Steelers Lose at Home... Sorry on Road

My Steelers lost a tough one today, but the atmosphere made it all worth while. Well, other than those few Cardinals fans that decided to show up to prove again how much Arizona cares little about their teams. And, "yes it does," to the Cardinal fan (season ticket holder) that sat behind me. The clock does stop after a penalty and you can now stop yelling at the refs for it (every time). The photo above is from the closed end zone in the first quarter. Steeler Nation was strong today!

I've been to The University of Phoenix Stadium in the past and just like today it was a great place to catch a game. Not your typical football atmosphere, but 70 degrees inside was better than the 98 outside. It definitely has a 'wine & cheese' feel versus your typical Mid-West or East Coast Stadium. But when the Steelers are in town, for one game, it feels like a game back home again. Something about fans that have true passion for their team that just feels good. Sure, you could hear the Cardinals fans cheering if you were at the game or watching from home. But were they really cheering the game or just cheering against the guy sitting next to them in the Steelers cap. I think the latter, as the Cardinals fans in my section (111) really didn't know when to cheer or not to cheer. A Cardinals fumble is when not to cheer by the way. It shouldn't have taken Steelers fans cheering for Cardinal fan to realize that one.

Again, great facility, but here's one for any others being built anytime soon. Just because ADA says you have enough bathrooms, go ahead and add a couple more just to say you used common sense. Remember that 30K fans all go to the bathroom at the same time. End of quarters and half-time. For once, I would love to see an entire 3rd quarter. Fifteen minutes just doesn't cut it with meeting current ADA regulations.

I'm definitely a little bitter after a tough loss like today, but very happy I got to see my team play without having to fly to see it happen. Hopefully they will keep up the pace, learn from their mistakes and make it back to the desert in early February. Here We Go Steelers, Here we Go!

This Just In - US Athletes Heading to Canada

Who would have thought this day would ever come. The day that Canadians look down at America and say to themselves, "Let's take a weekend to Chicago or New York, the currency conversion is great for us." That day has come and to think just 10 years ago I was taking weekend trip after weekend trip to Windsor, Niagara Falls and Toronto and getting $1.36 for every $1US. Today I'd get $0.99.

It's not just the housing market folks. The credit market is a mess and the dollar is weak, so weak that come holiday time in a couple months, travelers will be coming to the US from all over the world to shop in our cities, because this is where things are most affordable and the savings can pay for their flight.

How will the sports world be impacted? Only time will tell, but I know of many an athlete that wouldn't consider heading to the Blue Jays, Raptors or the Expos of old. $10MM just wasn't $10MM up north. Will athletes soon be looking down on the US saying the same?

I don't expect it to happen, but in this day and age of player and ownership greed, I wouldn't be surprised.

Congratulations to MLB

It's been requested that I lighten things up a bit. Not an easy task for someone as mad at everything as I am, but I'll give it a shot.

Major League Baseball has yet again broke its all-time attendance record for the 2007 season. This is a great feat, especially considering how poor some team's numbers were this year.

Overall 2007 has been a great year of baseball. Pennant races are coming down to the wire, records were broken and most importantly, my beloved Indians have returned to the playoffs.

Here's to getting a first round series against the most arrogant city in the nation - Boston. They really are not that good of a team and are in a division that really was not very good this season. It would be an honor to get to knock the Red Sox and the city of cry baby cheaters out of the playoffs.

I tried, but couldn't do it. Baseball was great this year, but won't be complete without Cleveland's first championship since 1948.

Why Risk an Injury?

Why do teams insist on getting running backs 100 yards when a game is a blowout? Fantasy football fanatics love it in the pros, but in college football there are no fantasy fans to please and an injury to your best back could kill your season.

The Buckeyes have worked their way up to 8th in the rankings, are now considered the front runner in the Big Ten and today were dominating an overwhelmed Northwestern team going into the second half. But because Chris Wells only had 96 or so yards, the Buckeyes coaching staff decide they have to get him his 100 yard game. As fate would have it, Beanie gets his 100 yards, but he also limps off the field in extreme pain.

Things look like they will be alright, but what do the Buckeyes do if Wells wakes up in the morning with an ankle the size of his thighs? Brandon Saine is already on the shelf for a couple weeks after his surgery this week.

It's great that coaches try to pad a player's stats every now and again, but would Beanie rather have 96 yards and be in full health heading into next week or have his 101 yards and be hurting? Which would Ohio State and the fans rather have?

Stats are great, but the only one that counts in the end is wins and losses. If a game is in the bag, there really is no decision that should be made. You have to keep your starters on the bench. It only takes one play and hopefully that one play doesn't cost Beanie Wells and Ohio State heading into next week and the rest of the season.

Business of Football 2007

Forbes recently released their 2007 version of the NFL's franchise values and as usual common sense would prove to be wrong. I don't question Dallas, Washington and New England at the top, but after that things get a little crazy. Dallas at $1.5 billion! Imagine what that will jump to when the new joint opens up. Very nice job Jerral!

Where things get confusing is with Houston at #4, Denver at #6 and Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Carolina at #11, 12, 13 and 14 respectively. I understand where the figures come from and how everything is calculated and see that the numbers don't lie, but it's still impossible to not question this.

How can the Cleveland Browns be at #9 with a value of $969MM and the 5-Time Super Bowl Champion Steelers be at #16 with a value of $929MM? Sure, we are only talking about a $49MM difference, but my heart and common sense tell me this can't be.

The Browns are a team that over the past few years is known for no-shows. They sell just about all the seats, but not all the fans attend. The Steelers pack the house for even pre-season games and have a waiting list that parallels Green Bay's. The Steelers are #1 in the NFL in team merchandise sales, including #1 in jersey sales. The Browns are no where close to this. They both have new facilities, spend about the same on their players and take in the same $40MM in gate revenue. You can't tell me that the Steelers operating costs are any more than the Browns' is.

Every baseball, football, basketball and even soccer and hockey season, I am always amazed at how these rankings turn out. This would make a great fantasy pool heading towards the release of the list. No way anyone gets all 32 NFL teams in the correct order.

Why do I Blog?

For the past week and a half I have everyone asking me why I created a blog, why do I waste my time, why should they care? Let me first tell you what's not the case.

It's not because I have to much time on my hands. It takes 15 minutes to create a quick blog, post it with a photo and link it up to a few other sites. It's not because I have nothing better to do and it's not because I think my opinion is more important than others.

The reason is simple to why I blog and why millions of others do the same - my wife finds sports, fantasy sports and my rants and tirades boring.

Let's face it, when I wake up excited on Sunday morning, turn to my wife and ask if I should start Jamal Lewis or DeShaun Foster today; do I really want her to start breaking down all the reasons as to why there is no way in the world that I should start Lewis? This blog is where I can let my words be heard and sometimes even get some feedback from others that agree or disagree with my opinion.

Taking this a step further, I ultimately really don't want my wife responding to my sports tirades. There are some guys out there that are looking for a woman that can talk sports with the best of them. Not me! Not at all! In fact, the last person in the world I want to discuss how Big Ten football is better than Pac Ten football, is with my wife. It's just not attractive to me. Women going crazy in sports bars over a particular play because they think it's traveling is actually one of the most unattractive things a woman can do in my book. Don't get me wrong, I see nothing wrong with a girl in a sports jersey, someone showing their hometown pride, talking sports in generalities, or celebrating a big win, but when it comes to the details and long discussions, I greatly appreciate the silence.

Does this make me sexist? When it comes to talking sports, sure. But it is what it is. I blog so that I can vent frustrations or share my thoughts on different topics (mostly sports) and not have to worry about a dead silence from my wife after a 5-minute tirade on why the Steelers will roll into the playoffs this year. And most of you actually agree with me. If you didn't, you would be religiously attending WNBA games, Women's College Volleyball and Women's Pro Softball events.

Give me a girl with a book or magazine at a ballpark any day and I'll just keep on bloggin'. I started Lewis against Cincy by the way.

The Media Needs to Calm Down

I guess Portland was picked to win the NBA Championship this year and I missed it. Greg Oden missing his rookie season does not mean the franchise should shut down, does not make Oden the worst #1 pick ever and does not mean his career is over. Oden was not drafted to make an immediate impact, but to bring great success to the franchise in the long-term.

How many rookies have ever, especially at Oden's age and with only one year of college, made that big of an impact in year one anyway. Lebron and Malone may be the only ones. Kobe certainly didn't and Amare, who Oden should be compared to the most now, didn't take his team to the promise land.

Oden has been and will be a work in progress. He was pushed around a lot in college, was not even the most valuable player on Ohio State's team last year and has a long way to go. I'm sure Portland understood this, but the media never has for some reason. He's a big man and will fill out nicely in around 5 to 6 years, but his rookie year in the NBA was going to be a rough one. Portland needs to stuff as much food in this guy as possible this year and have him working out 3 times a day.

Portland was going no where this year anyway. You can't throw all these new faces on a team and expect them to gel and win right off the bat. They will win and win with Oden, but they are still years away. Looking long-term as Portland is, getting another high draft pick next year may be the best thing that could happen to them. You just can't build dynasties with free agency in the NBA.

USF Proves Florida is tops in HS Football

Being from Ohio it's unthinkable for me to believe that any other state, be it CA, PA, TX or FL is more dominant than Ohio when it comes to High School football. Kirk Herbstreit is definitely on this same page. But what proves that both Kirk and Swope Blog are wrong is the emergence of the University of South Florida football program. They clearly prove that Florida is the dominant state in high school football.

The USF football program has only existed for three years and already they are one of the top programs in the country. There are hundreds of programs around the country that have been at it for hundreds of years and still can't compete with major football programs. Ohio has many schools that fit into that category including Toledo, Miami (OH), Akron, Kent State, Cincinnati (getting there), Ohio U, Bowling Green and more. But, USF does it in three years? They did it because of the talent right in their own backyard, something Ohio just doesn't have any more.

Programs are built, rebuilt and sustained with in-state talent. Florida is absolutely loaded with in-state talent year after year. Separate from all the recruits that stay in-state to play ball, take into account all of the players that leave Florida each year for major programs throughout the country. Ohio State lands just about all the 4 or 5 star recruits the state of Ohio has, with very few big time prospects left over.

USF is also competing against 3 major programs in-state for recruits in Florida, Miami and Florida State. Even after losing the best of the best to the big boy's in-state and throughout the country, they still have 97 players on their current roster that played high school football in Florida (not all active for games of course). Using The University of Akron as an example, they have 34 in-state players, but what's even more telling of the lack of talent in Ohio compared to Florida, is that Akron has 12 players from the state of Florida. The high school throw aways that Ohio State doesn't want are just that - throw aways. Ohio just doesn't have the talent and has no where near the deep talent pool that Florida has.

Florida may not have the same tradition that Ohio has with high school football, but one thing is for certain, Florida does have better high school football.

Netflix Earns my Shift Back

Lift, shift and retention! Blockbuster got the lift part correct. They were genius in creating plans that lured customers away from Netflix. Then they made the plans so great that customers fell in love with them. And then they cranked up the price 32% and are watching this customer shift on back to Netflix.

I was one of the millions that left Netflix and jumped on the Blockbuster bandwagon. I like to think I was responsible for the almost $1 jump or 15% increase in Blockbuster's stock price over the last couple months as well. But, as many big businesses do, they got greedy. They shouldn't have. They had my $14.99 a month for two movies at a time with unlimited exchanges at the store. The exchanges I loved. I found myself overwhelmed with movies at some points. It was a challenge to just catch up half the time. It was the perfect program, that is, until the email from them came.

Blockbuster sends me a note letting me know that I need to pick a new plan or starting next month, my current plan will jump to $21.99. That's one heck of a jump. Over the course of a year we are talking an $84 price hike. That's 24 Cafe Mocha's I could lose out on. Don't get me wrong, I'll throw money around on the web as much as the next guy, but when things become a matter of principal, you have to say enough is enough.

If you're a new subscriber to their plan, you won't see this price as they don't offer unlimited exchanges to new members now. A new $14.99 member gets two at a time rentals through the mail, but is allowed only three in-store exchanges a month. On top of that they took away the free monthly coupons for new members.

I was caught off guard, confused, betrayed and was hurt by what my beloved, loyal movie dealer was doing to me. In haste I opted to stay at the same $14.99 a month rate, but was dropped to only one at a time, while still getting my unlimited exchanges (only for current subscribers). They got me. They roped me in and punched me in the face.

Well last night I punched back. An email from my long last friends at Netflix hit my inbox. They are offering me unlimited access with two at a time for $13.99 to come back. Yes, I lose the pleasure of hitting the local BlockBox and giving a smirk as I think I am getting away with stealing as I simply exchange a movie with no money trading hands, but, but, but, I save money and win, right? Sure I do, but where I really stick it to the man, is with how Netflix on top of my mail movie access will also allow me to download a movie to my laptop as part of my two at a time. Blockbuster doesn't offer that do they?

What Netflix has given me is basically, unlimited movies at any time. My wife and I will get the popular movies in the mail as usual, but the movies I want to watch and she doesn't, I'll simply download them anytime, anywhere I want and watch them at my leisure. On plane (soon to have wi-fi), in a train or during a cross country trip. Oh, if I had kids I would be the father of the year. In all seriousness, if I'm in Tulsa on a business trip, there is no longer a need for $11.99 movies (clean I promise) at 9:00 at night. I simply log into my Netflix account and download the movie of my choice. When I'm done, I can do it again. This is access anywhere at anytime. Can't get that with the BlockBox trips.

A quick comparison of rates:

Blockbuster - $14.99 a month = 2 at a time unlimited mail, with 3 in-store exchanges per month.

Netflix - $13.99 a month = 2 at a time unlimited mail, with unlimited PC downloads.

Movies at my fingertips does beat the trip up the street in my book and again, sticks it to the man. Also, thanks for the extra cash Blockbuster, I took my modest 15% gain in three months and sold all my Blockbuster stock last night. More Cafe Mocha's for me!

ESPN is Killing NASCAR

Alright, so ESPN is actually wonderful for NASCAR, but the ESPN broadcasts are absolutely excruciating and Saturday night it got outright sickening. I found myself actually muting the sound on Saturday night. But for those that made it through with the sound on, I'm sure you were playing the same game I was - Guess how many times Rusty Wallace and the ESPN crew says "Dale Jr. promised his fans he would not give up" and "You can't question Dale Jr.'s effort" and "There is no quit in Dale Jr." and "Jr. is doing this for his sponsors." Jr, Jr, Jr, Jr and I actually like Dale Jr. - a lot.

Give me a break already. It was repeated over and over. Oh, let's not forget that Rusty was very worried for Kevin Harvick all night, because as he would have you believe, Kevin's team wasn't letting him know how hard he was being on the breaks. It's the same commentary week in and week out with this on-air crew. They find a couple things to talk about and don't let it go. And if it has anything to do with Dale Earnhardt Jr. expect it to go on forever, or at least until his car blows up. Funny how they didn't have to much to say when that happened and how they actually seemed confused about what to talk about.

There is zero personality in any of the pit-road crew, booth crew or pre & post race crew. You get the feeling that they learned the drivers names on Wednesday before the race. We know the crew on Sports Center can't pronounce half the drivers names, let alone know how the sport actually operates.

I for one had enough Saturday night. Here is a clue to all those out there that constantly try to remind me that these drivers are so concerned about the points and that they are never going to say die and are out there to give it there all - the drivers only care about one thing --- WINNING! Week in and week out, that is the only thing on 43 drivers minds. They don't add up the points, they don't worry about this or that, they give it 100% every time out and all they care about is winning. And yes that does mean for themselves, for their fans and for their sponsors.

Give me the Fox on-air crew any day, even the NBC crew, which I now appreciate more than ever. ESPN will grow to understand NASCAR and it's fans eventually, but for now, I'll stick to using the mute button on the Rusty Wallace and NBA Center crew.

Who Skipped Over Manning?

So you took L.T., L.J., Alexander, Jackson or another running back in the first round of your fantasy draft over Payton Manning. A mistake made each year by millions of running back happy fantasy players. Manning is not only the top QB in fantasy football, but is the best overall player. So, why not take him? I'm very happy with trading up to the #4 pick to grab Manning. Last night's game is a great example why. Three TD's and 288 yards! Not an above average night and not a below average night, but a standard week in, week out performance by Payton.

There were two RB's playing last night that in most leagues were both drafted ahead of Manning: Bush & Addai. Put both their numbers together and you didn't score as many points as Manning did. How many people skipped on Manning in the first round to get a top 5 QB stud later in the draft like Drew Brees? How did that work out for you last night?

You take the best scoring players in fantasy in each round, regardless of position. Those that left Manning on the table for the likes of Reggie Bush or Willie Parker made a huge mistake. Somebody prove me wrong.

Borowski = Wickman = Mesa

It's been 49 years since the Cleveland Indians won a Championship and 10 years since their last appearance in the World Series. If 2007 is to prove to be the year for Cleveland, they have one major problem at the end of the rotation to overcome. Anyone who has witnessed Joe Borowski pitch the ninth inning this year with a two or three run lead understands exactly where I'm coming from.

Yes, it's hard to complain about someone who is leading the American League in saves with 40, but how many times can the Tribe get by with Big Joe loading the bases and giving up one or two runs before closing the game out? The Indians won't be playing the likes of the Royals, White Sox and Devil Rays in the playoffs. The Yankees, Red Sox and Angels will not let opportunities go by and offer a little more firepower as well. What's the Tribe's record against the latter three teams this year? The answer is 2-5 against Boston, 0-6 against New York and 3-3 against the Angels. Borowski's line in those 19 games - 1 loss, 1 save!

Cleveland fan holds their breath every time Borowski toes the mound. But, then again, Cleveland fans have been holding their breath with closers since 1994. That's the year Jose Mesa joined the Tribe. As with Borowski, Mesa put up great save numbers, but did it at the expense of an inflated ERA and a WHIP that makes all fantasy owners cry. This is a disturbing trend in Cleveland, one that the Atlanta Braves couldn't deal with, which led to the release of Bob Wickman in the middle of a pennant race. Tribe fans are extremely familiar with Wickman's closing issues, but hey, the saves were there right? Mesa, Wickman and Borowski are all the same person - plenty of saves but many more heartaches. I'm one Tribe fan that hopes Borowski doesn't lead to another heartbreak year for Cleveland fans.

So I ask, why will 2007 be different for the Tribe with Joe Borowski as their closer? A closers job is 3 up and 3 down. Remember, it was 10 years ago this October that Jose Mesa took the mound in the 9th inning of Game 7 against the Florida Marlins. How are the Borowski days of today any different than the Mesa days of old?