Mondesi's House: Gene Collier

Showing posts with label Gene Collier. Show all posts

6/23/2010

Today's Headlines

Today's headlines bring you another Pirate loss, news on the fired pierogi, the NHL Awards (and Hall of Fame inductions), Aki Iwamura, Mick Williams, and much more.

STEELERS SIGN DRUMMOND

No, not that Drummond. I'm talking about return specialist Eddie Drummond, a Pittsburgh native and former Penn State Nittany Lion who's played in the league since 2002.

Drummond, a 2004 Pro Bowler with Detroit, joins a Steeler team that's desperate to upgrade their special teams in 2008. Drummond spent 2007 with Kansas City, where he averaged 21 yards on kickoff returns and 6.9 on punt returns. He has two career returns for TDs.

Steelers sign Pittsburgh native Drummond [Trib]
Eddie Drummond [Yahoo Player Card]
Eddie Drummond Wikipedia Page

More from camp:

--Here's the Zierlein-Faneca 2007 dynamic discussed in greater detail

--Despite some reports, the Steeler line appears to be set

--Scott Brown says Rashard Mendenhall looks legit

--Gene Collier blames the Steelers' bad luck on karma

--Five seasons in, the Steelers are leaning on Big Ben

--LB Lamarr Woodley is ready to take a big step

--Joe Greene's reserved parking place sign was misspelled

--New punter Paul Ernster hopes to improve upon his 15-yard punt at Heinz Field last year

6/10/2008

TEN POINTS

1. Nice to see a sign of life out of the Pirates yesterday. The 5-3 win was nice, but standing up to Randy Johnson? That was impressive. What, was Doug Mientkiewicz angling to make the next Robin Ventura-Nolan Ryan moment?

2. By the way, I totally forgot that Mientkiewicz was the high school teammate of one Alex Rodriguez in both baseball and football. Rodriguez was the quarterback and Mientkiewicz a tight end at Westminster High in Miami. And no, A-Rod didn't win the championship with that team, either.

3. Junior Griffey hit home run #600 last night in, of all places, Florida, one of the worst home crowds in baseball history. It was the quietest 600th home run of all time, due totally to the dilution of the number by the steroid era. But Griffey has never been associated with any performance-enhancing drugs, which is exactly why his performance has been in decline.

In a way, he's like the Mario Lemieux of baseball. You can only wonder, if healthy, how many home runs (or in Mario's case, goals) he would've accumulated in his career.

4. The Dwight White passing came as things were winding down last week, and it didn't get the proper coverage that it deserved. Another look at his obituary in the PG paints the picture of a talented, personable, extremely intelligent man whose post-football career rivaled what he accomplished on the gridiron. And that's saying something.

5. You have to read this story about retired Mississippi State baseball coach Ron Polk, who's so upset about the naming of his successor that he's vowed to take his name off of the stadium. Of athletic director Greg Byrne, Polk said the following: "I'm going to do everything I can to make his life miserable."

That's a nice example you're setting for the young men whose lives you're shaping.

6. Have any of you seen Will Ferrell's Semi-Pro? Saw it last night, and it's becoming the same tired Will Ferrell plot: he's on top of the world, he bottoms out, he re-conquers the world in the end. Have you seen Anchorman, Talladega Nights, or Blades of Glory? Then there's no need to bother renting this. And that's coming from a Will Ferrell fan.

7. On the other hand, The Strangers (in theaters now) gets two thumbs up.

8. I'm not one for watching televised golf, but I have to admit: that Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson pairing at the U.S. Open is pretty intriguing. And it gives me the excuse to run this exquisite photo of the duo.

9. Is Pittsburgh fully prepared for the upcoming Pamela Anderson invasion? I doubt it.

10. Pierogis N'at did a nice recap of the recent Billy Gardell/Mike Wysocki/Gene Collier standup troika. That's a lot of Pittsburgh humor for one man to handle.

5/27/2008

QUITE A HOLE WE'VE EXCAVATED

DETROIT 3

PENGUINS 0

No, not even the much-ballyhooed presence of Luke Ravenstahl could inspire the Pens in Detroit

You've overachieved by everyone's standards all year long. Your team is down two games to none, failing to muster even one goal in Detroit Rock City. What time is it? Time for everyone's favorite pastime, The Blame Game!

Michel Therrien is blaming the refs. Gene Collier is calling out Gary Roberts for a "chicken-scat cheap shot" on Johan Franzen. John Fedko was pointing the finger at Evgeni Malkin, arguably the Penguins' 2007-08 regular season MVP, who has only one shot in two games. Fedko's callers were blaming Marc-Andre Fleury for giving up a few less-than-stellar goals. ESPN's Scott Burnside was busy making note of Ryan Malone's four penalties. Ron Cook is so down on the Penguins as a whole that he wants to know if it's too early to pick the Red Wings in three.

Everyone has theories, but no one has answers for how to deal with the Detroit Red Wings. They have outplayed, outhustled, and outscored the Penguins in nearly every facet of the game.

So the Penguins return home to Pittsburgh battered and bruised, their egos undoubtedly damaged. In what's becoming a recurring theme among the scratched, Georges Laraque was the latest to voice his opinion. Therrien and his coaches will go back to the drawing board, possibly juggling lines once again. What impact these events have had and will have on the Penguins' locker room is unknown to anyone who doesn't have access inside that sacred ground.

The bottom line is that the Red Wings aren't this good and the Penguins obviously aren't this bad. The shots for the Pens on Monday night were nearly as bad as in Game One: 6, 6, and 10, outshot 34-22 by the Wings. But just getting shots doesn't guarantee anything, because flopping Detroit goalie Chris Osgood has stopped every shot he's faced thus far.

Is the series over? Absolutely not, according to Max Talbot: "Look at me. I am really positive. We are going home, and that is a great thing. It is not like we lost two games at home. We lost the two away games. I think we got some good scoring chances. It could have went one side or the other."

I can only hope Talbot believes what he's saying, and watching him over the years, I'm sure he does. Hopefully that attitude is contagious, because the 1971 Chicago Blackhawks are the only team that's failed to win the Cup after winning the first two games at home. And if Detroit joins that team in history, that will be a Blame Game I'd love to see.

The Links:

PG:

Penguins face huge odds in trying to overcome 2-0 deficit

Penguins Q&A with Dave Molinari

Reputations falling as fast as Penguins

Detroit's domination has Penguins dazed, confused

Game Two: Stanley Cup Final photos

Red Wings: Babcock promises a better performance at Mellon Arena despite two practically flawless games

Detroit's domination has Penguins dazed, confused

Laraque unhappy with not playing

Trib:

Game 2: Scoreless Pens lose again (with Photo Gallery)