Russ Cooks. and Other Sporting Thoughts

The talk all last week among the sporting cognoscenti here in The Burgh was Mike Tomlin's not so secret decision to start Russell Wilson at quarterback over Justin Fields.  You could make an argument in favor of fields, who had led the Steelers to a 4-2 record and seemed to be improving each week.  Personally, I was not totally sold on Fields, for whatever my opinion might be worth, and I figured that Tomlin gets paid big money to make these decisions, and if he goes with Wilson, well, then let's just see how it will all play out.

After a first half in which Wilson's performance could be charitably described as "shaky", Tomlin apparently spray coated Russ down with a can of Rustoleum to remove whatever rust had accumulated on him, and both Wilson and the Steelers proceeded to kick the collective asses of the New York J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets. 

 As I usually do, I stayed off of social media as I watched the game last night, so it was with a wry sense of delight that I looked at my Facebook feed after the game and saw all of the posts that were made throughout the first half of the game (New York led 15-6 at halftime).  Tomlin was being crucified by all the armchair GM's out there.  My favorite was some one who stated that by starting an obviously over-the-hill Wilson in place of Fields, "the Steelers have become the Pirates."  It was quite amusing, actually.   I haven't checked yet today to see if any of those experts retracted any of their statements.

Under Wilson's hand, the Steelers scored four touchdowns in a game for the first time since November of 2022.  They sit at 5-2 and should be considered in the second tier of teams, behind Kansas City and Baltimore, in the AFC.  We will see how it goes with Wilson as the season wears on, but he was throwing the kinds of passes last night that we haven't seen from Fields so far this year, and certainly unlike anything we saw all of last season.

One other Steelers note.  The team had its "Alumni Weekend" where they honored the 1974 team on the fiftieth anniversary of their first Super Bowl Championship team.  

Nice team picture, ain't it?  To observe the occasion, the team wore "throwback" jerseys that featured the block numerals that they wore throughout the 1970's and into the 1990's.    This begs the question:  When will they return to the block numerals permanently?  I don't know of a single Steelers fan anywhere who would not be in favor of that.

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In other sports news....

In the fifth and final game of the WNBA Championship Series, the New York Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx to claim their first ever WNBA title.  The final game went into overtime, the second OT of the series, and was a thrilling game right until the final buzzer.  In fact , four of the five games were all decided by razor thin margins.  The competition was thrilling and terrific sports theater.  If you are a basketball fan, but chose not to watch the Playoffs, you deprived yourself of some damn exciting hoops watching.

If it had not attained such status prior to 2024, this year marked the occasion when, I believe, the WNBA has arrived as a full fledged "major league" sport in America.  Many people came to the sport because of Caitlin Clark, but once they arrived, I think that eyes were opened as to just how good and enjoyable the women's game is.  I, for one, will be looking forward to next season.

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In one other event of significance last night, the Dodgers defeated the Mets 10-4 in the sixth and final game of the NLCS, thus setting up a "traditional" World Series between the Dodgers and the Yankees.  That is, if you consider something that hasn't happened in forty-three years a tradition.  

In that deciding game last night, both teams used seven pitchers, continuing a trend that I lamented in my most recent Grandstander post.  As friend Dave Glass noted on social media this morning, a Dodgers win 

"..will be the first time recent memory (and I'd bet ever) that a team won with basically zero starting pitching. Call me an old man but I think baseball is better when the starters matter at least a little.  I don't need Bob Gibson, but 6 or 7 innings maybe?"

Couldn't have said it better, Dave.

One intriguing thing that this World Series does give us it a head to head matchup of the two best hitters in the game today, Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, and I most certainly do look forward to that.

I'll predict a Yankees victory and hope that it goes seven games.

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I know that many of you are probably asking, "But, Bob, the Jets-Steelers, Lynx- Liberty, and Mets-Dodgers were all on at the same time. How could possibly have taken all of that in last night?"

Well, when your various television sets are no longer tethered to cable boxes, a little unplugging and moving around can turn any living room into your personal Sports Bar.

This solved the problem of the 8:00 PM conflicts, but also came in handy when watching the Penguins in the afternoon up against the 1:00 NFL games, and I even caught some of the Liverpool-Chelsea EPL match game in the late morning.

You may say that you feel sorry for my wife for putting up with this, but actually, movies the two other sets into the living room was her idea.  Those other two sets were returned to the bedroom and the office earlier this morning.

You Should Be Watching the WNBA

 

Right off the bat, I will admit that I only started watching WNBA games with any degree of regularity because I had placed some just-for-fun bets on some of the games.  As I was tracking my five dollar bets, though, I found myself really and truly enjoying the games themselves and the brand of basketball that these women are playing.   The cliche is that the women play a game "below the rim" so there are no monster dunks, and a there is a greater reliance on speed, passing, defense, and shooting.  Often times, cliches become cliches because they state an obvious truth.   When you watch a WNBA game, you will see all of those qualities and skills come into play.  Also, the games are fast paced and lively.  Somehow, a game played in four ten minute quarters, seems to go much faster than a college basketball game played in two 20 minute halves.

I am not saying that these games are "better" than NBA games or high level college games.  It would be foolish and stupid to suggest that the games played by Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo are inferior.  No one is saying that the Seattle Storm could beat the Milwaukee Bucks.  The women's game is different, to be sure, but the skills of the players are no less impressive than those exhibited by their male counterparts relative to the competition on the floor.  I mean, did you watch Brittney Griner dominate the Japanese women in that Gold Medal game in the Olympics?  That was a remarkable performance.

The WNBA games are on TV, but they are not easy to find there.  For example, tonight, August 17, there are five games on the schedule. Two are on the CBS Sports Network, one is on NBATV, one is on Prime, and one is on Facebook (?).  Two top teams, the Seattle Storm and the New York Liberty face each other on Wednesday and Friday nights this week. One game is on CBSSN and the other is on Prime.  

I would highly recommend that you seek out at least one of the Seattle games.  They are the defending League Champs, they feature perhaps the best player in the league, if not the world, in Breanna Stewart, and feature two other players who were on the Olympic team, Jewell Loyd and the great Sue Bird.

Stewart, Bird, and Loyd of the Storm

So give the WNBA a try.  I'm pretty sure that you will enjoy the basketball that you will be watching, even if you don't have a wager on the outcome!