CURT SCHILLING DEFENDS THE STEELERS

Outspoken former pitcher Curt Schilling is a card-carrying member of Steeler Nation, and as a card-carrying member, he is naturally defensive of his favorite team. So when dropped into a "Slugfest" staged debate with Mike Felger on Boston's WEEI.com website with the topic of "Why the Steelers are one of the most annoying franchises in sports", the gloves came off. A snippet of his defense:

The Steelers, annoying? What's the annoying part?

1) More Super Bowls than any franchise in NFL history?

2) Fewer head coches than most teams have in a decade, in their entire team history?

3) No drug scandals

4) No players that murdered someone in their family

5) Hall of Famer after Hall of Famer that were great guys. From Franco Harris, to Swann, Stallworth, Lambert, Ham, Blount to Bradshaw their franchise is littered with awesome players who were/are great people.

Curt makes some great points, although his inclusion of #3 predictably generated a spirited response from Felger. But rather than spoil the entire debate for you, I'll zip it at this point and you can be the judge of who made the more compelling argument. Because I'm sure you woke up this morning and wondered, "I wonder how a retired pitcher would defend the Steelers' honor right in the heart of Patriots' country?"

WEEI.com Slugfests - Schilling vs. Felger [WEEI]
*Thanks to Art C. for the link

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Mondesi Manages Against Baba Booey & Curt Schilling

A few weeks ago, I briefly mentioned my involvement in an upcoming Sporting News Strat-o-Matic Baseball League recreating the 1986 season. I was honored to be asked as the "Celebrity Manager" of the Pittsburgh Pirates, a team that went 64-98 "for real" that year. It's going to be a tall order to turn this squad around, but I thought it would be a lot of fun.

Today, I logged in to see who I'd be competing against. Needless to say, I was blown away by the field that The Sporting News has assembled. Managing the '86 Red Sox? None other than Curt Schilling, noted baseball historian, bloody sock wearer, and blogger when not pitching for said Red Sox.

But even more exciting than that was the manager of the 1986 Mets. It's Howard Stern's longtime right-hand man and die-hard Mets fan Baba Booey (Gary Dell'Abate). Dell'Abate takes the Mets so seriously that he was popping Tums to ease his sick stomach during the Mets' collapse last month.

Inspiration for many a prank phone calls, it's Baba Booey

Not only will Baba Booey be in the league, but he's in my division (remember, this is 1986, so there's no realignment). I'll also be facing off against the St. Louis Cardinals, headed by Deadspin creator Will Leitch; former major leaguer Doug Glanville, running the Phillies; Dan Shanoff, creator of ESPN.com's "Daily Quickie" and author of the very popular danshanoff.com; and Bernie Hou, creator of Strat-o-Matic Baseball online.

The league has another Pittsburgh connection: Jon Hein, creator of jumptheshark.com and host of Howard Stern's daily wrapup show. Jon was disappointed that his hometown 64-win Pirates were already spoken for, so he agreed to manage Nolan Ryan and the 96-66 Houston Astros. Nice consolation prize.

Jon Hein, the 2007 version of Hal Lanier

The rest of the league is populated with many famous sports personalities, bloggers, and contributors, including Bill Daughtry, broacaster for the MSG Network (Yankees), Sean Forman, creator of Baseball-reference.com (Tigers), Brooks Melchior of the world-renowed Sports By Brooks (Royals), Jon Bois, founder of The Dugout (Braves), David Pinto of Baseball Musings (Dodgers), and a host of others.

The Sporting News will chronicle the entire season, which kicks off on Monday, November 5. Likewise, I will post regular updates of how the team is doing. We open with Baba Booey and the Mets on November 6 at Three Rivers. As for an opening day starter, I'm feeling Rick Rhoden. He was 15-12 with a 2.84 ERA on a team that lost 98 games. I'm sure he can take down Dr. K.

1986: Take Two (The Sporting News)

The Afternoon Killer

--A transplanted Steeler fan just dropped $21,000 on a Heinz Field seat license. I think he should have saved his money for Ben's truck.

--Tommy Maddox failed to qualify for the U.S. Open. And no, he was not beaten out by Ben Roethlisberger.

--Feud time! How about Curt Schilling against Dan Shaughnessy?

--"McNabb shocked Eagles select quarterback". Sure, he's missed 13 games over the past two seasons, but that shouldn't be a reason to make a move like this.

--Being that we're in the midst of graduation season, here's a nominee for the "greatest commencement speech ever".

--For the international hockey fans out there, here's an update from the World Championships in Russia.

--The Bus, enjoying retirement, clearly parties with a very cool crowd, including Borat, The Answer, and the Prince of Soul Glo.

"After the Mayweather / De La Hoya fight, Jay Z and P Diddy came back with an entourage of celebrities including Usher and fiancé Tameka Foster, Nelly and Ashanti, and Sasha Baron Cohen where they enjoyed chicken pad thai, lobster wontons, and Kobe beef, among other Tao signature dishes. After dinner everyone headed up to the club where they were welcomed by a cheering crowd who requested them on the mic. Other celebs in attendance to celebrate were Allan Iverson, Alonzo Mourning, Austin Nichols, Bill Maher, Bob Sagat, Champ Bailey, Charles Oakley, Chris Lighty, Constantine Maroulis, DJ Clue, Dwyane Wade, Eriq La Salle, 50 Cent, Fred Durst, Ice-T, Jermaine Dupri, Jerome Bettis, Jessica White, John Cusack, Kenan Thompson, Lennox Lewis, Luis Guzman, Luke Perry, Macy Gray, Michael Buffer, Michael Ealy, Rah Digga, Robert Shapiro, Salt n Pepa, Tommy Hilfiger, Young Jeezy, and Willy McGuinness."

--Here's the lamest actors to ever get action figures made. Seriously, what kid plays with a Vince Vaughn figure?

--Mark Cuban parties (in Pittsburgh?) with a backdrop of the obligatory ESPN split-screen argument. Update: Eagle-eyed reader Keith says that looks like a Hi-Tops cup in the Blog Maverick's hand, which would, in fact, place Cuban in the Burgh in this photo.

Send me your news, links, thoughts, whatever...

mondesishouse@gmail.com