Bill Leavy Re-Opens Super Bowl XL Controversy

On a Pittsburgh-centric football weekend in Canton, Ohio, what is leading the local Saturday football headlines? Something that happened in 2006.

TODAY'S HEADLINES

Don't Call it a Comeback: With respect to the LL Cool J-inspired headline, it was actually quite the comeback last night in the Penguins' 3-2 win at Edmonton.

Jordan Staal assisted on three third period goals as the Pens overcame a 2-0 hole with goals from Tyler Kennedy, Matt Cooke, and Pascal Dupuis. The win moved the Pens to 3-1 on their nearly-completed five game road trip.

In the "concern areas", the Penguin power play was 1-for-2 and Evgeni Malkin once again failed to find the stat sheet, but did have seven shots and an effort worthy of the game's third star honor.

The game was preceded by an Olympic ceremony that included a guest appearance by the torch and loud ovations for Canadian team members Fleury and Sidney Crosby.

The Pens are back in action tomorrow night at Vancouver, with a 10 PM start. [ESPN]

Reese > Khan? It's looking like former Tennessee GM Floyd Reese is the favorite to land the vacant Seattle GM job, which means Omar Khan may stick around with the Steelers after all- at least for the near future.

Can Reese find the next Pacman Jones for Pete Carroll? We'll just have to wait and see. [NFL.com]

Pirates closing in on Dotel: The Buccos are on the verge of signing the 36-year-old to be their closer, a deal that has been discussed for weeks.

Dotel has 83 career saves and 39 career blown saves, so he probably won't cost the Pirates as much as, say, Mariano Rivera. Dotel made $6 million in 2009 with the White Sox, although the Pirates deal is expected to be much less. [Yahoo!]

Cowher waiting for Giants' job, says Bus: Jerome Bettis, a certified expert in all things Cowherian, says that the former Steeler coach is waiting for Tom Coughlin to figuratively slip on a banana peel with the Giants.

Cowher is reportedly close with the Mara family, which is as close to the Rooney family as you'll find among NFL owners. Aside from the obvious Carolina rumors, this sounds like the most realistic scenario for Cowher's post-Steeler coaching career to resume. [PFT]

LaRoche a LaDiamondback: The other half of the Flying LaRoche Brothers has reportedly found his home for 2010. Adam LaRoche will be suiting up for the Arizona Diamondbacks on a one-year deal, with terms not yet disclosed. It took a long time finding a team that was willing to go more than a half-year with the notoriously late slow starter. [Yahoo Sports]

Another story from the Russ Grimm archive: Nothing screams class like eating your own puked-up hot dog off the field. [Shutdown Corner]

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OMAR KHAN TO SEATTLE?

Omar Khan (above right), longtime Business & Football Administration Coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers, will interview for the vacant Seattle GM job, according to Jason La Canfora of NFL.com.

Khan, who joined the Steelers in 2001, has served as their chief contract negotiator and capologist in that time, and quite well. Prior to joining the Steelers, Khan was an intern and then a full-time football operations employee of the New Orleans Saints.

Khan, whose name usually comes up in the conversation of a new Bill Cowher staff, has some competition for the Seattle job. Marc Ross of the Giants and John Schneider of the Packers will also interview for the position this week. The new Seattle GM will have control of the roster, whether the new coach is Pete Carroll of USC or John Fox of the Carolina Panthers.

Losing Khan would definitely be a blow to the Steelers, but it's hard to stop a guy from moving up the ladder, especially if you don't have a position available for him. And since Kevin Colbert is not going anywhere, this appears to be the only chance Khan has to climb said ladder anytime soon.

Steelers’ Khan will interview for Seahawks’ GM job [NFL.com]

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HASSELBECK ON BEN: GIRLS CAN PLAY IN THE NFL

I've got to give it up to the Mondesi's House readers. They never cease to amaze me with some of the tips they dig up. Today's first tip (yes, there's more to come) is of the "there's always some truth behind the joke" variety.

Apparently, Seattle Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck accompanied a sixth-grader to school earlier this week. These types of visits are fairly frequent in the NFL; for instance, Hines Ward dropped by Stewart Elementary School in Lower Burrell, presumably to deliver a clinic on how to throw a clean downfield block.


Usually, there's a Q&A with the students at these events, and Hasselbeck's visit was no different. So a little girl asks Hasselbeck if girls can play in the NFL, and he responds with this:

"Girls can play in the NFL. Ben Roethlisberger plays for the Steelers, right?" Hasselbeck said, in a playful flashback to Seattle's Super Bowl loss three seasons ago.

"Joking. Totally joking. That was a joke," Hasselbeck said, chuckling.

Yeah, yeah, totally joking. Hilarious. We all know that Seattle holds no bitterness towards anyone, especially the officials, after their spectacular performance in Super Bowl XL, which came up a little short. Of course, if I were Matt Hasselbeck, I'd probably prefer to think about the 2005 Super Bowl season, with his 24 TD passes and 98 passer rating, as opposed to his injury-plagued, 57-rated 2008 season, in which he's 1-6 as a starter.

But in all fairness, the entire city of Seattle is pretty bitter towards all things sports-related right now. The Sonics took Kevin Durant and their entire team to Oklahoma. The Mariners were 61-101 (yes, even worse than the Pirates). The Seahawks are 2-10. The Washington Huskies are 0-11, and Washington State is 2-11. So if Matt Hasselbeck is a little testy on behalf of his constituents, I can certainly understand why.

*Thanks to Andrew H. for the tip

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Seattle Cook Adds Secret Sauce to Steeler Fan's Burger

In today's latest example that Seahawk fans dwell on that past a little too much, a Seattle fast-food cook was accused of spitting on a hamburger ordered by a man wearing Steelers attire. I'm guessing this happened because Seahawk fans feel the game was poorly officiated, as this Steeler fan obviously had a hand in the outcome.

The greatest part of the story was that when police visited the cook's house, they smelled marijuana in addition to the implied scent of sour grapes. The cook was later released after being booked for investigation of fourth-degree assault and possession of marijuana.

Seattle fans, you're just embarrassing yourselves at this point. A pot-smoking burger cook spitting on a hamburger, and two years after the fact?

But you have to put yourself in this guy's shoes. The Seattle Supersonics are leaving town, and you're resigned to asking Bill Simmons for help. You've already waved goodbye to A-Rod, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Randy Johnson. It rains all the time. Starbucks has overexpanded and is laying people off. And grunge music just doesn't sell like it used to.

So all of your hopes are pinned on the Seahawks, and that would make anyone depressed. This is a team that lists Franco Harris as one of their four Hall of Famers. They gave an 8-year, $62 million deal to Shaun Alexander, only to watch him pack it in. They employed human lowlife Jerramy Stevens. They got back at the Vikings' signing of Steve Hutchinson by signing WR Nate Burleson to a seven-year $49 million offer sheet. That's a fair trade. They watched Charlie Frye against the Steelers in week one and said, "Is there any way we could pry him away?"

Obviously, this is a desperate fan base. So if spitting on a Steeler fan's hamburger is going to make their day a little brighter, then maybe we shouldn't be so quick to judge them.

Seattle cook accused of spitting on Steeler fan's burger [PG]

Jerramy Stevens - Tyler Brayton Video

Via the wonders of the internet

Make sure you watch at the 35-second mark. Our old friend Jerramy Stevens starts everything, yet the Raider is the one who gets caught. Somewhere, Joey Porter is laughing.