The Daily Bongo -- October 2005

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Monday, October 31, 2005 -- Evening First half The Steelers have a Monday night football game this evening. I'm hoping that I can stay awake for the entire game because I am feeling a cold come on. The Steelers got the ball first and ate up almost nine minutes on plays that resulted in a touchdown. Ben Roethlisberger threw a pass to Heath Miller. They lead now 7-0. The announcers are talking about how we should all worry about Roethlisberger's injury status because he had some strong hits. The only response that I have is that Roethlisberger is a tough boy, and I'm sure that he will be fine. Right now, he is in the locker room, but I'm sure that he's just getting some wrapping. our defense is not really doing as well as I would like, and the Baltimore Ravens came back to tie things up in the last two minutes of the first period. The score is now 7-7. Roethlisberger is back on the field and it looks as if his right knee has been taped. Originally a few weeks ago, Roethlisberger had hurt his left knee, so the right knee is something new. With the start of the second period, the Steelers aren't being as dominant as we all thought considering how poorly the Ravens have been doing this season. The offense is having trouble getting the ball off, and Roethlisberger has been sacked a few times. He punted the ball off (he's a multi-tasker), and Cedrick Wilson caught the ball on the one yard line, so that's where the Ravens got the ball. Jamal Lewis fumbled the ball, and we recovered it. We weren't able to get a touchdown even though we were ten yards out at first. Roethlisberger got sacked, and we had to settle for a 41 yard field goal attempt. Roethlisberger got intercepted at 9:19, and the Ravens have the ball. Fortunately, they aren't able to get a touchdown and have to settle for a field goal. the score is tied: 10-10. This is really sucking! We just got the ball and fumbled! The Ravens have the ball again. We really aren't doing too well in this half. It's surprising because I don't think anyone was anticipating this. Thank goodness, the Ravens went for a field goal and missed. Great play! Roethlisberger threw the ball to Hines Ward. The ball bounced up into the air off of Ward, and he tracked it and came down with it to only get a really hard hit. But Ward kept hold of the ball. It was a great play. There are 2:26 left in the half. Roethlisberger is having a problem with throwing the ball, and really doesn't seem to be making his passes. The Ravens have the ball and are trying to get the ball down the field so they can get another score before the end of the half and pull ahead of the Steelers. The Steelers are doing what they can to stop them. Right now, it is fourth down and only five seconds. Pittsburgh did a stupid thing and took a time out with only five second left. The Ravens didn't have a time out, and couldn't spike because they were at fourth down. Makes you wonder if someone on the Steelers side is pro-Raven. Fortunately nothing came of it all, and the score is tied as we go to half time. Second half The second half started with an interception by the Steelers. Chris Hope intercepted the ball, but got his ankle caught by one of the Ravens, so he threw a lateral pass to Ike Taylor. It was beautiful. The Ravens are challenging that Hope was down by contact. The Ravens won the challenge and said that Hope was done by contact. Roethlisberger moved the ball down the field and Miller scored again. The score is now 17-10. The Ravens got the ball back, and took over eight minutes to get a field goal. The score is now 17-13 in the fourth quarter. The Ravens got the ball again and scored another field goal. The game is close now 17-16. The Steelers are definitely not playing very well. Unfortunately, I'm not feeling very well right now, so I think I'm going to bed, and will catch up on the last few minutes of the game tomorrow. Monday, October 31, 2005 -- Afternoon The word is officially out. Both Ryan Whitney and Erik Christensen have been brought up from the minors to lending a helping hand to the Pens. At least, it's a move in the right direction. I don't know if it is enough though. We will just have to wait and see. Whitney is the defenseman, and he leads the AHL defensemen with five goals and 14 points. Christensen is third in the AHL with nine goals and ten assists (total of nineteen points). Monday, October 31, 2005 -- Morning Happy Halloween! The Penguins management has given a vote of confidence to Eddie Olczyk. According to Craig Patrick, Eddie O's job is safe for now. I like the way the "for now" was added because the thought that runs through my mind is that they are saying, "you're okay for now while we look for someone to replace you" or "we won't fire Eddie O. We'll just encourage him to quit." Craig Patrick does admit that there are problems with the team and thinks that the solution is to adjust the mix of players. Also, two players from the minors will be brought up to handle two of our lacking areas. Defenseman, Ryan Whitney, is going to be called up and center, Erik Christensen. Both players have been big contributors to the Wilkes Barre Pens success. We shall have to see how it goes. Our next game is tomorrow against the New Jersey Devils. The Steelers are playing tonight against the Baltimore Ravens. It should be a good game for us because Baltimore has not been playing well of late. There is a great rivalry with the team, so it should be entertaining to watch. It's going to be hard to come into work tomorrow because the game is going to start at 9 pm, and will run until after midnight. It seems that 9% of employees wind up calling off sick after sporting events that happen the previous evening. It's perfectly understandable because you want to enjoy yourself, and getting up for work the next morning just puts a crimp in the fun. Leave it to CMU to be on the cutting edge of technology and research. Scientists at CMU have developed a language translation device that is connected to someone's head. By detecting the movements of the jaw and face muscles, the device is able to make translations from one language into another. A demonstration was given at CMU by a native Mandarin Chinese speaker whose words were translated into English for the audience. Of course, at this point, the speaker has to have the device wired to his face, so it's not as sci-fi as it sounds. The possibilities are intriquing. Sunday, October 30, 2005 -- Late afternoon While the Pens can't seem to get their act together, the Baby Pens, the minor league team associated with the Pens, is undefeated. Their record right now is 9-0. Obviously they have some things going right for them. The players are playing well together, Marc-Andre Fleury is playing well. Right now, Fleury has six wins for the season. So what are the Baby Pens doing right that the NHL Pens aren't? That might be a multi-layered answer. Of course, as you probably know by now, I have serious problems with the coaching staff and lay alot of blame at their feet. Another possible problem is that Craig Patrick might not have done the best job of putting a team together. We have alot of stars on the team, but they don't seem to be playing together well. Our defense is weak. That can be the problem of the coach or of Patrick not recruiting someone for the role. Yes, Sergei Gonchar is the highest score defenseman, but maybe we need a defenseman who doesn't score, but clears the puck from our end. Also, Mario Lemieux might not be allowing the coach to do his job. There might be alot of issues beneath the surface that are causing the problems that the Pens have. The question is how can the problems be resolved? Firing the coach might be a start, but then can we get someone to replace him who can handle Lemieux and the team that Craig built? Saturday, October 29, 2005 -- Late evening The Pens game today was quite a disappointment, but it is what I expected from them. We wound up losing a close one, and blowing a two point lead. The first period was not the best, but at least it ended with a tied score. The second period was great. The Pens were playing well (or the Carolina Hurricanes were just not playing at all), and the Pens actually pulled ahead to a 3-1 lead. However, the third period was a totally different story. The crowd really seemed to think that an interference call against Sidney Crosby was not justified. It's hard to tell because both Crosby and a Hurricane player were heading for the puck. Crosby just hit him before he got there. Now looking at the rule book, interference means impeding the progress of someone who does not have the puck, and the Hurricane player did not have the puck yet, so that is intereference. What gets to me though is the hypocrisy of Mario Lemieux. In the past, Lemieux was always chastising the officials for not calling penalties like this, and would always say that it was the reason why he wanted to retire so early. Mario claimed that he was sick and tired of not being able to play the game because other players would interfer with him and prevent him from making plays. Well, now that the shoe is on the other foot, and his teammates are being called for interference penalties (including Mario), it's a different story. In the Tuesday game against the Panthers Mario got called for a controversal interference call that lead Mario to argue with the officials. Considering the fact that Mario hit a guy who did not have the puck, and knocked the guy over, I'd say it was interference. Mario claims that the other player was skating backwards and was just unable to avoid Mario. Hmm--I wish that I could use that excuse when I hit someone with my car. Anyway, the Hurricanes had 19 shots on goal in the third period today compared to 4 shots on goal by the Pens, and the Pens had only 4. Final score was Panthers 5, Penguins 3. Sebastien Caron did a nice job, but there's only so much a goalie for the Pens can do when the defense is non-existent. Saturday, October 29, 2005 -- Morning The Pens will be playing the Carolina Hurricanes tonight. I have tickets to the game, and will be commenting on it when I get home. I don't think that tonight will be a win because Carolina has been pretty good this year. So far, they have seven wins, two losses and one overtime loss. Of course, everyone who follows news knows that Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be wiped from the map. He made the comment a few days ago, and is still standing by the comment and has support by his government. The comments were made a conference titled "The World without Zionism". What I think is ironic about this is that Ahmadinejad is just verbalizing what is a common theme in the Arab nations. Some people are disillusioned enough to think that the Arabian nations will accept the existence of Israel as long as Israel makes enough concessions to placate the Palestinians. I don't think so, and I think that Ahmadinejad's comments show that. Some local women's groups here in Pittsburgh want to boycott--excuse me "girlcott"--Abercrombie & Fitch. Why? Because they believe that some of the t-shirts being sold at the store are offensive and demeaning to women. I think that these women need to get an injection of humor and get over themselves. After all, who does see the humor in a shirt worn by a buxom blonde saying "Who needs brains when you have these?" The protest is supposed to be tomorrow (Sunday) at 4 pm. I think that the women picked a stupid time for their protest. Hmm...Sunday afternoon...no people in the downtown area (where the store is located). It makes alot of sense to have your protest when no one will see you. So, not only are these women humorless, they also aren't too bright. Personally, I wish that I had the boobage to wear the shirt in question. Maybe I should start a competing protest at the same time. I'll wear the shirt and protest the stupidity of changing words like boycott because you are trying to expose sexism. Friday, October 28, 2005 -- Evening Alot of folks are happy now because the Pens have finally won a game, but it is nothing to be too excited about. First of all, we beat a goal who hasn't played in a while and who was brought in as a last minute save for a team with no goalie. Second is the fact that the play in the first ten minutes of the game was atrocious. It's nothing that the team should be proud of. Thank goodness they have the win, but they have to do alot better than they did in yesterday's game. One of the disappointments for the team is that Dick Tarnstrom will be out indefinitely because of a torn MCL (a ligament in his left knee). Speaking of the Pens, Tom Murphy, the Mayor of Pittsburgh, is claiming that a fix is in the works for the allocation of the slots license here in Pittsburgh. It seems that the awarding of slots in the city might be a purely political thing and might depend heavily on who can grease the pockets of the folks in the Gaming Control Board. Murphy isn't willing to name names, and he has chastized the local media for not doing any hard core investigative work on the issue. Supposedly the company that is favored in this business is the owner of Station Square, Forest City Enterprises. We'll have to see if anything else comes from this. Mars is going to make its closest approach to Earth this coming Sunday morning. The next time the planet will be as close will be 13 years from now. If you are into star gazing, this weekend will be the best time to do some gazing Mars' way. Thursday, October 27, 2005 -- Evening I was in class today, and missed the very beginning of the Pittsburgh Penguins game. When I came in, the Atlanta Thrashers were ahead 1-0. That quickly became 4-0 within the first ten minutes of the first period. Fortunately Mario Lemieux was able to score two points. In the second period, the Pens came back with two goals by Sergei Gonchar. Right now, Lemieux has three points in the game and Gonchar and Sidney Crosby has two points. Another goal, this time by John LeClair. The Pens have surprisingly taken the lead, and then another goal! Gosh, this is really great. Can it continue? This time it's Ric Jackman. The Pens are ahead 6-4. The second period ends with the Pens leading. Something interesting to note is that eight of the ten goals scored this evening were power play goals. Also, the Pens were using Lemieux and Crosby on the power play, and that may be why they did so well. In the third period, we got another power play goal with LeClair. The score is now 7-4. The Thrashers scored one back, and it's now 7-5. Yes, it does seem that we are going to win because it is now less than 30 seconds until the game is over, and we have a two point lead. It's about time! They did finally win. Final is 7-5. Now on to Survivor: Guatemala/The Maya Empire. The show starts with some nighttime shots. Judd thanks his side for voting out Margaret. Lydia said that she's glad that's overwith. Judd says that he is a big teddy bear. Jaime said that Judd has a big voice and a big personality and that scares people. Jaime said that he wants to take Judd with him to the end because Judd will keep blowing up which will bring the votes to Jamie. Bobby Jon hurt his shoulder, and his shirt was pasted onto his shoulder. It seems that the folks over in Yaxha are comparing wounds. It is time for the next challenge. Four tribe members will have to wrap material off of a pole and onto themselves. The first person will wrap himself, hook to the second person, then they wrap themselves, and then hook to the third person and so on. The fifth person on each tribe will be a wrapper. The first team to get to the end wins. The tribe that wins will get chocolate and be able to take a rip glide trip over the jungle. Amy and Jaime are the winders. Nakum is first. Brandon clips to Gary. Stephanie and Lydia got into alot of problem. Gary, Brandon, and Bobby Jon are next. Bobby Jon had some problems. Nakum made up time on the fourth pole. Nakum is having problems and Stephanie, Rafe and Lydia fell over and couldn't get up. Yaxhu won. Nakum fell down and panicked and couldn't get back up and they lost the competition. Lydia was to blame for this one. Yaxhu needed the win for confidence. Amy is afraid of heights and is scared to make the journey on the rip cord across the jungle. Amy said that she wouldn't do it again. Bobby Jon said that it was a majestic feeling. Brandon thought the experience was "so cool". At the end of the trip, they got tons of chocolate--cakes, strawberries, milk shakes. They took the rest of the chocolate back to camp with them. Day 17 at Nakum. Rafe picked some leaves from the trees and made cards out of them so they could play games. Yaxhu canoed over to the Nakum group to invite them to a pool party to celebrate Danni's birthday. Stephanie talks them into walking down to investigate the Yaxhu folks calling out Nakum. Nakum didn't seem like they wanted to go over to Yaxhu, but they got talked into it. Danni just wanted to have a party and it was her birthday, and they do have a pool. Cindy tells them all that they should not take any peace offerings and shouldn't let any of this sway them. Danni brings out some of the extra chocolate for them. Stephanie said that sure she would eat their chocolate and go in their pool. Bobby Jon said that it was about fellowship and that they need to just relax and get along and then go back to war. Jaime was very quiet and just watching what was going on. Jaime said that he will like those people after the game is over. Stephanie said that she is not going to not stick to the plan because she went to a pool party. Stephanie thinks that there may be a clash between her and Jaime in the future. Yaxhu, day 18. Danni has huge boobs but is excrutiatingly thin--emaciated. Bobby Jon is in the pool and fish are eating at his wounds. Amy tells Gary that if she finds out that Gary was an NFL player after the game, she is going to kick his ass. As Gary says, there is no Gary Hawkings in Grand Rapids, so she can search him down as much as she wants. As Bobby Jon says, this is in in the realms of competition. Yaxhu has to win. The challenge is for immunity. It is how well they work together to solve a puzzle. Three members run out and find a puzzle piece. Each person has to make at least one attempt to find a piece and bring it back, then they can go in any order they want. There are 12 pieces The remaining two will have to piece the puzzle together in a Mayan calendar. Nakum has Lydia sit out. The first team to complete the puzzle wins. For Yaxhu it is Brandon, Bobby Jon, and Danni. For Nakum it is Jaime, Judd and cindy. Nakum has four pieces and Yaxhu has two. Only buried pieces are left so they have to dig for all of them. Both tribes have six pieces. It is a battle. Both tribes are tied at nine and then Danni gets the tenth piece. Nakum ties. Cindy found the last piece. Nakum has already started putting the puzzle together. Bobby Jon found the final piece. Gary and Amy start putting Yaxhu's puzzle together. Stephanie and Rafe have a big advantage for Nakum. It's very close. Nakum is stuck with the last few pieces. Nakum wins immunity. Yaxhu was close. Nakum worked well together. Who will go back? It will probably be Amy. Amy talks to Danni about what the possibilites are for her to stay. Danni said that she would hate to vote Bobby Jon out. Amy said that no one would ask her to come back. Danni brought up Bobby Jon's name. Gary tells Amy that if she gets Danni, she has his vote. So it is down to whether Amy can swing Danni. Bobby Jon says that the nervousness is bad because he is so close and is afraid of being voted off. As Bobby Jon said, that's life. Bobby Jon wants to make it to the jury and doesn't want to blow it. The question is how will the others vote. Danni wants to make certain that everyone is on the same page. Danni talks to Brandon. Danni tells Brandon that Stephanie and Bobby Jon already had a chance. Brandon says that he has an alliance with Bobby Jon but thinks that Gary and Amy belong there more because Bobby Jon already had his shot. Brandon says that it doesn't say that you have to lie, cheat or make alliances. Brandon feels that he is selling his soul in a way. Tribal council. Danni is asked how she feels to be there, and she says that nothing feels good because they have all bonded so well. Gary said that the group now is tight and close and it's harder this week than last. Amy said that she went through things that she would never experience anywhere else. Brandon says that it's more difficult than he anticipated on why he is voting folks out. Brandon says that it's hard to make a decision because do you pick the person who is deserving or who you have the alliance with. Danni said that it is going to be hard to keep your word at times. Bobby Jon said that it all depends on what sort of deals you made while you were competing. It is time to vote. Bobby Jon votes out Amy. Amy, of course, votes out Bobby JOn. The votes are tallied. Votes: Amy, Bobby Jon, Amy, Amy. Amy is voted out. Gary looks sad because he turned against Amy. Amy leaves and Danni and Gary seem to be the saddest. The four remaining Yaxhu members are now merged with Nakum and they will be forming a new tribe. All four voted against Amy. Thursday, October 27, 2005 -- Afternoon Tonight I should be writing about the first Pittsburgh Penguins win. Why? Because tonight the Pens are playing the Atlanta Thrashers who have lost five of the last six games. Also the team is having serious goalie problems. They even signed Steve Shields to a one year contract. Of course, it might be wishful thinking on my part that we should win. If we don't, more folks might want to get on the fire Eddie O bandwagon that I have been traipsing around town. Wednesday, October 26, 2005 -- Evening I'm catching up on the shows that I missed last night. First up is Amazing Race 8. This episode is titled We're Getting out of the Country Girls. The families are in New Orleans (before the hurricane and flood) for a rest period. The Bransens leave first at 12:40 am. They have to fly to Panama City, Panama, and then must make their way to the Panaman Smithsonian, cross the canal and find a scientist named Ricardo Dias who will give them the next clue. The Bransen dad admits that he is not used to being in a situation where he sees his children as equals. The Paolos start arguing right away, as usual. The Linz sister admits that she is the weak link physically. The Bransens borrow a cell phone and call ahead. They determine that the Continental flight will get them there around two hours earlier. The families are all trailing into the airport. The Gaghan family plan is to just beat one family. As the little girl says, better second to last than eliminated. The Linz's got the first set of tickets with the Bransens second. One of the Godlewski girls says that the elder Paolo son needs to be nicer to his mom. All of the tickets get sold on the Continental flight, so the remaining three families have to go on the American flight. It seems the Paolos wind up taking the lead. The Paolos, Linzs and Bransens arrive. The lead that they thought they had is lost because the Smithsonian Tropical Institute doesn't open until 7 am. The families are all camping out in one of the buildings waiting for the morning. All the stragglers are happy that they caught up. Everyone is now looking for Ricardo Diaz. The Linzs are very unhappy because they are on a slow boat. In the meantime, the Gaghan boat driver is saying that he has to stop to pick up someone else to the consternation of the Gaghan family. The Gaghans managed to talk the boat driver into heading back into the right direction and not picking the person up. The families are now looking for Ricardo Diaz. The Gaghans are far in last place. The Godlewski family finds Diaz first. It is a Detour. Rhythm takes them by bus to a local location, Diablo Rojo, where they have to go to four different places and pick up four different instruments trumpet, trombone, saxaphone and conga drum. They then have to take the instruments to Take Five Jazz and Wine to get their next clue from the bandleader. In Coos, they have to go to the rainforest, find five plastic birds and circle them on a map. The map will have to be okayed by someone before they get their clue. If they get it wrong, they have to go back and redo the map. There is also a Fast Forward in the competition, and it is the only one. The first family to find it and completes the task can go directly to the Pit STop. They have to go to a place to do a Tandem Bungee Jump with all four family members going in a group of two. The Paolos and the Gaghans take the Fast Forward. The Weaver mother is a bitch and tells the other drivers to drive slower. The Weavers take first place, and then gets passed by the Godlewskis and the Linzs. The Weavers wind up in last place. The Godlewskis hire a taxi to get them the location that they want--Diablo Rojo. The Paolos get the first ticket to do the bunjee jump. The father tries to talk the elder son into it while the younger brother makes jokes about dying. The father and the younger son did it. The Gaghans are waiting for the Paolos to chicken out. The mother tries to calm the boy while there is no calming him. The elder son has a fear of heights. The son agrees to it finally and jumps with his mother while he screams like a girl. The Gaghan family is very upset. The Paolo family goes directly to the Miraflores Locks, the Pacific entry to the Panama Canall. The Bransens were suckered by a woman that used them to get a ride on their bus to a restaurant. The Weavers are trying the bird searching competition, and are having problems finding them. The Linzs and Godlewskis are working together. The Paolos are the first family to check in to the Pit Stop. They won a trip for four to Panama to stay in the resort near the tropical rainforest. The elder son appears to have kissed his mom when they did the bunjee jump. It was a good, positive bonding moment for the family. The Weavers get the birds done, and have to travel two miles to a baseball stadium and search the grounds for their next clue. The Bransens get their set of five birds next. The Linzs and Godlewskis get all the instruments. Once the Linzs and Godlewskis get the instruments to the jazz club, they have to put the instruments into the cases in which they belong. At the stadium, there is a road block. Only one person on the team can perform the roadblock. That teammate must get a hit or homerun in order to get the next clue. They will get pitches from a little league pitcher, and if the person doesn't get a hit in three tries, the next team gets a chance to send their person in to get a hit. It seems that the pitcher is pretty good. The Weaver boy gets a hit, and the Weavers get the information to the Pit Stop at Miraflores. The Weaver mother gets upset though because the Linzs were yelling typical anti-hitting stuff, and she said they were so rude. According to the Weaver mother, the Weavers encourage everyone. Funny, we just saw her telling the other boat drivers to drive slow. Hmm. The Gaghans are in last place. One of the Bransen girls gets a hit. The Linzs get a hit and are in fourth place. The Gaghan dad got a homerun on the first pitch. They are now on to the Pit Stop. The Godlewskis are in last place. Sharon Godlewski seems to be really tired and out of breath and doesn't think she can hit the ball. Sharon Godlewski finally gets a hit. The Weavers finish in second place. The Gaghan got stuck behind a car. The Godlewskis realize that they are in last place, but think it may be a non-elimination, and start putting on all their clothes in case they lose all their stuff except what they have on. The Bransens are third, and the Linz family is fourth. The Gaghan family just made it in as team number five. The Godlewskis are last. The Godlewskis aren't eliminated, but have to give up their money and everything except the clothes on their backs. Fortunately, they thought that might happen and put all of their clothes on, and boy did they look funny. But they did get to keep all of their stuff except for the bags. Now Bound for Glory. Ellis Cannon is again talking about the Spartans. The Spartans will be playing Elizabeth Forward. I just noticed that the usual place where they are eating is JoJo's Place. Dick Butkus and Ray Crockett are eating their breakfast and discussing the team. Butkus said that he is feeling like he has to stop yelling at the team. Crockett said that he has to keep on yelling because that will get the results they need. Crockett lets Butkus know that Christian Wilson broke his leg playing Elizabeth Forward and that he and Butkus will have to work with Christian to get over his fears and know who Christian can block. Crockett thinks that the team is progressing. It is going from watching the film and thinking they suck to now watching the films and saying they are so close. Gianni Ricci is trying to get cleared to get back on the field since his ankle sprain a few weeks earlier. Ricci gets cleared by his trainer. The team is now heading out on the field to practice. Crockett really seems to know the guys too. Joe Kulik, who is a cornerback on the team, talks about how they have to play to their fullest potential. Crockett thinks that Chrisitian is really not doing very good at blocking. It seems he does not work 100% when he is blocking, and in the previous game it resulted in a quarterback sack. Crockett keeps on telling Christian that he has to hit the guy. Christian says to Morgan Singletary that he doesn't know how Crockett wants Christian to hit guys, and Morgan says "not like a pussy". The Riccis go to the Prima Donna to celebrate the ankle healing. Three days before the game. Lou Cerro tells everyone that Joe Kulik had heart attack symptoms, and that they are going to try to fix his problem with drugs, but it may need open heart surgery. Crockett tells Butkus that Joe fainted the previous day and had to go to the hospital. It seems that earlier in the morning, Joe felt like he was having a heart attack and came in to get checked out and is now in the hospital with an IV. We see Joe in the hospital and his father Joe Sr. crying. His father tells him to keep the faith and that he might still have a chance to play. Crockett said that they are one player away from making a positive change. Crockett plays with Michael Robinson and tells him that he will have to go back to the bench. Robinson is a good player so he gets to play. Mike Maradin was surprised that he was pulled because he knew that he wasn't playing well, but he thought that he could come back and play harder. His father thinks that Maradin needs to be somewhere playing on defense. His mother says that he can't let it bother him. The father says that they have to take the gloves off and play football. As the father says, everyone wants to look pretty out there. Back at the hospital (Allegheny General Hospital). The doctor says that it was just an air sack around the chest cavity, and that he will be able to go home and will be okay. Boy, it went from such a bad diagnosis to something alot nicer. Back at practice and Ricci says that he is okay with his ankle. Kulik comes back to pracice on Wednesday. They were going to dedicate the game Kulik. Joe can have light practice today and full pads the next day. Crockett said that when you think you are a star like Christian does, you tend to not give you all. Christian is acting the star instead of putting in the effort. Crockett said that a 140 pound guy should not be able to push around someone 185 pounds. Lou Cerro asks Crockett and Butkus to dinner. Crockett said that Christian is mad at him because Crockett is making Christian work. Christian's dad asks him how he feels about playing Elizabeth Forward with the break last year. His mom says that she worries everytime he plays since he broke his leg. His mom thinks that Christian will take the easy road unless he is challenged. She does know her son. The day before the game, Ricci's mom is asking him what he will be doing, and if he is worried about getting hurt or reinjured. Ricci says you can't worry about getting hurt or you will get hurt. Butkus goes to the barbershop to get his haircut. Butkus is farting throughout the hair cut, or pretending to. It seems that he has a farting gadget and wanted to see how everyone would react. What a cutup! Someone from UPMC Sports Medicine comes in to talk to them. The players all say that Christian isn't giving his all for the team. They are told that they all have to visual stuff before the game. Christian says, why should I visualize making three touchdowns, because if I don't it was wasted. Butkus bonds with the players by telling them how he used to tackle in the past. Butkus tells them that success is a journey, not a destination. Back at the Alumni Bar, the Kennedy Township Fireman's Hall, they are talking about reports in the local papers. The one old man is totally confused about who is playing in the next game. On game day, the cheerleaders made snacks for the football players and give it to them when they are in class. Nick DiIanni jumps into this snack pack. Anthony Pastin would love to make the playoffs. Morgan Singletary said that they worked hard to beat Elizabeth Forward, and it will be a set back if they lose. We see the kids in class, and alot of the players are sleeping in class. DiIanni appears to be sleeping in a chemistry class while his teacher says that DiIanni is concentrating. Butkus gives them a pep talk and tells theme they have to take a step forward and win this game. The game starts, and Ricci says that ran really hard and wound up hurting his leg more. Ricci starts crying, but Butkus tells him to not think about it, that he needs to get better because they have the whole season. Joe Kulik gets the first interception of the game. Amazing considering that he was ill earlier. Christian Wilson then fumbles the ball because he is worried about "breaking his wrist". Elizabeth Forward scores first and leads 7-0. Crockett talks to Robinson about what he needs to do. DiIanni is intercepted, and Elizabeth Forward scores again. 14-0. The air is coming out of the Montour balloon rather quickly. The offensive line appears to have problems, and DiIanni isn't on top of his game. The Montour defense recovers a fumble. Crockette gives them a play, but DJ just missed the ball. Montour gets a touchdown with DiIanni running the ball in. Score is now 14-7. Half time. Dan Iorio (Meat's dad) said that Montour should be beating them handily and isn't. Lou Cerro tries to talk them into not having such long faces. Morgan Singletary said that they all need to put their all in and play their best. Crockett takes DJ aside and tells him that he has to play with confidence. The second half starts with Christian fumbling again. Crockett tells Christian that he has to calm down. Christian is still trying to say that he is afraid that he is going to break his hand. He needs to get past that because he is ruining the teams chances. Montour recovers on another fumble though to only turn it over again. It seems that Nick DiIanni is saying that he jammed his shoulder (at least the trainer is saying that). DiIanni's father thinks he needs to just go back into the game. Elizabeth Forward scores again. 12-7. DiIanni it appears can't throw, so he hands the ball to Christian who runs the ball in for a touchdown. They miss the extra point. It seems that they try to kick the extra point without a kicking tee and that's why they miss the point. Kulik gets a personal foul penalty by hitting a guy that was down. Montour has to make a play with a minute left in the game and a score of 21-13. The game is over and Montour lost. Butkus said that only a few guys are giving a strong effort and they never everybody to give it and they aren't. Meanwhile Pastin seems to be having a problem with DJ and starts yelling in DJ's face that he shouldn't just give up on the team. DJ calls Pastin outside and they go off to talk over their differences and cry and hug. Crockett seems like a nice guy and goes around trying to encourage and comfort the kids, patting shoulders and telling them that they are getting better. Wednesday, October 26, 2005 -- Afternoon I have been talking with friends alot lately about the Penguins. What I have been hearing from some of them is that the Pens didn't so bad in the last regular season (2003-2004). The actual results don't show that. At the end of February, the Pens had won only 13 of the 64 games that they played. (That means we only won 20% of the games we played till that point.) Yes, we were the bottom of the league. Granted in March, the team finally gelled, and went on a winning streak, and added 10 more wins to finish the season 23-47-8-3. (That's 23 wins, 47 losses, 8 ties, and three overtime losses.) Everyone made excuses then that the team was young with alot of younger players and Eddie Olczyk was new to coaching. The thing is that I think that Eddie O is still a neophyte. Instead of being a head coach, he should be an assistant coach. I don't know who might be availble, but someone needs to get involved and stir this team in a winning direction, and from the stats, Eddie O is not that person. what makes all of this even more painful is to hear Eddie O say that there's nothing wrong with his system, and he sees no reason for change. If I were failing at my job, and I told my bosses that I still thought my way was the way to go, I could expect a swift kick in the behind. And I would deserve it! Someone needs to give Eddie O that swift kick. All the players on the team can take some of the blame, but the buck stops with the coach, and he has to acknowledge his hand in their recent woes. Maybe he doesn't want folks to realize that he doesn't know what he is doing, and is hoping that the smoke and mirrors of blaming the players will buy him some time. It is a pitiful performance, befitting the pitiful coach that Olczyk is. Sure, blame the players for not following the system, but blame the coach for not enforcing his policies. If Olczyk is right, and he has a system that no one is following, whose fault is that? All the players, or the coach who does have the respect of the players and the demeanor to enforce the rules? I do like Bob Smizik's comments on the Pens. He does not believe that Eddie O should be fired, but would understand that happening based on the fact that the Pens have nine losses and no wins for the season. The losses are starting to affect the number of folks who are showing up at the games. For the first few games, the attendance was in the 17,000 area. Last night it was in the 14,000s. Mario Lemieux and Mark Recchi may think that Eddie O is not the problem, but then how would they address the reasons that folks are giving for the problem: not working hard enough, too slow in the neutral zone, too concerned with perfect shots, too weak on faceoffs, too left handed, too old? Fix the problems guys, and give us a win! One thing that I think would benefit the Pens is to look at the Baby Pens. The team has won all of their games this season. They are 7-0. Something is going right there, and horribly wrong here. Heck, I may not be Lemieux or Recchi, so what do I know, but I still say look at the coaching! Tuesday, October 25, 2005 -- Late evening Another losing night at a Penguins game. It was quite frustrating to be sitting in the stands and to see the Pens take so many opportunities to miss an opportunity. In the first period, we had several minutes of power play, with a few five on three opportunities, and they were all blown. In the second period, the Pens started racking up a slew of penalties giving Panthers some opportunities. Our power play performance stunk up the arena. While we had the power play, the Panthers were making shots on goal. Come on, we have to find some way to get the puck into their end of the ice when we are on the power play. Everyone in the arena became so excited when the Pens took the lead midway through the third period. But being the Pens, they took another opporunity to screw up. Sergei Gonchar made a stupid holding move and got a penalty and the Panthers scored at 17:30. So the Pens called a time out with 57 seconds left in the game. I think that Eddie O told someone to do something stupid to draw a penalty because within 13 seconds, Mario Lemieux was called for interference. 44 seconds were left in the game. We managed to make it to overtime, and 53 seconds into the overtime, the Panthers scored to win 4-3. The first two periods were painful to watch because the Pens seemed to have the market on lackluster performances. At one point, we scored our first goal in the first period, and wound up giving up the lead to the Panthers 37 seconds later. What I don't understand is when everyone comments on how the players are pulling stupid penalties, how the defense is non-existent, how we can't seem to capitalize when we are on the power play, and how Jocelyn Thibault was letting in soft goals (the Pens had 41 shots on goal while the Panthers had 31). And yet, with all these problems, we are to believe that it is not a coaching problem. I say that it definitely is a coaching problem. When you have stupid penalities, and are just recovering and then six men show up on the ice drawing another penalty, who is to blame? Yes, the team is not syncing. Yes some players are getting enormous amounts of ice time with extremely poor performances. Yes, Crosby is getting minimal power play time when he is one of the more positive players on the ice. So why blame the coach for what appear to me to be coaching problems? I still say we need a coach who knows how to coach, and not someone who should be a color commentator. The one bright star is Sidney Crosby. He makes other players get called for penalties and tries his best to make something happen. Tuesday, October 25, 2005 -- Morning Mario Lemieux is sticking up for Eddie O. According to Lemieux, the problem is that the players just aren't playing well. That explains it all. Every player has a problem, not the single coach. It's Crosby's fault that he's not on the power play, not the coach for not sending him out on the ice. If Lemieux can explain to me how all the players on the ice are deficient, but not the person who oversees them all, I might consider the possibility. Lemieux doesn't do that however. He just says that the system works, the players aren't doing their job. Even if that is the case, the reason all the players aren't doing their job is because they are not being molded properly by the coach. However you look at it, it always comes back to the fish rotting from the head. We are playing the Florida Panthers tonight. Let's hope that we have a win by the end of the evening. Monday, October 24, 2005 -- Evening There was a very interesting discussion about the Penguins on the KDKA Sports Showdown. The Showdown brings together some of the local sports reporters (both print and broadcast), and they discuss various aspects of Pittsburgh sports. As can be imagined, the main topic of conversation was why are the Pens losing and what can be done to get the Pens winning again. My favorite reporter, Dejan Kovacevic, who used to be on the hockey beat full time before the lockout, is of my opinion that the problem lies in a lack of a system. The team gets the system from the coaching staff, and that's where the changes need to be made. As Dejan was saying, other teams in the NHL that had a system and had a coach that provided discipline and structure are the teams that are winning now. The others agreed that the Pens are just out there hoping that anarchy will reign, and it isn't. Ellis Cannon said that he thinks that the problem is in the mind of the players, that they aren't focusing on the job. Again, a coaching problem if you ask me. The other thing that Dejan brought up that I have mentioned also is that Sidney Crosby isn't being given a chance to make a difference on the team. When you have a player like Crosby, who is scoring and making a positive difference when he appears on the ice, you give him ice team, you put him on the power play. Again another coaching issue. It's demoralizing to the offense to spend so much time in their own end defending the goal because the defense is more concerned about making offensive moves. Let's hope that something changes with the team soon because I want to see a number other than a zero in the win column. The sports reporters on the Showdown also brought up the story about Tommy Maddox and the trashing of his lawn. The thing that is disturbing about this story is that Maddox and his agent have spread the rumor that folks threw things on Maddox's lawn, even though Maddox's wife denies it. I think that in this case, Maddox has really tried to generate sympathy for himself, and what I don't understand is that obviously the story was either fabricated or exaggerated, and Maddox is doing nothing to clear up the story. He is just going to let the story put a black eye on the Pittsburgh fan because his fragile little ego was hurt by the booing of his subpar performance. Monday, October 24, 2005 -- Afternoon I am always surprised by opinon polls. For example, CBS did a survey in which they asked people their views on evolution. 51% did not think that evolution was the answer. They believed that God created man in his present form. An additional 30% thought that humans evolved under the guiding hand of God. Only 15% believed in evolution without any supernatural support. I am not a supporter or believer in Intelligent Design. However, you have to wonder why there is so much opposition to Intelligent Design if 81% of those surveyed believe in the concept to some degree. Another question is whether those surveyed are an accurate representation of the views that are held by the majority of Americans. The survey was done with 808 random people, but I wonder how random. It seems that liberals were more likely to believe in evolution (36%) with non-church goers (25%) and those with a college degree (24%). Personally I believe in evolution because I see the scientific proof for it. For example, all of the different breeds came about because of selective breeding and evolution. Some might say that using this example gives credance to the notion of an intelligent designer with man taking that role with dogs. However, I would say that man's involvement just made the process happen more quickly and gave it a particular outcome by preferring some results over others. Sunday, October 23, 2005 -- Evening I'm not alone in asking this question: Why isn't Sidney Crosby getting more ice time? So far, he is fifth on the team with amount of ice, and he has two minutes less than Mario Lemieux. Lemieux is on the ice for 20:14 minutes while Crosby is only on for 18:30. There's something seriously wrong with having someone who is 40, even if he is Lemieux, on the ice more than someone who is 18. There's also a problem when the 18 year old has more points than anyone else on the team. The first thing that you have to think is that there is a problem with the coaching staff because they are ultimately responsible for overall direction in which the team goes. There will always be standouts on a team that do what they do regardless of the coach. However, when a team has the personalities that the Pens do then more is expected from it. If the team doesn't perform, it has to be the coaching staff. I have been ready to overhaul the coaching staff for a week now, but others are not as hasty. Even so, most people are expecting something to happen if the Pens don't start winning consistently, and based on Eddie O's performance in the full year that he coached, it's obvious that coaching ain't his forte. Sunday, October 23, 2005 -- Afternoon Another Steelers game this afternoon. Today we are playing the Cincinnati Bengals. First half of the game: The Bengals seem to be controlling the ball alot. Chad Johnson almost made a touchdown for the Bengals, but he was out of bounds. Then the Bengals weren't able to convert on a touchdown afterwards, and missed a field goal attempt. We had the ball for a short period of time before it went back to the Bengals. The Bengals are making another scoring drive attempt, but it seems that they have had the ball for the majority of time so far in the first period. At the beginning of the season (on Sept. 5), my prediction was that Cincinnati would be leading the division, and so far they are. The Bengals had the ball for 10:50 with 23 plays, and the Steelers for 1:33 with three plays in the first period. The Bengals are having trouble making touchdowns when they are in their red zone. They did just score a field goal, and the Steelers now have the ball. For some reason, I'm not seeing Jerome Bettis playing. Ben Roethlisberger was just sacked, but fortunately the defense was offside, so we got the first down. The Bengals really seem to have the answer to our offense, but at least our defense has been keeping the Bengals out of the end zone even though they haven't been cutting down the amount of time the Bengals have the ball. Finally, they brought Bettis into the game, and he's been running the ball down the field, and has the team just yards from the end zone. That's what Bettis is good for. Roethlisberger was able to toss the ball in to Heath Miller. Everyone thought it was going to be Bettis running the ball in. The Steelers are now ahead 7-3. The Bengals have had to punt for the first time in the game at 10:06 in the second quarter. For some reason, Bill Cowher seems to want to give the ball to Willie Parker instead of Bettis. The thing is that Parker had two good games, but lately he hasn't been going anywhere. Give the ball to Bettis, and he can plow through folks and it takes a few people to bring him down. Roethlisberger just got sacked and that removed all the gain that Bettis just made on third down. Another comment that the announcers are making is that Roethlisberger is the only quarterback who hasn't been intercepted yet, and he was almost picked of a couple of times. The defense of both teams are doing a great job, and we have to punt off again. Two minutes left in the game, and the Bengals are trying to score. The Bengals can't make a touchdown, but they do get a field goal. The score with 28 seconds left in the half is 7-6 with the Steelers ahead one point. The half ends as Roethlisberger takes the knee. Score is 7-6. Second half of the game: What excitment! Roethlisberger's first play wound up in an interception. Then it looked like the Bengals fumbled and the Steelers recovered, but it doesn't appear that the officials are calling it that wa. So the Bengals have the ball at the 49 yard line. We got it right back though. chris Hope intercepted the ball back, and ran the ball down to the 15 yard line. The Steelers weren't able to get a touchdown, and we had to settle for a field goal. The score is now 10-6. The Steelers got another fumble recovery and we have the ball again. Parker managed to break out, and ran the ball in for a touchdown. The score is now 17-6. Roethlisberger managed to evade a tackle, and threw the ball down the field. Hines Ward leaped up to catch it, and came down and dropped it and hurt his hip. It was quite a play, and it's so sad that Ward dropped the ball as he was coming down, but it's probably because he hit the ground so hard. There was a penalty on the play for the defense being too rough on Ward. It seems that the injury was just minor because he came back into the game to make a play that brings the team at the 4 yard line. Ward even managed to make a touchdown catch, and did an Irish jig to celebrate. I think that means that the injury to the hip just a few minutes earlier was nothing. The score is now 24-6. Fourth quarter is now starting. For a comparison of position, in the first half, the Steelers only had the ball 13:31 minutes while the Bengals had it for 16:29 minutes. So far in the second quarter, the Steelers have had the ball 14:36 while the Bengals had it for 6:25. The Bengals aren't putting up much of a fight, and the Steelers with 5 minutes left in the game got another field goal. The score is 27-6. Right now, we have the ball, and we're just running down the clock. With 2 minutes on the clock, Carson Palmer ran the ball in for a touchdown. The score is now 27-13. Sunday, October 23, 2005 -- Morning I didn't get a chance to watch Endurance: Tehachapi yesterday, but watched this morning. The episode was titled Raft Pull. This episode has the first Temple mission. Issac is talking with others about the Temple mission, it seems that Blue, Grey and Green are possible targets. Julie from the Grey team has accepted that they are target, and that they are going to have to work that much harder since they have the Samati. It seems that Blue won't send Grey to Temple, but everyone else will. John thinks they are a strong team, and will do what they have to do so Grey wins. It's time for the mission. Each team starts on the color triangle. They have to start at a triangle with their team color right in front of their raft. They have 30 seconds to put sandbags in front of whichever team raft they want. Each team will then have to load the sandbags they have been given. They will have to pull themselves with a rope across the lake, grab a team colored flag, and come back across the lake. The first team back wins the mission. Everyone starts running around and seems to be targeting Grey and Blue. Grey and Blue are the two teams with the most sandbags. It seems that having their alliance exposed so early may have cost them. The teams now get to load their rafts. Orange, Purple, and Yellow are off, then Green and Red. The only teams still loading rafts is Blue and Grey. And they still have to pull themselves across the lake. Purple is in the lead. Purple and Yellow are both heading back. It looks like a dash been Purple and Red, and Purple just got their flag in ahead of Red. Purple gets to picks who goes to the Temple of Fate. Everyone is congratulating Purple. As Daniela said, everyone underestimated Purple and gave them two bags. It seems that everyone started to target Blue and Grey early. Shane from Blue tried to pile up the Yellow team, and when Chris saw that, he yelled out "Get Blue". So that explains why Blue had the most bags. Blue was just starting out and everyone else was headed back. John is sure that he is going to go. As Dnaiela says, you don't know who will go. She is playing the power game and wants everyone to come and beg for the opportunity to stay in the game. JD mentions that it was less than a week that Daniela was unhappy with her partner, but now she is happy with her partner. Purple has chosen strong teams to go to the Temple. They have decided on Grey and Blue. Each team that gets sent away gets to choose who gets their pyramid pieces with a good-bye note. The Blue and Grey teams hug everyone. Julie is upset about going to the Temple. As she said, it is only less than a week, but you get attached to people when you have nothing else. Amelia said that she didn't think it would happen. People tell you they are their friends, but they aren't. Shea said that he wished that they had more than just Grey in the alliance because only having the two of them really set them up as targets. John said that he will take away the wilderness from the experience. Both teams seem to be taking it well. Blue and Grey are making the trek to the Temple of Fate. They are met there by JD, and the view from the Temple is beautiful. The game is the same: the three cauldrons of fire, wood and water. The team that picks the dominant element and has two wins will go back. For the frist game, Blue picks water and Grey picks fire. Blue wins. In the second game, Blue picks fire and Grey picks water. The games are tied. Whoever wins the next round will go back. Blue picks wood and Grey picks Water. Grey team is eliminated. John and Julie are really upset and sad, and both teams hug each other good-bye. Blue heads back to the camp. There is supposed to be a surprise that no one expects. Saturday, October 22, 2005 -- Evening Another Penguins game this evening, and another loss. I went out to watch the game so I could see it on a larger screen than at home, and I was sorely disappointed by the performance of the Pens. Sidney Crosby managed to get two points, but the final score was a win for the Boston Bruins with a final score of 6-3. The Pens had a lackluster performance, and can't seem to understand that you have to shoot the puck at the net to get a goal. By the end of the second period we had 11 shots on goal compared to 38 from the Bruins. The final was 47 shots on goal for the Bruins and 21 for the Pens. That is really unacceptable. Another problem was the number of penalities, 14 by the Pens, 11 of which were handed out by the middle of the second period. I really hate to sound like a broken record, but the only solution I see is to fire Eddie O. The guy has no system of any kind. What we need to do is to beg Kevin Constantine to come back to be our coach. All the people that I talk to have been willing to give Eddie O time to really get us into the basement, but the last season that he coached was equally bad. I think that he's had his chance. Eddie O's incompetance as a coach is glaringly obvious, and I hope that the Penguins management wakes up to see it before the season is lost. Also as a season ticket holder, I'm going to have to start asking for a reduction on my ticket cost for the team sucking so much. The Pens need to stop this notion of "let's hire a former Pens player to be a coach". There was a bright spot of sorts for Pittsburgh sports fans today. The Pitt Panthers managed to beat the worst team in the Big East. That team happens to be Syracuse. The final score was 34-17. At first it seemed that Tyler Palko was trying to give the game to the Orangemen with an interception and a fumble, but he came around to run in two touchdowns and to throw one too. I treated myself last night. I bought the Complete Calvin and Hobbes. I loved the comic strip and have missed it since Bill Watterson retired the strip. Reading Calvin and Hobbes just brings such joy to my heart, and even in the most depressing of times, it can lift my spirits. The set is a three volume boxed set with all of the strips that were published. The collection is quite heavy, so if you get it, just plop it and yourself down and read. Friday, October 21, 2005 -- Late evening The Montour Spartans lost again tonight, and finish the season just as they did last year with a 1-8 record. It seems that Dick Butkus did return for tonight's game. It seems that what happened is that ESPN did not have the money for more than eight weeks, and just hoped that the show would be popular and generate some money. However, that was not to be. The kids never really bonded with Butkus, basically because Butkus did nothing to endear himself to the team. Ray Crockett, however, was liked by the team. Crockett actually interacted with the players and tried to give them information that would help them be better players. What is not getting alot of press, but is being talked about on some of the local sports shows is the fact that the Tommy Maddox may not have experienced the harrassment that has been making the rounds of the national media. It appears that it may have been a fabrication. The question is who was the originator of the fabrication? Right now, Maddox and his wife are denying the stories, and the agent commented yesterday that he was unaware of such stories. It does make you wonder if the stories were fabricated to generate sympathy for Maddox since he has been getting so much flack for his performance last Sunday. I suspect that it comes from the Maddox camp, and that now the individual regrets it. Friday, October 21, 2005 -- Morning Tommy Maddox has been telling others that he is getting harrassed by fans over his loss in last Sunday's game. Supposedly, people are throwing things on his lawn and harrassing his kids as they go to school. However, last night on the sports call in show, the sports announcers were saying that Maddox's wife and agent did not know about the issues when questioned by reporters. Actually when questioned, Maddox's agent said that he was caught offguard. So I'm not sure what the real story is here, and if Maddox is just trying to drum up sympathy. If the stories are true, it's very sad that fans would go to such low levels as to harass someone's family. It's perfectly fine to boo Maddox at the stadium, but another to terrorize his family. Of course, if the stories aren't true, shame on Maddox! Prince William is going to join Prince Harry at Sandhurst. William passed the exams for officer training and will start attending Sandhurst in June. Every male in the royal family goes into the military for abit because it's the thing that they do. It's not like there are other options open to them (such as business), and this also gives them the opportunity to say that they served their country. Thursday, October 20, 2005 -- Evening I was in class this evening until 8:30 and missed the first period of the Penguins game. The New Jersey Devils scored two goals in the first period. Just as I turned on the television, two quick goals were made by the Pens, one of them by Mario Lemieux. The Devils came right back with two quick goals to make the score Devils 4, Pens 2. All of the spunk seems to be out of the Pens right now, and I would imagine that a win ain't going to happen tonight. The announcer is commenting on how the Pens matched the mood of the crowd in the first period which was flat, then the crowd and the Pens perked up abit and two goals were scored, then it went right back to flat. It really does seem as if the Pens are just accepting their loss to tell you the truth. The period is over, and we are on to the third period. Two minutes into the third period, and the Devils have scored twice. The score now is 6-2. it's 2:08 into the period, and Eddie O pulled Jocelyn Thibault and put in Sebastien Caron. For the first time in the game, Eddie O has put Lemieux and Crosby on the same line. The team and crowd really seem lackluster now. The Pens had some activity going on, and Crosby got hit with a stick that brought some blood to his lip. Crosby did a great job of falling to the ground and flinging his glove feet into the air. At 8:43 Ric Jackman scored a goal with an assist by Lemieux and Mark Recchi. Martin Brodeur was collided into by John LeClair. I don't believe that it was intentional. LeClair just sort of backed into Brodeur. Of course, being an expert in the field, LeClair should probably be aware of his location at all times. Brodeur's helmet was knocked off, and LeClair was quickly shoved to the ground by another New Jersey player. Game is over, and the Pens have lost. Now onto Survivor: Guatemala/The Maya Empire. Brandon is shocked over how Blake got voted out. He thinks that you won't know how something like that might happen. Brandon asks Bobby Jon if he has any regrets about voting off Blake. Bobby Jon said some, but it was that stage of the game where he had to do something. Bobby Jon explained that he liked Blake but that he rubbed people the wrong way. Brian says that Nakum is going to be shocked to see how got voted out. Day 15. Jaime is talking to Judd about being sick of the noises of the jungle. It is very noisy. Also, they are all being eatten up by mosquitos. Rafe says that everyone is trying to get along, and Margaret is being a negative energy in the camp. It seems that the other six get along, but not Margaret. Judd said that Margaret hates that she is stuck with him. Margaret said that she is not at the same end of the food chain and she doesn't like it. Judd said that Margaret going around like a sore thumb is making everyone miserable. Nakum and Yaxhu meet. Nakum is shocked that Blake is gone. The competition each tribe puts two people on the opposite sides of a large ball. First two women, then two men, then one of each. The first to score three goals wins. The prize--a grill, hamburgers, buns and beer. So one team will eat well. We now learn that both teams will go to tribal council and vote someone out. The team that wins the competition will immediately go into another competition and in that team, there will be a competition for individual immunity. That person will not be voted out and will get the opportunity to go to the other team's tribal council to gather information. Lydia sits out for Nakum. Cindy and Stephanie are going against Danni and Amy. Cindy and Steph have an advantage because they got to the ball first. Amy and Danni gave a push, and Yaxhu got the first goal. Judd and Jaime against Bobby Jon and Brandon. Bobby Jon gave a big push. Brandon got knocked over a few times. Nakum scored. Bobby Jon got all psycho and got into Jaime's face saying "that's not nice". Then it's Judd and Steph against Gary and Amy. Amy fell and got hurt and Gary and Amy were not able to hold back the ball. Amy hurt her sprained ankle again. Amy and Danni go against Margaret and Cindy. Amy even with the sore ankle gave a good push and Yaxhu got it. Bobby Jon and Brian are now against Jaime and Judd. Judd went down and Bobby Jon and Brian got ahead. Nakum won the barbeque feast and a shot at individual immunity. Now individual immunity. All seven race out to collect three bags of letter tiles. They have to take each bag back to the station after untying and then race back to the others. They will then take the 11 letters out and spell a two word phrase to get the immunity. Steph had all her tiles out first. Judd can't even his tiles out, but he figured out the phrase and told Rafe what it was. The phrase was "ancient ruin". Rafe spelled it out, and won individual immunity. He owes it to Judd. I think that the team wants to vote out Margaret so the big goal was for her not to win the immunity. Rafe was happy because they got the grill and he got individual immunity. Jamie said that Bobby Jon hit a flip switch. Everyone in Nakum thinks that Bobby Jon is psycho. Jaime says that southern people like him and Bobby Jon are crazy. Over in Yaxhu, Amy is limping abit, but she is a strong person. Danni says that everyone did give everything and that Nakum was just bigger. Brandon loved it when Bobby JOn got into Jaime's face. Bobby Jon claims to have put Jaime in his place. Amy feels that she let them down by falling so they didn't win. Amy is trying to play down how her ankle is swollen. Brian is trying to get the original Yaxhu together, and trying to get Bobby Jon off. Gary says that he doesn't understand getting rid of Bobby Jon who's a stronger player. Brian is hoping that everyone doesn't vote for him. Barbeque at Nakum. Everyone is loving the hamburgers. Judd says that it sucks to go to tribal council. As Rafe says, it takes something out of the victory. Judd is talking with the others and says that Margaret will go out tonight. Judd doesn't have a worry in the world because as he said, he is one of the big guns on the team. Margaret thinks that Judd is the most offensive of the team. Margaret says that Judd is Judd's biggest enemy. Cindy and Margaret are complaining because there were supposed to be two beers and one root beer for everyone. Judd said that the person took the extra beer should go home. Judd gets rude and tells everyone to kiss his ass because they have the food because of him. Cindy says that can come back to Judd because folks won't tolerate his behavior. But for now, I think they will keep him because they need to win the challenges and he is the strongest. Nakum is at tribal council. Stephanie said that the feast was great, and she traded Judd a hot dog for a beer. Judd says that he loves his beer. Jaime said that he just got into it with Bobby Jon. Margaret said that Judd and Jaime are too vocal and need to tone it down. Judd says he gives his all, and that he just gives it his all. Judd said that it boosts moral. Judd got every angry and irrate and said that Margaret probably never played sports before. Margaret then says that when Judd gets vocal, he talks all over everyone. Judd said that he wouldn't consider himself a bad sportsman, and he loves everyone other than Margaret. Cindy says that it concerns her because the dislike between Margaret and Judd puts negativity in the air. Judd is really irrate and is not shutting up and talking all over everyone. Rafe says that he is not itimidated by Judd and that Judd has been nice to him. Judd confirms with everyone that he listens to them, but he doesn't not listen to Margaret because he hates her. Margaret appears to have told Judd at the beginning that he had ADD. Stephanie says that Judd embraced his new tribe, and she thinks that it's good. Cindy says that getting rid of the "bad apple" now will be good, and they need to identify the bad apple. Judd votes for Margaret saying that getting out of the jungle now is not soon enough. Vote tally: Margaret, Judd, Margaret, Margaret, Margaret. She is voted out. Judd is the guy who is going to win competitions. Rafe gets to stay to sit in on the Yaxhu council. Everyone voted against Margaret. Yaxhu comes in now. Bobby Jon said that he got in the heat of the moment, and alot of testerone built up. Gary said that he thinks Nakum is good sports and that Jaime just gets carried away. Brian says that he has always been athletic. Bobby Jon said that Brian is a good old boy and always thinking of the game. Danni said that they think Brian is strong, classy and a nice guy. Amy says that her ankle was tweaked alittle bit. Brandon said that he was impressed with how Amy came right back to win. Amy went above and beyond and Brandon was impressed with her. Bobby Jon said that there isn't an obvious weak link and that everyone is competing and giving 110%, but that someone has to go. Rafe also appears to have won the right to give one of the people immunity. He gets to vote, then take his torch and leave. Rafe leaves. Rafe's choice for immunity remains a secret until after the vote. Brian is in deep thought. Vote tally: Bobby Jon, Brian, Brian, Brian, Brian. Everyone voted against Brian. Only shot now is Rafe's immunity. Rafe gave immunity to Gary. Brian is now voted out. You have to feel sorry that Brian is out. Jeff Probst said that they did a good job of boosting Brian to only turn around and cut his throat. Wednesday, October 19, 2005 -- Evening There's plenty of news in Steelers country. First is that Jerome Bettis was not happy with the way that the game progressed on Sunday. As he was saying on a local news show today, the role that Bettis is supposed to play is to come into the game during the clutch times and to get the ball either into the endzone or into field goal range. That's what he is being paid to do. So he was very disappointed when he was called on in the second half or the overtime. Of course, Bill Cowher is taking responsibility for all the mistakes of the game. One does wonder what he was thinking though as the game was playing out. Yes, anyone can make mistakes, but this whole game was a series of endless mistakes. Hopefully this weekend's game will be better, but there are already several players who might not play in it like Cedrick Wilson, Antwaan Randle El, and Joey Porter. On the Pens front, Jocelyn Thibault will be back in goal tomorrow. The Pens will be playing the New Jersey Devils again. This could be a tough game. The Pens did have a lengthy session studying video tape of past games. I think that the team needs to actually practice its defensive moves more than it has been because that is the area that they are not very strong. Tomorrow should be an interesting night, and will hopefully be our first win. Scientists have found that Mars used to be alot more like Earth than originally thought. It seems that they have found that the plates of the planet were once moving. That's what has happened with the Earth and is the explanation of the movement of the continents and earthquakes. The evidence is found in the striping that is found in the magnetic field of the planet. That means that the direction of the magnetic field changed at some point in the past, and this is usually a sign of shifting plates. Tuesday, October 18, 2005 -- Evening Another episode of Amazing Race 8 was on tonight. This one was titled Think like an Office Chair. This episode was filmed in Mississippi and Louisana before Katrina and is dedicated to those who have been affected by the Hurricane. We start at the US Space and Rocket Center. The Bransens leave first at 1:15 pm. They have to find the world's largest office chair in Anniston, Alabama. The chair was created 25 years ago. The Godlewskis are starting out at 1:44 pm. Sharon and Christine of the four sisters are arguing with each other. The Weavers start out with a prayer. The mother says that you have to dig inside of yourself to compete. The Schroeders don't like the Weavers. The Paolos start out with an argument. The mother lost the instructions and the older son and she start to argue. Carissa said that she gets underestimated, but that she is fun. The Bransens find the chair first and climb it. They now have to go to Talledega Speedway. The Weavers hold their breath as they go by and try to ignore the site. They don't know they will have to go back. The Bransens get to Talledega first and now have to go to the track and complete one round on the track. They have to choose a party bike which takes multiple people and have to complete the race. A race official then gives them the next clue. The Gaghans use a back route and are now in 5th place. The Weavers are upset over having to go to Talledega. The Paolo mother is acting up and complaing per usual. The Bransens get the next clue. They have to go 260 miles to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to find the southern colonel and get their next clue. The Weaver kids get to Talledega and when they find out that they have to go on the racecourse, they say that they can't. The Weaver mother tells the kids that their dad loved racing. The Schroeder father has the family stop to adjust the seats. The Weavers start on the track. The Gaghan family is in sixth place. The Weaver mother said that she thought it was good for the family to have put this all behind them. The girls feel that they have gotten stronger. Carissa couldn't even pedal, and at the end when her mom said that her legs were sore, Carissa said her legs weren't sore. The Bransens and the Linz families catch up with each other. The Bransen girl mooned on the Linz's and one of the Linz guys flashed his boobs. The Paolos just finish as a massive story rolls in. The Bransens find the clue box at the same time as the Linz. The families will be staying in the trailer park. There are computers in all the trailer parks and they have departure times. Once you take the time, you can't change it. There are three times to choose from. The Schroeder family didn't want to follow someone's directions on going to a trailer home. The Linz and Bransens held each other and get the 7:02 am time. The Godlewskis and the Weavers are in competition. The Godlewskis take 7:40 and the Weavers take 8 am. The father inthe Schroeder family is driving his daughter crazy. The daughter for the Schroeders doesn't want the 8 am time because the Weavers are on it. Carissa thinks the trailers are evil. The Schroeder daughter is crying over being with the Weavers. The family tries to confort the girl, but it doesn't help. The Paolos get a 7:40 time. The teams much now travel to Richland, Mississippi and go to a BP and find a guy named Les. The Linz boys like the Bransen girls. They say the girls have nice bodies. They now have to go to Louisana, the Pelican state, and travel to Madisonville. They have to go to Fairview Riverside State Park, and find the fishing dock. The Bransens and Linzes are on their way. The Godlewskis go past the BP, and now have to drive back and get the clue. Carissa starts singing about the father losing his lucky pen. The Schroeder family said that the family is getting ugly with their hate of the Weavers. The Godlewskis are fighting now. The families have a detour. Work is there two people saw four pieces off a log. They then get their next clue. Play is to play 21 and after winning three rounds, they get their next clue. The Bransens and Linzes take play. The Schroeder family make an error and the park they are looking for is 1/2 hour from their house and five minutes from where the father works. The Paolos take the work option. I would take the work because the play could be difficult. The Gaghans take the play. The Linzes go for work after wasting time at Play. The Paolos completed the task. The teams must take the longest bridge to New Orleans, go to Esplanade Ave., run through the French Quarter to Preservation Hall. This is the pit stop and the last family to check in will be eliminated. The Paolos are in first place. The Bransens just finished play and are in second place. The Weavers won two out of two while the Gaghans are still winless. Will they stick with Play or move onto Work? The Gaghans change to work. Christine starts crying because she wants to take her backpack. The other sisters say that she did it to herself. The Weavers quickly win. The Gaghans are having problems with the cutting part. The Schroeders are in last place. They decide to do the play. The Gaghans complete the task and are in 6th place. The Schroeders finish also, and are headed to New Orleans which is their home. The Paolos get to New Orleans first and park. The families are running around and the Paolo family is lost and the older son is yelling at his mom. The Bransens get to Preservation Hall first. They won a trip for four to Orlando, and will get to go to University Studios and Islands of Adventure. The Paolos are in second place. The father said that they ran the perfect race today. The Linz family is team number three. The Godlewski family makes it to number four. The Gaghan family is parked and the Schroeders park too. Who will be last? The Weavers are team number five. The Gaghan family was number six which leaves the Schroeders for last. They are eliminatred. The mother starts to cry. The whole family got lost because the father didn't know where the park was, and he used to work near the park. The daughter wishes that the father would have listened to her, and the father blames himself because his family didn't make it, but he thinks that they can deal with hardships when they can arise. As a side note, the Schroeders lost everything to Hurricane Katrina. They gained one thing though, friends. The Rogers family, in Shrevesport, LA, took the Rogers in. Bound for Glory was on next. The show started with Ellis Cannon again. Montour will be facing their biggest rivals and close neighbors, Moon Township. Ray Crockett and Dick Butkus meet at the restaurant again. Crockett says that they have to start from scratch and concentrate one week at a time. Crockett said that the team can't afford to get down. Butkus said that he has to look at it as glasses half full. Crockett actually seems to be much better at this whole coaching thing than Butkus does. As Crockett said, when you lose, everything is bad. Even the coffee is cold. Meat Iorio said that he used to be a bad boy, but he is being better now. His dad said that whatever he tells Meat goes in one ear and out the other. Meat says that the team is more intense because they have to prove that they are a good team. Butkus said that he didn't like what he saw on defense and is going to chance things around. Butkus claims that he told Meat that he is now going to be nose guard or not play. It seems that nose guard doesn't do alot of thinking. Lou Cerro was involved in these discussions. Butkus tells the kids to look at the glass as half full. Butkus says he wants a 5-3 defense. The kids start practicing. The defensive coordinator went from 5-3 back to the zone defense. Butkus damns the defensive coordinator. The defensive coordinator wanted to go to his old style. Then Butkus starts fighting with one of the coaches and swearing. Another assistant comes up and says you can't do this in front of the kids, and the one assistant says that he's been coaching for high school football from some years. Butkus has never coached. Morgan Singletary walks away from the practice because as he said, this is how it was last year. Meanwhile the other kids watch the mostly bleeped out argument. Three days before the game. DJ was talking about how Morgan throwing his helmet down and walking away did not show alot of character for the captain of the team. Morgan knew that it was a bad decision, but he was so frustrated at the time that he didn't care. Lou Cerro addressed the issue. Butkus said that he apologized to Joe the assistant coach, and Joe said that they just butted heads. Butkus said they are family, and need to move on. Morgan also apologizes for leaving practice and says that he was upset. Crockett said that he's not upset about what happened because this is what happens when people really care. Crockett tells them to channel their aggression in the right direction to win. Crockett has everyone give a group hug and show the love. It's then back to practice. Christian Wilson says that Moon is the biggest rivalry. Nick DiIanni said that Montour used to be the powerhouse, but not anymore. The players really hate Moon. The thing that they don't let you know is that Moon and Montour are in close proximity. We then go to Moon's field. They have wno their first three games and haven't had a losing season in a decade. They don't believe in second best. The players are at Quaker State and Lube in Robinson. Moon and Peters Township are there. Some guy from Peters Township comes up to trash talk. Peters goes outside and want to fight. Then one of the Moon guys comes up and wants to fight too. The tensions seem to be rising. The Montour guys are scared because the Moon and Peters Township guys are out there asking for a fight. Moon left and there was no fight. The day before the game, Butkus is talking about getting penetration for the line. Meat is being told that he is being a nose guard. Meat is saying that they are not sure about Moon because they haven't won against Moon for awhile. Butkus thinks that they has a good week of practice and that they can go out there and play. Butkus thinks that it's looking good for Montour against Moon. The mothers going to KFC and have a nice picnic for the kids at Clever Park. One mom says that she knows that the team can win, and that both teams are new. Butkus shows up at the "Alumni Bar" aka the Fireman's Club. The guys comment on Butkus' professional career. Meat's dad says that he thinks nose guard is perfect for his son. Butkus listens to the fathers talk. The Montour team finds a Moon flag, spray paint a message on it, and take it to Moon. The kids go to Moon School, and find a spot right in front of the entrance for the flag. It's now game day. The kids at Moon say that the Montour kids think they are something, but Tiger pride will win in the end. It seems that Moon has never lost a conference game on their field since it was dedicated. Butkus said to go crazy and nuts and to just hit the other team whenever they can. It's time for the game. Morgan gives the team a pep talk to show Moon that they mean business and want to walk off with their heads held high. Montour recovers the onside kick. DiIanni throws a couple of incompletions. Then he runs with the ball and is just short of the down. Montour scores with a field goal on the opening drive. Score is 3-0. The Moon guy returns the ball for 43 yards after bouncing off alot of Montour's defenders. The team starts to argue on the field and Morgan tells them to stop arguing. Moon scores a touchdown and the extra point is good. Moon is ahead now 7-3. Butkus said that the guys are there and just not making the plays. Moon recovers a fumble. Moon makes another touchdown. They score the extra point, and it is Moon 14, Montour 3. The referees call the game for abit because of lightening. Crockett said that the lightening destroyed Moon's momentum. The game was postponed till the next day. Butkus said that he thought that this was happening for a reason and that they could make some adjustments leaving that night. Back at the Montour school, we find out that Moon spray painted all over the Montour school. Some of the families are in Rockerfeller Grille. Meat's dad is willing to pay for paint for the team. Christian's dad tells the teammembers to have pride. DiIanni's father tells his son to play smart and hard. He tells his son that he has to play like he wants to win and that it is the most important thing in the world. The father tells his son that he should play the game not because his dad likes the game, but because Nick wants to win. His dad tells him that he has the opportunity to make this a game. His dad says that he needs to move beyond being a mediocre quarterback. His father says that he is tired of losing, it's not fun. He tells his son that he doesn't realize what he has, to seize the moment because it's staring him in the face. Crockett said that the defensive ends weren't playing, so there were changes and Maradin and Moohah are pulled out and new people are put in. Crockett thinks without the delay the change would not have happened. It's now time for the conclusion of the game. Montour seems to be getting better at stopping the offensive rush. The half is over with the score still at 14-3. Butkus said that he thought that the team acted like they could win. Morgan said that they came out to show them they were ready to play. Morgan was talking with his arms flexed and kissed his biceps at one point. Weird. The game is back on. Moon fumbles and Montour recovers. DiIanni throws a touchdown pass to DJ. It's now 14-10. Moon is starting to look distraught. Montour was totally different from Friday night to Saturday night. Back to the top of the third quarter. Montour is still giving Moon a hard time and stopping the forward movement. Christian Wilson is doing a good job running the ball. Iorio breaks a couple of tackles and runs in the ball for a touchdown. Montour is now ahead 17-14. The Moon fans are quiet The bad thing happens: Moon makes a punt return for a touchdown. Moon is now ahead 21-17. Morgan Singletary tries to talk the team into getting the momentum back. Christian is stopped at the five yard line, then loses five yards on a run, and then DiIanni throws an incompletion, and then is sacked. Welch goes for a 37 yard field goal and is just short. You can see the team deflate. There is 5:40 left in the game. DiIanni's father watches without happiness. 3:06 in the game, and Moon has the ball. Less than a minute and Moon still has the ball. Christian's dad is also unhappy and angry. Moon wins: 21-17. Larry DiIanni said that the team did make progress, but they just didn't come out on top. Butkus said that the team is starting to believe in themselves. Morgan says that they are showing improvement, and that they want to win and are going to win. Tuesday, October 18, 2005 -- Morning Ben Roethlisberger will be starting this coming Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. What's funny is that the Bengals refer to this week as Steeler week. The team used to suck before this year, and the big game in town was always when the Steelers came to town. That has to have a psychological effect on the team, and we are hoping that the Steelers will win. Cincinnati has been good this year, so it will be a difficult matchup. Two local folks are fighting hard to get a slots license for the Pittsburgh Penguins. They have a website called Slots for Mario and are going to attend the Pittsburgh Gaming Task Force meeting tomorrow night to put in a word for the Pens. Let's wish them luck! Meanwhile, the Pens are trying to work on their problems with the defensive line. The team has been doing some practicing on 5 on 5 situations in the hopes that they can improve and win a game sometime soon. What I don't understand is how can someone claim that Intelligent Design has nothing to do with religion? Michael Behe, who is a biochemist, says that "Creationism is a religious idea; intelligent design is not. "It is a science." So what is the scientific method that is used to prove it. How can we show that evolution isn't possible, but this supreme being is? And who is the intelligence in the design? It's obviously some God who has control over the entire planet. Of course, it has nothing to do with religion. I think that the Intelligent Design people say it often enough, they think that people will believe them. Behe claims that just because something is designed there isn't any additional knowledge about the designer. I would disagree with that, and say that there is the additional knowledge of the existance of some sort of supernatural being that is capable of creating life from nothing. I have an easier time accepting evolution and that life will arise from certain matter and favorable conditions than in accepting a supernatural being. Monday, October 17, 2005 -- Afternoon Tonight is the start of Sukkot. This holiday is also called the "Feast of Booths". You should already have your hut built where you will eat your meals over the next eight days. There are very strict guidelines on how the sukkah should be built, with the most important part of the sukkah being the roof. The roof must not be complete because you should have a portion open to let the sky show through. The walls can be decorated with a variety of objects, usually vegetables in celebration of the harvest or New Year's pictures. You also need to have the four species for the holiday. They are the etrog (or citron), a palm branch, myrtle and willow. The green etrog without blemishes is preferred over the yellow because the yellow one is already ripe and the green one is unripe and will last longer. All meals should be eatten in the sukkah especially something sweet because this is a joyous time of year and meant to be a happy one. Monday, October 17, 2005 -- Morning It seems that Tommy Maddox doesn't understand why he was being booed by Steelers fans yesterday. As was evident from Maddox's post game interview yesterday, he is totally clueless about what happened. Maddox blames the wind for all his problems. It must have been the wind that held him up and prevented him from falling on the ball that he fumbled in overtime. Or maybe he just didn't want to get grass stains on his uniform. Maddox also claimed that he had a great view of the field and all that was going on. So that must mean that he was purposefully throwing consistently into double and triple coverage. Yeah right! As Maddox said, for all that he has done for this city, he just didn't deserve to be booed. So what has he done for the city? His quarterback rating since the 2002 season has been consistenly below 100. In 2002 it was 85.2, 2003 75.3, 2004 58.3, and 2005 30.1. Check out Maddox's complete stats. I think that he should be glad that he was saved from being an insurance salesman, and should seriously consider returning to it. After all, the consensus is that Maddow handed the Jaguars the game yesterday with a bow wrapped around it. On to the Pittsburgh Penguins. They have much more serious problems than the Steelers do. I'm not the only one who is noticing that our defense sucks. The offense can only get us so far if the defense still lets preventable goals into the net. I don't know how we can remedy the situation with the lineup that we currently have, and the sorry thing is that I don't think our coaching staff has a clue either. We do know that Eddie O doesn't have any plan to pair up Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby on the same line. Of course not. If you have the opportunity to put two people together who might actually be able to put more pucks in the net, why pair them together? At least that is the world according to Eddie O. I think that Crosby needs someone who can play with him, and not do as Mark Recchi did the other night. Crosby passes Recchi the puck to make a shot on net, and instead of doing that, Recchi passes it back. Meanwhile Crosby was waiting to get the rebound and wasn't in position to just get a meandering back pass. Eddie O is like Maddox thought. As Eddie O says, he sees alot of good in the team when he looks at the tapes. Maybe Eddie O should get some new glasses and take a closer look. When you have a player like Crosby who already has nine points for the season and is in second place in the points race, and you only have him on the ice for 23 seconds during a power play, you have a problem. I think that it is a coaching problem because who else is responsible for the lines that are sent out? Afleet Alex is not going to race in the Breeders Cup this year. He is still recovering from his leg injury. Afleet Alex fractured his left front cannon bone on July 21. The cannon is the part between the knee and the hoof. He had surgery the week after the injury and a pin was put in the leg. He just isn't up to snuff yet, and the owners don't want to risk further injury to such a valuable commodity. Sunday, Octover 16, 2005 -- Afternoon First half of the game: The Steelers are playing the Jacksonville Jaguars this afternoon. Tommy Maddox is starting for the Steelers. Maddox sucks. In the first four plays, Maddox threw an interception. Maddox is not very good at seeing what is going on. The play before the interception, Maddox was almost sacked as he just stood there waiting for the guys to come at him. Maddox couldn't scamper if someone gave him an electrical jolt and set his shoes on fire. This was the first interception of the season for the Steelers. with 2:30 left in the first quarter, the Jaguars decided to go for the fourth down, and wound up turning over the ball to the Steelers because they couldn't make the yardage. Jaguars were on the 23 yard line, and could have easily made a field goal. Of course, they may have been worried about the wind, but I would have gone for it. Maddox just threw another interception! Put in Charlie Batch. Maddox just doesn't have it. What sucks is that on the very next play, the Jaguars run the ball in for a touchdown. Score is now 7-0. Only 20 seconds are left in the first quarter, but Maddox can't seem to connect with any receiver. Fortunately there was passer interference, but Maddox didn't even throw the ball anywhere near the intended receiver, Antwaan Randle El. We are now starting the second quarter. Go Heath Miller. Maddox managed to finally throw the ball properly. Miller caught it and barreled through some defensive guys to make a touchdown. The score is now tied seconds into the second quarter. Randle El is the man! He just caught the punt around the 20 yard line, and ran it in for a touchdown! With one minute and 10 seconds in the second quarter, we have scored 14 points! Maddox is really having problems throwing the ball. He still is having alot of trouble connecting with his receivers. The only thing that he seems good at is a short pass. Maddox just did another stupid move. He threw a ball to Randle El when Randle El was in quadruple coverage. Yep, four guys on Randle El, and Maddox throws it right into the muck, and fortunately, just missed having yet another interception. Someone really needs to take Maddox off the field and send him back to selling insurance. Hopefully he is better at than he is at football. Even the announcers are commenting on how everyone is wondering what Maddox is looking at as he threw the ball to no one again. With just 1:43 left in the half, the Jaguars just blocked a punt and have the ball at the 16 yard line. So far the Steelers are blocking the Jaguars so they can't get into the endzone. The Jaguars are at fourth down with three seconds left. Will they go for it or take a field goal? They go for it. Offense had a false start. They are now moved from the 1/2 yard line to the 5 1/2 yard line. So they are going for the field goal. They barely make it through. Score at the half is Steelers 14, Jaguars 10. Second half of the game: The Jaguars just appeared to make a touchdown pass, but Bill Cowher is challenging the call because he seems to think that the receiver might not have had possession of the ball while in the end zone. From looking at the replays, it looked good to me. The Steelers are charged with a time out, and the Jaguars now pull ahead. The score is Jaguars 17, Steelers 10. The Steelers are really not gelling with anything on the offensive side. Maddox has thrown 17 times and only had 5 completions. That's nothing to brag about. Another problem has been that Troy Polamalu has been called on a few personal fouls in the third quarter for throwing a receiver to the grounds when they were out of bounds and for hitting Byron Leftwich. Fortunately, the only thing that keeps on helping us out is that the Jaguars keep on making third down penalities. Rignt now, we are on the 20 yard line and hoping to get another touchdown. We couldn't do anything to convert, and had to settle for a field goal. The game is now tied. The fourth quarter is moving quickly, and the Steelers are still having issues. Maddox is still throwing incompletions, and just got sacked. Jeff Reed tried a 46 yard field goal attempt, and missed. He usuallyl doens't, but this time it was wide. You can't blame Reed too much because it has been very windy here in Pittsburgh today. The score is still tied with 3:22. Leftwich just got sacked and the ball will be going to the Steelers. There are two minutes left in the game. The Jaguars are slowing moving down the front and are really getting into field goal range with 30 seconds left. Ike Taylor just managed to stop a sure touchdown by knocking the ball from a receiver. On the second throw, the Steelers got an interception in the endzone for a touchback. The guy who got the interception is Bryant McFadden. Maddox took the knee and we are going into overtime. We just won the coin toss and will go first in the sudden death overtime. Overtime: Why the heck did they give the ball to Tommy Maddox? He fumbled the ball, and didn't fall on it. No! As the announcer just said, Maddox put the ball on the ground and said, "here take it", and the Jaguars did. The Steelers had the ball in field goal range off of punt return, and then made the stupid mistake of giving the ball to Maddox. As my boyfriend said, he just wants to break Maddox's arm so he can give the ball to someone other than Maddox. My gosh, what a crap player Maddox is? So then the Jaguars can't do anything, and crap Maddox gets the ball again, throws into triple coverage, and the Jaguars run the ball in for a touchdown. As the announcers said, Maddox had the worst day that a quarterback could have. So do we think now that Cowher is ruing the fact that he ever put Maddox on the field? Maddox stunk up the field so bad that the only thing I can say is that this loss is totally Maddox's fault, and he should be hanging his head in shame and go back to selling insurance. Final score 23-17. Sunday, October 16, 2005 -- Morning I didn't get a chance to watch Endurance: Tehachapi, but watched the recorded show this morning. The episode for this week is called Blocked. This week's episode is the first Endurance mission. Julie comments on how it feels like they are so close to winning, but yet so far. Chris says that it's a complement that everyone thinks that the Yellow team is the team to beat and the one to send home first. Shea says that Amelia is social, smart and athletic. Michael says that he and Kylie are getting along okay. Kylie said that she and Michael didn't know each other prior to being made into a team. Franke said that he and Erika are going to see what they can do. Erika is one of the strongest girls so he thinks they will be a strong team. Everyone is scheming to get rid of Yellow because the team is strong, and Chris is the youngest and immature. Everyone appears to be making alliances with everyone. Daniela admits that everyone appears to be in an alliance with everyone else to the point where it is confusing to everyone. Shea says that he is ready to go and pumped up. Shea says that he thinks that he and John of the Grey team will go far. It is now time for the competition. JD asks Daniela if she worked out her differences with getting the wrong partner. Jon, her partner, says that he knows Daniela is a tough competitor and they will win. The winner today gets the Teamwork pyramid piece and will get the Samati which can be given to another team to handicap that team. Today's mission. They have to grab team colored blocks. They have to hold them between each other in vertical stack by pressing them against each other. As they race down the course, they have to pick up additional team colored blocks to add to the stack. If they drop the blocks, they have to restack them before they continue on. The first team to place all the blocks in the team colored tray wins. the teams start out. Green has the lead. John from Grey threw the block at Julie and hit her in the head. Then Grey took the lead. The secret I think is to have the fastest person facing forward to keep the pressure against the person who is slower. Battle is between Green and Grey. Green got it stacked in their tray first, and they won. Isaac said that their secret was just to keep pushing harder and harder. As Jeszie says, everyone is afraid of what she and Isaac will do. Amelia said that the mission looked easy, but it was hard to actually do. Jonathan thought that his team did poorly. Julie said that it really stunk because Grey thought they were going to win. Isaac said that he and Jeszie figured out that it was just pressing against it other. Julie is afraid that the Grey team looked strong and that others will see them as a threat. John is not happy with finishing in second place. John says that if Green gives the Samati to him, the game is on. Isaac said that it is not necesarily down to deciding between Blue and Grey. Amelia doesn't think that Jeszie likes her. Amelia thinks that Jeszie will talk Isaac into whatever she wants. Jeszie seems to be an ace manipulator. Isaac said that they should give it to Yellow, but Jezsie says no. Jezsie says that Grey and Blue are the ones to target. Isaac wants to know if they should give it to Red so there isn't a problem. Isaac said that he told John that they would not give Grey the Samati, that John had told Isaac that Jezsie would want to give them the Samati and Isaac told him no. Jezsie said that you can't do that with girls. They just make their decisions and go with it. Jezsie says that she has been telling everyone they won't get the Samati because she plans on backstabbing everyone. Isaac says why, and Jezsie says because she wants to win. The kids meet on the top of the Tehachapi mountains. Michael is asked who is in charge of the team, and he says Jezsie. JD says that Isaac seems like a nice guy who can't be controlled. Isaac said that there is no controlling because they couldn't have won the mission without teamwork. Julie is asked about the friendship between Grey and Blue, and it seems that they have a strong friendship (aka alliance) and that they have each others backs. It is now time to give out the Samati. Jezsie said that the Blue team is really strong, Isaac said that Yellow team could be a strong threat. Grey team got the Samati. Inside is four sandbags. In the next Temple mission, they will have four sandbags. Julie said that alot of teams are against the Grey and Blue team. Shea said that he will have to work extra hard to keep Grey from going to Temple. Jezsie says that Grey and Blue have to go. She just doesn't know how the other teams feel. Saturday, October 15, 2005 -- Evening It was another very disappointing Pittsburgh Penguins game. Marc-Andre Fleury started in goal, and he did the best that he could with lack of support from the defensive line. Donnie Iris sang the national anthem. The only comment that I have to make about the game is that we are sorely in need of someone who has coaching experience. I don't know where in the world some people get the idea that just because you were a half way decent player that you can coach. In Eddie Olczyk's case, he doesn't seem to have a clue of how to coach, and it really shows because the team as a whole sorely lacks the cohesiveness that a good team should have. I don't think that his assistant coaches are much better. Until the coaching system is fixed, I think that regardless of the quality of players on the ice, the team will be in the pits. The other thing that is becoming noticeable is that some of the older players did not benefit from the league not playing last year. John LeClair seems incapable of making plays, and even though he is only 36, he seems to need an injection of monkey glands to get him back into the competitive game. The only person who makes plays is Sidney Crosby. He had another assist today. So do we play Crosby during the power plays? Nope, because Eddie O doesn't have a clue. In this game, he only had 23 seconds of power play time. What a waste of a player. I am going to start the chant of "let's fire Eddie O" and hopefully someone in a position of power will act upon it. There was a bright moment in the game. In the last two minutes of the game, Fleury made a huge leap in to the air to save a score. He was being pulled from the goal to put an extra man on the ice, and the crowd got on its feet to cheer Fleury. Shots on goal sucked with the Pens only making three in the second period, for a total 21 shots in the whole game. Ziggy Palffy made the only Pens goal with an assist from Crosby. The final score was Lighting 3 - Pens 1. Shocking news! Brett Hull has retired effectively immediately. It seems that his quality of play has not been up to his standards, and Hull realizes that as hard as it is for him, he should leave the game. It has to be hard on him because Hull has always been one of those players who has always put his all into the game. I think that year off due to the lockout has really been hard on the older players. It's harder for them to come back from the time off. Best wishes Brett! Saturday, October 15, 2005 -- Afternoon Ben Roethlisberger has returned to practice, but it seems that Tommy Maddox will start the game this coming Sunday. What I think is funny is that Maddox had hurt his calf a couple of weeks ago, and was expected to be out for three to four weeks. But since the opportunity arose to actually play, he miraculously became better and will be able to start. It was amazing to hear last Sunday that he would be out for awhile, and then to hear on Monday, oops, sorry, all better now. It also seems that Hines Ward might not play this Sunday after injuring his hamstring last week. It seems that he hasn't been practicing this week. If Ward misses the game, it will be the first time that he missed a game since joining the Steelers in 1998. Yep, he has been playing 122 games straight, and has started in 89 consecutive games. That is impressive for a football player. Surprisingly, Pittsburgh Panthers won today against the South Florida Bulls. The final score was 31-17. I am heading to the Pittsburgh Penguins game tonight. We are playing the Tampa Bay Lighting, and I am hoping for the first win of the season. Knowing the Pens though, and the poor coaching of Eddie O., it will probably be another overtime loss. I will comment on the game when I get home. Saturday, October 15, 2005 -- After Midnight Poor Montour!. They lost again this evening to the Blackhawk Cougars. The final score was 47-16. Right now, they only have one win in the season and one more game to play. If they lose their last game of the season, they will match their record of last year of 1-8. Friday, October 14, 2005 -- Evening I went to dinner this evening, and came home to the recorded Penguins game. First period: Philadelphia Flyers scored first with a goal at 3:45 from Keith Primeau. Score 1-0 Flyers. Mario Lemieux got into a bit of a discussion with