Christmas Ape, our old friend and possibly former gay lover as far as any of you know, humbly delivered this video of rowdy Bengals fans setting fire to a Terrible Towel in the street after Pittsburgh lost to Cincinnati, 18-12. And after listening to these fellers talk, I’m a bit surprised that said street is actually paved. But to be fair, being a Bengals fan over the past twenty years does involve a great deal of head trauma. The Bengals are now 5-0 in their division and hold first place in the AFC North all by them HEY DON’T STICK THAT FOAM FINGER IN THE FIRE YOU BIG HILLIGAN!
Thirty years after starring in what some consider to be the best sports commercials of all time, former Steeler Mean Joe Greene will be handed the 1979 Clio award. The award–given for excellence in advertising–will be presented to Greene at Heinz Field on Sunday, when the Steelers host the Bengals.
One of the more fun things about the presentation is that Greene will be reunited with Tommy Okon, who was the 9-year-old kid in the ad. Surely Okon is old enough now to appreciate the dangers of glass bottles in a stadium, especially with a large, angry dude limping around with one shoe off. The full ad is on after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Steelers 28, Broncos 10. This was actually a close game most of the way, until the Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger blew it open in the 4th with touchdown passes to Mike Wallace and Hines Ward. Ben rallied from a fumble and interception to finish with 21-29 with 233 yds and 3 TDs. And then he probably played the new Call of Duty game until 4 am.
Warriors 146, Timberwolves 105. Kelenna Azubuike scored 31 points, a personal best for the year. That surely makes up for all of those “random” body searches at the airport. More NBA.
Blackhawks 4, Kings 1. Chicago’s Jonathan Toews scored a power-play goal after sitting out three weeks with a concussion. It was a pretty sweet goal, too. Too bad he doesn’t remember it.
Hockey Hall of Famers. Congrats to Brett Hull, Brian Leetch, Steve Yzerman and those two other guys. Too bad your sport is already dead inside.
So that “concierge” from the Reno Harrah’s that filed a civil lawsuit against Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has quit her job at that hotel, according to sources confirmed by Pro Football Talk. And I understand that said job was not necessarily prefixed by “blow” or “hand.” Yes, we just recycled a joke from three hours ago.
The woman was not forced out from her job, but she resigned reluctantly after returning to work.
As one source with knowledge of the situation told us, “She quit when she couldn’t get any colleagues to sign on with her and they began to avoid her.”
That’s too bad. I mean, her civil suit blew up and now she’s apparently unemployed, but at least the Steelers are out of first place in the AFC North. I wonder if someone could hire her to fall on Troy Polamalu’s knee. She asked with her eyes, didn’t she Ben? She asked with her eyes…
Steelers safety Tyrone Carter has had the dubious assignment of filling in for Troy Polamalu, who partially tore his MCL in Week One. On Sunday against the Bears, Carter showed that he was capable of doing so when he absolutely leveled Bears tight end Greg Olsen on the sideline. His reward for stepping up and making a big play? A $5,000 fine from the NFL.
Carter leveled Olsen following a catch along the sidelines and jarred the ball loose. He did not get penalized on the play that left Carter with a thigh contusion but the NFL fined him for a hit to the head.
“Unreal,” said Carter, who plans to appeal the fine. “I watched the play over and over and I hit him in the shoulder. The NFL sees something different.” via, via.
The hit was awesome. And, as best as I can assertain, completely legal. It won’t be long before the NFL resorts to two-hand touch and slapfights in the trenches. Damn, that’s a great hit. I think he made Olsen bark like a dog there. Listen closely and you can hear him. “Arf, arf!”
By now, you’ve already learned that Pittsburgh beat Tennessee 13-10 (OT) in a four-star NFL opener last night. Noteworthy items from the game: Al Michaels’ hair looks even faker this year, and Troy Polamalu was injured in the first half and is expected to miss 3-6 weeks after spraining his MCL.
With the score tied late in the fourth, 10-10, Hines Ward fumbled deep in Titans territory for what could have been a game-changing turnover. A score from Ward–or even a “knee” and subsequent field goal–would have locked up a win for the Steelers. But after recovering the fumble, Tennessee, pinned at their own 4-yard line with less than a minute to play, chose instead to run out the clock and seek his team’s fortunes in overtime. The call seemed like a no-brainer at the time, even after Pittsburgh marched the field and scored on the extra period’s only offensive drive. But in settling for OT, Titans head coach Jeff Fisher might have cost his team their best chance to win.
A lot of people hate the NFL’s overtime format–where the first team to score wins, regardless of whether each team gets a chance to play on offense–but it is what it is and we won’t debate that here. But the one thing for which nobody ever gives the NFL credit is that their extra frame creates more incentive to win games in regulation than any other.
True, Tennessee had no possession in OT, but Jeff Fisher was aware of that possibility, as he was also certainly aware that his defense had no answer for Ben Roethlisberger [363 yards passing, 1 TD, 2 picks]. Instead of working with that possession he did have, Fisher forfeited it and hung his hopes for a win on a coin toss. And nothing about the ending to last night’s game was more unfair than that.
