TODAY'S HEADLINES

The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped a 3-1 decision in Detroit last night in underwhelming fashion, as the team has apparently opted to put it on autopilot until the postseason begins. The never-shy Brooks Orpik had this to say about some of his teammates' efforts:

"It seems like some guys are in it one night, and other guys aren't. And the next night, maybe the handful that was, isn't. Role reversal. There's really no excuse for it.

"You see some of the goals or some of the battles, just small puck battles, it seems like, and we're losing them. To me, it's just battle level."

Again playing without Evgeni Malkin, the Pens struggled offensively, putting only one shot past Jimmy Howard on the night, a Pascal Dupuis goal at 16:54 of the second. But Henrik Zetterberg would score a crucial goal just 1:20 into the third, and that was it for scoring, unless you're scoring the scrum at the end of the game.

The differences in urgency between these two teams was apparent, and as the Penguins have lost three of their last four, the Wings are 5-0-1 in their last six. These are two teams going in opposite directions, and that's a bad place for the Pens to be heading into Washington on Wednesday night, where Alex Ovechkin is already beaming about how excited he is for that game. After that, the Pens get a motivated Philadelphia squad on Saturday at the Igloo. If they're not bringing it in those two games, I wouldn't want to answer to Brooks Orpik. [ESPN, PG]

Mike Tomlin has been speaking about his troubled QB, who will soon be called to the principal's office in New York. "He's well within his rights of meeting with him and I share his concerns," Tomlin said of Roger Goodell's pending summit with Ben Roethlisberger.

Also buried in this story is the nugget that Charlie Batch is expected to return for another season and that Kevin Colbert has said the team will not be taking a QB in the draft, for all of those on the "Steelers Need to Draft Tebow to Teach Ben Some Morals" bandwagon. [Trib]

Neil Walker and Kevin Hart were sent to Triple-A by the Pirates today, along with Brian Myrow, Brian Burres, Wil Ledezma, Jean Machi and Hector Gimenez, who were sent to minor-league camp. This means that Dan McCutchen can bust out the air horns and bubbly for winning the fifth starter's job. [By Gosh, It's Langosch]

Marcus Bowman was a seldom-used Pitt Panther basketball player years ago, and now he's asking for your help.

Specifically, he and his wife-to-be need your votes in the Crate and Barrel Ultimate Wedding Contest, which forks over an Ultimate Wedding - valued at $100,000 - to one lucky couple. [Ultimateweddingcontest.com]

Mike Rice is the number one candidate for the Fordham job and Jamie Dixon has been mentioned in rumors for the vacant Oregon job, according to NY Post hoops scribe Lenny Robbins on 93.7 The Fan with Vinnie and Cook yesterday.

I've heard the Oregon rumblings for Dixon, I think he's going nowhere. On the other hand, whether it's Fordham, Seton Hall, or another team, I think Mike Rice has coached his last game at Robert Morris. [93.7 The Fan]

Brooke Stewart, a former Pitt women's hoops player from East Allegheny, is apparently the apple of Larry Fitzgerald's eye, according to Tim Benz at 105.9 the X. Continuing a theme, it's marginal ex-Pitt-athlete news day at Mondesi's House. [WXDX.com]

Tony Dungy talked Big Ben, Brett Favre, and Tim Tebow (the holy trinity of QB water cooler talk) with Dan Patrick recently. A wild hunch says that he likes Tebow and is worried about Ben. [SI.com]

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