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More Steelers Parade Pictures 2006 Steeler season 2007 Steeler season Current Steeler season Monday, February 27, 2006 -- Evening The Steelers Super Bowl DVD is going to be released tonight at midnight. Starting tomorrow, there will be a flurry of activities scheduled around the release. Tomorrow from noon until 1:30 p.m., Joey Porter and Antwaan Randle El will be giving autographs at the Wal-Mart in Robinson. Tomorrow evening from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., Hines Ward will be at Dick's also in Robinson at the Mall. On Wednesday from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m., Jerome Bettis will be signing autographs at the Robinson Best Buy. Finally, all four will be at Loew's Theater at the Waterfront at 7:00 p.m. for a VIP screening of the DVD. Friday, February 24, 2006 -- Late Afternoon Ike Taylor, cornerback for the Steelers has a website to sale t-shirts that he designs. During one of the many interviews of the team members after the Super Bowl, Ike had his teammates wearing some of his designs to promote his business. Monday, February 20, 2006 -- Morning Jerome Bettis has been signed by NBC as a sports analyst. He will be working with Bob Costas on the Sunday night game that used to be on ESPN. Sunday, February 19, 2006 -- Early Afternoon Tommy Maddox says that he will be happy with whatever happens with the Steelers. It does not seem likely that the team will resign Maddox. His future in the NFL is uncertain because it's not likely that any other team will want him. Now how about that trash story from October. The story was that trash was thrown all over Maddox's lawn and his children were being terrorized. Now the story came from Maddox's agent. Maddox's wife denied that there was any truth to the story, but Maddox kept quiet. Why? I said to ellict sympathy because he is a whiny, baby loser. Well, it turns out that Maddox now admits that the story wasn't true. Now he says that he had to pick up a piece or two of trash, but that the whole thing was blown out of proportion. What an ass--because he was the one who allowed it to be blown out of proportion! I have no respect for Maddox at all, and hope the door doesn't whack his butt too hard on the way out of town. Tuesday, February 14, 2006 -- Evening The Steelers are going to play in the first game of the 2006 season. The game will be nationally televised on Thursday, Sept. 7 and will be played here in Pittsburgh. Saturday, February 11, 2006 -- Late Evening The Steelers are probably going to have some problems in the coming season due to the money that has to be paid out to several players as bonuses for the team winning the Super Bowl. The money will go against the coming season which might make it difficult to sign some of the players who will be free agents, such as Antwaan Randle El. Fortunately, the offensive line and most of the defensive line is firm for the coming year, so there is some hope that next year can be a repeat. We'll have to see how things turn out. Friday, February 10, 2006 -- Evening The Steelers are working on the design for their Super Bowl rings. Dan Rooney said that the current players on the team with have some say in the design of the rings, especially Jerome Bettis. There might be some reference to the past four Super Bowls, but as Rooney said, this team doesn't have a tie to the past wins, and the ring is for them. Meanwhile some of the players have been hitting it big on television since the Super Bowl. Ben Roethlisberger has been getting around alot with a stint on David Letterman and on the Grammys last night. Hines Ward and Jerome Bettis have also been making the talk show rounds. Thursday, February 9, 2006 -- Late Afternoon Big news for Steelers fans. Ken Whisenhunt, Steelers offensive coordinator, has withdrawn his name from consideration for the head coaching job with the Oakland Raiders. It seems that Whisenhunt loves his job with the Steelers, and even visions of mucho dinero couldn't sway him to take on the Raiders and Al Davis, whose picture is in the dictionary next to tyrant. Wednesday, February 8, 2006 -- Evening I have some more pictures from the Steelers parade yesterday. These photos were taken by a friend, Sunny Ng. Wednesday, February 8, 2006 -- Early Afternoon There have been alot of grumblings about the officiating at some of the NFL games of late, and it extends to the Super Bowl. One of the most blantant errors was when the official overturned the interception made by Troy Polamalu. In that case, the NFL admitted that the overturning of the call on the field was in error. Now the Seattle Seahawks are claiming that they lost the Super Bowl because of the officials. The three calls in particular that get everyone's goat are the Seattle touchdown that was not a touchdown because of passer interference, the touchdown that Ben Roethlisberger made, and the tackle on Ike Taylor after the interception. The thing that I have to say is that Seattle should not have been in a situation where a few calls would make a difference. I thought the same thing in the Steeler - colts playoff game. It should never have come down to the colts being able to take the game with a field goal. Seattle should look at some of the missed opportunities and work on that. Tuesday, February 7, 2006 -- Evening I am watching the taped Steelers parade and rally. It was amazing to see all the people! 250,000 and it is amazing to see the masses of people in the streets. My boyfriend said that the crowds were immense, but very orderly. People were running up to the cars as the Steelers went by, and were getting autographs and pictures. I have a selection of pictures that my boyfriend took. Some are good and some are a tad fuzzy, but you can get the feeling of the atmosphere. I love the picture of Willie Parker taking a picture of my boyfriend taking a picture of him. Also, my boyfriend went out of his way to get a picture of Antwaan Randle El, my favorite, even practically getting on top of the car to get a good picture. Tuesday, February 7, 2006 -- Afternoon It was estimated that over 250,000 fans showed up for the Steelers rally today. My boyfriend said that it looked like several thousand people were in the area where he saw the parade of cars headed to the stage. He took some pictures, and if the quality is good, I will post them later this evening. Tuesday, February 7, 2006 -- Late Morning The streets of downtown Pittsburgh are packed with fans who are attending the Steelers rally this morning. WTAE has a live webcast of the event for those of us who are stuck at work. Unfortunately, I can watch the video, but I have no speakers for sound, so it isn't much fun. I am recording the event at home so I can watch it this evening. My boyfriend has gone downtown, and I am hoping for some pictures from him which I will post. Monday, February 6, 2006 -- Early Evening The talk around town, and on the news, has been nothing but Steelers all day today. Tomorrow at 11 am, there is to be a victory parade through the Downtown area. The parade will start at the Mellon Arena and ending in Point State Park. Meanwhile various Steelers have been making appearances everywhere. Ben Roethlisberger is going to appear on the David Letterman show. The big news about the appearance is that Roethlisberger shaved his beard on the show. Hines Ward was elected the game's MVP, and that means that he spent the day at Disney World. Ward was part of the Disney parade, and kept to his promise to take Jerome Bettis with him. I noticed yesterday that Terry Bradshaw did not show up with the other past MVPs that paraded into Ford Field in Detroit. The rumor that was spreading is that Bradshaw had some beefs about the money that was given to those appearing. All were given $1,000, and rumor has it that he wanted more. However, Bradshaw says that he just decided to stay at home. Another missing MVP was Joe Montana. Montana was the only three time MVP, but supposedly wanted $100,000 to appear. Of course, Montana is saying that's not the case. Montana's story is that he wanted to be at home to watch his son's basketball game. I would hope that the absence was not due to financial reasons. I know that I missed Bradshaw in the game. Monday, February 6, 2006 -- After midnight I forgot to mention that Jerome Bettis announced on the stand as the Vince Lombardi Trophy was being handed around that Detroit would be his last stop. So the Bus stops here and is retiring. It's not something that was unexpected. Everyone has been talking about it for the entire year, and that's why the trip to Detroit seemed like such a fairy tale ending. Thankfully it was a happy ending for Bettis and for the Steelers. Sunday, February 5, 2006 -- Super Bowl game
Super Bowl Sunday! What I will do is give the hightlights of some of the moments of the game and of the few commercials that I saw. I wound up missing most of the commercials because of talk or fast forwarding. However, there are sites that have all of the Super Bowl commercials. Of the few that I did see, I liked Ameriquest commercial that was set in the hospital. The doctor used the electric heart paddles that are used on people suffering from a heart attach to kill a fly. As he is looking at the dead fly that is now lying on the patient's chest, the doctor says "that killed him". Meanwhile the guy's wife and little daughter walk into the room to hear it. It was the funniest. The other commerical that I liked was for Budweiser titled the Streaker. This one had a sheared sheep that broke into the football game between the Budweiser Clydesdales. My third favorite was shown in the third quarter and was for Careerbuilder. The guy is talking to someone on the phone and is explaining that he is having problems because he works with a bunch of monkeys (as monkeys cavot all around him). On the other end of the phone is a girl who says she understands because she works with a bunch of jackasses (as donkeys go walk around her). So those were the three funniest of the few that I saw. Also before I go over the game, let me comment on the musical entertainment. The Motown tribute was interesting with some good musical bits in it. The national anthem was a different story. Aaron Neville, of the big black mole on his forehead, started singing first. All I have to say is that he would have failed an American Idol audition. Aretha Franklin came after him and did a better job. The half time show was the Rolling Stones. They did a very nice job. It was surprising that they are as old as they are. Mick Jagger does not look like a 62 year old man was he swiveled his hips, pranced and sang like someone half his age. There were no garment malfunctions this year. I don't think you would want to see Aretha Franklin's hefty, naked breast. Now on to the game. As most people probably already know the Steelers won the Super Bowl. The final score was 21-10, but the game was much closer and nerve-wracking. The Seattle Seahawks were their own worst enemy. There were many opportunities for the Seahawks, and they would get a stupid penalty that would take the play away. For example at the end of the first quarter, it looked like Seattle had a touchdown, but it was called off because of passer interference by the Seattle receiver. Then there were a few missed field goal attempts. Meanwhile the Steelers seemed to be unable to make a first down for most of the first half. Seattle only managed to get a field goal in the first half, and the Steelers had a touchdown that was Ben Roethlisberger made that was questionable. The first series of plays by the Steelers after half time were great. The Steelers lost the coin toss, but Seattle elected to receive the ball in the first half. Willie Parker got the ball, and instead of being stopped by a mass of men, broke through and ran 75 yards for a touchdown. The score was now 14-3. Seattle had the ball and couldn't do much with it, and the Steelers got it back. We were yards from a touchdown when Roethlisberger threw an interception that got run down the field. Although the team managed to stop the runner, Seattle went on to score a touchdown. The fourth quarter started with a scorew of 14-10. The Steelers got an interception that lead to one of the best plays of the game. That's when the Steelers brought on one of their infamous gadget plays. This time Roethlisberger gave the ball to Parker who then passed the ball to Antwaan Randle El who ran with it abit, and then gave his cute little leap to throw the ball for a touchdown to Hines Ward. The score was now 21-10. At this point, the Steelers did everything they could to run out the clock and Seattle tried all they could to stop the clock and make a score. Seattle was not successful and the Steelers were. Personally, I didn't think that any one player on either team really stood out, but Hines Ward was granted the Super Bowl MVP. I think that I would have given it to Randle El because he got a first down for the team at a crucial period and threw the touchdown pass. On to the celebration. The kids in Oakland are going crazy and lighting fires and overturning cars. Other than that, the rest of the city seems to be sane, probably because the roads are icy and snow is coming down. Thursday, February 2, 2006 -- Evening Hold onto your horses! Troy Polamalu injured himself in practice today, and is listed as probable for the Super Bowl. Probable means that there's a 75% chance that Polamalu will play. The only word on the injury is that it is a tweaked ankle. Thursday, February 2, 2006 -- Morning A group of five students from Pitt have a website in support of Ben Roethlisberger's beard. The site contains a petition that men and women can both sign. The men pledge that they will not shave their face hair until Ben shaves his. Friday, January 27, 2006 -- Evening I'm at home right now, but 20,000 to 30,000 people are at Heinz Field for a Super Bowl rally. The city has been going crazy with Super Bowl fever. Parties are being scheduled everywhere. At work, I have two separate parties that I am invited to at work on Friday. There are tons of songs out there too. My favorite is Puhlamahlu. It is very catchy, and I find myself playing it over and over again and singing it when I'm not playing it. Listen closely and see how many Steelers names you hear. The group who wrote and performs the song is Mr. Devious. Steelergridiron.com and Steelers in Hoboken are two sites that have collections of Steeler songs. One mother even named her son, who was born in Oct. 2004, Seven. Of course, she says that it isn't in honor of Ben Roethlisberger, but now Seven is a huge Steeler fan. Max Starks gave four Super Bowl tickets to a West Virginia family that was affected by the Sago mine disaster, which I thought was a very nice gesture. Starks didn't want to make a big deal of it, and just wanted to help out the family which has not been identified. Wednesday, January 25, 2006 -- Late Afternoon Bill Cowher cares more about maintaining momentum than following tradition. The Steelers will be wearing their away uniforms even though the AFC Champions are considered the home team in this year's Super Bowl. Since the team has been winning in the playoffs with the white jerseys, it would be a smack in the face of superstition to move to the black, home jerseys. Cowher's comment was "We're not playing at Heinz Field so, in my mind, it's an away game." Monday, January 23, 2006 -- Afternoon With a smidge over 9500 votes cast, Troy Polamalu was voted the hottiest Steeler. Polamalu had 36% of the vote. Hines Ward was second with 20% of the vote and Ben Roethlisberger was third with 19% of the vote. I think that women really like Polamalu's hair and think that his hippy demeanor off the field/killer on the field is attractive. Across the city yesterday evening, fans went crazy. People were crowding in the street, and on the local news last night, a film clip was shown of the students from Pitt crowding Forbes Ave. in Oakland. It was so bad that police were called to the scene and the street had to be closed. Just imagine what this city will be like if the team actually wins the Super Bowl! Sunday, January 22, 2006 -- AFC Championship game
Daily Bongo Player of the Game: Ben Roethlisberger First half: The Steelers are kicking off first to the Broncos. The Broncos have to punt the ball after just being able to move the ball past the 50 yard line. Ben Roethlisberger threw a nice pass to Antwaan Randle El and then Hines Ward made the first down after catching a ball that bounced off a Broncos defensive back's chest into the air. A tense moment occurs when Willie Parker looks like he fumbles the ball and it is recovered by the Broncos. Bill Cowher challenges the play and the officials determine that Parker's forearm was on the ground and it was not a fumble. So Pittburgh won the challenge. A long throw to the end zone is almost intercepted, and the Steelers have to settle for a 47 yard field goal. Score is 3-0. The Broncos get the ball. Jake Plummer gets sacked and the ball is fumbled. The Steelers recover as the first quarter ends. A beautiful 12 yard pass to Cedrick Wilson results in a touchdown. Score is now 10-0. The Steelers defensive line is really putting pressure on Plummer. The Broncos take a timeout and manage to get the ball into the red zone. However, they can't convert it into a touchdown and have to settle for a field goal. The score is now 10-3. Roethlisberger almost fumbles the ball, but manages to fall on it, and it is called an incomplete pass. Wilson gets a few more passes and the Broncos call another time out. The Steelers are moving the ball down the field, and Roethlisberger is obviously using Wilson alot because Ward and Randle El are being covered alot. Finally Ward gets a pass and takes the ball down to the Denver 25. Randle El gets another first down and the team is on the 13 yard line. Parker really doesn't seem to be getting any yardage and the running game doesn't seem to be making much yardage. Third down and nine to go on the 11 yard line. Verron Haynes catches a pass for the first down. Jerome Bettis takes the ball in for a touchdown and the score is now 17-3. The Broncos have the ball, but not for long. Ike Taylor intercepts a pass from Plummer and the Steelers have the ball again at the Denver 39 yard line. Willie Parker finally manages to get a good run of 14 yards in and Bettis adds a few more. Then it looks like Bettis runs the ball in 12 yards for another touchdown, but there is a flag on the play for an illegal formation. Hines Ward was in a blocking position on the line. In the next play though, Roethlisberger throws the ball to Ward for a touchdown. Score is 24-3. The half ends with the Steelers ahead. Second half: The Broncos kick off. The first series of plays manages to take over five minutes off the clock. The Steelers aren't able to get the ball into scoring range however and are forced to punt the ball. Special teams does a good job and stops the ball on the 2 yard line. The defensive line again puts alot of pressure on Plummer and the Broncos are forced to kick off again. This time Randle El returns the ball to the Denver 40 yard line. Again, we wear down the clock some more, but we can't get the ball into scoring range and have to settle for another punt. This time it looks like the ball is stopped on the third yard, but it seems that the Steeler that stopped the ball, Chidi Iwuoma, stepped on the endzone line so the ball and Denver wins the coach's challenge and gets the ball on the 20 yard line. Phil Simms who is announcing the game comments that in the past 20 minutes, Plummer has not gotten a first down. After that is said, the Broncos seem to wake up abit and after taking a time out manage to get the ball down for a touchdown. The score is now 24-10. The Steelers get the ball and manage to run down the clock for the end of the third quarter. The first play of the fourth quarter has Bettis running for seven yards. Roethlisberger gets sacked after that, and the Steelers go for a 42 yard field goal which they make. The scoer is now 27-10. Things are starting to look good, and my thoughts that we are actually going to win this one are firming. There is 13:38 left in the game. Kickoff return by the Broncos gets them to the Steeler 41 yard line. Plummer throws a long pass and it is intercepted by Larry Foote. We only have the ball for three downs and the Steelers have to punt again. Broncos now have the ball on the 15 yard line. Plummer seems to have found a way to evade the sack, and he has run out of several close calls. The Broncos manage to get the ball down the field with alot of help from the Steelers with penalities. The Broncos do manage to get a touchdown, and the others in the room who are watching the game with me get nervous, but I don't think that the Broncos can make such a major comeback with only eight minutes left in the game. The score though is now 27-17. The Broncos kickoff goes out of bounds and we then get the ball on the 40 yard line. Scary moment when Roethlisberger almost throws an interception, but fortunately the Bronco isn't able to hold onto the ball. The Steelers aren't able to do much with the ball and have to punt. The time is now 6:12. The Broncos have the ball on the 19 yard line and work up to a third down with three yards. Plummer gets sacked and fumbles the ball, and the Steelers recover it. Bettis runs the ball a few times and gets a first down. The Steelers are now on the seven yard line and the Broncos use their last time out. There is now 3:50 left in the game. Bettis runs the ball for another two yards and then Roethlisberger runs the ball in for a touchdown. Score is 34-17 and for all intents and purposes the game is over since there is only 2;50 left to play in the game and 17 points difference. The Broncos have the ball, but they are slow in getting to the line and waste time. with 1:01 left in the game, Roethlisberger and others start putting on the AFC Championship hats. A bucket of ice water is thrown on Cowher and the game is over. The Steelers are the 2005 AFC Champions and Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl! Sunday, January 22, 2006 -- Morning The AFC Championship is this afternoon. The Steelers will be competing for the title against the Denver Broncos. I think that the game is going to be a toss up. Both teams were doing well at the end of the year. It will be close and stressful. Thursday, January 19, 2006 -- Early Evening Joey Porter did not get fined by the NFL for his comments about the officials cheating for the Colts. Obviously, it was a case of the truth being told, and the NFL couldn't fine someone who had a point. Monday, January 16, 2006 -- Late Afternoon Mike Pereira, the NFL senior director of officiating, said that the call made by Pete Morelli in yesterday's game that overturned the Troy Polamalu interception was an error. As one of the announcers said on the NFL Network just now, it would have been a crime if the colts had one the game based on this call. In fact, it is a crime that they were basically given the eight points that made the game so close that a field goal might have tied it. At this point, the NFL isn't commenting on Joey Porter's comments about the refs trying to steal the game for the Colts. I would say at this point, they would have a hard time fining Porter for speaking the truth when even the head of NFL officiating agrees that a grievous error was made. Monday, January 16, 2006 -- Afternoon Yes Virgina, there is news other than football and hockey. It's just that at this time of the year, it tends to dominate the hearts and minds of all Pittsburgh fans. Joey Porter might be getting a fine from the NFL because he spoke the truth about the officiating in yesterday's playoff game. It was quite obvious that the refs and officials made several calls in favor of the colts. There were no calls for some obvious passer interferences by the Colts. Then there was a time when the Colts had a false start and the refs so--"oh, um, do over! No penalty!". Finally there was that interception call that was overturned and led Shannon Sharpe to call the official Archie Manning. As the Colts themselves said after the game, they had this game on a platter for them--thanks to the officials, and yet still weren't able to take it. I think if the Colts had won it would have left a very bitter taste in the mouth of everyone except the Colts fans because the game would have gone to them based on thievery. Sunday, January 15, 2006 -- AFC Playoff game
Daily Bongo Player of the Game: Ben Roethlisberger -- for making that tackle in the 4th quarter The Steelers and Colts are playing in a playoff game this afternoon. First half: I missed the first few minutes of the game because I was out doing some food shopping, so I missed some of the beautiful passes to Heath Miller that got the ball down the field and resulted in a touchdown catch for Antwaan Randle El. Fortunately, I got home in time to see the touchdown. The Steeler defense was able to stop the Colts, but then Ben Roethlisberger got a hit as he was throwing the ball that resulted in an interception. Unfortunately, we had the ball down on the Colt 35 yard line, so we were close to another score. The defense seem to be doing a good job of shutting down Peyton Manning. So far the Colts haven't been able to get a first down offensively. Even the announcers are remarking that the offense seems to have some rust. That's the problem with the slack off that the team did at the end of the regular season and having a bye week. Of course, the announcers are doing the usual job of making statistics say whatever they want. One of the comments that Phil Sims was making was that Roethlisberger has good stats at the beginning of the game that dwindle towards the end. Perhaps that might be due to the fact that when the Steelers have the lead, they spend the end of the game running out the clock and not really trying to score or make the big plays. Statistics can be manipulated to prove any point, and for the most part as I said yesterday, really only tell you how things have played out in the past and have no real bearing on the present. Great play! Roethlisberger threw the ball down to Hines Ward caught the ball and took off. There was some mutual face mask grabbing between Ward and the Colts, but the call went against the Colts defense and the Steelers got the ball half the distance to the goal and a first down. Another touchdown pass to Heath Miller! The Steelers are leading in the first quarter--14-0. As the announcers are saying, Manning has yet to complete a pass. The Steelers are doing good. Let's hope they can keep it up. Sack of Manning! Boy, this is exciting but nerve wracking. I know that the Steelers came into this game on a high while the Colts were on a low and that does have a physical and psychological impact on a team. Manning just made a complete pass. Another sack on Manning. The Colts offense is really having trouble getting their act together. That's the problem when you rest your players for a few weeks. They lose the playing edge. It's a fine line to walk between rest and rust. No scoring in the second quarter, but both defenses have stepped it up. The Colts now have the ball on their two yard line. The Colts finally get a first down running the ball on their second try. Another pass that is complete and the Colts have another first down. Darn, three first downs in a row. This is not good. We have to shut them down. Another first down! The crowd is getting louder. An interception would be good around now. The Colts now have the ball around the 8 yard line. Edgerrin James got the ball to the one yard line. Then the Colts had a false start and are back on the 6 yard line. Now the Steelers went offside. Darn! Two minute warning before the end of the half. Third down and goal. Now it is fourth and goal at the 2 yard line, so they are going to go for the field goal. That has to be hard psychologically--to get the ball so close--on the one yard line and have to settle for a field goal. Second half: The Colts have come back in the second half making first downs. It looked like Troy Polamalu had the interception, but the refs didn't call that. The Colts aren't able to do anything with the ball and the Steelers get it, and Willie Parker is getting some nice runs. Folks were worried about Roethlisberger being hurt on a hit, and it looks like he got a good whack with a helmet just above his elbow. Hopefully he will be okay. The refs are biased. Manning was tackled in the endzone and that should have been a safety. Now they are saying that Mannings feet were on the line so it is not a safety. The Steelers have the ball again, and folks are worried about Roethlisberger's arm because it supposedly has a welt on it. Roethlisberger is in the game. Parker just got a good 11 yard run, and now Jerome Bettis is getting some runs in. He wasn't able to get a first down and we now have a third down with two yard for a first. Bettis almost got a touchdown, but got tripped on the 3 yard line. The Colts are looking dejected. Bettis took a flying leap and made a touchdown! The score is 21-3 and we are moving into the fourth quarter in a minute. Polamalu almost had another interception. He dived in front of the ball and almost caught it. Peyton Manning wants to go on fourth and 2. He waved the punt team off the field and is going to go for it. Darn! They got first down. The third quarter is over. Darn! The Colts come back with a touchdown to start the fourth quarter. The score is now 21-10. The Steelers need to make an answering score and not give up the ball. It's bad enough that we have let the Colts get into the game with this touchdown. The Steelers have a fourth down and inches. It seems that they are going to go for it. Quarterback sneak and they get it. This is so nerve wracking because I want them to win, and there are so many close calls here. Another fourth down, and they go for it again, and Bettis comes up with another first down. They are eating up the clock, and Manning is on the sideline shaking his head over the Steelers good fortune so far with the fourth down. Manning got the ball, and threw it and it was intercepted by Polamalu. He almost fumbled the ball, but fell on it, and the Steelers have the ball. The Colts are having a review of the play. The announcers say that it clearly looks like an interception and that Polamalu kicked the ball out of this hands with his knee while getting up to make some yardage. Manning just looks sick. Darn! The refs are calling in an incomplete pass. There have been some questionable calls by the ref this week, and even the announcers are questioning this call. It is obvious that the officials are trying everything in their power to help the Colts get back into this game. It is unbelieveable that the play was overturned. It looks like the colts are going to take advantage of it and get a score that they don't deserve. Darn! They scored! There is a question about whether they will go for two points now. It is just shocking that the interception was not called. If only Polamalu stayed down there would have been no question. False start. Five yard penalty for the Colts. Damn--they made the two points. My boyfriend is disgusted because he keeps on saying that the officials gave the game to the Colts. The Steelers can't do anything and have to punt. My boyfriend is pacing and so upset over that call now. This is really going to be bad because if the Steelers lose because of the bad call, it would suck. The Colts have the ball, and Joey Porter sacked Manning. Then Manning over threw the ball. Then on fourth down, they went again, and Porter sacked Manning again. We get the ball at the two yard line. Darn! They don't take the knee, and Bettis fumbles the ball, and the Colts get it and run it down the field. The Colts are on the 42 yard line. Good thing that Roethlisberger sacked him. The Colts have the ball on 37 yard line. 31 seconds left in the game and it looks like the Colts are either going to win or tie the game. The Colts go for a field goal and MISS. Deja vu of the last year's playoff game. Bettis has to be so relieved. The kicker got a penalty for taking off his helmet and slamming it on the ground. Now--take the darn knee!!! Eleven seconds and the Colts take a timeout when the Steelers take the knee. They should just let the clock run out but since the officials have been on their side, they are hoping for the best. The colts us another time out, but we have two more downs so when we take the next knee, the time should run out. The Steelers are going to the AFC championship! Bettis is smiling now because he almost cost us the game. This is the first time that a sixth seed got to the Championship. Saturday, January 14, 2006 -- Morning Jerome Bettis is on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated. Bettis doesn't believe in the SI cover jinx which is that someone who appears on the cover winds up having bad luck afterwards. The thing is that good things and bad things happen all the time. Of course there will be bad things that happen to everyone and the timing is just coincidence. I haven't seen the article yet, and I hope to check it out this afternoon. Thursday, January 12, 2006 -- Evening This weekend is the Steelers versus the Indianapolis Colts playoff game. The Colts are taking a page from the Cincinnati Bengals book, and are telling ticket sellers to not sell tickets to Steelers fans. I think that the rational is sorry. Obviously the Colts can't stand to have some Steeler fans in the arena shouting out for their team. Or maybe it is because they don't want any pesky Steelers fans out there scoping out the arena for microphones that are funneling noise back onto the field in the favor of the Colts. It should be a good game, and I am predicting that the Steelers will win this one. Of course, I could be wrong just as I was wrong that the Steelers would have a losing season this year. Sunday, January 8, 2006 -- Wildcard AFC Playoff game
Daily Bongo Player of the Game: Ben Roethlisberger Steelers - Cincinnati Bengals in an AFC Wildcard playoff game. First half: The Steelers received the first kickoff. Not much happened in the first possession by the Steelers except for possession of the ball for four and a half minutes. The Bengals had a great second play. Carson Palmer threw the ball 66 yards to Chris Henry. Bad thing is that Palmer was hurt on the play and had to be carted off the field for further evaluation. It looked like Kimo von Oelhoffen was blocked into Palmer and caught him around the ankle/knee of his left foot. Let's hope that Palmer is okay. Right now Jon Kitna is in for Palmer. There is alot of pushing and shoving going on with each play now because some of the players think that the Steelers might have purposefully taken out their quarterback. However from the replays, it is very obvious that it was just an accident and that von Oelhoffen was knocked into Palmer by a Bengal. The thing that concerns me from the activity that is going on is that the Bengals might come out to hurt Ben Roethlisberger. The Bengals aren't able to do anything with the ball even though it is in the red zone and have to settle for a field goal. They score first and it's now 3-0. After the commercial break, the footage that we see on television of the Bengals shows us a picture of dispair and heartbreak. They look as if it is the fourth quarter with one minute left and they are twenty points behind. Chris Henry is now also injured and will be out of the game it appears. So far, the Steelers have now had three false starts in seven plays. Bill Cowher is yelling up a storm on the sidelines. So now the Steelers have a first and 20. Meanwhile the team just can't seem to get anything moving. The issue appears to be the high crowd noise. This week, there was a big push by the Bengals ticket sellers to NOT sell tickets to Steeler fans. So if someone called from the 412 area code, you were unable to purchase tickets in Cincinnati. The Steelers have to kick off again. The Bengals have moved the ball down the field and have gotten a touchdown. Even with a backup quarterback, they are whooping out butts. Score now is 10-0. Ike Taylor had a nice punt return, but now we have a third down with five yards. Roethlisberger got us the first down by running the ball himself. The Steelers have gotten the ball down into the red zone and Roethlisberger tossed the ball to Willie Parker who runs the ball in for a touchdown. Score is 10-7. The problem is that the Bengals seem to be doing a good job of getting the ball down the field. Chad Johnson just had a nice catch to move the ball down the field in to the red zone. The Bengals are really close to scoring again. It looked like Troy Polamalu recovered the ball from a fumble, but wasn't given it, and he threw the ball at a Bengal and it cost us an unsportsmanlike penalty. The Bengals are now on third and goal and got the ball down near the goal line. There was a flag though and it was a penalty against the Steelers and an automatic first down. Bengals get a touchdown with a pass from Kitna to TJ Houshmandzadeh. Score is now 17-7. Roethlisberger just threw a 54 yard pass to Cedric Wilson. Now another fifteen yard pass to Antwaan Randle El. Jerome Bettis is in the game, and they tried to do one of those fancy moves from Roethlisberger to Bettis to someone in the end zone. He missed, but the Roethlisberger came back to toss one in to Hines Ward for a touchdown. Now the defense needs to step it up! They do, and the offense gets the ball. Roethlisberger is under attack for all the plays and the half ends with a score of 17-14. Second half: The Bengals get the ball first and right away, Bill Cowher challenges a call of a completion to Chad Johnson. The ruling on the field that it was complete is overturned and the Steelers don't lose a time out. The Bengals get the ball down the field and then try for a field goal, and botch it. Something bad happens on the snap and the Steelers now have the ball. The Steelers are trying to march the ball down the field and Jerome Bettis got them a first down. They are the 44 yard line. Roethlisberger throws the ball down to Randle El, and he almost had the ball although the Bengal defenseman was all over him. It resulted in a penalty. Woo-hoo! They give the ball to Bettis and he ran it in for a touchdown! Finally! The Steelers have pulled ahead for the first time in the game. Score is now 21-17 in favor of the Steelers. Larry Foote just sacked Kitna. The Steeler defense needs to step it up even more to keep the lead. The Steelers get the ball back. Great play coming up! Randle El gets called over by Roethlisberger. The ball gets snapped to Randle El. He starts running, then throws it to Roethlisberger who then throws it down to Wilson for a touchdown! Score is now 28-17. That play was just great. They keep on showing it over and over. Now for news about Palmer is that he has a torn ligament in his knee and is out for the season. James Farrior just picked off the ball from a Kitna pass. The Steelers have the ball again on the Cincinnati 40 yard line. Willie Parker almost got a first down on the next play. Then the ball was given to Bettis, and he just dragged three Bengals down the field with him to the five yard line. Now we are third and goal and on the three yard line. The Steelers try another trick play that doesn't work, and have to settle for a field goal. Score is now 31-17. The Steelers have 24 unanswered points. The Bengals couldn't do anything with the ball, and the Steelers have it back. The Steelers are basically runing the ball now because it will run down the clock. Polamalu intercepted Kitna and started running. As he was getting tackled, he threw the ball back to Chris Hope who ran the ball somewhat farther down the field. The throw was a stupid move because what if the ball had gone back to the Bengals with a fumble? Cowher talked to Polamalu for abit on the sidelines, then smiled and whacked him on the head with some papers. It doesn't even look like the Steelers are going to try for a touchdown. They have the ball on the 20 yard line and are just taking the knee. I guess that they are just going to run down the clock and then the game will be over. Final score is 31-17. Sunday, January 1, 2006 -- Evening The New England Patriots lost today, so the Steelers will be playing the Cincinnati Bengals next Sunday at 4:30 in the first round of the playoffs. Sunday, January 1, 2006 -- Sixteenth game of the season
Daily Bongo Player of the Game: Jerome Bettis Sunday, January 1, 2006 -- Afternoon Steelers versus the Detroit Lions. First half: The Steelers kick off to the Lions, and they aren't able to do much. When the Lions punt, Antwaan Randle El ran the ball down the field for 80 yards for a touchdown. It was a great run! Randle El is my favorite player because he's always so chipper and happy. Oh, and he's a cutie! Score is 7-0. The Steelers have to win this game to get into the playoffs, so it is looking good so far. The Lions get the ball back, and manage to get the ball down the field enough for a touchdown. The score is now tied 7-7. Now for the first time in the game, the Steeler offense is on the field. Willie Parker did the first run with the ball. I gather that means that even though Jerome Bettis is the starter, Willie Parker can be the first person to run in the game. The Steelers couldn't do much and have to punt. This is not looking good. The Lions got a long throw down the field, and then a penalty in their favor, and they get another touchdown. Score is 14-7. The Steelers get the punt and get another long run of 63 yards, this time from Ricardo Colclough. We have the ball around the 20 yard line, and Ben Roethlisberger threw the ball to Heath Miller on the 10 yard line. Bettis then rund the ball in a few yards but still short of a touchdown. Then Hines Ward misses a throw, and Verron Haynes gets it to the one yard line. It's fourth down. They go for it, and of course, give it to the Bus, and Bettis runs it in for a touchdown. Extra point is good and the score is tied again. First quarter ends with the tie. The Lions aren't able to do much with the ball, and it goes back to the Steelers. So far, there have been several missed interception opportunities on the part of the Steelers. Still not able to do anything and the Steelers have to punt again. There was almost an interception on Roethlisberger. The announcers are commenting on how Ward has not had a catch yet today. Right after that, Roethlisberger trips over his own player and they call it a sack. It's third and thirteen and Roethlisberger is under attack. He manages to throw the ball to Haynes which was risky because two other Lion guys were there. It wasn't enough to get a first down though. We have to punt and the Lions are trying to get up the field when the runner gets tackled, drops the ball, and the Steelers recover. Willie Parker gets a couple of good runs and we are in the red zone at the two minute warning. Parker ran the ball a few more yards. Then they handed the ball to the Bus, and he ran it in for a touchdown. So far in this game, Bettis has three carries for eight yards and two touchdowns. Score is now 21-14. Troy Polamalu manages to strip the ball, and the Steelers recover. Roethlisberger overthrew Ward, and then Randle El couldn't hold onto the next pass and the Lions intercepted, but as the guy was getting tackled, he tried to toss the ball forward which was an illegal move. So the half ended. Second half: The Steelers get the ball first and Willie Parker ran it a few yards, then Ward got a good catch in his 119th consecutive game. The ball is down on the four yard line, and they gave the ball to the Bus who gets yet another touchdown. Score is 28-14. Unfortunately, the Lions seem to have some answers, and they ran the ball down the field to score a touchdown. Score is now 28-21. So far, the 21 points that the Lions have scored in this game are the most that they have scored on a road game this season. We had a third down and one yard and the announcers were talking about how the Steelers haven't converted on third down alot. So they put in the Bus who got the down. Then they got a nice good throw and run from Heath Miller, and with only a few yards to go, Roethlisberger ran the ball in for a touchdown. Extra point is good and the score is 35-21. We are now in the fourth quarter and there are abit over eleven minutes left in the game. can we hold on to win and get into the playoffs? Bettis just ran the ball for a first down again. He is doing a great job in what may be his last home game. I think that the Steelers are going to try to run the ball now and just run down the clock. Roethlisberger was just intercepted. I think that the Steelers might have been thinking this week that they might easily beat the Lions, even though they kept on claiming that wasn't the case. Fortunately, the Lions don't score and are forced to punt. Time left? 4:56. They did a "Thank You!" for Bettis and ran it on the Jumbo-tron and the crowd went crazy. Less than three minutes now, so I think that it is obvious that we are moving on to the playoffs. The announcers weren't even showing the last few minutes of the game. Instead they were showing their crew because this will be one of the last games televised this season. The Steelers won, and are going on to the Playoffs. Who will they play? That has yet to be determined. Sunday, January 1, 2006 -- Late Morning This afternoon's Steelers game against the Detroit Lions might be the last home game for Jerome Bettis. I think that it probably will be. Last night on the Jerome Bettis Show which is shown on KDKA, they presented Bettis with a jacket that had the show logo on it. Even though Bettis isn't officially admitting to it, it seems that this will be the end. Willie Parker went to Bill Cowher and told him that Bettis should be the starter of the game. So when the game starts, Bettis' name will be called and he will come running down the tunnel onto the field probably for the last time. It is sad. If the Steelers win today, they will be one of the wildcard entries to the playoffs. Thursday, December 29, 2005 -- Afternoon Over in the Steelers camp, Hines Ward and Casey Hampton were voted the MVPs of the team by their teammates. Monday, December 26, 2005 -- Evening One of the items that didn't get a big mention on the national broadcast of the Steelers game was the fan who got on the field. The guy got all the way onto the field without anyone appearing to challenge him. Verron Haynes ran away from the guy, and appears to the butt of some of his fellow players' jokes. Cleveland Browns player, Kenard Lang shoved the fan out of the way. While the stupid fan was jumping up and down, and losing his pants, James Harrison took matters into his own hands. As he said later, it looked like no one else was doing anything about the guy, and the guy did have his back to Harrison. So Harrison grabbed the guy from behind, body slammed him to the ground, and held him there until the security guys came over. All the players told Harrison that if the NFL fines him for grabbing the fan, they will contribute to the fine. Saturday, December 24, 2005 -- Fifteenth game of the season
Daily Bongo Player of the Game: Willie Parker The Steelers are playing the Cleveland Browns this afternoon in Cleveland. The game is being played on Saturday because tomorrow is Christmas. First half: Cleveland had the ball first, but they really didn't do anything with it. So far, we have had some good passes from Ben Roethlisberger to the receivers, and we now have the ball down in the red zone. Jerome Bettis got the ball for three carries, and scored a touchdown. For the third game in a row, the team has scored on its opening drive. The kick was good, so the score is now 7-0. This is Bettis' sixth touchdown run of the season, and 88th for his career. On the kickoff, the Browns fumbled the ball, and the Steelers almost recovered the ball, but it squirted out of Ricardo Colclough's hands and was recovered by the Browns. Hines Ward has two really good receptions, and the ball is in the red zone again. Roethlisberger throws the ball beautifully to Ward in the endzone and it's another touchdown. The score is now 14-0. Joey Porter just got his ninth sack of the season. The Browns had to kick off, and Antwaan Randle El was returning the punt, and lost the ball when he was tackled. The Browns recovered it. Fortunately, it was back at their own 20 yard line. My boyfriend put the whammy on Randle El because it looked like he was going to run it in for a touchdown, and my boyfriend has Randle El benched on his fantasy team. The Browns couldn't keep the ball, and had to punt again. For the last play of the first period was a 47 yard throw that Roethlisberger made to Cedrick Wilson. Start of the second quarter has the Steelers down on the 13 yard line. Bettis is back in the game, and powering the ball down to the first down yard line. Bettis is someone who can just drag defenders with him. We were't able to make a first down, and it looks like we might go for a field goal of 26 yards. It's good. The Steelers are up 17-0. The Browns had the ball and did nothing, and the Steelers got it back. For the first time in the game, Roethlisberger was sacked, and just now Willie Parker was held without any yardage. We weren't able to do anything with this drive and have to punt. Porter just got his second sack of the game. The Steelers' Bryant McFadden blocked the punt and got the ball at the 50 yard line. It won't be an official blocked punt because it bounced past the line of scrimmage. Another nice 21 yard throw to Ward. We are down at the 30 yard line. Parker had a few nice runs, but we weren't able to get the first down, and are going to attempt a 31 yard field goal. It's good. With 2:17, we are ahead 20-0. The Browns can't do anything offensively, and the Steelers get the ball back and just run down the clock. It's now half-time. Second half: The start of the second half is not very exciting. A few yards here and there and then punting to the other side. Just as I say that something exciting happened. Roethlisberger handed the ball off to Fast Willie Parker at the 20 yard line, and Parker ran the ball 80 yards down the field for a touchdown. With this run he gets his 1000 yard in a season mark. Congratulations Willie! The Steelers are now ahead by 27-0. The Browns got the ball, and managed to get it down the field. Porter got his third sack of the day, and the Browns decided to go on a 4th and 13. The ball was overthrown, and the Steelers get the ball on the 29 yard line. The Browns should have gone for a field goal so at least they would have some score as opposed to a big old goose egg. Bill Cowher challenged a call of an incomplete pass to Wilson, but the refs threw it out. The Browns got the ball, and Verron Haynes ran the ball 11 yards into the endzone for a touchdown. Extra point is good and the score is now 34-0. There is still a minute left in the quarter and another quarter to play, but the game already has a feel of being over for all intents and purposes. By the fourth quarter, Cowher pulled some of the starters, and Charlie Batch is in as quarterback. At this point, it is just running down the clock, and the final score is made with a 31 yard pass to Quincy Morgan. The extra point was good, and the score is 41-0. There are 6:12 left in the game. Cleveland keeps the ball for the rest of the game, but doesn't really do much with it. The game ends with a final score of 41-0. Wednesday, December 21, 2005 -- Afternoon Last year nine Steelers made it to the Pro Bowl. This year, the Steelers haven't been playing as well, and only four players were named to the Pro Bowl. They are Alan Faneca, Jeff Hartings, Joey Porter, and Troy Polamalu. Notable abscences are Hines Ward, who has gone to the Pro Bowl for four years in a row previous to this year, and Ben Roethlisberger who has had a pretty good year statistically. The teams who have the heaviest representation are those that are doing well, such as the Colts, Bears, Chargers and Falcons. Tuesday, December 20, 2005 -- Morning The Steelers are eigth in the NFL in bonuses. The Steelers have so far this season paid out $41 million dollars in signing bonuses. The Steelers had to resign alot of players this past season and accounts for a good portion of the payments. One bonus that is not likely to be paid is to Tommy Maddox. If he is still on the roster in March, he will receive a $100,000 roster bonus. So it is probably very likely that he won't be around by that time. Sunday, December 18, 2005 -- Fourteenth game of the season
Daily Bongo Player of the Game: The Steeler Defense Sunday, December 18, 2005 -- Afternoon Steelers game today. We will be playing the Minnesota Vikings. Since the Steelers had alot of problems with the noise level (real or manufactured) playing against Indianapolis Colts, they played some practices with manufactured noise to prepare for another game in a domed stadium. First half: The Steelers got the ball first, and are moving the ball down the field. We are yards from a touchdown now based on a throw by Ben Roethlisberger to Heath Miller with a good block by Hines Ward. Now we are down to fourth down and couldn't convert a touchdown. We went for the field and Jeff Reed kicked it in for three points. The ball was going back and forth and the Steelers had it again, and Antwaan Randle El signalled for a fair catch, but then didn't catch the ball. There was a fumble and it looked like the Vikings got the ball. There was a review, and the ball was given to the Vikings because Randle El didn't catch the ball. It seems that Randle El's goal was to signal for a catch and then to get the heck out of there when it looked like he wasn't going to get it. While trying to get out, he was tackled and the ball bounced off him and the vikings recovered. The bad thing is that the Vikings are on the three yard line. The Vikings throw the ball. It looks like an incomplete pass, but they are challenging because it looks like the guy came down with two feet and then lost the ball. The Vikings lose the challenge and a timeout. They are unable to get a touchdown and have to settle for a field goal. Score is now tied at 3-3. The Steelers have the ball again. The second quarter starts, and it looked like a fumble, but the Steelers were offside. The vikings had the ball, but fumbled a catch, and Joey Porter recovered the ball. Neither team seems to be taking advantage of any opportunities. Randle El just returned a punt for 72 yards. We are down now around the 14 yard line. They gave Jerome Bettis the ball three times, and he got the first down. The Steelers are at the four yard line. The Steelers are third and goal at the three yard. Roethlisberger was under pressure, and he ran and got the ball in for a touchdown. Randle El put in a hit for him. The extra point was good. Score is 10-3. The ball got thrown down by the vikings for a possible touchdown and it was intercepted in the endzone by Deshea Townsend. The Steelers take the knee for the final 18 seconds and we go to halftime. Second half: The Vikings had the ball, but couldn't make a touchdown, so they tried for a field goal. The Steelers blocked the ball, so there was no score and it was now our ball. Our offensive line is holding up very well, and Roethlisberger was sacked for the third time today. The ball was thrown to Cedric Wilson and the officials said it did not make a first down. Bill Cowher challenged the placement of the ball, and the official review put it down further on the field and we got the first down. Then a hand off to Willie Parker that got them 49 yards. The Vikings got a penalty for holding on Ward, and that got us to a first down on the 14 yard line. Roethlisberger got sacked for the fourth time with a loss of five yards. We couldn't get a touchdown, and had to settle for a Reed field goal. Score is 13-3. At the kickoff, the Vikings fumble, and the Steelers recover at the 30 yard line. Again we aren't able to get a touchdown and have to settle for a field goal which is good. Score is 16-3. The vikings had the ball, then we did, then we had to kick off to them. They had the ball in their end zone, and we tackled the runner and got a safety. So the score is now 18-3. And we get the ball again. Randle El ran the ball for a first down. He has been doing well this game even though he did have the screw up with the punt and fumble in the first half. Larry Foote got a sack on the Vikings quarterback, and with abit over five minutes left in the game, the Steelers have the ball again. The game is winding down, and it looks like the Steelers are going to win. The Steeler take the knee to win the game. Final score is 18-3. Wednesday, December 14, 2005 -- Evening Some good news for Pittsburgh sports fans: Jerome Bettis was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week award. Bettis rushed for 101 yards and got two touchdowns which were reasons for him to get the award. It's ironic in a way because Bettis is seen as an elder statesman on the team, ready for retirement, and then he just goes and show you that he has it it him. Maybe not every day, but when push comes to shove, you know that you can count on Bettis. Bettis' teammate, Ben Roethlisberger, has been creating alot of controversy over his thumb. Roethlisberger has been commenting on how his thumb is broken and how he is having problems throwing the ball. At his press conference yesterday, Bill Cowher was getting pressed by one of the regular news guys at KDKA about the issue. It finally reached the point where Cowher gave the guy his scary stare and said to just drop it and that he had answered the question. It seems that in the NFL the teams don't like information about injuries to get out. There are two ways that you could look at this, either the injury is not that serious, or it is serious and Cowher just wants to keep it underwraps. This is the second time Roethlisberger has made a big deal about an injury that Cowher wanted kept quiet. The other time was after the playoffs last season when Roethlisberger kept on talking about having broken toes. Sunday, December 11, 2005 -- Thirteenth game of the season
Daily Bongo Player of the Game: Jerome Bettis The Steelers are playing the Chicago Bears today. First half: The Bears have the ball first. Chicago has another of my favorite players, Muhsin Muhammad. The Bears don't have the ball for long, and have to punt. Willie Parker just ran the ball down the field for 45 yards to get 22 yards from a touchdown. He seems to be doing well so far with another carry right after that long one for another eight yards. Hines Ward just got a short pass and ran it in for a touchdown. The score is now 7-0. chicago answers by bringing the ball down the field and within a few yards of the end zone. Inside the five yard line, and theh Bears blow three downs, and have to settle for a field goal, which they get. The score is now 7-3. There are snow flurries in the air, but nothing is supposed to accumulate so it shouldn't affect the game. The Steelers are running the ball alot and eating up the clock. We are halfway through the second quarter and the Steelers have a first down on the 12 yard line. Willie Parker has just run the ball down to the 1 yard line and are poised to make another touchdown. They give the ball to Jerome Bettis who shoves himself over the line and scores a touchdown. Score is now 14-3, and Ben Roethlisberger is doing well considering he has a broken thumb. The Chicago defense is not doing as great as their reputation this season would warrant. The half ends with the Steelers leading, 14-3. Second half: The snow is coming down now in big, thicky, fluffy flakes. I don't think it is going to accumulate, but it does looks nice as I watch the game from inside where it is warm and dry. The Steelers aren't able to do much on their first try with the ball, and have to punt. It is really coming down now, and the Steelers have the ball back and are methodically running it down the field. Bettis took the ball in for a touchdown, and the Steelers are now leading 21-3. It's snowing so hard now that it is hard to see what is happening. The Bears have the ball, and do a fake field goal attempt and punt the ball. The Steelers are onto the subterfuge and go after the ball and get it. Bettis got the ball, and just ran the ball up the middle. He gets tripped abit, but keeps on running and ran the ball around 40 yards up the field. it's amazing how you can barely see anything with all the snow. The ball went flying into the air, like water spouting out of a geyser. The Steelers managed to recover it. It seems that things are just going the Steelers way today and the announcers even commented on that fact. Just as the fourth quarter starts, the Bears are able to throw the ball down the field and it gets caught on the first yard line. The Bears then get the touchdown and miss the extra point kick. So the score is now 21-9. Bettis is having a great game so far, and my boyfriend isn't playing him in the fantasy team. Sometimes you just never know which player is going to do well in a particular game, and today seems to be Bettis' day. Bettis has come out of the game now, and is having his knee looked at so he might not be back in the game. Nope. Bettis is back in the game, and making good yardage. With 1:45 left in the game, Bettis is trying to get over 100 yards in the game, and now has 102 yards. The Steelers have won, breaking their three game losing streak and the Bears eight game winning streak. Final score was 21-9. Monday, December 5, 2005 -- Afternoon The big question here in Steeler nation is whether the Steelers have blown a chance at the Super Bowl this year or even the playoffs. There has been alot of talk over the summer about how the Steelers were going to make a real run for the Super Bowl this year. The thing is that last year was the year for them. A team doesn't often go 15-1 and then play as poorly as we did in the playoffs last year. Last year was our year, and they blew it. This year the team has been saddled with injuries and poor play. In my prediction at the beginning of the season, I had the Steelers doing alittle bit worse then they actually have been doing, although if they totally crap out, my prediction of a 7-9 season might not be too far off. I also thought that the Cincinnati Bengals would take the division this year, and they do seem on track for that. Right now the Indianapolis Colts look like they are on their way to a possible win in the Super Bowl with their win yesterday. Right now, the Colts are undefeated at 12-0. Of course, all bets are off once the playoffs start and every team starts at 0-0. Sunday, December 4, 2005 -- Twelfth game of the season
Time for the Steelers game. First half: It was starting to look like a boring start to the game. Ben Roethlisberger came out with a couple of good throws, but nothing went anywhere and we had to punt. The Bengals were having the same luck. But then the Steelers got the ball, and with a few good throws to Heath Miller we got it down to the goalline. Jerome Bettis ran the ball in for a touchdown. Score is now 7-0. The Bengals came back though with some good throws to Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh scored the tieing touchdown. Score is 7-7 with abit over three minutes left in the game. With seconds left in the first quarter, Roethlisberger managed to get the ball down the field and throw a 25 yard touchdown reception to Quincy Morgan. Score is now 14-7 Steelers. The Bengals have come back in the second quarter with an answering touchdown. The touchdown was scored by Reggie Kelly and the game is now 14-14. The Bengals have gotten an interception. It happened right after Roethlisberger was tackled and fell on his injured right hand. Then the ball was thrown all the way down the field and that was intercepted. Carson Palmer got the ball down the field and threw another touchdown pass to Houshmandzadeh. Score is now 14-21. Roethlisberger had a late hit on him that was directed at his knees. The Bengals were penalized for it, but it was a low blow. Fortunately Roethlisberger appears to be okay. Then Hines Ward was running with the ball when he was tackled and fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by the Bengals who now have the ball again. Fortunately, they weren't able to score and had to punt the ball. There were some issues with the first kickoff, so the Bengals had to do it again. It was good news for the Steelers because we got 20 extra yards out of it. A bomb was thrown down to Cedrick Wilson who came down with that ball in double coverage on the 30 yard line. We still have two minutes left in the game to tie things up. We weren't able to get a touchdown and had to settle for a field goal. Score at the half is 17-21 with the Bengals leading. Second half: In their first series of plays, the Bengals get the ball down the field, but they can't score a touchdown and have to settle for a field goal. Score is now 17-24, We got the ball back, and took the ball down the field, and Roethlisberger threw another touchdown pass to Ward. Score is now tied 24-24. On the kickoff return, the Bengals returned the ball 93 yards, and was stopped four yards short of a touchdown. The Bengals ran in the ball for a touchdown. Score is now 24-31. Not alot going on with neither able to produce anything. Roethlisberger just threw an interception in the fourth quarter with abit under 9 minutes left in the game. The Bengals have just scored another touchdown off of that interception. The score is now 24-38. Finally! I was in the kitchen making a roast turkey when I heard that Roethlisberger had moved the ball down the field and threw a touchdown pass to Ward. The score is now 31-38. There are 2:59 minutes left in the game. can we come back to win or tie the game? We have less than two minutes, and we are now on third down with 24 yards to go. If we win up punting again, we might not get the ball back. Fourth down: will they go for it? It appears that they will and we are in the 20 yard line, and Roethlisberger is sacked, throwing the ball as he goes down, almost costing an interception and further score on the part of the Bengals. It seems that the Bengals are just going to take the knew and run down the clock. The question that the game announcers have is what went wrong with a team that was 7-2 and is now 7-5? Sunday, December 4, 2005 -- Late morning I was just watching a pregame show for the Steelers game this afternoon. It seems that Ben Roethlisberger has been having some problems with his thumb. Supposedly as he was coming off the field from practice he was telling people that his thumb was really hurting him. This has been a season plagued with injury for Roethlisberger. It appears that the thumb may actually be broken because when he was asked by someone if the thumb was broken, Roethlisberger said "I don't know if I can disclose that." Interesting, but that's how the NFL is about injuries--very secretive. Charlie Batch is dressing as a third quarterback choice--meaning, you got it--Tommy Maddox might be playing today. Just in general, it's not looking good for the Steelers because we have so many injured players and the Cincinnati Bengals have been playing well. Chad Johnson is one of my favorite players and has been a steady producer on my fantasy team. Thursday, December 1, 2005 -- Evening News on the Steelers front is a controversy over the sound in the Colts stadium. It seems that the story is that the Colts put microphones around the stadium and then ran it through the speakers to intensify the sound while the Steelers had the ball. That would explain why we had so many false starts, and why the center and the guards couldn't hear the quarterback. If the Colts did that, it is illegal, and they should be fined, but neither the Steelers or the NFL is going to investigate the matter. I believe they should because this is really offensive behavior and if it did happen the team should be fined. Tuesday, November 29, 2005 -- Morning The Indianapolis Colts scored another field goal last night, and won the game with a final score of 26-7. The Colts are undefeated for the season at 11-0. This is not looking good for our Super Bowl hopes. The Steelers have been talking about making a run at it since we lost in the playoffs last year. I just don't think that this year is our year though. I may be wrong because the season isn't over, and I have been wrong in the past. We will just have to wait and see. Monday, November 28, 2005 -- Eleventh game of the season
Monday, November 28, 2005 -- Evening Steelers game tonight. I'm not sure that I'll be able to stay up till the end because I have to work tomorrow, and have a Pens game tomorrow. The Steelers are playing the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts are undefeated so far this season, and it's not looking good for the Steelers tonight. However, you never know. We'll have to see what the game brings. First Half: We won the coin toss, but we only had the ball for a little over a minute before we had to kick off. on the first play, the Colts scored. Peyton Manning threw an 80 yard touchdown pass. 1:44 into the game, and the score is 7-0 with the Colts leading. The Steelers weren't able to do anything with the ball, but then our defense held off the Colts, and they were forced to go for a 49 yard field goal. They got it and the score is now 10-0. Our offense is getting a royal ass whooping. But thank goodness for the defense. Troy Polamalu intercepted the ball and ran it down to the 7 yard line. Will we score and start to get things abit closer? They did it. Ben Roethlisberger threw the ball in to Hines Ward on the third down for a touchdown. The score is now 10-7. Maybe it won't be that bad after all. Damn! We got the ball in field goal range and could have tied things up when Jeff Reed missed the mark. Wow! So the score is still 10-7. There has been alot of back and forthing with the Colts making a field goal at the beginning of the second quarter. More back and forthing. Manning was just sacked with 2:38 left in the half by Joey Porter. The Steelers got the ball back, and then Roethlisberger was intercepted with less than 30 seconds lefft in the game. The Colts were able to score another field goal before the half ended. Score at the halfway mark is 16-7 in favor of the Colts. Second half: The Steelers, bravely or stupidly, did an onside kick to start off the half, and it was recovered by Indianapolis on the 37 yard line. Manning and crew managed to come down and score a touchdown 3:15 into the half. The score is now 23-7. I have to admit that I haven't been paying as much attention to the game as I probably should because our offense seems incapable of doing anything against the Colts defense. Not only that but we have been killing ourselves with penalties, especially offside and false start because they can't seem to hear themselves in the stadium. There are only a few minutes left in the game, and the Colts have intercepted the ball. The game is over for all intents and purposes, so I am going to sleep and will confirm the final score tomorrow morning. Tuesday, November 22, 2005 -- Afternoon At his weekly press conference today, Bill Cowher listed Ben Roethlisberger as probable. That should mean that he will be starting next Monday barring any unforseen circumstances. Two former Steelers players and a coach have made the semifinal list for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The players are Dermontti Dawson and L.C. Greenwood. The coach is Russ Grimm. The semifinal list for the next induction into the Hall of Fame has 25 names, and that will be narrowed down to 13 candidates in January from which three to four will be selected for the Hall of Fame in February. Good luck guys! Sunday, November 20, 2005 -- Tenth game of the season
Daily Bongo Loser of the Game: Tommy Maddox Sunday, November 20, 2005 -- Afternoon The Steelers are playing the Baltimore Ravens this afternoon. Originally the game was scheduled for 4 pm, but since the Ravens have been playing very poorly this year, the league moved the game up to 1 pm, and put the Indianapolis Colts and the Cincinnati Bengals. First half: Tommy Maddox is starting the game. The Ravens had the ball first, but they weren't able to do anything with it, so now we have the ball. we weren't able to do anything with it either. Deshea Townsend intercepted the ball, but the offense wasn't able to do a thing, so we wound up punting the ball. Maddox sucks! He just had the ball, looked like he was going to throw the ball forward, and then just dropped it to the ground. The Ravens pounced on it because Maddox sucks when it comes to taking care of his fumbles. The guy is as stiff as if he has a long broomstick shoved up his butt, and it makes him incapable of falling on the ball. Fortunaately, they considered it an incompletion and we just had to punt off. We are now into the second quarter and neither side has shown much going on. Tommy Maddox sucks, and can't do anything. The Ravens weren't able to get a touchdown, but were just able to get a 47 yard field goal. The score is now 3-0. Finally! It's about time. After a ton of ineffectual attempts by Maddox to make plays, he finally tossed the ball off to Heath Miller. We have finally made a move. Then another long pass to Hines Ward. It could have been a touchdown if Ward didn't have to wait for Maddox to throw the ball. Poor timing on Maddox's part, but at least the play happened. We are in the red zone, but Maddox just got sacked. Maddox just stood there and waited to get sacked because he is unable to move. So we got so close again, and Maddox wasn't able to get anything done. Jeff Reed had a 44 yard field goal, so the game is now tied at 3-3. The Ravens just got a touchdown. The extra point was good. The score is now 10-3 in the Ravens' favor. We just got the ball, and Maddox had a very poor pass that was almost intercepted. Maddox threw another that was dropped. The ball was underthrown according to the announcers. Maddox threw another and it wasn't much of anything. Maddox was yelling at the ref, like the ref is responsible for Maddox being a Hoover and sucking up the field. The ball was punted to the Ravens and Jamal Lewis fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by Townsend. Maddox is back to throwing the ball ineffectually. There were the standard dropped passes or passes to the air and a sack, and now we are stuck with settling for a 37 yard field goal. It's good. Score is now 10-6. The Ravens managed to get the ball down the field but weren't able to get a touchdown. They did a field goal though, and the score is now 13-6. We need a touchdown to tie things up. There are only 21 seconds left in the half, so I doubt that any scoring will be done with Maddox at the reins. First half is over now with nothing happening. Second half: If anything Maddox is even worse in the second half. Maddox has a blind side with encompasses him by 360 degrees. So he got charges on his "blind side" which was face on towards the defensive back, and the ball got tipped and intercepted and almost run into a touchdown. Fortunately, the defense was offside so we got the ball back. Maddox just really looks awful and the thing is that we are pretty much stuck with him. Maddox just really seems to be having trouble throwing the ball and making a connection with anything except the ground or to bounce off someone in a purple uniform. Unfortunately, our only option at this point is Antwaan Randle El, and he isn't seen as a really viable option because he's on the short side for a quarterback. Randle El just had a play as quarterback where he tossed the ball off to Willie Parker. We now are 4th and inches, and we are going to go for it. Unfortunately, Maddox just called his second time out within a few plays of each other. Is it because Maddow is totally incompentent and an idiot and should not be on the field, but should be selling third rate insurance? Well, after wasting another time out, Maddox got sacked. The thing that really sucks is that if Maddox just didn't take a few steps back from the line of scrimmage and stand there like he was planted into the ground looking at the defensive guys rushing at him, he wouldn't get sacked. Put Randle El in! It's not like Randle El will blow a lead. We are losing to one of the worse teams in our division, and Randle El definitely couldn't be worse than Maddox. The Ravens have the ball now where they sacked Maddox. Randle El got to be quarterback again. He threw the ball to Willie Parker for a first down. Then Maddox came back in, got sacked and threw the ball up into air blindly, and now we are at 3rd and 16. Maddow called another timeout. What the heck is his problem? Well, we know what it is--incompetence. Ravens had the ball, but couldn't do anything. We get the ball, Maddox tries to throw and lost the ball. The Ravens recovered, and because we don't have any timeouts because Maddox ate them all up in five minutes, we can't challenge it because it seems it was a questionable call. As the announcers were saying, all Maddox had to do was play smart and not have turnovers. So what did Maddox do? He played like an idiot and turned the ball over. Finally! With 5:15 left in the game, the Steelers managed to get down the field with some help from Randle El and Hines Ward to get a touchdown run in by Willie Parker. The extra point is good, and the game is now tied, 13-13. Two minutes are left in the game, and the Steelers have just gotten the ball. We now have to get the ball down to score a field goal at least. We have no timeouts so we have to hurry up and do things. Maddox throw the ball poorly, and it got knocked off of Ward and recovered by the Ravens. The officials are reviewing the play. The Ravens have it and are trying to get the ball down within field goal distance. Fortunately, the Ravens weren't able to anywhere and time ran out. There were flags on the final play with Kyle Boller missing a Hail Mary pass. We now go into overtime. Overtime: Joey Porter called heads and we get the ball first. It's sudden death. Maddox managed to throw a 25 yard pass to Cedrick Wilson. After gaining some yardage, Maddox couldn't get any first downs, and then got sacked so the Steelers have to punt. The Ravens weren't able to do anything, and we got the ball back. Unfortunately, Maddox is still getting sacked. Right after that, Maddox threw the ball right at one of the Baltimore players. There wasn't even a Steeler in sight. Bill Cowher was just left to shake his head. The Ravens have the ball again. The Ravens got a first down in Steeler territory. They are on the 44 yard line. Boller almost threw a touchdown pass, but it just got dropped. The Ravens now have the ball around the 30 yard line. They are going to try to get even closer to give their kicker a chance. The Ravens have their field goal team on the field. If the Steelers lose, it is because of Maddox and his numerous incompletions and standing rooted to the spot when under siege. The Ravens made it and they won the game. 16-13. Friday, November 18, 2005 -- Evening Antwaan Randle El is one of my favorite players. This past Tuesday, Randle El went to school with a local boy, Robert "Schwartzie" Schwartz, as part of the NFL and JC Penney's Take a Player to School program. Children can enter their names into the contest, and the winning child gets to take a player to school on Tuesdays, which are typically off days for the players. Randle El showed up at Schwartie's house in a limo and went to school with him at Jefferson Elementary School. At the end of the event, Randle El put Schwartie's phone number in his cell phone so they could keep in touch. It seems that Randle El told the kids that his favorite position is quarterback. There has been alot of talk about whether having Randle El be quarterback would be a bad or good idea. Randle El has alot of confidence in his abilities. Although Randle El was a good quarterback during his college years at Indiana, he's really on the small side (5 ft. 10 in and 192 pounds) which would make it difficult for him to play the position in the NFL. Bill Cowher has commented that he wasn't so sure about Randle El having a good line of sight over the large linebackers to thrown the ball. The only way that Randle El will be called into action is if Tommy Maddox is injured and Charlie Batch can't go in for him. Wednesday, November 16, 2005 -- Evening Cedric Wilson is not very happy with the amount of playing time and throws that he has been getting since he has been with the Steelers. As Wilson said, he should have checked out the situation before he decided to come to the Steelers so he would have had a better idea of what to expect. Surprisingly, Wilson seemed ignorant of the fact that this is a running team, which I thought was common knowledge. Tuesday, November 15, 2005 -- Afternoon Charlie Batch is definitely out for this Sunday's game. Ben Roethlisberger is still listed as questionable, but things are looking like it is going to be Tommy Maddox starting the game. This isn't necessarily good news because the team had some issues with Baltimore Ravens the last time that we played them. Tuesday, November 15, 2005 -- Morning It seems that the Steelers may be planning on playing Ben Roethlisberger this coming Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Even if they don't, they might possibly go with Charlie Batch who has a broken pinky finger on his right hand (which is his throwing hand). There's also the horrible Tommy Maddox and Antwaan Randle El, the college quarterback with the 51 yard pass this past Sunday. All will be decided based on how much practice Roethlisberger does and how he bears up under the practice. Monday, November 14, 2005 -- Late Afternoon Some people really irk me, and I have to admit that my biggest source of irkdom is the person who sits next to me in the cube farm where I work. This person insists that fan threw trash on Tommy Maddox's lawn and harrassed his children in school. Granted, part of the problem is that the true story did not get reported to the extent that the rumor was reported. However, if Maddox's wife denies that it happened, and there is no police report, I have to say that it didn't happen. Now maybe Maddox spread that story around at first until he realized that he was caught in a lie, but the fact of the matter is that it did not happen! Well, the person in the cube next to me (boy, I can't stand him) refuses to acknowledge the stories that are out that prove that the fans are innocent of charges. I don't understand someone who is unwilling to accept facts because they heard a rumor and the rumor must be true. What an irritating putz! What do you do about people who are closed minded? The obvious answer is to ignore him, but the fact that this untrue rumor continues to besmirch the reputation of the Steelers fan gets my goat. Interesting side note on the Hines Ward reception statistics. Although Ward has more receptions than John Stallworth, Stallworth has almost 2,000 more yards from scrimmage, and 63 touchdowns compared to Ward's 42. This is not to lessen Ward's accomplishment because we also have to understand that the Steelers are not necessarily a throwing team, and they do tend to rely more on the running game. Sunday, November 13, 2005 -- Ninth game of the season
Sunday, November 13, 2005 -- Evening The Steelers played the Cleveland Browns this evening. We used to have a real rivalry with the Browns, but that pretty much ended when the Browns were moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens. Charlie Batch is starting for the Steelers. First half: The Browns had the ball first. They had possession for 5:07 and wound up with a touchdown at the end. Score is 6-0, but the Steelers should get the ball now. So far, the Steeler defense is not doing the best job. Batch has been throwing the ball down the field and threw a nice one to Hines Ward and Antwaan Randle El. Ward then caught a bobbling ball in the end zone that went under review to see if he really had control over the ball and if he was in bounds. The announcers don't think that the review will change the play on the field, but we shall see. If Ward has three receptions tonight, he will break John Stallworth's record for number of receptions for the team. The touchdown pass was ruled incomplete. We weren't able to capitalize in the redzone, and the team went on the fourth down, and wound up giving the ball back to Cleveland. So we are scoreless and it's 7-0. The Browns have held the Steelers to a scoreless first quarter, and so far, our defense is really having issues in stopping the rush of the Browns. Finally! Batch has gotten the ball down the field, and he handed it off to Jerome Bettis who ran the ball in on the second attempt for a touchdown. The score is now tied. With 3:58 seconds left in the third quarter, Ward made his third reception and passed Stallworth's record. Ward now has 538 receptions which is the new club record. The Steelers are not able to make a touchdown, so they had to settle for a field goal. The score is now 10-7 with the Steelers ahead. The Browns got the ball back and had four plays before Joey Porter intercepted the ball. We now have the ball with less than a minute left in the half, and Charlie Batch is doing a great job with throwing the ball and directing the team. It is a difference between night and day in comparison with Tommy Maddox. Again, we get it down to the end zone. It looked like Ward got the touchdown, but he was put at the one inch line. Batch then did a quarterback sneek and got the touchdown. This was purely a decision made by Batch because there wasn't time to tell anyone what to do. Batch is doing a great job. We also got the extra point, and the Steelers are ahead 17-7. Go Charlie Batch! Second half: Damn! Charlie Batch broke his hand and won't be back. Well, he might be back in case of emergency like Tommy Maddox sucking, maybe. So Maddox is on the field and hopefully he won't disgrace himself as he did before. I say if anything, bring in Randle El. He can't be worse than Maddox. What a great play! Maddox tossed the ball to Duce Staley who then tossed the ball to Randle El, and then Randle El threw the ball down the field for 51 yards to Ward who made a touchdown. I watched the play over and over. It was really great. Ward was beaming on the sidelines, and I'm sure that Randle El can't be contained! We now lead 24-7. Porter just got another sack. The team is really rallying now. The Browns are starting to make some yardage now, but hopefully that won't continue. Randel El also made a nice play by getting the ball passed to him and made a first down. So now Maddox thought that he could throw the ball because he threw one ball for three yards. Well, he threw an interception! Thank goodness there was a personal foul with a face mask that took the ball out of the hands of the Browns. We all know now that Maddox won't be throwing so the Browns are on to the run. Bettis got creamed. We are now at the point where we are taking a penalty and doing a punt because the coaching staff has no confidence in Maddox. What does Maddox do? He walks off the field with a big, broad smile on his face. As the announcers said, Maddox should not be smiling because he is a total putz on the field. They did mention the story about fans throwing garbage on Maddox's lawn which was a total lie that was perpetrated by Maddox to gain sympathy for himself with the team and the fan base at large. Because Maddox has never admitted that he lied and that the story was totally bogus, I lost all respect for him. And here we still see it being bandied about as if it were truth because the national media picked up on the lie and ran with it. I find Maddox's actions extremely offensive. People hate Maddox because he is incompetent on the field and a liar. The Browns had the ball, and then it looks like they fumbled the ball and it was recovered by the Steelers. It looks like it was a completion that was dropped. The Browns challenged the call and it was ruled that the call was right on the field. It is now the fourth quarter. Maddox is back on the field and we are running the ball again. Maddox threw the ball again, and totally overshot the player. Maddox can not throw, so that was a wasted down. We wound up getting a field goal. The Browns aren't able to do much, and we have the ball again. Maddox was finally able to make a completion throw to Ward. The fans |
