Monday, January 31, 2005

Monday Morning Ramblings 2005, Issue IV

Not too much going on this past week. I spent Saturday at Piratefest at the Convention Center. I don't care what negative Pittsburgh media types say about the Pirates and Pirate fans in general. There is always a lot of talk about the burgh being a one horse town when it comes to sports and the Steelers. Certain folks, which will remain nameless but I'll tell you his last name rhymes with Geigerbald, don't want anything to do with non-Steelers topics.

The line to get Rookie of the Year Jason Bay's autograph was out of this world. I spoke to a good many Pirates fans that are excited about the upcoming season. I'm sure the majority of them, like myself, know there is little chance for postseason play. However, baseball is different. There is something about it. There are so many games. You will have many chances to see a win. I spoke to a fan that traveled all the way from Columbus, Ohio for the event.

Oh, and by the way, the Pitt men's basketball team isn't too shabby. They are sold out for the entire season of home games. I was lucky enough to come up with tickets tonight for the Providence game. I hope there is not a letdown after back-to-back, come-from-behind wins against UConn and Syracuse.

Yes, Pittsburgh, there is life after the Steelers!

I ran in to Eddie Olczyk at the Mount Lebanon Rec Center. He was coaching one of his sons games prior to my nephew's Johnstown Warriors game. Good to see the coach keeping active with hockey during the work stoppage. It's already been reported that he's helping his older son at Chartiers Valley High School.

Unfortunately, the Warriors lost to the Mount Lebanon Hornets.


Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Trojan Nation content

New Weekly Roundup posted at:

http://trojannation.tripod.com/id144.html

Monday, January 24, 2005

Monday Morning Ramblings 2005, Issue III

Well, we only get half the Commonwealth Bowl as the Eagles came through but the Steelers did not. As per usual with the Bill Cowher regime, the Steelers just can't win the big one. Especially when the big one is an AFC Championship Game at home. As a Steelers fan I am concerned that Cowher's legacy is going to be that of his mentor's (Schottenheimer): good coach with some good teams but will never win a Super Bowl. Lord I hope I'm wrong.

I finally got a chance to watch my tape of the US Army All-American Bowl. I liked the synergy of NBC by using the Arena Football League ball, especially since the league kicks off play during the off-week leading up to the Super Bowl. That's great for the football diehards for sure!

The announcers mentioned it was odd to see the ball punted, as there is no punting in the AFL.
Back to the NFL, I thought that Big Ben was a completely different QB in the playoffs than he was in the regular season. He seemed to be forcing the ball, aiming it, was overthrowing wide open WRs.

In a rare form of solidarity from a western Pa person, I will be rooting for the Eagles come Super Bowl Sunday.

I was saddened when I heard the news that Johnny Carson died over the weekend. I'm a huge David Letterman fan and have become a big Conan O'Brien fan and am anxiously awaiting when he takes over the Tonight Show from Jay Leno however there will never, ever be another Johnny. He was truly the King of Late Night and will be sorely missed. I can recall watching Carson with my father and how big a deal the monologue was then. It really isn't as big anymore. If you watch the Tonight Show now, or Late Night w/ Conan or the Late Show with Letterman or the Late, Late show with Craig Ferguson (or Craig Kilborn prior) or even the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, you'll see Carson's influence. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and as they same about the Grambling State Marching Band: often imitated, never duplicated.

I enjoyed seeing all the famous people that Johnny "made" like Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, David Letterman and Drew Carey. Amazingly, off the four, Carey looks exactly the same today as he did then!

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Monday Morning Ramblings 2005, Issue II

Yes, I do realize it is Thursday, do shut up if you post reminding me such! My divisional playoffs picks were 50% right. I had the Steelers who really got lucky and the Falcons who took care of the Rams pretty easily. I missed on the Vikings and Colts. I really thought this was the year for Manning. Oh well, I guess that goes to show that shooting your wad to early can come back and haunt you in the playoffs.

So, I'm going with the Commonwealth Super Bowl. I just don't see the Falcons beating the Eagles (with or without T.O.). Of course the Steelers pick is with my heart but my head also knows they can win as well. They spanked the Pats on Halloween and all anyone is talking about is that NE didn't have Corey Dillon. That's fine, but in case you didn't notice they play against a lot of solid RBs this year (Jamal Lewis for example) and they are pretty damn good against the run. It's not like they never saw Dillon before either, I mean, they used to get him twice a year when he was with Cincy.

I am soooo tired of hearing about Big Ben and the glove. Much ado about nothing, no one was bitching when he had his best game of the season against the NY Giants in December. He's not the first QB to do and he won't be the last. He had a bad game against the Jets but very little had to do with the glove.

Even though the NHL stoppage continues there is plenty of hockey for me in Western Pennsylvania. I can go an hour to the west to catch the Wheeling Nailers or an hour and a half east and see my hometown Johnstown Chiefs. Over this past weekend I caught the Chiefs in action. Kudos to GM Jim Brazill who let common sense prevail and moved the start time back to 8:00 Saturday night to accomodate those watching the Steelers game. Even with this move I was disappointed with the crowd. I guess people partied to much or had chest pains from heart failure after the football game! I had a grand time watching the Chiefs from the Parrot Bay party pit and while stoppages in play, glanced over at the TV and caught the Falcons' game. It was a tough weekend for the Chiefs as they lost Fri, Sat and Sun. They are currently sixth in their division of which only four make the playoffs.

Sunday morning was a real treat for me as I got to see my nephew Luke in action on the ice of the War Memorial. He plays for the Johnstown Warriors, who defeated the Arctic Foxes of Neville Island 5-3. I think it is so cool that my nephew is playing down on the ice that Slap Shot was filmed on.

Only one TV note, I caught the first American Idol and have my favorite loser already. The guy who had the "5.9%" headband on was classic! He will by William Hung for me this year!!!

Later, I'll try to get back to you guys on Monday next week!

GO STEELERS!!!!!

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Trojan Nation content

New Trojan Nation content for 1/13/05:

http://trojannation.tripod.com/id144.html







__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - Find what you need with new enhanced search.
http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

Monday, January 10, 2005

Monday Morning Ramblings 2005, Issue I

After a lengthy hiatus from blogging at this site (save for updates to the Trojan Nation website and SW PA football blog) I will now return on a tentative, time-permitting basis to do a weekly post. Those of you familiar with the Trojan Nation website will recognized the moniker: Monday Morning Ramblings. During the high school football season this column was a nice catch-all of the week that was around the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference, the WPIAL and beyond. In this capacity, MMR will be used to ramble about any topics I deem necessary: sports, business, politics, music, movies, TV, etc.

So without further adieu, here we go:

NFL Playoffs (Wild Card round): The Saturday games were much more interesting than the Sunday games for sure. Here's a mini-breakdown of each:

Rams v. Seahawks: This was a sloppy game played by two teams that pretty much didn't deserve to be in postseason play but a close game that comes down to the wire is all you can ask for from these two offensive "geniuses".

Mike Martz continues to amaze with his total lack of time-out conservation. They blew two TOs early in the first half and were out of TOs in the third quarter. I just can't believe that doesn't come back to bite them in close games but this game is a prime example. I have heard Martz in interviews say he doesn't care about saving time-outs, he'd rather have the perfect play in the situation called.

Jets v. Chargers: I kind of wish the media would take it easy on the "Marty can't win the big game" theory. Sure that was true in Cleveland and Kansas City but this Chargers team is a different story. They were absolutely dreadful last year and it isn't as if they made wholesale changes to the roster. That coach-of-the-year award was right on considering the job he did with that club.

Harris Barton gets the "How stupid can you be award". How in God's name can you throw that forearm while your bringing the QB down on FOURTH DOWN with seconds to go? He eventually got bailed out but that was the type of move that Jimmy Johnson would cut a guy for during his tenure in Dallas.

I question the logic of the Chargers running the third down play outside the right hash when it appeared obvious on the previous two plays they were making a conscience effort to stay in the middle of the field. The kick is good from the middle of the field and San Diego is making plans to visit Heinz Field.

Colts v. Broncos: 35-3 at the half and it should have been 42-3 had Manning not forced a ball in the endzone that was picked off in a goal-to-go situation. Most QBs would have been content with Manning's first half stats let alone the stats for the complete game.

Denver was completely outplayed and looked like they didn't belong in the playoffs. I think some of the luster of the "O-Genius" tag placed on Mike Shannahan is starting to fade. Brian Griese was a flop and Plummer doesn't look any better. Funny thing, Dan Reeves couldn't win the big one with Elway, Shannahan can't seem to win without him!

Vikings v. Packers: Wow, I wonder where John Madden and all the Favre-lovers are now. Oh, wait, I heard them making excuses about the trying year in his personal life and believe me, I can empathize. I still went to my job and did it well. The same really can't be said for #4 this year. I am beginning to think Favre has reached his peak and his performance is going down from here. The Washington Post's Mike Wilbon agrees.

And please stop with all this Randy Moss nonsense, to quote Judge Mathis "ya'll need to stop!" That fake-mooning thing was no big deal. Joe Buck should be reprimanded for his ridiculous comments about being sorry it was showed on the air on Fox. Fox. That's right, the same network that brought you Temptation Island. The same network that is bringing back Family Guy after twice canceling because the DVDs sales soared. Now, don't get me wrong I am a HUGE fan of Family Guy (and the Simpsons for that matter) but I think the following line by Peter Griffin is MUCH more offensive than Randy Moss' TD celebration:

"Is this really the blood of Christ? That guy must have been wasted 24 hours a day!" This was said while taking communion in church.

Kudos to Mike Golic who took all these clowns to task on the Mike and Mike in the Morning Show. Even calling out Chris Berman and Tom Jackson of NFL PrimeTime in a rare critique of one ESPNer to another.

Predictions for next week: Indy over the Pats; Steelers over Jets; Vikings over Eagles; Falcons over Rams.

TV: JACK IS BACK! American's favorite counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer is back for Season 4 (Day 4 if you will) of 24. Last night's two-hour premier cut right to the chase and it appears tonight's will do more of the same. Great job by the writers of getting some good action stuff going right off the bad. It took too long for some things to develop in the previous two seasons.

MUSIC: A 22-year-old Chinese piano protege named Lang Lang is taking the Classical Music scene by storm. A world-class pianist with a flair for showmanship is getting attention worldwide although some critics don't like the flash. 60 Minutes ran a piece on this super-talented musician last night.

I have a new found appreciation for classical music as I was forced to listen to a lot of it while I waited for a new surge strip to plug my radio in to. I normally listen to talk radio during the day and I can't listen to pop or rock music because I find myself distracted, singing along to the songs. So it was classical and jazz in the Windows Media Player for me. Needless to say, my brother has quite an impressive collection of classical music on CD that he let me copy (thanks bro, good lookin' out!).

After seeing Lang Lang in action I will definitely want to pick up a few CDs of his work.

NEWS: By now everyone has seen, heard or read about the terrible devastation the tsunamis brought to the Indian Ocean area. Apparently some aren't as sensitive as they should. Bonehead comments started filtering out, this particular letter, by Mr. William Kelly of Collier, PA set me off so bad I felt forced to reply.

I don't know how someone could compare a minor flood with the deaths of nearly 150,000 people. I guess it doesn't matter since they weren't OUR people, right?

I am lucky enough to work for an employer generous enough to match my donations to the Red Cross for the Tsunami victims. I encourage everybody to get involved, even if you can only afford $5, it is truly the thought that counts. The Pittsburgh joint broadcast channel telethon raised nearly $1 million in one hour of air time.

For those of you looking for an investment opportunity I'd like to pass on one I saw a Fox News analyst pass on during their weekly "Cost of Freedom" block. It was on the show Bulls and Bears and it was for a Thai fund, ticker symbol TTF. It is currently trading at $9.75 a share. This would be a neat way to help support the rebuilding of that area in my opinion.

That's all for now. Go Steelers! Go Panthers!