watt out of the game, double and triple teaming him, and in fact, Watt recorded only one tackle and no sacks or pressures in the entire game.  However, on the Rams first play of the half, he intercepted Matt Stafford's pass and returned it to the Rams seven yard line, whereupon the Steelers scored and took a 10-9 lead.  Even though the Rams would later score and take a 17-10 lead, Watt's interception completely changed the tenor and tone of the game in the Steelers favor.

A word about TJ Watt.  He is a completely incredible and dominating player.  He is a leading candidate, if not THE leading candidate, for Defensive Player of The Year once again, and on a team with a history of great defensive players like Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, Mel Blount, James Harrison, and Troy Polamalu, Watt stands in no one's shadow.  Watt has been a significant factor in all of the Steelers victories this season.  And try this stat on for size.  In Steelers games in which Watt has played since joining the team, the Steelers are 63-28-2 (.683).  When he hasn't played, the team is 1-10.  He is an amazing and truly remarkable player.

Back to the game.  Once again, Kenny Pickett turned on the jets in the fourth quarter, led the team on two long TD drives, and notched his fifth fourth quarter comeback in his 18 games as a Steeler.  Why, oh why, can't he put together games for four quarters where he plays like he always seems to do in the fourth quarter?  What the hell, let's blame that on Matt Canada!

Before I leave the Steelers, how about this from the Post-Gazette's  Joe Starkey today about Rams coach John McVay:

Quick aside here: I’m still marveling at the explanation Rams coach Sean McVay gave for Watt’s interception. I’m not even sure Bill Belichick himself could translate the depths of football jargon to which McVay descended.

“Bottom line is, we had hitches on the outside, little option route from the three spot and seams at the two spot,” he said. “We obviously thought it was going to be a single high, Levi Wallace rolled up as a cloud, got Cooper working an option on the ‘mike,’ and you don’t feel that overlap from the hook player when Watt ended up dropping out of there. And that’s what led to the turnover.”

Thanks, coach. 

I couldn't resist including that.  Did you ever hear such bullshit coachspeak in your life?

Other football news in the region this weekend wasn't so good.

Ohio State 20 - Ohio State 12

Two undefeated teams, both ranked in the Top Ten in what was one of the more highly anticipated games of the season, and has been the case throughout most of his tenure, HC James Franklin and his Nittany Lions came up small when the lights were the brightest.  Franklin is now 1-9 against Ohio State as the HC of Penn State. Not a small sample size.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I never root for Penn State to lose (with some exceptions), but I sure love seeing it when James Franklin spits the bit.

Wake Forest 21 - Pitt 17

Circumstances were such that I didn't see much this game, but rather listened to it on the radio while out driving.  Pitt scored a TD to take a 17-14 lead with 1:30 left in the game. Announcer Pat Bostic then said that Wake still had all three time outs remaining, so this one "isn't over yet."  At that point I said to Linda, "I'll bet you now that Pitt will lose this game."  And they did.  I'll spare you the gruesome details, but Pitt now stands 2-5. will probably not make bowl eligibility, and HC Pat Narduzzi is headed towards the worst season of his tenure.

Coming up this week: Notre Dame at South Bend.  Good luck with that one.

I mentioned that I listened to the game on the radio.  Eighty-five year old Billy "Ask Him Why He Doesn't Have a Driver's License" Hillgrove was in Los Angeles preparing to broadcast the Steelers game the next day, so play-by-play duties fell to Jeff Hathorn.  What a pleasure to hear a coherent play-by-play announcer.  No "he's tackled by a guy in the Wake backfield."  Competency at the mic was so refreshing.

Where Have I Been?

The Grandstander has made exactly one (1!) post in the last twenty-seven (27!) days, and I am sure that you're all  wondering, "Where in all heck fire you been?"

The answer to that question contains both Good and Bad News.

The Good News is that Linda and I took some time for a beach vacation to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.  We had a wonderful relaxing time.  Beautiful weather, some great food, and some quality beach time.

As you can see, Zelda also enjoyed her first ever trip to the ocean.

As I have done at various locations over the last two years, I also scattered some of Marilyn's cremains while there, and had some time with her sitting in the surf line, as we had so many times over the years.  

I speak only for myself here, of course, but I have found that taking these ashes with me and leaving them behind at special places to be a calming, comforting, and cathartic experience.  Much more so that visiting a marble headstone in a cemetary would ever be.   Marilyn and I made the decision to be cremated many, many years ago, and it has proven to be a good one.

Okay, now the Bad News.

While attending the Robert Morris football game last Saturday, I experienced a medical "incident" that resulted in a two night hospital stay.  I won't go into details, HIPAA, you know, but I can tell you that I DIDN'T have a heart attack, and I DIDN'T have a stroke, so that's the good news.  While in the hospital, though I started feeling some familiar symptoms, so I asked for a COVID test, and, sure enough, it was positive. I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week feeling like I had just gone ten rounds with Ali and Frazier combined.  I turned the corner on Thursday, but I'm still feeling pretty fatigued.

A word to the wise....COVID is still out there, folks, and it's very real.  As soon as I test negative and get the OK from my doc, I will be at the pharmacy getting the latest COVID vaccine shot.

So, what have I missed commenting upon?

Last week's Steelers loss to Houston

Nothing that I can add that would polish that particular road apple.  The Steelers were awful from start to finish, and I couldn't find a single, not one, positive thing to take from it.  Going to shotgun formation on fourth and one?  We'll be talking about that call for a long, long time.

Today the Ravens visit Acrisure Stadium.   As a rule, there is nothing better than Steelers-Ravens games, but today's match-up sure doesn't fill this Steelers fan with a lot of optimism.

Still, on any given Sunday.....

Pitt's 38-21 loss to Virginia Tech

Pitt falls to 1-4, and they have all the appearances of being one of the worst Pitt teams in many years, certainly the poorest in the Narduzzi Era.  They had a bye this weekend to try and figure some things out, but this coming Saturday, they play a Louisville team that totally dominated tenth ranked Notre Dame last night.  They may not win more that three games this season.

The Pirates finished their season with a 76-86 record

The Bucs are patting themselves on the back over a 14 game improvement over 2022, but do you really think that I can confine my thoughts on this to one small paragraph?

More on this one to follow.

Europe defeats (crushes?) the USA in the Ryder Cup competition

(A) This can only be classified and a horrendous choke job by the American players

(B) The controversy over who disrespected whom, who did or didn't wear a hat, and caddies fighting in parking lots?  These are golfers, most of whom know nothing but silver spoons and county club upbringings.  Spare me the drama.

(C) American golfers may or may not have a legit beef on getting paid for the Ryder Cup, but it's hard to sympathize with guys who make eight figure incomes by spending a year finishing T-11 on any given weekend.

A night at the opera theater

The first show in there 2023-24 Broadway Pittsburgh Series was "Moulin Rouge!", and it was fantastic.  Fantastic staging, costumes, music, songs, and choreography.  A total sensory overload and a wonderful theatrical experience.

Absent Friends

I have a backlog of four Absent Friends to report on - a Hall of Famer, a Pirates Playoff hero, a '60 Pirate, and a local radio personality.  They deserve their own post, so watch for it in a day or two.

I'm back, baby!

Football Weekend in Review

Well, it was quite a football weekend here in The Burgh.  

First, Pitt lost to Cincinnati, 27-21.  It was a game that I am sure most Pitt fans had marked for the "W" column at the outset of the season, so this had to be a shocker.  Talking to some folks who were at the game, I am told that Pitt did not look all that strong, and that this could be a long season for the Panthers, and that one particular someone that I know who put fifty bucks on the Panthers to go OVER 6.5 wins is now figuring that he's not going to see any return on that bet.

I missed the Pitt game myself because Linda and I toddled on out to Moon Township to see the Robert Morris Colonials take on the Red Flash of St. Francis University beneath a gorgeous late summer sky at Joe Walton Stadium.

See what I mean about that sky?

For our effort, we got to see RMU break a 13 game losing streak, one that extended back to November 2021, by defeating SFU 31-21.

It was a most entertaining and satisfying game, and sent us home happy, and it gave us a taste of how totally awesome it was going to be the next day, when the Steelers took on the San Francisco 49'ers in what was one of the most highly optimistic and awaited season openers in years, but who would have guessed then that the highlight of the Pittsburgh football weekend would be that win by Robert Morris?

Well, by now we all know by now how THAT turned out.  The Niners 30-7 victory was a thorough and total and complete ass-kicking of the Steelers.  The twenty-three point deficit wasn't an accurate depiction of how completely outclassed the Steelers were yesterday.  It was much, much worse than that.   In point of fact, I cannot think of a single positive thing to say about the performance of Rooney U yesterday.  Plain and simple, they stunk up the joint. On the bright side, the 49er beat down of the Steelers wasn't the worst loss of the day in the NFL.  That prize goes to the New York Football Giants, 40-0 losers to the Dallas Cowboys.

So let's move on.  

Next up are the Cleve Brownies next Monday night.  The Browns wiped out the Bengals 24-3 yesterday, so nobody at Acrisure Stadium better be taking them lightly.  It behooves the Steelers to avoid another disaster like the one we saw yesterday.

I never did get around to doing my Steelers Preview for 2023 over the weekend.  In that preview, I was going to say that the Steelers would win 11 games, make the playoffs, and win at least one playoff game.  I will stand by those predictions.  I wasn't going to make a Super Bowl prediction, but based on what I saw yesterday, it won't surprise me to see San Francisco playing in that game come February.  They're really good.

Oh, and if you weren't looking, the Deion Sanders Story continued with the Buffaloes putting a 36-14 beatdown on Nebraska on Saturday.  The Legend of Coach Prime continues.

Football and Futbol

THE STEELERS

The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Buffalo Bills 27-15 last night, and now stand at 2-0 in the NFL Practice Games season.  We all know that that and $7.95 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbuck's, but, still, winning is better that losing, and the Steelers have shown us several things about which their fans can get excited.

Foremost has been the performance of second year quarterback Kenny Pickett.

Pickett has only played three offensive series in these two games. Each of those series has resulted touchdowns for the Steelers.  He has completed nine of eleven passes for two touchdowns, and the one he threw last night, a 25 yard bullet that threaded a needle to Pat Freiermuth on the goal line was a thing of beauty.

Muuuuuuuuth!!

These are only practice games, to be sure, but last night's win over Buffalo gave us a lot to dwell on.  Among them....

• Jaylon Warren's 63 yard run from scrimmage for a TD.  Talk about great execution!
• The Steelers first unit defense stuffing Josh Allen and the Bills first unit offense in the first quarter.
• Performances by WR's George Pickens and Calvin Austin.
• The play of rookie OLB Nate Herbig.  That kid looks like he's going to be one terrific player.

Joey Jr.'s first INT

• Rookie Joey Porter Jr making his first interception and then giving the football to his Dad in the stands.  It can be seen HERE, but what isn't seen in this video is the fact that Joey Sr had a Terrible Towel stuffed in his back pocket.  Somewhere, Myron Cope was smiling.

One more practice game next thursday night in Atlanta followed by a 17 day layoff until the 49'ers come to Acrisure Stadium to open the season.  Things change when you start playing games that count, but it is hard not to be excited by what we have seen so far from the '23 Steelers.

THE WOMEN'S WORLD CUP

The Women's World Cup ended today with a 1-0 victory by Spain over England.  I claim no expertise in futbol, but I believe that I am safe in saying that the better team on the pitch today was Spain.  They dominated the game, had a tenacious defense that swarmed all over the English players when they got near the Spanish goal, and are worthy Champs.  

The most exciting play of the game, however, came when English goalkeeper Mary Earps (later named the outstanding Keeper of the entire tournament) stopped a penalty kick for Spain midway through the second half.   Earps punctuated her save with a heartfelt scream that had those of us who read her lips blushing.  Had the kick been successful, it would have effectively sealed the win for Spain.  As it was, the game remained in doubt and Spain was forced to hold off England's furious efforts to score for the remainder of the came and through over thirteen minutes of stoppage time.

If ever a 1-0 ninety-plus minute soccer game can be described as "exciting", this game certainly was.  Perhaps I am coming to understand the Beautiful Game, after all.

Much of the excitement of the World Cup for American viewers, of course,  disappeared when the defending champs and tournament favorite USA was eliminated after their first game in the knockout round.  The team managed to score all of four goals in five games, three of them coming in one game against a clearly non-competitve Viet Nam.  A tremendously disappointing performance for the squad.  I admit that I pretty much lost interest in the rest of the tourney until the Final Four games matches were played.

Earlier in the week, USWNT Manager Vlatko Andonovski announced that he was resigning his position with the team.  Resigning, yeah right.

Lionel Messi

Since his debut last month, Lionel Messi has been running roughshod through Major League Soccer.  Prior to his arrival, Miami had the worst record in all of MLS.  Since then, they have not lost a game, and Messi has been scoring goals, seemingly, at will.

This performance is surely a testimony to Messi's greatness.  No one doubts that, but does it also tell us that the MLS is a distinctly inferior brand of futbol as it is played throughout the rest of the world?  

This, That, and The Other.....

Time to clean out the Mental In-Box with some thoughts and opinions that have been accumulating.....

"Killers of the Flower Moon"

A major motion picture release coming this Fall is "Killers of the Flower Moon."  Directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jesse Plemons.  Three and a half hours long, and already the darling of the film festival circuit.  Can't wait see it, and to prepare, I just finished reading the 2017 book by David Grann that inspired it.

In the early decades of the twentieth century, oil was discovered on the tribal lands of the Osage Indian tribe in what is now Oklahoma.  This made the Osage Indians among the wealthiest people in America.  This fact pissed off a lot of white people, and soon the Osage were being murdered because of it.  A Bureau of Investigation agent named Tom White was dispatched to Oklahoma by his Washington DC based boss, a young guy named J. Edgar Hoover, to crack the case.  He did, and the Bureau of Investigation was soon to become the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in large part due to the work down by White on this case.  Hoover remained for another fifty years.

The Osage murders had become a largely forgotten piece of history, even Hoover's thirst for PR for the FBI had pushed it aside when bragging about its glorious victories over crime in America glossed over it.  This was largely due, most likely, to the victims:  Native Americans.  The FBI marginalized them as many minorities have been in the course of our history.  The best part of the book was the third part when author Grann went into a first person narrative describing the scope of his research, the interviews that he did, and learned that the full nature of the crimes against the Osage were even greater than was first thought.

The Grandstander gives the book Three Stars, and I am look forward with high expectations  for the movie when it is released in October.

"BlackBerry"

Back in the early 2000's, did you have a BlackBerry communications device for your job?  It was so revolutionary:  it was phone that you could hold in the palm of your hand and on which you could send and receive email!!  I had one and I positively hated it, and thank God I retired just as the business world was on the cusp of everyone getting smart phones and thus being tied to their jobs 24/7, and ruining forever the concept of Work/Life Balance.  But enough bout me.

This Canadian movie tells the story of the BlackBerry.  From the computer nerds who invented it, to the hard charging business guy who marketed it, to how it came to dominated this new world, to how this Canadian company came to be crushed by some company in California named Apple and its answer to the BlackBerry, the iPhone.  The tagline for the movie, "Work Hard. Fail Harder.", tells is all.

The "hard charging business guy" referred to was a guy named Jim Balsillie.  Hockey fans in Pittsburgh will remember him as the guy who tried to buy the Penguins back in the early'00s with the express purpose of moving them to Hamilton, Ontario.    That part of the story is covered in some detail in this movie.  As an aside, threats such as these to move the Penguins, including some by Mario Lemieux himself, did lead to the construction of a new arena in Pittsburgh, so I guess we can thank Balsillie for that at least.  An American actor named Glenn Howerton played Balisillie, and he was terrific in the part.

A good movie upon which The Grandstander bestows Three Stars.

Henry Davis

Back in 2021, the Pittsburgh Pirates used the overall Number One draft pick and selected Henry Davis, a catcher from the University of Louisville.  Less than two seasons later, Davis has arrived in Pittsburgh and it looks like he's here to stay.  He can hit - notwithstanding a recent 0-for-24 slump, which he broke last night with a single and a home run - and has shown some signs of power.  However, he has played all but one inning - ONE - in the outfield and not at catcher.   Mostly, he has played in right field.  This of course has brought about the usual griping among the cognoscenti....."only the Pirates would draft a catcher with the overall #1 pick and then never play him in that position."

It's not a complaint without some validity, and Davis' play in right field has oft times been, shall we say, adventurous, but I am coming around to the opinion that maybe, just maybe, the Pirates might be doing something right here.  One thing Davis has shown in right field has been a cannon of a throwing arm.  In back to back games against the Phillies last week, he made two throws that, if not Clemente-like, were enough to show me that it might be worthwhile to have the team work with Davis in the off season and spring training to improve his more basic outfield skills.  A throwing arm like that belongs in right field.  Of course much of this depends on how well Endy Rodriguez develops as a catcher.  There are a lot of moving parts to decisions like this, but Davis just might be a long term answer for the Bucs as an outfielder.

Pirates Over/Under 67.5 Wins

The Pirates sit this morning at 49-60.  For us OVER betters to cash in, they will have to go 19-34 (.358) the rest of the way to get that 68th win.  That .358 clip, interestingly enough, is the exact same percentage that they have been playing at since that wondrous 20-8 start.  They are 29-52 (.358) since then.

As I said at the outside, this will go down to the last week of the season.

Steelers Training Camp

I, along with my brother-in-law Jim Moellenbrock, spent this past Thursday afternoon at St, Vincent College in Latrobe, PA taking in Steelers Training camp.

I believe that the last time I was at a Steelers training camp in Latrobe was back in 1980, the year after their fourth Super Bowl win.  Somewhere in a dusty photo album, I am sure that I can come up with pics of Lynn Swann and John Stallworth.  The whole set-up at St Vincent has come a long way since 1980.  Among other things, you can now find a fully stocked pro shop filled with Steelers gear and apparel.  Following the dictum of the folks at Disney, what it costs to get in (free in the case of Steelers training camp) isn't nearly as important as what it costs to get out  of the place ($65 in my case for a new Steelers golf shirt).

Anyway, training camp can largely be a rather mundane affair.  Calisthenics, sprints, maybe some passing drills.  In the case of what we saw, Offense vs Defense in some drills from the two yard line were the highlights of the day, and even that was toned down a bit since no one was wearing pads on Wednesday.

So if you ask me "How did they look?", here is all I can tell you

• They looked big
• They looked fast
• George Pickens could be an All-Pro at WR this year

Still, a fun day, even with the god-awful heat that afternoon.  It's always great to see Rooney U out on the field.

Browns Helmet Decal

I watched very little of the Jets and Browns playing in the Hall of Fame game on Thursday night, but I watched long enough to notice this:

Yep, the Browns are honoring the late Jim Brown by wearing a #32 helmet decal this season. The Browns team that Jim Brown played for now plays as the Baltimore Ravens.  This Cleveland Browns team came into existence in 1999.  This Cleveland Browns team, with one or two exceptions, has pretty much stunk ever since 1999.  This Cleveland Browns team is owned by Jimmy and Dee Haslam.

This Cleveland Browns team should not be wearing Jim Brown's number.