In Praise of Etsy

Take  one authentic but now outdated Steelers replica jersey.

Find an expert craftsperson on Etsy, in this case, someone who goes by the name "Patch Planet".

Iron on the new name plate over the old one.

Now, I am ready for some football!!

FYI, the "Rodgers" patch from Patch Planet will cost you twenty-four bucks, plus shipping.  A whole lot less than what a new A-A-Ron jersey would set you back.

Speaking of Sports.....

Idle sports thoughts from an idle mind..... 

A sixty foot putt in the rain to win the Open!

The United States Open Golf Championship was contested at the venerable Oakmont Country Club last week and was won by J.J. Spaun with a score of one (1!) under par. The mostly unheralded Spaun was at or near the top of the leaderbaord for the first three rounds.  Playing in the next to last group on Sunday, Spaun bogeyed five of the first six holes and shot 40 on the front nine, and it looked like he was about to fall back into the unheralded oblivion from whence he came.   However, through a rain delay, Spaun soldiered on and got back into contention as those around him kept falling back, and it was along about the time he played his 12th or 13th hole that I decided, "this is the guy I'm rooting for!".  He shot 32 on the back nine and had a birdie-birdie finish when he sank a 60 foot putt on the eighteenth hole to win the Open.  It was an epic performance for J.J. Spaun., and full credit and cheers for him.

(As an aside, Sam Burns, leader after three rounds, was royally screwed by not one, but two, officious USGA rules officials when he wasn't allowed a drop from casual water late in the round.  It probably wouldn't have made a diffidence in the final result, but we'll never really know that, will we?  If you were watching, you know that I am talking about.)

Okay, those are the facts of the matter, now for an opinion.  Spaun's win, especially his last two holes "saved" the US Open for this golf fan/viewer, because up until then, The Open was a slog of an event where we watched the best golfers in the world hack it around the golf course in much the same manner that I and my colleagues in the Tuesday Retiree Golf Group kick it around various public golf courses throughout southwestern Pennsylvania every summer.  That is not what I want to see when I watch golf being played at its highest level.  Of course, we get the standard "We don't seek to embarrass the best golfers, we seek to identify them" line of bullshit from the USGA, and the arrogant Oakmont members can continue to boast about how "they have to cut down the rough and slow the greens speeds for the pros when the Open comes here".  More bullshit.

I realize that my opinion is probably a minority one, and I agree that watching the pros go thirty-one under over four days at a routine Tour stop may not be the all that much fun either, but in the words of Bill Cowher, the 2025 US Open "wasn't a Mozart."

********

Tomorrow night we will be treated to one of the best events in all of sports - a Seventh  Game of a Playoff Series, and it is in the Championship Round, no less.

I have greatly enjoyed following the NBA Playoffs this spring, and the Finals series between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder has been particularly enjoyable.  Both teams are likable and are filled with very good players, one of whom, the Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander , or "SGA", could become one of the great players in the League over the next decade or so.  The second and sixth games of the series were one-sided affairs that the two teams split, but the other four games were hotly contested and Game One was an absolute classic.. In that game, the Thunder led convincingly throughout the game, but Indy mounted a comeback in the fourth quarter and won the game on this shot

by Tyrese Halliburton with :00.3 left on the clock.  It was the only time in the game that the Pacers led, and it gave them a 111-110 win. It was one of those games and moments that make you say "THIS is why I follow sports."  Had that game been a Game Seven, Haliburton would have become Bobby Thomson or Bill Mazeroski.

At this point I have absolutely no clue as to which team will win tomorrow night., but I can say that a win by either team would be a satisfactory conclusion to the series and mean it.  The game is at OKC, and the Thunder have had double digit leads in five of the first six games.  Put a gun to my head and tell me to make a choice, I'll pick the Thunder, mainly because they are the home team and in SGA, they have the best player on the floor.  They are 7.5 point favorites, but if the Pacers won this one, I would not be the least bit surprised.  (How's that for waffling?)

As  I watch NBA games with some degree of regularity as I have over these last few months, I am inclined to shake my head whenever someone tells me that college basketball is a superior product.   I understand loyalty to the old Alma Mater, and the sport is a good one, but please don't tell me that the NBA play is inferior.  I mean....

********

The National Hockey League season ended on Thursday night when for the second straight year, the Florida Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers  to win the Stanley Cup.  The championship series ended in six games.  In this household we were rooting for the Oilers because we wanted to see the best player in the game today, Connor McDavid, get to hoist the Cup.  Alas, it was not to be.

Admittedly, my hockey acumen and knowledge cannot hold a candle to that of my wife's, but it was apparent to me that while the Oilers had the best player on the ice, the Panthers were the better team, so their victory was deserved, despite the fact that the detestable Brad Marchand was/is one of their stars.  It is also notable, that the Panthers were able to hold McDavid to only one goal over the six games, and that one came in garbage time of a 5-2 Edmonton loss in Game Five.

********

And on the local front, THIS GUY showed up and participated in teh Steelers mandatory mini-camp last week.

In the words of Jerry Ford, "Our long national nightmare is over."

Or at least it is until the Steelers experience their first loss of the season.

He's Here!

 

To paraphrase our 38th President  and Michigan Wolverine standout O-lineman, Jerry Ford, Pittsburgh's long national nightmare came to an end over this last weekend when future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers signed a one year deal to be the QB of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The media frenzy that this dance  has generated over the last three months will reach its zenith later this afternoon as the Steelers open their mandatory mini-camp and Rodgers puts on a Steelers helmet for the first time.  I heard on the radio at 8:00 this morning that ESPN was already camped outside ot Steelers HQ on the South Side to get a glimpse, and possibly hear from, Rodgers himself sometime aroung 1:00 this afternoon.

Perhaps the best analysis from any local media person was THIS COLUMN by the Post-Gazette's Paul Ziese from June 5.  It says it better than I can.

As I see it, I had little or, at least, very low expectations for the Steelers season in 2025.  Now those expectations have risen a bit.  Rodgers, even  a Rodgers diminished from his four time MVP prime, gives the Steelers a much better chance to compete in the ACC North, make the Playoffs, and possibly win a Playoff game for the first time inine years. (Oh, how our expectations have diminished over the last few years!)

Of course,  it is also not beyond the realm of possibility that Rodgers' 41 years will have caught up with him and he will play football in the NFL in 2025 as a washed up 41 year old man, in which case, the reigns get turned over to Mason Rudolph, the Steelers end up with a mediocre to lousy season, and we then anxiously see what quarterback the Steelers select in the 2026 Draft to become the "Next Terry and/or Big Ben".

If nothing else, the presence of Aaron Rodgers and all the weirdness that surrounds him is gong to make the '25 Steelers season....interesting.

Three Quick Sports Thoughts

Some "Sports Briefs" from this section of The Grandstand this morning.

Behold this item form the sports pages of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this morning about Auburn University basketball player Chad Baker-Mazara.

By my reckoning, and using all go my fingers and toes to count, Mr. Baker-Mazara, now 25 years of age, has now played five seasons at four different Institutions of Higher Learning (two at Auburn and one each at Northwest Florida State, San Diego State, and Duquesne) and is now looking to play one more season (at least) at yet another Institution of Higher Learning.

How does this happen?

********

As a Steeles fan for over 65 years, nothing has been as off-putting to me as this dance that the Steelers have been doing for over three months now with Aaron Rodgers,  In HIS COLUMN in today's Post-Gazette, Jason Mackey details quite perfectly why this madness has to stop and why the Steelers should tell Rodgers that....

....and that he needs to shit or get off the pot soon, as in, say, yesterday..

My own thought is that if Dan Rooney were still with us and running the team, this circus would not have been tolerated and would never have happened.

*******

I usually wait to give an assessment of any given Pirates season until about thirty games, or 20% of the season, have been played.  The Pirates have played only 20 games, and despite having just won three of four from the equally bad Washington Nationals, the Bucs are 8-12 and are in last place in the NL Central, and they are giving off all indications that they will be posting a season that will be historically bad, with 100 losses being well within their grasp.

I will do a deeper analysis at that thirty game mark, but I will leave you with this photo of the box score from the game of two nights ago against the Nats,

Check out those batting averages, five guys batting below .200 and a sixth guy sitting right on the .200 mark.  Oh, and the guy with the highest BA among them, a robust .250, was batting eighth in the order.  I don't know if I've ever seen anything quite like that.

Yesterday, I attended my first game of this season, and I did enjoy seeing a Pirates victory, a 1-0 win in which the Pirates mustered five hits and went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.  The entire offense came when Oneil Criz hit a monster home run - the outfielders didn't even move when it was hit - on the first pitch of the game.  Glad we weren't late arriving or we'd have missed everything. Andrew Heaney pitched a nice ballgame, going 7.1 innings and lowering his ERA to 2.13, but Pirates pitchers can't be expected to have to pitch shutouts every time out in order to win games.  I mean...

(How's that for resurrectiong an oldie but goodie of a picture?)

Ben Makes It Official, The Best Sports Day of the Year, and One Other Football thought

Ben Roethlisberger made it official this past week and formally announced his retirement from pro football and the Steelers after an historic eighteen year career.  I have written a lot about Big Ben in recent weeks, so I won't belabor it any further in this space, other than to say thanks, and best wishes for a happy life for Number 7.

The speculation now begins as to "who comes next?" for the Steelers at the most important position on the field.  Talk show hosts and callers will be frothing at the mouths throughout the off season and well into the 2022 season and beyond.  What do I think?  Well, I think that Mason Rudolph has earned the right to go into the season at the top of the depth chart.  He has not earned the right to go to training camp without facing competition for the job.  That competition could come from current #3 guy Dwayne Haskins (meh), a veteran that they could obtain via trade or free agency (Russell Wilson? Bring him on.  Mitch Trubisky? Intriguing.  Kirk Cousins?  Please no.), or a drafted QB (Any chance Kenny Pickett might be available with the 20th pick?).  

Whatever and whoever it is, it will no doubt be THE storyline for the next twelve months where the Steelers are concerned.  I am old enough to remember bad quarterback play before Terry Bradshaw arrived in 1970, and I remember some mediocre (with some exceptions) quarterback play in the the twenty years After Bradshaw (AB) and Before Ben (BB), and eighteen seasons of Hall of Fame caliber play at the position since 2004.  HOF worthy QB's don't grow on trees, and I just hope that I live long enough to see another one at the position for the Steelers, but at my age, that is not necessarily a sure thing.

********

As I type this, we are less than an hour away from the start of one of my favorite sports days of the year:  NFL Conference Championship Sunday.  It is hard to imagine either of the two games today matching what we saw last weekend in all four of the Divisional Round games, especially that absolute classic between the Chiefs and the Bills and Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.

As for today, I have put coin of the realm on the Chiefs at -7.5 over the Bengals and the Rams at -3.5 over the 49ers.  Cannot want to see the duel at quarterback between Mahomes and Joe Burrow in Kansas City.  

********

Final thought following last week's NFL games.....

Has anyone fallen in the Court of Public Opinion as quickly as has Aaron Rodgers?

In the space of the last few months, he went from lovable prospective  "Jeopardy" host and affable State Farm pitchman to lying anti-vaxxer kook and a possible right wing nut job.  When his Number One seeded Packers lost the the 49ers last week, social and mainstream media exploded with people ripping him with a vengeful glee that was almost shocking to read.

Sic transit gloria mundi, A-aron.

 

Just Shut Up!

Welcome to a new feature of The Grandstander.  I like to call it.....

 Aaron Rodgers.

We're all tired of hearing you moan and groan about how mistreated you feel over how the Green Bay Packers are treating you.  This also goes for the media members (I'm looking at you, Tony Kornheiser) who have been slurping you and promoting the idea of how dissed you have to feel ever since the Packers drafted Jordan Love with there first round pick in 2020. How conveniently everyone forgets the last time the team dissed a Hall of Fame QB in Brett Favre when they had the temerity to use a first round pick to draft, oh who was it?  Oh, right, it was YOU!

So, either have your agent negotiate in a business-like manner to get you traded or released, go to work for State Farm full time, take the Jeopardy gig, or just show up and collect your $25 mil from the Packers, but otherwise, Just Shut Up!

LeBron James and Luka Doncic. 

Both of these very terrific NBA players have been sounding off of late about the new NBA "Play-In" element of the NBA Playoffs.

(In case you are unaware....In an effort to avoid "tanking" and keeping interest up late in the season, instead of the top eight teams in each conference making the Playoffs, the teams that finish 7-8-9-10 will play a play-in format.  Seven will play Eight, Nine will play Ten.  The winner of the 7-8 game gets the seventh seed for the conference.  The loser of the 7-8 game, will play the winner of the 9-10 game; the winner of that game gets the eighth seed.  Sounds like fun!)

Both James and Doncic, whose teams are in danger of finishing in seventh or eighth and facing the play-in-within-the-playoffs are now crying unfair.  First off, these extra games will generate additional monies from television, approximately 51% of this money will go to, by CBA, the PLAYERS.  Two, if it so unfair, then play better during the season and don't finish in seventh or eighth place!!! 

Otherwise, Just Shut Up!  

(Full disclosure.  I happen to like Rodgers, James, and Doncic, but that doesn't make them above criticism when warranted.)

Rudy Giuliani, Just Shut Up! 

Neither explanation nor photo necessary.

Final Note....Just Shut Up! may or may not become a regular feature of The Grandstander.  Depends on how the Loyal Readers receive it.  I will accept nominations from any of you out there who feels that someone needs to be told to Just Shut Up!

NFL Playoffs Thoughts

Some thoughts on the NFL Divisional Playoff round.  You know, that was the round where The Grandstander posted perfect 4-0 prediction record. (Yes, I believe I had that!)

Game of the Weekend.  Hands down, Green Bay's 34-31 win over Dallas.  That game had everything one could possibly want in a football game.

Play of the Weekend. The pass from Aaron Rodgers to Jared Cook along the sideline with :03 left in the game to set up the game winning field goal for the Packers.  Not sure what was more impressive, Rodgers' throw, Cook's ability to catch and keep his toes in bounds, or the game official seeing it and over-ruling the initial call of incomplete.

Runner-up Play of the Weekend.  Ben Roethlisberger's third and three pass to Antonio Brown from inside his own ten yard line to make first down and enable the Steelers to run out the clock and preserve their 18-16 win.

Surprise of the Weekend (to me anyway). How good the Atlanta Falcons were.  I hadn't seen Atlanta all season, so, like I said, this one surprised me.  Sets up what should be one whale of a game between Atlanta and Green Bay and an Aaron Rodgers - Matt Ryan showdown/shootout.

What Is He Doing Here? Award.  This one goes to Houston QB Brock Osweiler, and do I have to go into the details on this one? Whomever the genius was in the Houston Texans brain trust who decided to bestow a $72 million contract upon this guy has got to be concerned about HIS job security right about now.

He's Proved Himself Award.  This one goes out to Dallas rookie QB Dak Prescott who was pretty terrific in that game against Green Bay (and all season long, for that matter).  Tell me again what some people (ahem, Jerry Jones) were suggestion that Tony Romo would be brought into that game if Dallas fell behind early.  Dallas did fall behind early, and it was Prescott who led them back into that game and almost won it for them.  Best wishes to Romo as he goes to a new team for next season, because it sure looks like Prescott is going to be The Goods for Dallas for years to come.

The Other Guy.  To be honest, I had to go to the Google Machine to look up who Atlanta's coach was as I was watching that game on Saturday.  The NFL has a Final Four of coaches that counts nine Super Bowl appearances and six Lombardi Trophy winners, Bill Belichick, Mike Tomlin, and Mike McCarthy.  And the Other Guy.  Dan Quinn.

Are They Vulnerable?  Despite the fact that the Texans were easily the worst of the eight teams that played this past weekend, they were able to hang with the Patriots for at least the first half of the game, so it raises the question, Are the Patriots vulnerable?  Houston's pass rush did get to the Golden Boy a few times in that first half and made him look like a 39 year old quarterback.  Of course, they play four quarters, not just two, and Tom Brady was definitely Tom Brady by the time all was said and done, but the question lingers....

Most Valuable Talisman.  For the second week in a row, these babies produced a Steelers Playoff victory:

Yes, I will be wearing them again come Sunday at 6:38 PM.  Belichick and Brady....BEWARE, and #FearTheSocks. Many thanks to pal Joe Risacher for coming up with that hashtag.

Predictions.   Not ready to make them yet, but here's a hint:  Back in September I predicted that the Steelers would win the Super Bowl, and I am not about to back away from that prediction.  As for Green Bay and Atlanta, I need to cogitate just a bit more on that one.  Look for the call(s) come Friday.