AND WE'RE BACK

I spent a while today trying to crack the Case of the Stretched Text that's been lingering on and off for a few days, and the best solution I could come up with was to switch to a different template. If any of you are still experiencing problems viewing the site, email the complaint department and I'll see what I can do.

Here's a little bit of what I would have posted today if I was not playing around with different formats...

--The Pirates parted company with a few of their coaches today: Pitching Coach Jeff "Joey Pants" Andrews and first-base coach Lou Frazier. As the saying goes, "We can finish last without them."

--Early word is that Sergei Gonchar may miss 4-6 months after shoulder surgery, thus continuing a miserable Penguins offseason that's eerily reminiscent of the post-SBXL Steelers.

--Ron Cook caught up with former Pitt coach Walt Harris, who moved back to Pittsburgh recently. I must admit, that caught me a bit off guard.

--One of Walt's star QBs, Tyler Palko, recently worked out for the Denver Broncos. I'm assuming Jay Cutler's job is still safe.

--In other news involving former Pitt standouts, CB Hank Poteat recently signed for yet another tour of duty with the NY Jets. Keep in mind that this is a guy who was cut for the first time in 2003 and has managed to stick in the league this long and even win a Super Bowl ring with the Patriots in the process.

--Ravens blogger Dewey Hammond wants you to participate in Yardbarker's Photo Caption Contest. They're giving away 25 copies of Iron Man on DVD for the best captions you can come up with for this photo:

Much more coming tomorrow including a full Steeler wrapup and more playing catch-up for what I missed.

Thanks for everyone checking in today - hopefully you can now read full sentences again (for better or worse).