THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND

We'll start off today's news and notes with a tribute to actress Estelle Getty, better known as Sophia Petrillo of the Golden Girls, who passed away at the age of 84.

Many of you will surely deny it, but you used to tune in every Saturday night to watch Sophia, Rose, Dorothy, and "that crazy Blanche". Remember, if you threw a party and invited everyone you knew, you would see the biggest gift would be from me, and the card attached would say, "thank you for being a friend" :

As you can see, the sports news around these parts is slow this time of year. We're leading with a Golden Girl, for crying out loud.

We could talk about Steeler camp, but that hasn't started yet. We could talk about the re-signing of Jeff Taffe, but I'm not sure how long that discussion would last. And we could discuss the first "The Legacy Of..." article, but even after several hours I spent on it last night, it's still not complete.

By default, that leaves the Pirates, who are riding a colossal two-game winning streak following an 8-2 win over the Houston Astros last night. Luckily, the Pirates brought their bats on this trip, although they only arrived in the ninth inning of Monday night's game. Home runs were provided by Ryan Doumit, Nate McLouth, and Freddy Sanchez (for the second night in a row).

Paul Maholm took care of the pitching, holding the 'Stros to one run over eight innings. Funny how the formula of pitching + hitting = victory, no?

So what else could we talk about?

--Joe Starkey wrote a very bloggish-type column that was a 40-item mission statement, "if fans owned the Steelers."

Proving that the art of list-writing isn't as easy as it sounds, Starkey used "We shall provide free beer" jokes not once, not twice, but five times. But it's worth a read.

--Here's an interesting article about the potential balancing act Stanley Druckenmiller would have to pull off if he did take control of the Steelers.

--Pittsburgh author Howard Shapiro has a children's book coming out in October about hockey, which you can find out more about on his website, www.hockeyplayerforlife.com.

The foreword is written by Keith Primeau, who probably conjures up a few memories around these parts.

--Bob Smizik pens the 55,192nd article about how bad Dave Littlefield was at his job.

--The PG had a big article about how cell phones could potentially pose health risks, as per an upcoming advisory from the director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and UPMC Cancer Centers. Fantastic!

Here's a list they provided of 10 tips to limit exposure from electromagnetic radiation emitted from cell phones.

--In case you missed it, there was a fight in a WNBA game last night involving LA and Detroit, who happens to be coached by former Piston Bad Boys Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn. Luckily, someone was appently taping a WNBA game on their television with a camcorder and posted it to YouTube. Ahh, technology.

Check back later this afternoon for a few items that deserve their own posts.