It's Only 3 Thoughts. Geez.

Go...

1) Albert Pujols is having a bad World Series. Through 5 World Series games, Pujols has been held hitless 4 times. While everyone will remember his Game 3 performance, people might forget his costly 9th inning error in Game 2. His botched "hit and run" and his 9th inning strikeout in Game 5 arguably cost the Cardinals the game. Oh, and about that Game 3 performance? The Cardinals would've won by 3 without his 6 RBIs, and two of Pujols' homers came well after the game was out of hand. Bad. World. Series.

2) Mike Tomlin's former strength is now a weakness. When Mike Tomlin came to coach the Steelers, he was lauded for his handling of then-Vikings safety, Darren Sharper. Tomlin and Sharper were college teammates at William & Mary, but when Tomlin detected a slip in Sharper's play, he benched him. If Aaron Smith, Jonathon Scott, and Bryant McFadden hadn't gotten hurt, you bet they'd still be starting. The Steelers are 18-1 since 2004 when Casey Hampton doesn't start, but Tomlin has no intention of sitting the overrated nose tackle. Last week, the Steelers offense looked explosive with Hines Ward out injured--but Tomlin wouldn't dare bench the overrated wide receiver. Mike Tomlin doesn't want to hurt feelings; Captain Cliche' has a weakness.

3) Dick LeBeau can't figure out Tom Brady. Since 2004, Brady is 6-1 vs. the Steelers and more often than not, makes the Steelers defense look as helpless as a fat girl playing dodge ball. Last year, LeBeau called a total of 7 blitzes in the 39-26 debacle against the Patriots at Heinz Field. That's right--7. Going against an insanely accurate but statue-esque quarterback, LeBeau decided to give him time to pass! Brady never got sacked, but perhaps LeBeau's game plan should've been. Then again, that means Tomlin would've had to risk hurting LeBeau's feelings, so...no chance of that happening.

Steve Bartman should not be "Catching Hell"

ESPN is airing a 30 for 30 Documentary tonight (right now!) on Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS and Steve Bartman. Its a crying shame that a guy has basically been forced to become a recluse because of a city's desire to feel "cursed" and ignore the facts of what happened in that game and beyond:

....That ball was a foul ball. Not a homerun. Not a double. It affected nothing other than making Mark Prior throw another pitch with the score 3-0 and just one guy on base! Is it Bartman's fault that he walked the guy?

....Bartman just did what every other fan would do (you can see four other guys including this one reaching for the ball) 

....Is it Steve Bartman's fault that Alex Gonzalez booted a routine grounder to shortstop two batters later?

....Is it is his fault that three pitchers after Prior couldn't get out of the inning before ultimately letting up 8 runs?

And most importantly.......This all happened in GAME 6! How is it Steve Bartman's fault that the Cubs still had their second best pitcher ready for Game 7 in Kerry Wood who also blew a lead, this time earlier in the game?

If Moises Alou (a guy know for urinating on his own hands to avoid callouses BTW) doesn't jump up and down like a spoiled kid told he can't get the toy he wants, does anyone even notice Bartman? Instead Steve Bartman's life was ruined cause the Cubs were unable to hold a lead in a game they had a 95% chance of winning when the inning started. Yeah, that's a great way to treat one of your biggest fans.

Hurricane Ohlendorf Strikes Again

(9/21/11: Another Ohlendorf Disaster)

The Pittsburgh Pirates' Ross Ohlendorf is a really smart guy. The Princeton grad even did an internship with the Agriculture Department two offseasons ago.

But Ohlendorf absolutely sucks at baseball.

A quick run down of the 29 year-old's 2011 stats:

• BAA: .374
  


• WHIP: 1.99



• ERA: 8.29.

The Pirates rotation is far more productive when Ohlendorf's on injured reserve. At least when he's hurt, he can't hurt the team.

Ohlendorf has had his employer convinced--for years--that he would eventually fulfill his potential. That "potential" got Ohlendorf $2.03 million this year. Like I said, Ohlendorf is a really smart guy.

Either that, or the Pirates are incredibly stupid.

For Patriots, It's All Black and White

I'm not calling the New England Patriots organization racist.

Since 2005, the Patriots starting offensive line has been entirely caucasion while their starting defensive line has been 100% African American. See for yourself & compare this with, say, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Typically, NFL trenches are a pretty diverse group. Then again, the Patriots have always done things their own way.

I'm not calling the Patriots organization racist--even if the evidence is pretty black and white.

Mariano Rivera's Record...A Rant about Saves

I saw on Twitter this afternoon (apologize for not linking as I couldn't find the exact tweet, but do remember the exact numbers and verified it here) that since the beginning of 1996, the Pirates as a team via numerous closers have 592 saves. Mariano Rivera in that same time period has 597 of his newly record breaking 602 saves.

This was shocking to me intitially, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense and further exposed probably the most ridiculous stat in baseball. 

The Yankees have obviously been much much better than the Pirates since 1996. How are the save totals (just guessing but Rivera has probably 90-95% of the Yankee saves) so close? Easy. Just about every team is going to get a whole bunch of saves at some point in the season no matter what happens due to the nature of the baseball season. Its just a matter of who gets them. 

Rivera deserves a ton of credit for consistency and mostly good health since 1996 but someone was going to get those saves for the Yankees. No matter what the media will have you believe, most relief pitchers can hold a 2 or 3 run lead for one inning the overwhelming majority of the time. Research that I don't feel like looking up right now puts that percentage at 90+ . 

The "closer mentality" is a myth that ends up hurting teams who refuse to use their closer in the true spot that would save the game. This is often way before the 9th inning (ex. 2 on with no outs in the 7th or 8th inning) but the manager "can't" use the closer in a non-save situation cause then who will work the 9th? After all, its been "proven" that not just anyone can get those last three outs. And more importantly, what will the home stadium play to fire up the crowd if the closer isn't coming in to his entrance music?

Back to Rivera....He is a very good pitcher and undoubtedly the best closer of all time. I am just not sure what that really means with the way closers are used these days. Of course, I would much rather have him hold the saves record than a guy who let up back to back game losing 9th inning homeruns to Ryan Doumit (Trevor Hoffman). However, Rivera is not anywhere near a first ballot Hall of Famer. How many games did he TRULY add to the Yankees win column over the years? Based on how close the number of saves are between a good team and bad team in a 15 year period, I am extremely hesitant to put any relievers in the Hall of Fame....

Addendum: This is all Tony Larussa's fault. He created the modern one inning save situation and closer in the late 80s and early 90s with Dennis Eckersley. Just one more reason to dislike Larussa and his over-managing.

Addendum #2: Further proof of the ridiculousness of saves. 13th on the all times saves list with a decent chance to get to the top 6? Francisco Cordero. I don't think Reds' fans even have faith in him. Oh, and 14th is Jose Mesa.

Touchdown's "Pick Six"

Pick six, Touchdown

All odds are based on Danny Sheridan's lines as of 9:00 EST this morning.

#6. New England at San Diego, over/under = 51. Take the over. New England is good for 40 points a week, and their defense is abysmal. This shootout will go over 55 total points.

#5. Houston, -3, at Miami. Take Houston. Houston looked bad last week, which fits with their three-year M.O. of alternating poor and awesome performances. They were bad last week...they'll be good today.

#4. New England, -6.5, at San Diego. Take New England. I can't imagine New England winning by less than a touchdown against an overmatched Chargers team.

#3. Kansas City, +8.5, at Detroit. Take KC. Are we already at the point where we consider Detroit a powerhouse? You might be. I'm not. KC wasted a first round choice this year, but that doesn't mean they can't lose to the Lions by less than 8.5 points.

#2. Philadelphia at Atlanta, over/under = 50.5. Take the under. Both teams' offenses are inconsistent when they go against decent defenses, and 50.5 is a lot of points.

#1. Seattle, -13.5, at Pittsburgh. Take the Steelers. Honestly, I have no idea who the Seahawks quarterback is. Pittsburgh might be old and slow, but Ben Roethlisberger is in for a huge day.

ACC-ya later, Big East!

Pitt and Syracuse are joining the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Wonder how TCU feels about this?

3 Most Overrated Steelers

2011's Most Overrated Steelers

3. Casey Hampton. "Snack" is a good nose tackle, but he's as overrated as he is over weight. He never generates a pass rush, and contrary to what the media obsessively reports, it does not take three men to block him. He's only marginally better than his back up, but paid a whole lot more. Maybe he should put his money where his mouth is.



2. Rashard Mendenhall. Rashard spun his way into trouble this off season with ridiculous quotes about slavery and Osama Bin Laden. Not surprisingly, he fumbled last week on 9/11. Of course, Rashard doesn't discriminate--he's willing to fumble in the worst possible situations. Any way you spin it, he's overrated.



1. Hines Ward. By slow, I don't mean Hines is unintelligent. By slow,I mean that Hines is about as fast as Casey Hampton. He's had a terrific career, but he has no business playing ahead of Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown. Opposing secondaries can shift their coverages towards Mike Wallace without any risk, because Ward isn't fast enough to get downfield on his routes. It's a cryin shame, ya know?


Honorable mention: James Farrior, Troy Polamalu

Let's go NFLPA!

Popular opinion seems to be that the NFL is well on its way to a lockout. I am all for it. NFL players are by far the worst treated of any of the major sports. Why? Their union has been a puppet for ownership's interests the last 20 years or so. And the owners now want a bigger share of the pie (literally a billion MORE dollars before they even start sharing with the NFLPA)?

The owners and Roger Goodell don't realize how good they have it.

-No one will argue -not even Anthony- that football is the most dangerous and potentially life impacting injury prone of the major sports. So, it makes perfect sense that NFL Players have very little guaranteed money. Yeah, that's right. Teams can basically release them at any point with the only money due being deferred signing bonuses and potentially a roster bonus (depending on when the release happens).  Good luck to a MLB, NBA, or NHL team getting rid of that player who isn't earning his contract. That money is guaranteed unless he retires.

-Speaking of salaries, NFL players have the lowest average salary of the major sport while having the largest amount of TV money coming (by a ridiculous margin). I read an article awhile ago that the NFL could have empty stadiums and just the TV contract money coming in and still make money. I am sure that is an exaggeration but point taken. So, how are the owners crying poor and claiming that player's portion of revenue needs to go down?

-The NFL and Roger Goodell say they have nothing but the safety of players in mind. We heard all season that was the reason for the enforcing of the tackling and defenseless player rules. The seemingly random penalties of the rules and fines there could be a whole other post. Let's just say it was inconsistent at best. Are the owners really that concerned with player safety if one of the main points of contention is Goodel's desire for an 18 game regular season while taking money away from the players?  I am sure two more games will help the fact that the average NFL player's career is just 3 1/2 years? That's the shortest of any sport.

So to summarize, the owners want to take more money off the top and lower the overall percentage of money going to the players, while adding two games to a league that weekly already has life altering injuries. Its the equivalent of you or I being told you were going to work 15% more for less money. The players basically want to keep the same deal that isn't that great for them anyway (with seemingly minor tweaks like a pension system that the NFL can't consistently try to avoid paying out on).

The sad part is that the owners will eventually win. The players will cave whenever it gets to the point where they are missing game checks. They always do. The owners on the other hand get their portion of the TV money whether there are games or not.


Yeah that seems fair.....Just one more reason why Roger Goodell and friends are making me slowly hate the NFL. 


But hey, at least Pitt football is going to be exciting this fall!

Diagnosis: An Insane Superbowl

I've felt sick for almost 48 hours now. And, unlike Bird, it's not a case of explosive diareah that's bringing me down.

It's that damn Superbowl.

Anyway, according to my doctor, if I don't talk about my thoughts, I'll become a ticking timebomb.

So, for safety's sake, here goes:

1) Dom Capers' game plan was to keep Ben Roethlisberger in the pocket & the Packers executed it perfectly. I was sandwiched between my wife and a screaming baby on the couch during the game, but I was far more comfortable than Ben was all night.

2) Aaron Rodgers is the bomb.

3) I would be really good, too, if I didn't face any pressure and got to target William Gay all night.

4) Mike Tomlin's troops were slow out of the gate. I guess he thought the first half game plan against Baltimore was worth repeating. (Dud)

5) Rashard Mendenhall continues to fumble in big games. So while I might have issues, at least I don't have a case of big-game fumble-itis like he does.

6) In the 2009 regular season win versus the Packers, Troy Polamalu didn't play. In the 2010 Superbowl versus the Packers, Troy Polamalu didn't really play, either. For safety's sake!

I'd write more, but reminiscing about the game is making me even more ill.

So I'll just keep my thoughts to myself.

Tick....tick......tick.....