Big Lead Sports Bar

2/14/2007

Let's Get Back to Sports

The readers have spoken. It's time to move away from Evgeni Malkin pictures and back to sports, and I agree. So let's highlight some of the more pertinent sports topics surrounding our fine city and see if it generates the same level of discussion.
--The Pens (29-17-9) take on Chicago (22-27-7) tonight at the Igloo. The Pens, currently the 4-seed in the East, are on an 11-0-2 run. Where do you think they will ultimately end up in the standings?
--Louisville gave the rest of the country a blueprint to beat Pitt on Monday night. Is this Pitt team going down the same road as past teams, or can they rebound from this horrendous home loss?
--Alan Faneca thinks the Steelers should have hired Russ Grimm instead of Mike Tomlin. Of course, he's also the same guy that was not in favor of starting Ben Roethlisberger in 2004. Is there any possible positive that could come from Faneca's comments?
--I haven't discussed this yet, but I really objected to the letter from Myron Cope that the Post Gazette ran concerning the Penguins situation. Letters like this do absolutely no good and will accomplish nothing. Myron also forgets that Lemieux is part of an ownership group, and is not the sole owner of the team. Of course, Cope is entitled to his opinion, and I'm entitled to say I think he's wrong. I'd think if you wanted to write a letter about someone in this situation, you should start with the politicians, of which Cope wrote this: "Disregard our political leaders staying on the sidelines for so long."
Easier said than done, Mr. Cope. Yoi and double-yoi.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Alan Faneca is entitled to his opinion, his pro bowl trips speak for themselves. But I must bring up that our o-line was ass last year, and Grimm was the man in charge of that. I also think the guys lacked discipline and no one from the old regime was going to kick these guys in the ass.

Am I the only one who thinks Aaron Gray is a little overrated? Or that thinks Mike Cook is in over his head in the Big East?

I also think that Myron should have directed his letter to the politicians. This could have been done years ago and this wouldn't even be an issue.

Dirty Sanchez said...

I'm going to go out on a ledge and predict that they won't go undefeated for the rest of the season. Who would have guessed that the Pens would be 12 games over .500 at this point, Fleury would be so solid in goal, and that Staal would be on pace for 34 goals?

Faneca's comments aren't a big deal. He doesn't know any more about Mike Tomlin then we do, and he had a comfort level with Russ Grimm. That said, maybe the O-Line had too much of a comfort level with Grimm. I'm sure Faneca will come around once he starts working with the new coach, just as I'm sure he doesn't wish Tommy Gun was still the QB.

tbart213 said...

I like that Faneca speaks his mind. Was he really supposed to not support Grimm whne he hadn't even met Tomlin yet? No way, this way he gets to support someone that he knows, likes and respects and do so without it really reflecting badly on Tomlin. By the time TOmlin takes the reigns, all else will be long forgotten.

Myron's letter isn't meaningful enough for anyone to worry about.

Perhaps his quote from Art Rooney (the real one) should be more directed at his heirs than at Mario?

Unknown said...

i agree with homeboy. visions of fat boy dancing in my head....

HotDog_Zanzabar said...

I don't understand the logic of the two of you. So the author here agrees that Myron is out of line writing to Lemieux and all of the sudden he's a shill? I think Myron was out of line, does that make me a shill?

Unknown said...

you know hotdog_z, it is pretty funny that mondesi said lets get back to sports and here we are off topic yet again!

Jonny Van Mundegaarde said...

Maybe the Steelers will be fine if we treat Faneca like Costanza in that one episode of Seinfeld...Do everything the opposite of what he says.

I live on the west coast, so i haven't seen much of Pitt to know much about them, but I can't wait to watch them in March.

And Myron was just speaking from the heart, he probably knew that a letter to the politicians would fall on deaf ears, so he wrote one to the only person he had a personal connection with. And guess what? None of us will ever know if it had the tiniest impact on the team staying here. I think it was just nice to see a local person with a voice give us his opinion on the matter. But i'm sure Burkle would just as soon read it as use it for TP.

And as for me, I don't know about yinz, but i'm already missing that certain paranoid Penguin fan of the female persuasion...And although we've come...to the end, of, the road...still i can't, let, go...

Anonymous said...

Jon,

You're sounding like Captain James T. Kirk at the end there!

Louie-boy:

Mondesi is definitely not a shill for Madden. If anything, the guy is getting ripped off every day by the fat one. Look at his show on Tuesday. First thing he says is "Cuban's buying Pitt". My God, that was a total, complete ripoff from Mondesi.

So before you guys start "Gwenjenning" Mondesi, think about how much he charges you for all of his hard work and for the enjoyment you get and be a little more loyal than that! Jeez!!!!

Meadowbrookalum1 said...

I agree with worstavid...I've heard probably 20 times in the last 2 days that "everyone is entitled to their opinion" and now just because Raul has an opinion that happens to run parallel with Mark Madden, he's all of a sudden ripping him or accused of drinking madden cool-aid. This kid has had a ton of original ideas here since the site's conception. Most blogs report, this one happens to break news worthy ideas as well.

On that note, this is a sports discussion board. Get back to talking about sports. This whole Gwenjenn episode has begun turning some of you in bloggerland into a bunch of gossiping broads.

Jonny Van Mundegaarde said...

Hahaha that was the exact effect i was going for...or more specifically, this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN3MGN899yE

And I love it when new words enter our lexicon. Gwenjenning (v) - to make malicious accusations against a person's blog and/or saucy picture.

Something tells me good ol' Raul won't be flying off the handle and using random caps-locked sentences in his posts and throwing in the cyber space "towel"...

Jonny Van Mundegaarde said...

Sorry to be posting so much today, but holy fuck did yinz see this?
Notice the caption under the first pic. This thing officially took on a life of it's own.

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/emptynetters/

Russell Lucas said...

Regarding Myron Cope's letter, maybe he forgot that sliver-thin period of time before the Heinz Field/PNC Park deal came through when the Rooneys floated the trial balloon of playing in Washington County. Sure, it didn't last long, but that's because it didn't have to last long-- the Steelers got exactly what they wanted without having to go through this sort of public flogging and begging, and without having to bed down with the casino jockeys (spreading their legs voluntarily for IoC, but being sodomized now by Barden).

And the bigger irony of comparing the teams and the building outcomes is that while going to baseball games is now a way, way better experience post-PNC, I'm probably not alone in thinking that football games at 3R were a better experience than at Heinz. Which is just a roundabout way of saying STFU, Myron. Buildings get built for a lot of reasons, if by a lot you mean $ and $ alone.

Alan Faneca's just a creature of habit, that's all. It's no big deal. Once the Wiz and the Reaper turn in another one of those familiar-to-Arizona 4-12 seasons and the Steelers win 10 or 11 next year, he'll know the right thing happened.

I think catching Jersey for a spot in the Top Three is highly unlikely, but holding the four spot or slipping to the five is where I see them ending up. The return of Mark Eaton + balanced scoring from four lines = a hundred points at least.

Syzslak11 said...

Russell,

Those comments illustrate that you're just a shill for Mark Madden.