Big Lead Sports Bar

11/19/2008

BREAKING: CHINEDUM NDUKWE OUT



Hines Ward can sleep easy tonight. Why? Because Chinedum Ndukwe, the awkwardly-named Bengal who vowed revenge on Ward for his season-ender on Keith Rivers, is going to miss Thursday's game with a foot injury. I'm sure you're as disappointed as I am. The full, up-to-the-minute injury report:

BENGALS: OUT: WR Antonio Chatman (neck), DE Eric Henderson (neck), LB Abdul Hodge (elbow), T Levi Jones (back), G Scott Kooistra (knee), S Chinedum Ndukwe (foot), DE Antwan Odom (shoulder), QB Carson Palmer (right elbow), G Andrew Whitworth (ankle). DOUBTFUL: WR Jerome Simpson (ankle). QUESTIONABLE: CB Johnathan Joseph (foot). PROBABLE: WR Andre Caldwell (foot), WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh (back), TE Reggie Kelly (ankle), RB Kenny Watson (shoulder).

STEELERS: OUT: CB Bryant McFadden (forearm), T Marvel Smith (back), CB Deshea Townsend (hamstring). QUESTIONABLE: TE Matt Spaeth (wrist).

So if things weren't bad enough for the Bengals, they've got 11 guys who are questionable or worse. Nothing like trying to win a game with about 20% of your already-lousy roster watching from the sidelines.

The rest of the latest Steeler stuff:


--Mark Madden wraps up part two of his Hines Ward Hall of Fame debate, and includes statistical evidence. [WXDX]

--One of my email-tip kings, Art Campbell, sent over this link that said Thursday's Steeler game will be blacked out in Grove City and Slippery Rock. Unfortunately, the article is available to Butler Eagle Gold members only, so unless you're coughing up $3 a month for access, you'll have to take Art's word for it. In case you were wondering, Art's alternative viewing will consist of an 8 PM showing of Road House on AMC.

--Another of my prime tipsters, Steve Beall, sent in a great find: an entire article on how people are sick of the "Saved by Zero" commercials. The good news: they'll be ending by the end of the month. It's this year's version of "This is ouuuuur country...."

--Don't get too overconfident about the Bengal game, unless you've forgotten the Steelers-Jets debacle of '07.

--The fine folks at Big Ben News are featuring the Roethlisberger portion of ESPN: the Magazine's "Living Scared" series of interviews about athlete's interactions (and threats) with fans.

And a mini-mini-mailbag:

--Chris from Stockdale, PA has an important question:

"Weeks ago you said on your site that you saw a guy at Wal-Mart wearing a Limas Sweed Steelers Jersey. Since that time I have wondered, besides myself, what fool would possibly buy a Sweed Jersey. I mean, maybe I am not alone... someone else thought that Limas would be the next Randy Moss and figured they could get yinzer bragging rights by being the first to don the Sweed Black and Gold. I know it sounds absurd to risk hundreds of dollars on the slight chance that he would perform but, I did the same exact thing in May of 2004... Spending almost a whole paycheck for a authentic jersey with ROETHLISBERGER on the back of it... and I still brag to this day that besides Ben himself, I had that jersey first. Boring life i must lead huh? Well..back to the point... So I'm sitting here wondering who could possibly have that same jersey, and do they feel as dumb as I do for spending the money on it....then it hit me!! You said you saw the guy @ Wally World (wal-mart)... I was at Belle Vernon wal-mart that Saturday... Now my question to you is... were you @ Belle Vernon wal-mart when you saw the jersey?, or is there another yinzer just like me out there.. a yinzer that takes his fanhood so seriously that they shell out a weeks work worth of paycheck for a Steelers jersey with a rookie's name just so they can have bragging rights?? Could it be?"

Ahh, yes. The famous Limas Sweed jersey-wearing fan that caught my eye is still generating thought and discussion among the readers weeks later. I love it. And for the record, I believe it was a Saturday at the Belle Vernon Wal-Mart that the Sweed jersey was spotted on a bargain-hunting customer with questionable jersey-buying practices. So we probably saw the same guy, unless there's more than one person who bought a Limas Sweed jersey and shopped at the Belle Vernon Wal-Mart on October 18.

By the way, it should be illegal to mention the rookie seasons of Moss and Sweed in the same sentence, at least for now. Why? Moss: 69 catches, 1313 yards, 17 TDs. Sweed: 4 catches, 39 yards. Maybe someday. I hope.

--From Nipsy:

"While getting some work done, I'm casually watching Trent Edwards throw 3 INTs in the 1st Qtr during the BUF vs CLE game on MNF. Between plays, they highlight a Bills fan barechested in the cold with a Bills and the ESPN logo painted on his chest. As Kornheiser is making fun of him, I notice that to the guy's immediate right is a guy in a Steelers sweatshirt! Strangely he was also wearing a Bills hat. It happened with about 6:20 left in the first quarter. You need to find a DVR screenshot of that!"

OK, you guys see the call to action...anyone have the screenshot?

On another note...have we reached the point where we're numb to Steeler fans and/or Terrible Towel wavers showing up in unexpected places? Honestly, I wouldn't be fazed to see a screenshot of people waving Terrible Towels at a D-III girls' soccer game in South Dakota.

Send your news, tips, and links to Mondesishouse@gmail.com.

10 comments:

RedHawks Hockey said...

I must defend the Sweed jersey once again. I purchased my "authentic" Sweed jersey on ebay for 20 bucks. Maybe this guy did the same. I was apprenhensive to buy it when I could have gotten woodley or timmons for 50 dollars, but as a college student, that 30 dollars buys me 3 cases of beer so I bit the bullet and went with Sweed. It's a long term investment. Perhaps this man is in the same predicament. Whether or not he is, I feel his pain as about 25 times a day people ask me "who the f*** is sweed?" look at this clown (I guess its one of the (many?) drawbacks of going to school in ohio). anyways, sweed will be good. give him a chance. I swear. I stake my honor on it.

Pancakehead said...

I believe it was actually Chris from Stockdale, PA that you saw at the Belle Vernon Wal-Mart. You and he didn't see the same person, he was that person. Ahh, the anonymity of the internet.

HotDog_Zanzabar said...

Hey Redhawk, we drank Milwaukee's Best Light for a paltry $6/case in college. Switch to that and you won't have to worry about wearing a Sweed jersey next season.


"Saved by Zero" might be a good screen name for someone that's a longtime reader, first time commenter.

Real McCoy said...

Looks like my phone call to the Commish paid off. The NFL has seen the light and Slippery Rock will get the game tonight on Armstrong cable. My neighbors a mile away in Mercer county are still out of luck. We'll have to beef up security to keep the Mercer county crashers out.

Steelers fans in Slippery Rock can see game.

From this morning's Butler Eagle

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let Steelers' fans in Slippery Rock rejoice. Armstrong has received permission to broadcast Thursday night's Pittsburgh Steelers football game in that area.
But not in Grove City or anywhere north of the Mercer County line, said Jud Stewart, Armstrong's vice president of marketing and programming at the company, and Dave Wittmann, Jud Stewart, vice president of marketing and programming at the company.
Mercer County is not considered part of the Pittsburgh broadcasting area by the National Football League, and therefore league officials declined Armstrong's pleas to include those customers in the special viewing area.
Customers in Slippery Rock, however, will be able to see Thursday's game on Armstrong Channel 52.
Originally, no Armstrong customers at all were going to be able to see the Steelers game against the Cincinnati Bengals at 8:15 p.m. Thursday.
But KDKA-TV was able to move the game from Channel 2 to WPCW-TV Channel 19 when corporate CBS in New York said the local station could not pre-empt regular programming for the game.
Armstrong customers with high-definition televisions will be able to see the game in HD on Channel 110

Anonymous said...

I can also attest to spotting a Swede jersey at the Belle Vernon wal-mart, shortly after the draft.

Actually, I've spotted a lot of strange things at the Belle Vernon wal-mart.

Broke But Still Drinking said...

Chinedum Ndukwe? I'd be more afraid of pronouncing his name than the man himself.

RedHawks Hockey said...

In these parts a 30 pack of Beast, Natty, Busch, and Keystone light all for about the same price so I stick to the natty or keystone. No me gusta beast.

AJ said...

The important question is, did the guy in the Sweed jersey wash his hands after he went to the rest room?

Somewhere there is a guy in a Colclough jersey giving people dysentery at a Hardees.

mondesishouse said...

Now THAT's a great reference.

For those of you who don't know what A.J.'s talking about:

http://mondesishouse.blogspot.com/2007/08/bad-night-all-around.html

Dave said...

Here in Charlotte, all us Yinzers go to Dixie's for games. Aside from the usuals (Lambert, Big Ben, Polamalu, etc.) there are some strange jerseys:

A grown man in a Skippy Reed

An NFL 75th anniversary Barry Foster with the Pittsburgh city seal. http://www.donnan.com/images/Steelers-Hall-3.jpg

And an authentic Limas Sweed. Dude shows up every week, and struts that bad boy around the parking lot at halftime.