The Daily Bongo

September 2007


Sunday, September 30, 2007 -- Early Evening

The Steelers played the Arizona Cardinals in a late afternoon game. There was some controversy because during the warmup, Ken Whisenhunt said hello to every player except for Ben Roethlisberger. It seems that Whisenhunt and Cowher were not high on Roethlisberger's friends list. That's interesting because everyone seemed to think things were rosy since Roethlisberger wasn't pulled from games last season when he was stinking up the joint. The Steelers did a good job in the first quarter, but things went down from there. The second quarter was an equal effort, but then the Cardinals seemed to get some momentum. They pulled ahead in the fourth quarter. In the last two minutes of the game, the Steelers came on to score a touchdown with just under two minutes. The Cardinals couldn't do anything, and had to punt. Unfortunately with less that 40 seconds left, Roethlisberger threw an interception. The Cardinals won with a final scaore of 21-14.

Saturday, September 29, 2007 -- Late Evening

I was busy with other work, and haven't had a chance to post about yesterday's Pens game. The game was action packed with alot of goals. That's typically how exhibition games are. The final score was 6-5, but we all thought that the game was tied in the very last seconds when it looked like Evgeni Malkin had scored. Time had run out, and the goal was not allowed. Even though the Pens lost, the game was fun. Sidney Crosby scored two goals, and didn't appear to be bothered by a groin problem. I did take pictures of the game.

The NHL started its regular season today in Europe with a match between last year's Stanley Cup winners, the Anaheim Ducks and LA Kings. The Kings showed some power by winning the game 4-1. This was the first time that the NHL played in Europe. Everyone else starts the season this coming Wednesday. There will be another game between the Kings and Ducks tomorrow at noon on Versus.

Friday, September 28, 2007 -- Morning

It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh! The Pens are playing the Buffalo Sabres in an exhibition game. Sidney Crobsy should be playing tonight even though he has been suffering from a sore groin this week. Everyone who follows hockey in this city has been concerned over the news of Crosby's groin issue. The same problem took him out of a few games last season. Supposedly, this injury isn't as severe. I should have a few pictures of the game tonight.

Sunday, September 23, 2007 -- Late Afternoon

This has not been a good week for blogging. I have been very busy with projects and exams in my classes. Also, Yom Kippur started on Friday evening. So it was not a good week for getting time to blog about events.

The Steelers played the San Francisco 49ers this afternoon. The Steelers defense has been playing exceptionally well this season. Some of them are saying that it is because Mike Tomlin is more accommodating to their needs that Bill Cowher was. It's been amazing how much Cowher bashing the players have been doing this season. The only thing that I can say is that the defense and special teams have really upped their level of play. Allen Rossum in his role as punt returner for the Steelers, returned a punt 98 yards for a touchdown. For the most part, the defense kept the 49ers to field goals, with only one touchdown in the fourth quarter. Final score was Steelers 37 and 49ers 16. The Steelers are 3 and 0 for the season.

The PIttsburgh Penguins had a town hall meeting on Thursday evening. I received tickets for the event, but I wasn't able to go because of excessive amounts of school work. However, it appears to have been a fun time. Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Ryan Whitney, Jordan Staal, and Colby Armstrong were the players in attendance. Ken Sawyer and Ray Shero were also there. The players cracked some jokes and answered questions from the fans. The most telling piece was when Ken Sawyer said that the team hopes to put together a high cost team, but not with a high cost to ticket payers. I know that alot of the season ticket holders have been worried that the cost of tickets will make it impossible for long time fans to continue to get tickets. We will have to see how things play out in the end.

As for the new NHL uniforms, the players like that the material is lighter. However being water resistant means that sweat pours into the players' gloves and skates. All in all, most are complaining that the uniforms are not comfortable.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007 -- Evening

News on the Pens front. First is that the Pens' outdoors game against the Buffalo Sabres sold out within 30 minutes. 42,000 tickets were sold out in that time, which is amazing. Also, good news! The NHL has decided to change its schedule for the next season. This means that the Pens will play every team in the NHL next season. Now that will be something to look forward to. Right now it really sucks that we don't get to see teams play in our city for years, and some cities don't get see our stellar players, like Sidney Crosby, often.

The final episode of Big Brother 8 was on this evening. I almost didn't watch because I am really sick and tired of the Donatos (Dick and Daniele). The houseguests had the same problem I did with the final two. As Dustin said, they had to decide to vote between evil and evil's spawn. Dustin asked Dick how he felt about Daniele saying that she would want to have her father in the final two because everyone hates him. When the secret of America's Player was outed, everyone thought it was funny, and no one seemed to hold it against Eric. Of course, they were not aware that Eric was paid to perform the acts. That might change some of their warm and fuzzy over it. Eric did tell Jessica that everything he did with her was geniune. Eric placed America's vote for Dick. Jameka voted for Daniele. Dustin voted for Dick. Jen voted Daniele. Zack voted for Dick. Amber voted for Dick. With four votes, Dick won BB8. That was a shock because it was condoning his obnxious behavior. So Daniele winds up with $50,000 and Dick with $500,000. As we found out after the commercial break, Jessica also voted for Dick, so he won by a vote of 5-2. Daniele tried to claim that she wasn't unhappy because "they" won. Hmm, but Dick isn't supposed to share with her. I guess the BB producers are going to overlook that. Now it is on to the wrap party for the houseguests.

Sunday, September 16, 2007 -- Afternoon

The Steelers played at home for the first time this season. Their opponent was the accident decimated Buffalo Bills. The Bills suffered a huge loss when Kevin Everett had a helmet to helmet crunch last week that left him in the hospital fighting for his life. At the beginning, it seemed that Everett might not live, let alone walk. However, due to the fast action of the neurological surgeon who worked on his fractured spine, Everett appears to have some motion in his arms and legs. Now, doctors are saying that there is a strong possibility that Everett will walk again.
Back to the game. The most jarring part of the game is that the Steelers are wearing a throw-back uniform from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. The most visually jarring aspect of the team is the bright yellow helmet. As I watch the action on the field, I have alot of difficulty remembering that the guys in with the yellow heads are the Steelers. The Steelers took the early lead with a field goal. Ben Roethlisberger did throw an interception in the first quarter, but fortunately, the Bills weren't able to do anything with it. Fortunately for the Steelers, they had the foot of Jeff Reed to rely on. Reed was responsible for all twelve points that the Steelers scored in the first half. Finally in the third quarter, the Steelers scored a touchdown with a pass from Roethlisberger to Matt Spaeth. This was the second touchdown catch in as many weeks for rookie Spaeth. The scoring continued for the Steelers with a final score of 26-3.

Thursday, September 13, 2007 -- Evening

Tonight was the final HOH competition on Big Brother 8. The show started with Thursday night's comepetition and didn't really show what an a**hole Dick was to Zack. Instead, they tried to show Dick as the valiant old man who battled soreness for his daughter. The Competition took eight hours, and Dick was walking like the old fart he is while Zack was not as physically bothered. Zack didn't rub the victory into Dick's face. The nice thing that wasn't shown was that Daniele made hot soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for both players after the competition. The second competition was lame. Dick and Daniele had to go into one tank of water, get some puzzle pieces, then dive into the tank next to it, and use the lines of the puzzle to connect the houseguests' in the order of them having HOH. Daniele took 24 minutes and 9 second. Dick took 12 minutes and 48 seconds. Another clip of the jury house. Everyone was very upset to see Jameka because it meant that Dick and Daniele made it to the final three. It sounds that Jessica and Eric's relationship has moved onto the next level. From what Dustin says, the noise wakes the others up at night. Dustin and Amber were commenting on how the two are in "love." Everyone in the jury house was impressed by Zack's HOH show of cajones. Finally it was time for the final HOH competition. It came down to questions, and Dick got one more question right than Zack. So we now have to suffer though a Dick and Daniele final two. That's a lose-lose situation, because it means that the Donatos win all the money. Dick, being the poor winner that he is, just kept on screaming about winning it all. Boy, this is as bad (if not worse) as season six when it came down to Maggie and Ivette. Zack was sent on his way, and the "who cares" final is on Tuesday. It really doesn't matter at this point, because it is one of the Evels.

There was an interesting survey released today. It appears that in the NFL markets, the Steelers have the largest female fan base. There was some talk on the local television stations about why this is the case. Some of the stations were implying that it's because there are such good looking men on the team. I'm not so sure that is the case. I think it is just that this city is family oriented, so families tend to go to the games. That means men and women.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007 -- Early Morning

The HOH competition went on for awhile last night in the Big Brother 8 house. I watched on and off until around 12:30 a.m. At that time, Daniele signalled to her dad to distract Zack by talking to him, and Dick started on a verbally abusive rampage. Instead of breaking Zack's concentration, it must have encouraged him because Zack won the first HOH. All I think it did was show what a true scum of the Earth Dick is. Dick is one of those abusive bullies who tries intimidation and verbal abuse to bend people to his will. I think he is a huge a**hole and have no respect for him or his daughter. Don't be fooled by Daniele's quiet act around the other houseguests. She is complicit in her father's bullying: encouraging him, coaching him on what to say, and berating everyone. Then comes the act when Daniele pretends that she is offended by her father's actions. I hope that Zack wins HOH, takes Dick to the final two, and takes home the $500,000.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 -- Very Late Evening

The live feeds are back on, and all three houseguests are still in the competition. It doesn't look pleasant, and Daniele is particularly bleak. As you watch, you can see her shaking from the cold. Sometimes, it is the worst thing to wear light clothes. As you get wet in the chill of the night, you tend to shiver. I am rooting for Zack just because I hate Dick and Daniele. I think it will be some time before we know who wins this first competition.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 -- Late Evening

Yes it is six years from that other fateful September 11 that fell on a Tuesday. This morning I remembered back to that morning. I was working on a customer's computer, and my pager went off. It was my boyfriend telling me that a plane went into one of the Twin Towers. I told the customer, and we both thought it was an accident to with a private plane. As we tried to get to CNN's web site for more details, I called my boyfriend, and found out the details. All work on the computer stopped at that point. The customer left to go home, and I joined the crowd of people huddled around the television at William Pitt Union on the University of Pittsburgh campus. By the time I got there, the first tower had collapsed, and I had a difficult time believing that it had happened. I still become sad when I remember that time. We were eventually told to leave work (around noon), and I went to my boyfriend's apartment to watch the news. What a sad day.

On to trival news, at least compared to 9/11. Jameka was sent home on the live Big Brother 8 show this evening. Daniele returned the favor her father bestowed on her and took him off the block with the POV. We finally got to see a segment showing everyone entering the jury house, but nothing that shows us the dynamic at the house, which I always found interesting. The show ended with an endurance competition for the first segment of the final HOH. Zack, Daniele, and Dick have to stand on flat, giant "carrots" (really orange stools), hold onto a key with their name with one hand, and jump over a pole attached to a rabbit that circles the BB garden. As the show ended, the houseguests were being inundated with water. I have the live feeds on now, but so far it is just trivia. I'm afraid that the live feeds won't resume until after the show has aired in Pacific time--which is three hours from now. It seems that it will be a long night with trivia. I hope that CBS isn't planning on setting the live feeds to trivia between now and Thursday.

Sunday, September 9, 2007 -- Evening

The more I see of Dick and Daniele on Big Brother 8, the more respect I lose for them. They are both hypocrites and liars. Daniele tried to tell Zack that her dad had Zack's back, and Dick tried to tell Zack that Daniele had his back. Zack, however, called it right by saying that with the two of them in the final three, they would not take Zack. What gets to me is that they both were talking about getting rid of Zack and take Jameka to the final three. Then they claimed that they weren't thinking of it. Daniele and Dick both seem to think that they are superior to everyone else. To make Zack think that he was such a backstabber by turning on them, is ludicrous considering how many promises Dick and Daniele made and broke. The other thing that I don't like is that on the live feeds, they are feeding Jameka garbage about Zack being racist so she won't vote for him--just in case Zack wins HOH when it is down to the final three. I really hope that Zack wins the HOH and eliminates Daniele. I would just love to see the look on Dick and Daniele's face when that happens!

Sunday, September 9, 2007 -- Late Afternoon

The Steelers played their first regular season game this afternoon. It was a match against the Cleveland Browns, who have really been stinking up the joint for the past few years. Today was no exception, and the Steelers wound up winning in a rout. The final score was Steelers 34 -- Browns 7. Ben Roethlisberger had a good start, and as a whole, the team seemed to work well together. The game was a boring one, and I spent the time glancing cursorily at the television as I concentrated on doing work for my classes, working on my computer with a bad hard drive, and nursing my cold.

Saturday, September 8, 2007 -- Evening

Well, Zack won the HOH on Big Brother 8 on Friday (yesterday), and he had the balls to nominate both Dick and Daniele. The POV competition was just held a short bit ago (It's now 7:19 p.m. ET), and it looks like Daniele won. Actually, it is obvious because she is talking to Dick about what she will be doing next. If Daniele removes herself from the block, that means that Jameka goes on, and that Daniele sends her home. So I think that it will mean it will come down to Zack against two of them. Zack was an idiot. Dick is being really excited and saying "we won, we won, we won!" Dick is telling Daniele it is all over for Zack and the pairing of Dick and Daniele have won. I really don't like either of them. Unfortunately, Daniele will probably get the $500,000 in the end. Dick is being a sore winner. He's berating everyone, and telling Zack and Jameka that it's going to be Dick and Daniele in the final two, and everyone else is screwed. What a truly vile man! It's such a shame that he will get any money for his performance.

The Pens are starting their training camp next Thursday (Sept. 13). They will start with physicals, and then move on to on-ice training at Southpointe next Friday. The Pens will be at Southpointe until Sept. 16. All of the practices there will be open to the public. The team moves to Mellon Arena for practices on Sept. 19, 20, and 27, and they will be open to the public too. It's on to West Point for additional training from Sept. 24 to 26. The regular season starts with a home opener on Friday, October 5 against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes have signed former Pens' goalie, Tom Barrasso as goalie coach for their minor league team.

Thursday, September 6, 2007 -- Evening

Double eviction night on Big Brother 8. In the last episode on Tuesday, we saw Janelle hosting the POV competition. Dick was drooling all over her, and it was quite disgusting. Now on to tonight's show. The producers still had a vote for America's Player. It was done live via cell phone. Dick is truly evil. HIs plan was to tell Jameka that she would be going to the jury house. Then he plans on making her a deal ten minutes before the vote, and laughed how Jameka would have to make a deal wih the devil. Fortunately, Eric got to vote out Jameka. Dick and Daniele are so evil. I dislike them both. Unfortunately, one of them will probably win. The vote started right away. From Jameka's speech, it sounded like she took the deal with Dick. Eric was told that he had to nominate for eviction the person who was told to lead the houseguests into the house. Jessica was evicted. Jameka and Eric were upset at Jessica getting voted out. Jessica admitted that she loved Eric and that her feelings for him were real. Damn! Dick got HOH. That manes Eric is on the block. I really hate the deadly duo of Dick and Daniele. Eric was supposed to get Daniele nominated. Obviously Jameka and Eric were nominated. In the POV, the houseguests had to gather eight green balls from thousands of them, and fill a tube. I hope that Eric wins, but I'm worried that he might not. it was very nerve wracking to watch. Jameka had five, but one of them was blue, so Jameka was disqualified. Jameka claims that she didn't put it in there. Zack won POV, but Jameka was saying that she didn't put it in there. Obviously not looking good for Eric. Eric should have talked Zack into taking him off, because then Dick would have to put Daniele up and Zack and Eric would vote her out. Zack won't do that though. Zack was stupid and didn't do it because he thinks he can beat out the twosome of Dick and Daniele. How one person could believe that he could beat two is nonsensical. But then Zack isn't known for his brains. Poor Eric was voted out by both Daniele and Zack. The only good thing is that Eric will be going to see Jessica soon. Unfortunately as I said, Dick and Daniele will obviously win.

Thursday, September 6, 2007 -- Early Evening

Sometimes it's nice to have a PO Box address, and other times, it's not. Today was one of those days when it wasn't nice. 24 lucky season ticket holders had their Pens ticket package hand delivered by various members of the team. The local television stations were following Sidney Crosby as he delivered tickets to a few randomly selected fans. I received my package today. I wasn't expecting the huge book, but it was filled with the tickets, a DVD of the past season, two Pens' pins, and two nice pocket schedules.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007 -- Evening

Bad news for Jessica and Eric on Big Brother 8. It seems that Dick and Daniele are turning on their alliance with Eric and Jessica. Although Dick told Jameka that she was going to be voted out, Dick and Daniele are going to vote out Jessica. The people in that house have been incredibly stupid about not taking out either Dick or Daniele when they had a chance. The problem is that Dick will always be on the side of his daughter. The houseguests should have voted Dick out when Dustin was voted out. Every season, there are instances where hindsight shows that a certain event was the turning point of the show, and that was it. Well, there is another, and that's Eric using the POV last week. He should have saved Zack, and put up Dick or Daniele in his place. Jessica wanted to turn on the alliance, and was sorry that she didn't. Sometimes you have to turn on the enenmy before it turns on you. It's going to be hard to get rid of Dick and Daniele now. Jessica and Eric suspect that Jess is leaving because Daniele let slip that it will only be three people competing for HOH--her, Dick, and Eric. She tried to cover by saying that it would be four, but it's too late now. The thing that the houseguests don't know is that Thursday is double eviction night. I would imagine that both Jessica and Eric are going to be gone by the end of the show. i think that's sad because I like Eric. Also, the whole plot of D&D is that Dick is evil and everyone hates him. So when it comes down to D&D as the final two, Daniele will get the votes. Well, it's too late now because Jessica is out.

Sunday, September 2, 2007 -- Evening

I finally got around to watching Thursday's episode of Big Brother 8. Things have been so busy since I started back to school this week, and a Master's program requires alot of work. The thing that I have noticed is that the producers aren't showing any clips from sequester. That was my favorite part of the jury time because when people hated each other in sequester, things could get very entertaining. I did find out some things that I was in the dark about. The first is that Janelle hosted the POV competition this weekend. From the live feeds, I know that Daniele won the POV. Also, next Thursday will be double eviction night, and two people will be leaving by the end of the hour. That will leave us with the final three. Only 16 more days left before the final episode which is supposed to be on September 18--a Tuesday.

Now on to tonight's episode. The reason Eric got a phone call from home was because he filled a little container to the top during the HOH competition. As Eric said, he was behind and feeling awful so he went for the phone call. Then the houseguests got to use two extra cups. However, doing that put the houseguests on cold water for each cup that was used, the houseguests got cold water for a day. Since all four used the cups, the houseguests got eight days of cold water--so no hot showers. The object of the HOH game was to get the water to raise to the point where the houseguests could get a silver ball out, and it was only possible when the fishbowl was completely filled. Only Zack and Dick were close. Eric and Daniele were behind. Eric and Dick were both ticked because they realized that Zack was going to target someone in their foursome. Eric gave up his phone call home to Jessica even though he was debating on giving it to Jameka. Eric was really upset because he realized that Zack was going to go after Jessica. Everyone was depressed that Zack won, and no one seemed happy to see his HOH room. Meanwhile, Daniele did her best to work Zack. Zack said that he didn't like Dick's tactics, but in the same vein, Zack was stupid enough not to go after Dick or Daniele. I don't understand the rationale behind not going after that pair. If they wind up in the final two, you know that it won't matter which one wins because they will share the money.

The Pens are going to unveil this season's new uniform. Ryan Whitney, Ryan Malone, and Maxime Talbot are going to be at the Galleria at Pittsburgh MIlls on Wednesday, September 5 at 6:30 a.m.