STEELER NEWS AND NOTES

--Justin Hartwig signed a four-year extension for $10 million, plus a $2.1 million bonus. Combined with the signings of Max Starks and Chris Kemoeatu, that's $56.3 million committed to the trio of o-linemen in the last six months. Yeah, it's yet another instance of those cheap Rooneys not spending any money again. [Ken Laird Blog]

--Nate Washington is so excited to face the Steelers that he can't sleep. He's been busy tipping the Titans to all sorts of things about his old team, which is a nice touch. But turnabout is fair play: the Steelers sign recent Tennessee castoff Tuff Harris to the practice squad. Take that, Jeff Fisher. [PG]

--Meanwhile, Skippy Reed turned down a contract offer from the team that his agent deemed "much too low", which means he will go into the season without a new deal. I can only wonder what is considered "much too low" for a kicker. [CBS Sportsline]

--Lawrence Timmons did not practice today, which means he's likely out for Thursday. Keyaron Fox, come on down! [PG]

--ESPN 1250 is having 10-plus hours of coverage on Thursday leading up to kickoff. They were going to have 12 hours of coverage, but someone suggested that might be too much for a regular season game. [ESPN 1250]

--The Steelers' 2008 highlight DVD, "Brothers and Champions" is now on sale at area McDonald's restaurants. The cost is $7.99 with the purchase of any extra value meal and proceeds benefit the Ronald McDonald House. [Reviewonline.com]

--You can guarantee that Anthony Smith was cut by the Green Bay Packers. But fear not, he's already been signed by the Rams. [Fanhouse; NBC Sports]

--Kendall Simmons has found a home with the New England Patriots, making him the first man to block for both Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady. [Patriots.com]

Email: Mondesishouse@gmail.com Twitter: twitter.com/mondesishouse Facebook: Facebook Group

ANTHONY SMITH IS A GREEN BAY PACKER - I GUARANTEE IT

Anthony Smith, whose Steeler bio includes guaranteeing a win against the near-perfect Patriots, complaining about playing time, and crushing his own teammates in training camp, has signed with Green Bay. Excuse me while I do a dance of joy.

Smith will reunite with his former position coach, Darren Perry, who is the Packers' new safeties coach. I wish them the best of luck in their pursuit of a Lombardi Trophy.

If you haven't gotten my drift yet, I was not a big Anthony Smith fan. I realize that he may still have some unrealized potential, but better he tries to realize it in Green Bay. He provided nice depth at the position, but it was nothing that the Steelers couldn't replace via free agency or the draft.

Veteran 3-4 safety Smith joins Packers [Green Bay Press Gazette]
Anthony Smith [Yahoo! player page]

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

THEODORA AND PAISIOS, AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

As you may or may not know, Troy Polamalu and wife Theodora are expecting. I'm happy for them. You're happy for them. We're all happy for them. Of course, the pending birth of Paisios Polamalu may cause Papa Polamalu to miss the upcoming Monday-nighter with Washington. From the Beaver County Times:

When asked Thursday if there’s a chance he may miss Monday’s game, Polamalu said, “I don’t know. We’ll see what happens.”

When asked when his wife is due to deliver their first child, Polamalu said, “She’s due soon … any time now.”

So we could potentially be looking at a secondary missing Polamalu, Ryan Clark, and Bryant McFadden against the 6-2 Skins. Oh well, as long as we can pacify the great Anthony Smith with some well-deserved playing time, we should have no worries.

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

THIS MORNING IN THE AFC NORTH...

--Chris Henry is expected to sign a one-year deal with the Bengals. No, there's no punch line, they're actually signing him. [PFT]

--Browns QB Derek Anderson left the Monday Night game with a possible concussion after being sacked by Osi Umenyiora. The Browns had fallen behind to the Giants 30-3 by the 14:05 mark of the second quarter, but their reserves rallied and ultimately fell short, 37-34. [ESPN]

--Will Vikings QB Tarvaris Jackson play Saturday night against the Steelers? Coach Brad Childress is keeping things close to the vest. [Star Tribune.com via PFT]

--Terry Bradshaw was named as the Steelers' all-time "Franchise Player" by ESPN.com readers, but AFC North blogger James Walker disagrees with the choice. [ESPN AFC North Blog]

--Ben Roethlisberger is the QB of the All-Maxim team. [Big Ben News]

--Mike Tomlin is trying to bring Lawrence Timmons along slowly. [PG]

--The Trib's Scott Brown examines the enigma that is Anthony Smith. [Trib]

--We close with a thought-provoking email from reader Gregory C.:

"Last week's episode of Hard Knocks had Dennis Miller wearing a Dallas Cowboys T-Shirt. Isn't he supposed to be a big Steeler Fan? Didn't we let him drive around on 3 Rivers on a snowmobile and give him a key to the city? I might be one of the biggest Dennis Miller fans out there, but it might be time to change the locks."

Thoughts, Steeler Nation?

NEWS AND NOTES

--Even more on the Continuing Saga of Anthony Smith in today's PG. It's the story that won't die.

--Sadly, Jeff Karstens proved last night that yes, he can give up runs. 5-1, Reds over Buccos.

--Here's an interesting ESPN.com article on all things Neal Huntington. It's nice to see that the WWL still realizes the Pirates are a part of Major League Baseball.

--From Peter King's Tuesday Morning QB:

"THE POWER DIVISION. From Jason Archbell, of Virginia Beach, Va.: "There has been a lot of talk this year (and many other years) about how tough the NFC East is. Do you think a lot of this has to do with the talent level of the quarterbacks? Jason Campbell is probably the worst of the four (so far) and he is a pretty solid young quarterback. Compare that to every other division where the team with the best quarterback is probably the favorite to win the division the last few years.''Hmmm. Not sure if the team with the best quarterback in the division is automatically favored. Carson Palmer's the best in the AFC North, and the Bengals are the third- or fourth-best team in that division. Drew Brees is the best in the NFC South, and are the Saints universally favored this year? Doubt it. But I do think it gives a team the biggest edge it could have at any position group, obviously. Re Campbell, you will be pleasantly surprised how good he plays this year."

By the way, YES, I will post ANY article ranking Roethlisberger any lower than the third-best quarterback in the league. It's become my cause.

--This video game site simulated a season of Madden 09 and Big Ben was the MVP and the Steelers went 14-2. Now that's more like it!

--Third-year DE Kevin Huntley, recently dropped by Washington, is your newest Pittsburgh Steeler.

--Missed this when I was away, but Yahoo's Puck Daddy convinced Crystal's in the Strip to sell 21-cent shots of Jack Daniels in honor of Sidney Crosby's 21st birthday on August 7. I'm sure many of you took them up on the offer.

--Here's video of silver-medal-winning US gymnast Alicia Sacramone knocking a guy out while at Brown University.

--Michael Eynon, a senior offensive lineman at Ohio University, matched five numbers in Tuesday's multistate Mega Millions drawing on the ticket he bought at a Shop Mart in Athens -- good for $250,000 before taxes.

--Hugging Harold Reynolds sends a postcard from Steeler camp.

--Post Game Heroes says Justin Hartwig vs Sean Mahan = No Contest.

--The "Women in Baseball" blog series interviews MLB.com Pirates reporter Jennifer Langosch.

--Get your limited edition Favre trading cards!

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

A DAY OF PITTSBURGH SPORTS TALK RADIO

Prior to this and a short post on Monday, the last article I wrote of any length was "The Legacy Of...Marian Hossa", written in advance of my absence and greeted by a lukewarm reception at best (too soon!)

So with that on my mind, I stared down a Tuesday chock-full of "real job" appointments around the city of Pittsburgh and realized that once again, I would be posting zip, zero, nada during the workday. Two days, no content. This week was off to a great start! I'm sure the readers were thrilled.

Confined to my car, which currently has a Sirius satellite unit that's on the PUP list, I had no choice but to tune in to approximately eight hours (on and off) of Pittsburgh sports talk radio throughout the day. While I usually listen to some of the afternoon talkers in some capacity, my normal PM media consumption is usually a hearty mix of Howard 100 and Howard 101 (to avoid a total sports overload). With the set of circumstances dealt to me on Tuesday, I figured it would be a good opportunity to really catch up on what I missed last week as well as a chance to listen to the ever-hyped new lineup at 1250 ESPN, with the thinking that I might get some semblance of a column out of the experience.

For the morning session, I tuned in to the all-new Stan and Guy (and Chris Mack) show on 1250. And while this show debuted just last week, I was immediately informed that Guy was on vacation. I'm certainly not one to tell people when to take their vacations, but that probably could have been planned a little bit better.

So I caught bits and pieces of the Stan and Guy minus Guy show, which had ample time devoted to Savran's very candid dislike of the Olympics and a lengthy discussion between Savran and Mack on the first-year performance of Pirates Manager John Russell, which was pretty positive. It was noted that Russell has worked very well in conjunction with Neal Huntington, who followed through on his threat of accountability in 2008 with the demotions of Tom Gorzelanny and Ronny Paulino and the release of Matt Morris.

Personally, I would agree with them on the Russell/Huntington dynamic. I like the moves they've made so far, and although it's waaaay too early to make any calls, I like the direction where they are going. They're at least giving me some tiny, faint glimmer of hope, which is more than I could say about any of their predecessors.

I'm not a huge Olympic fan per se, but I have caught myself tuning in to random events. I saw and enjoyed most of the Opening Ceremonies, I've been following the US hoops squad, and I was lucky enough to catch the miracle comeback from Michael Phelps and Co. on Sunday night. I might watch a few sports I would never watch otherwise, but that's probably due to the fact that I'm a fan of events. For example, I'm not a soccer fan at all and I know very few of the players, but I do watch some World Cup games when they come around. So in short, I would probably disagree with Stan's take on the Olympics.

I then caught some of the Tirico and Van Pelt national ESPN show between the hours of 1-3, and I nearly got in an accident due to falling asleep at the wheel. It was that bad. I once referred to Tirico this way: "describing his style as vanilla would be an insult to vanilla, for it actually has some flavor."

Tirico went on and on about how he wanted to give up on his "beloved" Detroit Tigers, 58-61 and 8.5 out of first in the NL Central, choosing instead to switch allegiances to the Chicago Cubs. Two years removed from a World Series appearance and already jumping ship. You're a real fan, Mike.

front·run·ner n.

One that is in a leading position in a race or other competition: A competitor who performs best when in the lead; Mike Tirico

Later in the show, I was treated to extreme overanalysis of the Chad Johnson comments from Monday night, where he came off as little more than an egomaniacal rambling idiot talking about his antics for the 2008 season. I don't know when TV executives got together and agreed that Chad Johnson could constantly have a camera and microphone at his disposal, but at this point in time, I couldn't be more bored. Maybe his words might carry some, just some weight if he's ever won anything, but that's just not the case. By the way, I just broke my italics icon.

HOF resume: 0 career playoff wins (just like future HOFer Tony Romo!)

So it was on to 3 PM, where I switched off from 1250's new Paulsen and Crow and 970's Joe Bendel. And what were they both talking about for extended periods? Anthony Smith's unnecessary body blow on Hines Ward last week, discussed at length in a recent Gene Collier column, then brought up once again by Coach Tomlin at today's press conference.

And while both shows probably discussed the incident a little too long for my liking, I thought it was pretty cut-and-dry: Smith was in the wrong, and it's just the latest in a career that's quickly becoming overshadowed by various incidents, such as a similar hit on Willie Reid in last year's camp, a 2006 showboating display against Carolina that enraged Dick LeBeau, and the infamous guarantee of victory against the then-undefeated New England Patriots in 2007.

Put it next to your ear...you can hear the ocean!

You just don't take shots at your own guys, especially at someone like Hines Ward, who you know will take it personally. Sure, Smith may be an intense guy, but there's a fine line between intense and alienating your own teammates. And it puts Tomlin in a delicate spot, as he clearly wants to defend his players in the media but not endorse Smith's actions.

So after a day of talk radio, I can summarize the current pulse of Pittsburgh sports: Anthony Smith, Anthony Smith, Anthony Smith, and John Russell. Did I miss anything?

A STEELERS SOFTBALL SATURDAY

This is the best I could do for a "Steelers Softball" photo

For anyone interested in watching football players play softball, tomorrow is your lucky day. At 1 PM at North Allegheny HS, several Steelers take to the diamond for a celebrity game to benefit the Pittsburgh Foundation.

Hines Ward, Deshea Townsend, Casey Hampton, Santonio Holmes, Charlie Batch, and Jeff Reed are scheduled to appear. And don't quote me on this, but I could've sworn that I heard on the DVE morning show today that Big Ben might be there as well.

And as reported earlier in the week, the Washington Wild Things will also be hosting a Steeler-laden softball game on Saturday night. That game will start at 7:05 pm at CONSOL Energy Park. While their rosters have not been set, their website indicates that "over the past few years prominent Steelers like James Harrison, Chris Hoke, Bryant McFadden, Anthony Smith, Deshea Townsend, Nate Washington, Santonio Holmes, and Louis Lipps."

Will any Steelers pull an Ernie Banks and attempt to play two? I doubt it. But the prospect of watching James Harrison taking a swing is mighty intriguing.

If anyone out there attends one or both of these, feel free to email mondesishouse@gmail.com with any recaps and/or photos.

A. Smith Out for Season

There's a portion of you that would probably be excited about that headline if it were another player, but it was revealed today that it is actually Aaron Smith who is out for the season with torn biceps.

The injury was suffered during the Patriots game, which looking back on it turned out to be a crappier day than anyone could've ever imagined. A combo meal of Travis Kirschke, Nick Eason and Chris Hoke are expected to fill the now gaping hole at defensive end.

Combined with the nagging injuries to Santonio Holmes and Troy Polamalu, this could really continue the slide the Steelers have been on for the past month or so.

And to clear up any confusion, Anthony Smith, nursing a bruised ego, is not listed on the injury report.

Also, the Steelers promoted Steely, I mean Ryan, McBean from the practice squad.

Friday Bullet Points

It's Friday and still snowing in Pittsburgh. After a Thursday spent mostly on the road, I've got plenty of thoughts in the old noggin. So here's some musings for the content-starved. Please feel free to add your two cents on any or all topics.

--Four quick thoughts on the Anthony Smith comments:

1. First of all, it's a non-story. Total creation of the media looking to add fuel to the fire of Sunday's game. I think Ed Werder put him up to it. Guarantees are BORING, meaningless, and old news. Unless it's Joe Namath and the year is 1969, it doesn't matter what any player thinks.

2. My title a few weeks ago of "Anthony Smith: Steeler Capable of Really Annoying Me at Times" is coming true. I didn't check his bio, but don't remember seeing the words "Mensa member" in there.

3. The predictable "Who's Anthony Smith" response from New England was no surprise whatsoever, and equally as boring as the original guarantee itself. Outside of his hometown, Syracuse, and Pittsburgh, Smith's kinda not well known to say the least. But the media had no problem with a relatively anonymous guy making a useless guarantee. What, was Greg Warren unavailable for comment?

4. That being said, hats off to the Patriots for implying that they're too good to ever talk trash. I forgot just how perfect they were.

--Patriots hatred isn't just jealousy. It's media overkill and saturation. I was watching the high school football playoffs recently, and it was basically a few hours of Terrelle Pryor talk, with a few minutes of game commentary sprinkled in. By the end of the game, I was so sick of hearing about Terrelle Pryor it was frightening.

The moral of the story: people get tired of things. That's a fact. They got tired of the Where's the Beef lady, they got tired of Married With Children, they get tired of hearing about the same two Major League Baseball teams, and they get tired of hearing about the Patriots. Period.

--I think a few of you mentioned it in the comments section a few days back, but who else out there heard that ridiculous Hines Ward press conference following the Sunday nighter? You know, the one where he said, "No one ever gave me a chance" for about 15 minutes?

I don't know about you, but I've grown weary of hearing that line. As Mike Prisuta pointed out this morning on DVE, Hines was a third-round pick. Sorry Hines, but that's quite a pretty good chance, as a matter of fact.

As a player, I love Hines and think he's one of the greatest Steelers of all time. But he's clearly a player who needs to play the me/us-against-the-world card to get motivated. That act gets tiresome after, oh, 10 years of hearing it.

--I'm watching FSN at length the other day and I see a commercial that said, "Panther fans first". But I thought Pirate fans were first? And I also remember hearing that Steeler fans were first. As a matter of fact, I believe I've heard FSN say Penguin fans were first. So which one is it?

--Congrats to the Duquesne for making the City Game competitive this year. It looks like Ron Everhart is really starting to build a nice foundation for the Dukes. Although I'm an unapologetic Pitt fan, I enjoy when the Dukes (and Robert Morris, for that matter) do well. Unfazed, the sun still rose again at Dukes Court.

--My old buddy Dave Dameshek (late of 93.7 FM) was this week's featured guest on Bill Simmons' BS Report podcast, chock full of Pittsburgh talk. See, good things happen once those 93.7 shackles come off.

--Looks like the Pens are really starting to round into shape. They played two teams with contrasting styles in consecutive nights and came out with two Ws. And the dramatic ending last night, with Kris Letang scoring in the shootout, was the icing on the cake.

--My brother Ramon Mondesi, resident monitor of the message boards, tells me that the natives are becoming restless on the Pirate boards. Their main point of contention is the inactivity of the new regime. But if the best they can do is Jason Bay and Ronny Paulino for Kelly Shoppach, Ricky Gutierrez and Cliff Lee, I say "stand".

Ever hear the phrase, "Buy low, sell high"? If you move Bay right now, you're selling LOW. Really low.

--Email from Mike:

Just one more thought to consider. How exactly did the Steelers improve so much from last year to this year? Consider that last years team was 8-8 and got steamrolled at least 4 times (Chargers, Jags, Ravens (2X), not to mention an embarrassing loss to the Raiders. Since last year, the following has occurred:

-The 2007 draft class contributes almost nothing to this years team

-Our big free agent signing, Sean Mahan, is the weak link on the O-Line

-Speaking of the O-Line, it was maybe only above average last year and has certainly not improved its performance this year

-Significant playing time missed by starters Polamalu, Santonio, Hines, and Marvel Smith and others

-New coach replacing a legend

If anything, we should be much worse this year than last year, and yet hear we are, being hailed as perhaps the only threat left to defeat the best team of all-time, on their turf. How exactly did we get to this place? I'll answer my own question and say its almost entirely the improved QB play of Ben (with a nod to the improved Santonio Holmes as well). Which is kind of unsettling in that we can take last years average team, subtract all of the above negative factors that have occurred since then, and yet that is all more than offset because one guy, the QB, is playing so much better than last year. Nothing else really to say about any of this, other than it makes me scratch my head.

I'll make it real simple. Since I'm obviously in the mood for lists today, here's my top four reasons for the Steelers' turnaround:

1. Ben being healthy and ready to play.

2. Ben being healthy and ready to play.

3. Ben being healthy and ready to play.

4. The addition of Steely McBeam.

--I really enjoyed the opportunity to watch that NFL Network game last night. Brian Griese, Todd Collins, Adrian Peterson (the mediocre one)...

I'm going to guess cable operators' phone lines weren't too busy fielding NFLN requests last night.

A few links to further kill some time:

--An institution none other than USA Today gives a full article to the shot in the arm that Saturday's upset was for Pitt recruiting.

--This is simply titled, "Salisbury, Lotion, and Brett Favre".

--Did Darth Boras settle for less money, or is he just setting up a big payday for Andruw Jones down the road?

--We've heard all about the great West Virginia fans threatening to kill their placekicker (you guys really are great fans, if I haven't mentioned that before), but Pierogis N'At took it a step further and gave him a video tribute.

--Here's a week in the life of Large Benjamin.

--Who's better, the Steeler fan or the Patriot fan? PSAMP has the answer.

--Never taunt Doug Gottlieb in an ESPN chat.

--How about a handy guide to the upcoming train wreck that will be the Mike and Mike Celebrity Roast? Spoiler: Golic fat jokes are involved.

--No, Donald Trump DIDN'T tip a waiter $10,000.

--It's an annual treat: the Scared of Santa Gallery.

A LIST OF TODAY'S TOP LISTS

A video compilation of the worst sports injuries

Top 10 Reasons to Hate the Patriots

Thirty-three reasons the Patriots will lose on Sunday

15 Amazingly Times Sports Photos

The 8 Most Cringe-Worthy Comic Book Movie Moments

Can We Get Off Willie Parker's Back Now?

A percentage of Steeler fans and "experts" (such as John Clayton) keep trying to tell us that the team needs a power back to win more games. What this is, in actuality, is a huge slap in the face to the superstar already in their backfield, one "Fast" Willie Parker.

I was talking to my Dad before the game and told him my plans to write a very pro-Parker article very soon. Little did I know that the article I was thinking of would happen just hours later, for obvious reasons.

After Thursday night's franchise-record 223 yards rushing against the Browns, Parker now holds two of the top three single-game rushing marks in the storied history of the Pittsburgh Steeler franchise. He is the only Steeler to ever run for (2) 200-yard games in the same season. He holds the Super Bowl record for the longest touchdown run in the game's 40-year history. Yet we continue to hear predictions of how the Steelers will use their first-round pick to draft a running back coming off of a broken leg, or sign another running back in free agency that had his best year four seasons ago. But all these brainiacs seem to forget one thing. So let's all say it together. You're only as good as your line. You're only as good as your line. You're only as good as your line. The fact that Parker has accumulated 1,199 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns behind this particular line is even more impressive.

Please, someone show me where it is written that the Steelers have to have a big, bruising running back as the focal point of their running game in order to win a Super Bowl. You'd think these Parker Haters would back off after, oh, I don't know...the team won the Super Bowl with Parker as the feature back. But no, that was because Bettis still lingered on the Steelers' roster.

Bettis was a fantastic running back. One of the all-time greats, a first-ballot HOFer. But I ask, how many Super Bowls did the Steelers win with Bettis in his prime? That's right, zero.

Courtesy of Profootballreference.com, here are the career lifetime playoff stats for The Bus:

 Year  Opp   Result  |  RSH    YD  TD  |  REC    YD  TD
---------------------+-----------------+-----------------
 1996  ind  W,42-14  |   25   102   2  |    1     4   0
 1996  nwe  L,3-28   |   13    43   0  |    2    -1   0
 1997  nwe  W,7-6    |   25    67   0  |    1     7   0
 1997  den  L,21-24  |   23   105   1  |    1     3   0
 2001  nwe  L,17-24  |    9     8   1  |    0     0   0
 2002  cle  W,36-33  |    1    -2   0  |    0     0   0
 2002  ten  L,31-34  |    3     6   0  |    0     0   0
 2004  nyj  W,20-17  |   27   101   1  |    1    21   0
 2004  nwe  L,27-41  |   17    64   1  |    0     0   0
 2005  cin  W,31-17  |   10    52   1  |    0     0   0
 2005  ind  W,21-18  |   17    46   1  |    0     0   0
 2005  den  W,34-17  |   15    39   1  |    0     0   0
*2005  sea  W,21-10  |   14    43   0  |    0     0   0
---------------------+-----------------+-----------------
TOTAL                |  199   674   9  |    6    34   0

That's right...out of 13 career playoff games, a grand total of 3 100-yarders, with an average of less than 3 1/2 yards per carry. I wonder why Bettis fared so poorly in playoff games...could it be the fact that his style contributed considerable wear on his frame by the time the postseason came around?

But this is not meant to be a Bettis-bashing piece. I wouldn't have traded Jerome for the world, and I enjoyed watching him run opponents over all those years. This is meant to be a bashing of the "Steeler Way", at least the way it is portrayed in the media.

The "Steeler Way" should be having a good line and a quality running back. He doesn't have to weigh 250 pounds, he doesn't have to be a human bowling ball, he just needs to make plays. The Bus has retired. He plays for NBC now, not the Steelers. He's not coming back. Get over it. Michael Bush is not Jerome Bettis, nor is T.J. Duckett. Neither Bush nor Duckett will finish 5th all-time in rushing when their careers are over. Their mere presence will not ensure a return to glory for this franchise.

The absurdity of hearing "The Steeler Way" in reference to this team is like saying "the Atlanta Falcons must always have a mobile quarterback" or "the Green Bay Packers must always have a gunslinger at QB". Bettis, Michael Vick, and Brett Favre are (or were) all special players. They were who you thought of when a person mentioned the Steelers, the Falcons, and Packers...true faces of their franchises. But the team must adapt at the time those players move on.

I just think there are certain members of the media who always feel the need to ride Parker, for whatever reason. First we had the people who didn't want him to play because of his college career. "He wasn't even good enough to start at North Carolina, and they stink! How did he even make the team?"

So Parker makes the team in 2004 and carries the rock 32 times for an average of almost six yards a pop. He becomes the opening day starter in 2005 and goes for 161 in his first start. He finishes with 1,202 yards and 4 TDs for the season. And his Super Bowl touchdown was an early dagger in the heart of Seattle's second half chances.

You would think Parker's 2005 season would dull some of the anti-Parker roar. but sure enough, in 2006 the critics were back. "He still has something to prove to me", they said. So behind an underperforming offensive line, he goes over 100 three times in the first five weeks. Still, the calls for a big back persist. He runs for 213 against New Orleans. We still need Michael Bush. You get the point. There's always an asterisk next to everything this guy does. It's never enough for certain people.

As it stands right now, Parker is fourth in the league in rushing, behind Ladainian Tomlinson, Larry Johnson and Frank Gore. Do you hear fans saying the Chargers, Chiefs, or 49ers should waste a first-round draft pick on a running back? I think not. You see, those teams' fans and media do not insult their featured back like certain fans and media of the Steelers.

My most hated Parker line starts out like this..."You throw out his biggest run, and..." .

Well, that's convenient. Just take away the play he makes that impacts the game the most as if it didn't happen. But as John Steigerwald (a fellow Parker fan) said earlier tonight on the postgame show, if you still have Bettis as your feature back, he gets caught on some of those long runs. Instead of taking it for 75 and a score, he gets caught after 25 yards. We are all aware that Parker has his broken plays. But he also has a pretty regular amount of huge ones as well.

My point is that more fans should be happy with Parker as the running back. You don't think there are teams in the league that would kill to have a back of his ability? Ask Cleveland, the Jets, the Texans, the Raiders...

Bash the players that deserving bashing. But get off Willie Parker's back.

Other than my Willie Parker valentine, there was a game played tonight. Here are some random thoughts on the game and the broadcast:

--Yes, that was former Pitt QB Pete Gonzalez on the KDKA pregame. It's an upgrade from the weatherman who usually works Steeler games on KDKA.

--Nice work by Bryant Gumbel calling Santonio Holmes "San Antonio". Only the 3,218th time we've heard that one this year.

--Cris Collinsworth did a nice job in the NFLN booth tonight. I enjoy how he calls out players, which many of the jockocracy do not.

--The NFLN made not one, but two references to Tony Romo in the Pro Bowl. No, he's not overhyped at all. Did I mention the Cowboys are on NBC Sunday night?

--Cowher Statue actually had a smile tonight and some signs of life.

--Congratulations to Big Ben for his first rushing TD of the year on that nude bootleg.

--I thought Ted Washington had a 92% chance of dropping dead on the field by the end of the game.

--Impressive win considering the absence of Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, and Ryan Clark. Notice I did not mention Cedrick Wilson.

--Santonio continued to perform well in the passing game. I'm telling you, if he didn't tarnish his name with all those punt return gaffes, we'd be saying he's having a great rookie season. And the misdemeanor charges were dropped. Everything's rosy for #10.

--Cleveland's leading rusher was Ruben Droughns, with 6 yards on 5 carries. Maybe they'll sign T.J. Duckett.

--All these years later, Dennis Northcutt is still dropping passes. Imagine how frustrated Browns fans must be. Then imagine how pathetic it would be to be a Browns fan and admit to it.

--You can tell there are injuries to the WRs when names like "Young", "Morey", and "Kreider" show up in the receptions column.

--Anthony Smith is going to be an impact player next season.

--The Solider had a classy unsportsmanlike conduct, blindsiding James Farrior after the whistle. And what was that pregame nonsense with Porter all about?

--Derek Anderson maintained his composure better than I expected and managed to not get sacked. But the Browns still got smoked. I don't know if that team will ever be any good. They're like the Pirates in football form.

--Carolina next week, and they'll either be starting backup Chris Weinke or an injured (and lately, ineffective) Jake Delhomme. Do you hear the playoff talk? It's starting again.

Anthony Smith Knows How to Hit

This is just awesome. Can't wait to see what this guy does in the regular season.