News and Notes: Pens Struggle on PP in 3-1 Win

What's happening in Pittsburgh sports at this hour:

And Hines Ward's Dance Partner Is...

Which skimpy-outfitted dancer did #86 draw in the matching up of celebrity and pro for Dancing With the Stars?

It's Official: Hines Ward Joins "Dancing With the Stars"

It looks like Bob Pompeani's preliminary Tweet was spot-on: Steeler WR Hines Ward will become the third active player in NFL history to join the cast of ABC's Dancing With the Stars. Between this and the Royal Roethlisberger Wedding, the Steelers will clearly have no distractions the media will constantly ask them about this offseason.

Monday Headlines

Getting up to speed on a windy, rainy Monday morning in the Burgh:

Media Day Serious as Usual

Some of the Tuesday/Media Day highlights from around the web:

The Steelers Land in Dallas

The Steelers have officially landed in Dallas at 12:30 Eastern, and on the travel note, you've gotta give it up for Hines Ward on his choice of apparel. Let me give credit where credit is due: when Hines travels to Texas, he dresses the part.

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Monday Steeler Quick Hits: Keisel Beard Me!

Give yourself the Keisel Beard treatment. I have a question: when did Brett Keisel become so marketing-savvy? Where was this hiding all these years? [KeiselBeardMe.com]

Speaking of The Beard, Keisel was recently voted as owner of the best beard in NFL history! [ChiCitySports]

In unsurprising news, Hines Ward has no plans to retire.

Call it a gut instinct, but I just don't see his Pittsburgh career ending well.  He'll feel like he can still play when the evidence shows otherwise someday. Then he'll feel insulted by the Steelers, he'll get released, and then he'll play for some team like Baltimore. It's a recurring nightmare I have, but I've seen the Hines Movie too many times. Any perceived slight makes him want it more. [PG+]

"Peter King of Sports Illustrated writes in today’s Monday Morning Quarterback column that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told him he talked to two dozen Steelers while he was deciding how to punish Roethlisberger at the beginning of this season, and to a man, Roethlisberger’s teammates declined to say anything supportive of their quarterback" [PFT]

From TMZ: "Piven -- No One Wants 'Rapist-Berger' in Super Bowl". Because we all care about Jeremy Piven's thoughts on the Super Bowl. [TMZ]

LaMarr Woodley having fun at the expense of that horrible, horrible Pro Bowl [Twitter]

And in the realm of celebrity Steeler fans:

Black and Yellow is now the #3 song in America. Prediction: #1 within a week. [Billboard]

PG charts the rise of Wiz Khalifa. Most would describe it as "meteoric". [PG]

Snoop Dogg and his famous, drug-loving-yet-family-friendly lifestyle will be coming to Stage AE in February [PG]

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Drama-Loving Linebacker Returns to Work

Surprise, surprise. James Harrison's not retiring after all. He sure had me fooled!

Obama Names Hines Ward to President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

First, it was Dan Rooney. Now, Barack Obama has called on another member of the Pittsburgh Steelers family for a post in his administration.

Hines Ward Says Dennis Dixon is the New Kordell Stewart

"He's the new Kordell Stewart. Newer, not better. I'm sorry,”

Those were the words of Hines Ward, describing the #10-wearing, trusting-his-legs-more-than-his arm quarterback that has taken the city by storm with his performance against next year's UFL players the Detroit Lions' backups on Saturday night.

Weekend Newsmakers

 This week, I'll be tinkering with a few different styles of posts, for a variety of reasons. 

 Today, I'm injecting a bit more of my personal opinions into recaps of the big stories of the weekend.

ROSS OHLENDORF gave up just two hits and two unearned runs over six innings of work, but it still wasn't enough to gain his first win of the season in a 3-2 Pirates loss at Oakland. Ohlendorf's botched pickoff move and failure to back up third base on an overthrow resulted in one of the three Oakland runs. Evan Meek gave up an eighth-inning home run to Kurt Suzuki, two pitches after Jason Jaramillo dropped a Suzuzki pop foul. Lastings Milledge hit his first home run of the season for the Bucs, who outhit the A's 8-3 in the loss. It was the 17th straight road loss for the Pirates, who are now 25-50 and 4-19 in the month of June. The Bucs finished interleague play at a ghastly 2-13.

My take: The Pirates seem to find new ways to lose every day, and this one ended on Jose Tabata's sizzling grounder hitting Pedro Alvarez on his way to second base.  Ugh. Ohlendorf pitched well, but his mental gaffes loomed very large; you can't take any plays off in this league and expect to win. As for Jaramillo, what else can you say? If he makes that catch, Suzuki doesn't homer and the game goes into the ninth tied. It's the little things, the "should-be-routine" plays, that make this team so frustrating to watch. On the positive side, there's only 87 more Pirate games left in 2010.

SERGEI GONCHAR and his pending free agency is a hot topic around Pittsburgh, and Rob Rossi took a look at the thinking that the Penguins might opt to beef up their blue line and not upgrade their wingers.

My take: Most everyone (myself included) had the Penguins and Gonchar parting ways this offseason. But if they can actually sign both Gonchar and newly-acquired Dan Hamhuis (or two other high-end defensemen), all of a sudden, an area of weakness becomes an area of great strength for the team. That won't help the winger situation, but then again, not much out there can help it right now.

BEAU BENNETT became the newest member of the Pittsburgh Penguins when he was chosen with their first-round draft pick on Friday night. The 18-year-old California native played for the Penticton Vees of the British Columbia Hockey League last season and led the BCHL in scoring with 120 points on 41 goals and 79 assists in 56 games. He's committed to the University of Denver for the fall, so you won't be seeing him in a Penguin jersey anytime soon.

My take: I'd call this a "high-risk, high-reward" pick for the Pens, a gamble you're willing to make when you're picking 20th. There has to be some patience involved with Bennett, but if he can eventually grow into the young scoring winger that this team so desperately needs, it could be a home run of a pick.


HINES WARD stirred the pot a bit on a recent appearance on the NFL Network's NFL Total Access, when he made these comments about Ben Roethlisberger's tumultuous offseason:

“A lot of players really don’t know the situation, other than what we hear in the news or the media,” Ward explained. “I think when he addresses the whole team going into training camp, we can all put it behind us and move forward.”

My take: It's not the first time that Ward and Roethlisberger have not been on the same page, with Ben's public wish for a tall receiver and Hines' questioning of Roethlisberger's injury in 2009 as two of the most memorable examples. But if Roethlisberger can address the situation in a way that will not affect his ongoing legal dispute in Nevada, he should do so sooner rather than later so the team can move on.

TODAY'S HEADLINES

Today's headlines include a dramatic Bucco extra-inning loss, an ace for 66, a look at who the Pirates will take at #2, Big Ben's Big Interview rumors, Pitt games moving to The Fan, Brad Lincoln's debut, John Steigerwald rooting for the Flyers, and much more...

TODAY'S HEADLINES

TODAY'S HEADLINES

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators meet for Game Two tonight, and all eyes will be on Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury after his overwhelming performance in the series' first game. But as the PG points out, "In his first three postseason runs as the Penguins' go-to goalie, Fleury allowed four or more goals 10 times. He is 8-2 in the game that followed, with two shutouts and two one-goal efforts. He also allowed two goals in four of those games, and three in the other two."

So based on his playoff history, there's an 80% chance that the Flower will allow two goals or less tonight. If that's the case, scoring four goals once again would mean a much more palatable outcome for the home team and its fans.

On the injury front, Ottawa will be without second-line forward Milan Michalek for the remainder of the postseason after he tore the ACL in his left knee during Game 1, joining forward Alexei Kovalev (knee) and defenseman Filip Kuba (back) on the injured list. For the Pens, Brent Johnson missed Thursday's practice due to flu-like symptoms, so the team recalled Brad Thiessen from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Gametime is set for 7 p.m. tonight at the Igloo. [PG]

Lots more to catch up on after the jump:

ROETHLISBERGER, BRADSHAW PROBABLY NOT EXCHANGING CHRISTMAS CARDS ANYTIME SOON

A new shoe to drop in the Ben Roethlisberger saga: an icy relationship with the only man better than him at the quarterback position in team history, Terry Bradshaw. Said Bradshaw of Roethlisberger:

"Our relationship is not any good. When I told him to park the motorcycle, he got pissed. Then he had the accident, and since then he doesn't like me, and I'm learning not to like him. He wants to break all my records, and I say break 'em, I really don't care.  I've done my job, my job's over, now you have your shot. He has got to realize who he is. He is an elite athlete in the National Football League. Now he's got an image problem right now. Best thing to do is don't ever put yourself in that position again. When you're through playing football, do whatever you want to do, but right now, stay clean."

So if you're keeping score, Roethlisberger has had well-publicized rifts with his former coach, his former offensive coordinator, his future Hall of Fame receiver, and the face of the franchise during its glory years. Anyone else seeing the makings of a pattern here?

Terry Bradshaw On Ben Roethlisberger [ESPN]
Frost in Roethlisberger-Whisenhunt relationship heats up Super Bowl [USA Today]
Ward blindsided by Big Ben's comments [PG]
Steelers Notebook: Big Ben, Cowher had problems [PG]

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TODAY'S HEADLINES

The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped to 0-4 on the season against the Washington Capitals with a 6-3 loss last night in the team's final regular season game at Mellon Arena. Jordan Leopold scored twice for the Pens and Sidney Crosby added his 48th goal of the year, but that's pretty much where the good news ended.

The bad news was plentiful, starting with the absence of Evgeni Malkin, who left the ice after a few minutes of warmups with an undisclosed illness. It was all downhill from there, as Alex Ovechkin scored twice, tying Crosby for the league lead in goals on an empty-netter with a second remaining in regulation. The Penguin defense and Marc-Andre Fleury both struggled mightily as the team lost their fifth in eight games and slipped into fourth place in the conference. [ESPN]

The Pittsburgh Steelers will be bringing five college players in for visits today, some which raise an eyebrow or two.

Oregon running back LaGarrette Blount, who punched a Boise State player and was suspended for most of the 2009 season, and Oklahama State WR Dez Bryant, who was suspended for lying to the NCAA, were among them. Yep, it looks like this team is valuing character more than ever. [PG]

Ziggy Hood will be appearing at an Altoona Curve game on Thursday to sign autographs for two hours. Hood will also throw out the night’s ceremonial first pitch and participate in a pre-game show interview simulcast on the video board. 

It should tell you how popular the Steelers are when they're being used as promotions for minor league baseball games.  [AltoonaCurve.com] 

Hines Ward spoke out in support of Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes, telling KDKA, "I'm just there to support my teammates. I know they're probably going through some hard times and as being one of the leaders on the team, just trying to go out and have their back and show my support." [KDKA.com]

The Pittsburgh Pirates aim for a 2-0 start at 7:05 tonight against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ross Ohlendorf takes the hill against Clayton Kershaw at PNC Park.  Garrett Jones will try to continue his 324 home run pace for the Bucs. [PittsburghPirates.com]

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STEELERS HIRE SCOTTIE MONTGOMERY

Thankfully, it appears we've finally reached the end of the Steeler coaching staff stories, as the team hired 31-year-old Scottie Montgomery to coach the wide receivers. As Scott Brown notes in his Trib story, Montgomery is actually two years younger than one of his pupils, 33-year-old Hines Ward. That should be an interesting dynamic.

Montgomery was the second-leading WR in Duke Blue Devil history, entering the NFL in 2000 as a free agent with the Denver Broncos, moving on to Oakland in 2003 and ending his pro career with the Arena League's Georgia Force in 2005. He finished with modest NFL totals of 16 catches, 160 yards, and one TD for his career.

Montgomery entered the coaching field in 2006, returning to his alma mater as the wide receivers coach, where he's remained until now. According to the Duke website, "Montgomery has tutored two of the finest wide receivers in Duke history in Eron Riley and Jomar Wright."

I'm sure that's a great accomplishment that Montgomery is very proud of. Fortunately, the Steelers' wide receiver options are better than Eron Riley and Jomar Wright. As a matter of fact, they line up two Super Bowl MVPs and one of the top deep threats in the league as a third option. So my only concern with this hire would be credibility with his players. Then again, I can't remember hearing two peeps about previous WR coach Randy Fichtner (who is now in charge of the team's QBs), and that arrangement seemed to work out well for everyone involved, as Fichtner's Super Bowl ring would indicate.

Steelers find new wide receivers coach [Trib]

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THIS IS NOT WHAT HINES WARD HAD IN MIND FOR SUPER BOWL WEEK

What's the prolific Steeler WR been up to during Super Bowl week? Would you believe judging Dog Bowl 2010, along with "DJ Eddie E" and a dog trainer? Me neither.

Ward (who doesn't even own a dog, by the way) opened up to Ed Bouchette about several topics, including Ben Roethlisberger reportedly saving Bruce Arians' job ("You know, it's Ben's team"), the team's pending free agents ("I don't know who we'll bring back"), and what he did after the season ended ("I got as far away as I could from Pittsburgh"). But if you're looking for actual insight into the Dog Bowl from #86, you're going to have to keep looking.

Steelers' Ward finds February is for dogs this year [PG]

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"HINES WILL DO WHAT'S BEST FOR HINES"

Many a Steeler fan (and non-Steeler fan, for that matter) has taken the opportunity to point out the irony of Hines Ward missing this week's game just a short while after he made controversial comments about his concussed quarterback missing the Baltimore game.

Now, the concussed quarterback has addressed said irony:

"Hines will do what's best for Hines, I'm sure," Roethlisberger said of Ward today. "We're not going to make any quick decisions on Hines because we know he still may be out there. I don't really know what the situation is with him yet."

Feel free to interpret those words in any manner you wish. Personally, I just wish Hines would've kept his thoughts to himself in the first place and not aired them in front of a national audience. There was really nothing to be gained for anyone from that. It wasn't going to make Roethlisberger play against Baltimore and it certainly wasn't going to help team chemistry. You would think a highly-regarded veteran like Ward would've considered that beforehand, and if he did, I'm disappointed that he followed through.

All I know for sure is that this is the second "Super Bowl hangover" (man, do I hate that phrase) that this franchise has experienced in the past three seasons, and that's incredibly disappointing. Sure, a play here, a play there, and the Steelers might have eight, nine, even 10 wins right now. Unfortunately, that's not how things have played out. The Steelers have six wins and six losses, and the playoffs are more a wish than a certainty at this point in the season. Leaders show their true value in the bad times, not the good. If this team has any true leadership (which I'm really starting to question), now is the time to make it known. And put this tiresome melodrama to bed.

Roethlisberger: Hines will do what's best for Hines [PFT]

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CHANGES A-COMIN'

After yesterday's epic fail against Oakland, coach Mike Tomlin revealed the following bits of info in relation to the upcoming game against the Browns on Thursday:

--CBs Joe Burnett and Keenan Lewis will not only play but could start against the Browns. CB Ike Taylor, nursing burn wounds, might find a place on the Steeler bench.

--CB William Gay, who suffered a concussion against Oakland, will undergo neurological tests. If he is able to play, he may not start.

--WR Hines Ward is doubtful because of a late-game hamstring injury, so Limas Sweed moves up the depth chart (gulp) and a receiver will be signed for depth. Either Sweed or Mike Wallace will start in Ward's place. I'm putting my money on Wallace. Call it a hunch.

--S Troy Polamalu will likely miss his fourth straight game with a knee injury. Call that the Madden Curse.

--RB Rashard Mendenhall will get limited reps in practice this week because of an ankle injury.

--And to the best of my knowledge, there were no promises to unleash anything else this month.

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