Stuff...and Stuff

- Here's a somewhat interesting nugget: Danny Sabourin is going to get another start for the Penguins in Colorado on Thursday night. Noteworthy because he's Danny Sabourin, and because Marc-Andre Fleury won over 40 games last season. I can't fault the Penguins for playing the hot goalie right now, but I can fault them in six years when Marc-Andre Fleury is a top goalie for another team.

- Since Pirates news is slow - as always - John Perrotto decided it would be a good time to gripe about another Pirates player evaluation mistake...Josh Fogg? Really? Honestly, that's not one i'm losing sleep over.

- Earlier this week I made a post about Ed Bouchette not watching Steelers games. Obviously, it was in a joking manner as i'm quite confident he does in fact watch the games...but then I saw the end of Mike Tomlin's press conference on Tuesday where Mr. Bouchette was talking to Stan Savran, and now i'm not quite so sure. Bouchette echoed what he wrote in his game story in the Post-Gazette and said, and this is major paraphrasing here: The Steelers came out with Dan Krieder in the I-Formation and made an effort to run the football from the start of the game, and obviously, they won.

Again, that's major paraphrasing, but the major point, to me, that he was trying to get across was this: The Steelers won because they ran the ball. Again...this is not why they won. They won because they buried the Bengals in the first half, due in large part to the forward pass, and then effectively sat on the ball in the second half.

This is worth repeating: 18 of the Steelers 31 first half plays were passing. That is a team that came out throwing from the start. Not running.

- Lesean McCoy is going to be one of the best players the University of Pittsburgh has seen in quite some time. Maybe not quite on the same level as Larry Fitzgerald, but this guy is awesome.

Ed Bouchette Doesn't Watch The Games

Let me start by saying this: I like Ed Bouchette. I think his Q & A sessions over at the P-G are hilarious on a daily basis. And while I don't always agree with him, and often times think he's completely off his rocker (see: Sepulveda, Daniel and Rossum, Allen), I still like him.

That said, He can't possibly watch the games. At least not yesterday's. Take the paragraph below from Today's P-G. After reading it, i'm completely convinced Ed was scarfing down the free turkey sandwiches handed out in the Press Box while the game was going on.

Unlike the previous week when they played the worst run defense in the NFL and threw on 10 of their first 13 plays, the Steelers opened with old-school fullback Dan Kreider in the I-formation in front of Parker and ran it.

Must...resist...urge...to...punch...screen. Serenity now. Serenity now. Serenity now.

To be fair, Mr. Bouchette is correct. The Steelers did open with Dan Krieder and they did run the ball on the first play of the game. It's just that, you know, they threw the ball on 18 of the next 30 plays.

Some Brief Thoughts From A Day Of Football

- Man, that Marvin Lewis kool-aid sure is going down the drain. Not that I was ever drinking it. The guy was getting quite the reputation for building the most consistently inconsistent 8-8 team every year, but geez. What the hell was that guy doing today? Finally, people might be starting to catch on that maybe, just maybe, he isn't the genius he was cracked up to be after that one winning season and one-and-done from the playoffs. After reading the Bengals message board following today's game, i'm starting to wonder if Bengals fans might erect a statue of Marvin Lewis for the sole purpose of knocking it over. Lewis is now 0-6 at home against the Steelers, and the Bengals are 10-16 over their past 26 games.

- Anybody catch the Steelers play selection in the first half today?

Pass: 18
Run: 13

Steelers 21 Bengals 6

Game. Set. Match.

Think anyone will complain? Think anybody will notice it? No. And No.

- Monday night. Against the Ravens. The 75th anniversary/All-Time team being introduced...Yeah. That's going to rule.

- A lot of people won't like that the Patriots obviously ran up the score again today (they were going for it on fourth down and throwing down field up by 45 in the fourth quarter), but you know what? I don't really care. This isn't pop warner where little Jimmy is going to cry if he gets his face washed in it. This is the big leagues. We're all professionals here. And as Bobby Bowden once said, "I'll stop trying to score when they stop trying to score." As a football fan, i'm more insulted by the Redskins total lack of effort from the first quarter on. That team deserved to lose by 52 points. Or 45, whatever the hell it was.

Now, i'm not saying I'd want the Steelers to play that way. I mean, i'm not worried about people thinking they're "classless" (honestly, I could care less what other people think) i'd be more worried about a key player getting crushed in a totally meaningless situation. Obviously, Bill Belichick is fine taking that risk. So more power to him. The only problem we're dealing with now is the soon-to-begin hype fest that will be Manning V. Brady - The game of games. Remember that hype around Cowboys Vs. Pats? Mere childs play. Minor league stuff. This is the big leagues now.

- What do you make of the Cleveland Browns? They get their clocks cleaned in the opener, win a game, lose a game, win a game, lose a game, win a couple, sleep walk through the first quarter today against an 0-7 team, AND BAM! They're 4-3. Crazy.

- How many people sitting in Wembley Stadium today were Americans who either, A. Live in England or B. Made the trip across the pond? A question that should be asked when asking how successful this three ring circus really was was. And no, I am no way shape or form in favor of this act of idiocy that is taking away a home game to play in a country that could give two craps about our sport.

A Way To Make The Pirates More Interesting

If the Pirates wanted to do something this off-season -- and let's face it, they won't -- they should do whatever it takes to sign that guy over there. The latest, and possibly greatest, Japanese import. Kosuke Fukudome.

Aside from having the greatest name for a jersey ever, he's also a pretty good player. A damn good player, actually. The Pirates won't even be a contender for his services, but it's fun to dream. I would buy that jersey the day he signed and wear it until the final four letters fell off the back.

The Steelers' "IDENTITY CRISIS!" - BE AFRAID! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

Earlier today I made a brief post on a column from the Tribune Review's John Harris, and after doing a little digging on the web, I found Gerry Dulac over at the P-G is sharing a similar view.

There's a few things you must understand about the outcome of Steelers games and why that outcome happens. Here's a quick rundown as I see it:

- When the Steelers win by throwing the football, it's "effective game management made possible by their willingness to run and impose their will on their opponents defense," whatever that means.

- When the Steelers lose by throwing the football, it's because they have, "An Identity Crisis." Always. When the Steelers lose and have more passes than runs, it's because they don't know who they are, and apparently, it's a crisis. A critical situation that can only be rectified by RETURNING TO THE RUN!

- When the Steelers win by running the football (this is after they've figured out their identity), it's "STEELER FOOTBALL!" Imposing their will, establishing the run, grinding it out, moving the sticks, controlling the game, etc. etc. etc. Insert your favorite cliche.

To pull a Dennis Green for a moment, this Steelers team is who they are, and it's not what everyone thinks they are. They're a passing team. They know their identity. No crisis about it. Jerome Bettis is gone. Franco Harris is retired. Barry Foster is...doing whatever it is he does. Let's move on. Please? It's Ben's team now.

With the way Harris and Dulac go off the deep end (and I completely acknowledge that I am going off the deep with this posting in response to their going off the deep end - whew!), you would think we're still playing in the 1940's and every team still runs the wishbone or wing-T and the Steelers are doing something completely unheard of. Advancing the ball in chunks through the air? Blasphemy!

Consider the last two Super Bowl teams for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The 1995 team, one of my favorite teams as a fan, had a 54:46 Pass:Run ratio during the regular season and a similar ratio during the post-season. And that team was led by Neil O'Donnell with a few spot starts from Mike Tomczack! It's a wonder they conquered the rest of the AFC by not pounding Bam Morris into the line on every single play.

The 2005 team was a little different, as its pass:run ratio was heavily favored to the run, which leads a lot of people to believe that was a "run first team." Not exactly true, because with every stat, context is the key. Check out the pass:run ratio by quarter during the regular season:

First quarter: Pass: 50 - Run: 50
Second quarter: Pass: 53 - Run: 47
Third Quarter: Pass: 39 - Run: 61
Fourth Quarter: Pass: 36 - Run: 64

Interesting, yes?

The Steelers didn't really win games that season by simply running the ball into the line a lot. They won games by getting early (and big) leads (usually by passing) and then sitting on the ball in the second half when the game was already well in hand, as evidence by the abnormal number of rushing attempts in the second half of games that season.

The best example of this, of course, is the three playoff games leading to the Super Bowl, especially the Indy game. Heading into the RCA Dome, everyone expected the Steelers to try and pound the undersized Colts front-seven (see: Imposing their will) , instead, they threw on 12 of their first 20 plays and jumped out to an early 14-0 lead. A lead they never lost.

It's not that I don't like running the football. It's just that I like winning a lot more. And to me, the best way to win, is to focus on what your players do best. When Jerome Bettis was the starting running back and Kordell Stewart was the starting quarterback, running the ball was that thing. Now that Ben, Heath and Santonio are here...the skill is outside.

And So It Begins...

So, it only took seven weeks (and only two losses, keep that in mind) for us to get our first, "THE STEELERS HAVE AN IDENTITY CRISIS" column. In case you're not familiar with this topic, "Steelers Identity Crisis" is synonymous with, "they didn't run the ball 250 times in a single game.

I'm not sure why Pittsburghers, fans and media, fear the forward pass like it's some sort of black death cooked up in the kitchen of Satan himself, but it's a little tiresome. Especially when you consider the last two Steelers teams to make the Super Bowl - which, last I checked was the ultimate goal - were mainly pass first, run second, teams. I mean, we've been clamoring for a franchise quarterback for 25 years, and now that we've got one, it seems everyone just wants him to hand the ball off.

Nuts to that.

I know i'm in the minority, but I have no problem with the Steelers offensive gameplan last night. The execution left a lot to be desired in the first half, but I thought the plan was sound. According to a poster at MGS who was at the game, John Lynch was hanging out near the line of scrimmage all night, combine that with the absence of All-everything Cornerback Champ Bailey, and you're damn right i'm throwing the ball.

Now, the defense last night...that's an entirely different story. Feh.

Some Quick Takes

1. I think if he had the chance, Tim McCarver would eat Manny Ramirez' soul.

2. Javon Walker is out (knee surgery) for Denver on Sunday. Walker, in case you've forgotten - and Ike Taylor surely hasn't - absolutely torched the Steelers last season.

3. This South Florida-Rutgers game has been crazy, although not quite as crazy as Ray Rice himself, that guy is a bull. It's just a shame the refs overturned South Florida's Holy Roller play on a blocked field goal. I mean, sure, it was the right call, but how exciting was that?

4. Josh Beckett has been lights out this post-season. After tonight's domination of the Indians he's up to, I believe, 23 strikeouts and only one walk. Not too shabby.

5. I still can't believe how much Kenny Lofton looks, and plays like, Willie Mays Hayes from Major League.

Not Starting Brandon Webb: Bad Move

Right now, The Arizona Diamondbacks are trailing 6-1 in the fourth inning of a game they absolutely, positively, no questions asked, HAVE TO WIN! If they lose, the Colorado Rockies - unstoppable force - are headed to the World Series while the Diamondbacks end their season.

Bob Melvin, Diamondbacks manager, elected to start Micah Owings (who is actually a really good hitter) instead of his ace, his cy young award winner, Brandon Webb. Granted, even if Melvin started Webb tonight and he tossed a no-hitter, he'd have to start Micah Owings or some other guy like him at some point...but at least he'd get to that point - or have a chance of getting to that point - instead of going down without a fight like the Diamondbacks currently are.

Bill Belichick, AND HOW!

Hey baby, pipe down and pay attention to this rag-a-muffin, he's the real mccoy, the big cheese. That head was given the bums rush, baby, all dolled up for nothin'. Double-crossed before he could get his hand on the hooch. This egg is taking it to the gin mill to spend some jack on some giggle water so he can high-hat the flapper, see. That's swell, says you. Bunch of rubes lookin' spiffy trying to keep it on the level in the speakeasy, see. Those gams gave me the heebie-jeebies, no sir, not to keen on that palooka , he's a piker, a pushover. He's hittin' on all sixes in his in his struggle buggy, not really on the up and up, see. Now you're on the trolley!

Probably the funniest thing of the NFL weekend, listening to Bill Belichick and Tom Brady get asked questions from Rex Banner. Not surprisingly, some members of the Boston media weren't too thrilled, as you can see from Boston Sports Media Watch.

If this were, say, a Presidential election, or a group of journalists reporting from a foxhole in Baghdad while missles were falling all around, I could understand the outrage. Because, then, it really would be unacceptable behavior.

But this? This was coming from a press room in Texas Stadium following a football game. Your typical run-of-the-mill, garden variety post-game press conference.

"How does it feel to win?"

"Where do you go from here?"

"What did you say to your team after the game?"

"How many touchdown passes would Tom Brady throw if he had Tom Brady as a wide receiver?"

Bbbbbboooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiinnnnnggggggg.

Until Rex Banner showed up.

Champ, champ, champ! Talk about that touchdown pass to Donte Stallworth it looked like you were two doing the jitterbug while the Dallas secondary was doing the Charleston!

Tom Brady: Is that right? I don't know what the hell that means, but, it was a great route and it's easy to throw when he's that wide open. Great question!

Awesome.

Teams With Small Payrolls Are Allowed To Win

A story line that hasn't received much press during the playoffs (or maybe it has, I don't pay much attention to story lines) is the fact three of the final four teams rank lower than 22nd in terms of payroll. Really. It's true.

1. New York Yankees - $195 million
20. Cincinnati - $69 million
21. Texas - $68 million
22. Kansas City - $67 million
23. Cleveland - $61 million
25. Colorado - $54 million
26. Arizona - $52 million


Proof once again, that it's not now much you spend, but how you spend what you spend...when you're spending. Or something like that.

So what are the Pirates looking like, today, as we look forward to next season? Well, including the guys already locked in for 2008 and whatever buyouts are looming, the Pirates have $27.6 million locked up in seven players. The Pirates 2007 payroll was $38 million. That can't be a good thing...

Jason Bay - $5.75 million
Jack Wilson - $6.5 million
Damaso Marte - $2 million
Solomon Torres - $3.2 million
Yoslan Herrera - $390,000
Matt Morris - $9 million
Cesar Izturis - $300,000 (Buyout, if the Pirates pickup his option you're looking at a $5.45 million utility infielder).

*info courtesy of cots baseball contracts

Seriously, Neil, it's a long way up...

"Extension" and "Wannstedt" Mentioned Together...

Over the weekend, this little nugget came out from Kevin Gorman of the Tribune-Review.

With Dave Wannstedt at the midway point of his five-year contract, Pitt encounters a Catch-22 that could determine the direction of its football program.

Wannstedt's 13-16 record in 2 1/2 seasons does not necessarily warrant an extension, but his recruiting efforts could be compromised without the appearance of job security for the duration of a recruit's college career.

"I think it's going to be pretty hard because most people think there's a good chance there's going to be a change," said Allen Wallace, a Scout.com national recruiting analyst and publisher of SuperPrep magazine. "Probably the biggest drag on a recruiting effort is the strong possibility of a coaching switch. He's going to have to rely on people who are going to choose Pitt without consideration if there is going to be a coaching change."

Kind of scary to think about if you're a Pitt fan, kind of maddening if you're just a football fan in general.

To be fair, job security for the head coach might make an impact in recruiting, an area where Wannstedt has actually excelled during his tenure at Pitt (at least according to the people who know about that sort of thing, which does not include me). Unfortunately, as i've said before, Football is a sport where a dunce of a coach can wreck a talented team. For all the great recruits, Pitt is 13-16 and looking right down the barrel at a three win season. The stuff extensions are made of...

15 Years Ago Today, The Pirates Ceased To Exist

Has it really been that long? I suppose it has. Today's Tribune-Review sports page reads more like an obituary than a sports page, led by Joe Starkey's article on the infamous anniversary of when Sid Slid, including a detailed breakdown of the ninth inning that saw the Pirates blow a 2-0 lead just three outs from the World Series. We've never been the same since.

If you're a Pirates fan of legal drinking age, you probably know precisely where you stood ... or sat ... or knelt ... or curled up in fetal position when Sid &!@#&! Bream beat Barry Bonds' throw 15 years ago tonight at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

As this reporter types these words, a half-dozen colleagues within 20 feet can describe, in frightening detail, their whereabouts at 11:52 p.m. on Oct. 14, 1992.

One was watching at a South Side bar, where the ambiance went from raucous to worried to sickeningly silent in a matter of six seconds, the time it took Bream and his bulky knee brace to lumber around third base and slide past Mike LaValliere's desperate, sweeping tag.

Egh.

Wednesday Night College Football: Pitt Vs. Navy - *Snore*

Tonight, on ESPN, the Pitt Panthers are hosting the Navy Midshipmen in a game that registers somewhere between tooth drilling and rectal exam on the excitement scale. The match up has led to a series of questions on the interwebs, such as: How many local High Schools will have bigger attendance this week? Is Pitt really going to lose to Navy? Does anyone really care?

Navy enters the game with a better record than Pitt, and the Tribune-Review is actually picking Navy to win the game. I have to say, if Pitt manages to lose, at home, to Navy, on national television, it might be time for Mr. Wannstedt to start putting together his resume.

I still say given its current situation on offense, Pitt would be best served to just lineup Lesean McCoy and Lerod Stephens-Howling in the backfield and snap the ball directly to them.

Jim Tracy's Science Experiment

Now that Jim Tracy has been axed, in what is surely the most irrelevant coaching tenure in the history of Pittsburgh sports, stories are starting to surface as to what type of shenanigans were really taking place over at PNC Park the last two seasons.

As it turns out, awful things. Really, awful things.

Some words from Dejean:

Quite curiously, the shortcomings that Tracy had in personnel or instructional matters seemed to originate from his never-ending emotional tie with the 2004 Los Angeles Dodgers, the $100 million team he managed to the West Division title.

He spoke about them incessantly, to the media and to the players. He even tried to recreate them, it seemed.

Before Tracy had donned a Pirates uniform, in the winter of 2006, he met with center fielder Chris Duffy and told Duffy he should play like Dave Roberts, the Dodgers' leadoff man, even though all Duffy and Roberts had in common was being fast. Among the instructions: Duffy, a line-drive hitter, was told to pound the ball into the ground. He failed miserably, quit baseball for a month and has yet to recover.

Tracy told shortstop Jack Wilson, a three-time runner-up for the Gold Glove, that he did not like his approach to ground balls, that it should be more like Cesar Izturis of the 2004 Dodgers. Wilson had his worst defensive year in 2006 and, at Tracy's behest, Izturis was acquired from the Chicago Cubs this past July. It was at Tracy's urging that Wilson nearly was traded to Detroit in late July, after which Wilson batted .401 in the season's final two months.

There was more: Jose Castillo was told to be like Adrian Beltre. Bench players were told to be versatile like Jose Hernandez, who also was acquired. Even Tracy's batting orders were modeled based on profiles of the 2004 Dodgers.

Another fallout of that connection, possibly, was that a mostly inexperienced group of Pirates was expected to perform -- and behave -- just as those veteran Dodgers did, without extra instruction or attention.

So, if I understand this correctly, rather than trying to focus on what his players were capable of doing and managing to those strengths - and weaknesses - Jim Tracy spent the last two seasons in a mad effort to recreate the 2004 Los Angeles Dodgers. A team with a $100 million payroll that was dumped from the post-season in four games. I mean, we're not even talking about modeling a dynasty, or hell, even a one-time champion. We're talking about a run-of-the-mill playoff team powered by a fluke season from an underachieving third basemen.

As ridiculous as it is to try and turn any player into a Cesar Izturis or Brian Roberts clone, I suppose it is a good thing that we finally figured out what happened to JAson Bay in 2007; When Jim Tracy was handing out the roles from the 2004 Dodgers, Tracy assigned Bay to the role Shawn Green. It's the only logical explanation.

The Pirates House Cleaning Is Complete

There we go. Everybody. Gone.

I'm not sure what this means, if it's a sign of better days ahead or just a mirage in a vast desert of losing, but it's something, and it was needed.

It's your team Neil, build, build it like you've never built before.

Save us Neil, you're our only hope.

This Is A Completely Random Post About Nothing...Well, Nothing And The MLB Playoffs

I'm the type of person who is generally far behind the rest of the world in the latest trends and happenings. I'm not sure why, but no matter what it is, i'm discovering something five years after everyone else already has and long forgotten about it.

For example, I discovered how great Street Fighter 2 was on Super Nintendo when everyone else was playing Nintendo 64. My cell phone has no camera and I rarely send text messages (I don't see the point of hitting the '2' key four times just to make a 'C' pop-up when I could just call the person i'm trying to contact, or send an e-mail using actual letters and words instead of "thnx 4 lst nght") . The monitor on this computer is not a high definition flat screen which makes pornographic images and bootlegged movies crystal clear, but one of those bulky late 1990's monsters that takes up the entire desk leaving no room for anything else. None of this bothers me (honestly, it doesn't matter, just so I can see what's on the monitor and the phone allows me to talk to other human beings) but it's just odd, I think. Eventually i'll catch on, and one day i'll have a computer monitor that allows me to place a piece of paper on my desk and a cell phone capable of taking pictures, reading e-mail, watching movies and listening to music, but that's at least six years away.

What does any of that have to do with anything? Absolutely, positively, nothing at all. My latest "Yeah dumbass, everyone else already knew that six years ago," moment was my recent discovery of the band, Radiohead. Now, don't get me wrong, i've always known of the band, I even have a couple of CD's on the rack (OK Computer and The Bends) but i've never really put them on and listened to them. They've just sort of sat there, collecting dust. For the past half-hour, i've had OK Computer on through the headphones, mesmerized as to what's going on. I remember the video for Paranoid Android (above) and how much it freaked me out the first time I saw it, but I had forgotten how good the song itself was. Calm and peaceful, yet powerful and violent with a smack-me-in-the-ass awesome guitar solo in the middle.

As I sit here, listening to Radiohead - again, i'm watching the final out of the Indians-Yankees game. The Indians just pounded the Yankees thanks in large part to the contributions of 200-year old, third-time-around-Indian and former-Pirate Kenny Lofton. My rooting interests in the American League are non-existent. I think the Angels are going to win by default. My feelings are torn on everyone.

On the Indians: Grady Sizemore is one of my favorite players in the league, while the new man in charge of the Pirates has his roots in Cleveland, it might be some sort of validation, even in some small way, if the Indians succeeded. But i'm not sure. This is a Cleveland team after all, and i'm not sure I could handle a Cleveland team winning a championship. Don't get me wrong, I have a great deal of respect for the Indians organization...but their fans. These are the same people that cheer for the Browns. The same people that had to have their stadium emptied so an NFL game could be finished without a soccer riot. The same people who made it impossible to purchase a bottle in a stadium with a cap on it. The same people who were responsible for 10-cent beer night.

Of course, it's easy to root for them in the opening round as they take on the Yankees, a team no one likes. But, even there i'm torn. I want Alex Rodriguez to have the post-season of all post-seasons, collect his playoff MVP, place his world series ring on his middle finger, and give Yankees fans the fond farewell they deserve as he signs a check for $300-million from Arte Moreno.

I used to have a mild rooting interest in the Red Sox, but like Cleveland, their fans association with their football teams fans has lost me. Petty? Stupid? Sure. You bet. But I don't care.

In the National League, things are far more interesting. The Diamondbacks are loaded with young talent and people who would run through walls, not only to win a baseball game, but just because it might be fun to do. Upton. Drew. Jackson. Young. Byrnes. Hudson. Making it even easier to root for them, at least in the opening round, is the matchup they've drawn with the Cubs.

I should like the Cubs. I loved Wrigley Field (Hated Old Style, however) and had a blast in Wrigleyville. My cousin is a huge Cubs fan and would love nothing more than to see this team play for a World Series, much less win one. But, man, the rest of their fan base? These are the same people who still blame Steve Bartman for Alex Gonzalez and Mark Prior's shortcomings.

Dan May, a law student watching on TV last week at Murphy’s Bleachers as the Cubs closed in on the division title, said: “If he came in right now, I wouldn’t shoot him. But I’d break his knees.”

Dan May is reason enough to root for the Diamondbacks.

That brings us to the Rockies. Already up 2-0 on the Phillies, this team looks unstoppable right now. The hot team at the right time.

Rockies Vs. Angels? I can dig it.

More Late Night Posting: What Are You Doing Dave Wannstedt?

On Saturday, the Pitt Panthers were trounced, embarrassed and downright dominated by a mediocre Virginia team. It was 27-0 after the first quarter, and it ended up being 44-14 when all was said and done. It was the third straight loss for the Panthers and the second consecutive blowout - in the last two weeks Pitt has been outscored by Uconn and Virginia 78-28.

I understand Pitt is without its best player in wide receiver Derek Kinder, and I realize they're left with two untested freshman at quarterback, but enough is enough. Walt Harris was maddening, with his constant quarterback shuffling, desire to completely ignore the defensive side of the ball and downright boring press conferences. But man, at least his teams were interesting and won some games now and again. This team is just bad and going in a constant 360-degree circle of mediocrity. We know what Dave Wannstedt can do as an NFL coach (82-86) and we're starting to find out what he can do as an NCAA coach. It's not much different.

Wannstedt, according to the experts who know about this stuff, has done a solid job recruiting (except when it comes to Terrelle Pryor!), which means he's a good salesman, not a good football coach. But football is a funny game. It's a game where all the talent in the world can be wasted with a total dunce of a coach (see: Turner, Norv).

Here are the list of victories for Pitt under the mustache:

Youngstown State (41-0)
Cincinnati (38-20)
South Florida (31-17)
Syracuse (34-17)
Connecticut (24-0)
Virginia (38-13)
Cincinnati (33-15)
Citadel (51-6)
Toledo (45-3)
Syracuse (21-11)
UCF (52-7)
Eastern Michigan (27-3)
Grambling State (34-10)

Not exactly a who's who of college football powers. That's three 1-AA teams, two wins against one of the worst 1-A teams in the country (Syracuse), Eastern Michigan coming off a 1-11 season and South Florida two years ago before they turned into a top-10 team. In two games against West Virginia and Louisville, Wannstedt's teams haven't even been competitive. They've lost to Michigan State twice, Connecticut twice and the Ohio Bobcats.

The questions then become: How long does Pitt put up with this? And what can they do to fix it?

The answers of course are: Hopefully not long, and find a way to clone this guy...

More Random Youtube: Jaromir Jagr Edition

Jaromir Jagr may no longer play for the Penguins, but this top-10 is worth the 3:22 it takes to watch. Sure, he was a headcase during his final years in Pittsburgh, and I know he plays for the damn New York Rangers (the bastards), but it still pains me to hear him get booed when he returns to the arena. One of the most dominating athletes in Pittsburgh sports history, and sadly, part of one of the worst trades in Pittsburgh sports history.

Finally, Pirates Season Is Over

On Sunday the Pirates closed out the 2007 campaign with a rather familiar result: A loss. The standings say it was loss 94, the third consecutive season with at least 90 chalked up in the loss column, and the 15th --15! -- consecutive losing season.

Jim Tracy is likely gone, a move that will matter little if nothing else is done, and our new young General Manager, Neil Huntington, probably doesn't know what he's in for or just how empty the cupboard really is. Needless to say, things look bleak. But, hey, good luck Neil!

Perhaps the most disappointing development this season was the sudden and unexpected free fall of Jason Bay. Bay, for three years, was the one Pirates player you could count on for a productive season. For three years he was one of the top hitters in the National League and a legitimate middle of the order threat. A person worth watching on a nightly basis, even if the rest of the team wasn't. This season, he finished seventh on the Pirates in terms of OPS.

Scary.

Hopefully there is some explanation for this, you know, an injury we don't know about or perhaps just a simple fluke season that will quickly be forgotten about. Because we're talking about the Pirates, we're probably dealing with a Bobby Higginson or Marty Cordova decline (fast and steep with no turning back) and he'll be traded at his lowest possible value this off-season for a bucket of sweat.

While watching the Rockies last night I asked myself this question: How many Pirates would be starters in the Colorado lineup? The answer: Maybe Freddy Sanchez? In a normal year, Jason Bay would be the answer, but this wasn't a normal year. I think it's a damning testament to the makeup of your team when you look at the last team to make the playoffs, a team that had to win 14-0f-15 just to get in, and you only have one guy good enough to start for them. You're a long way off, baby.

So where do we go from here? On the plus side, the Pirates locked up the number-two pick in the 2008 draft, so yay for losing, and what makes that just slightly noteworthy is the fact Ed Creech won't be making that pick, so yay for faint optimism.

Jack Wilson, coming off the second best season of his career, is likely to be traded because he makes more than the league minimum and Huntington will still be working with a shoestring budge... this of course leaves us with a Cesar Izturis-Brian Bixler steel cage match for the position. Personally, i'd rather bite the bullet and keep Wilson and hope he repeats something close to this past season. Although, the best solution would be to spend more money so a starting shortstop making $6 million dollars doesn't look like a high priced player. But, that ain't happening. So bring on Cesar! *sigh*

According to Dejean over at The Post Gazette, Bay and Josh Phelps - of all people - endorse the idea of dismantling the team and starting over from scratch. Unfortunately, Bay is likely to be part of that dismantling and Josh Phelps is...well...he's Josh Phelps.

Dejean also throws this in:

No more than a handful of Wilson's teammates joined him in what has become a Pirates tradition of engaging the crowd along the railings after the final home game. The other players simply collected their equipment, turned and left for the clubhouse. By the time the room was open to reporters, about 15 minutes after the final out, half the stalls had been cleaned out.

This scene, make no mistake, underscores one of the many failings of these 2007 Pirates, the 15th in a row to labeled losers:

Some players showed up.

Some did not.

Ouch.

Anyway, the best we can hope for right now is that the Pirates finally got something right in their hire of Neil Huntington. If they did, we might have some sort of hope for the first time since Gary Redus was leading off...if they didn't...here's to 15 more.

A Tip Of The Cap To The Colorado Rockies; I'm Jumping On The Bandwagon

To me, there are few things more exciting in baseball than a one-game playoff to end the season, and tonight, the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres took part in an epic knock-down drag-out brawl to determine the NL Wild Card. It took over four hours, 13 innings, and a blown save by a hall-of-famer to decide it, while Matt Holliday cemented the batting title, RBI crown and perhaps an MVP award on one swing of the bat.

As a Pirates fan, this game was chock full of hilarity, and by hilarity, I mean a giant kick in the groin:

- The Rockies and Padres rank 24th and 25th in payroll. The Pirates rank 27th.

- The first pitch of the game saw Josh Fogg Vs. Brian Giles.

- Six former Pirates were on the active rosters: Fogg, Giles, Mark Redman, Matt Herges, Rob Mackowiak and Chris Young.

- Matt Herges, who was acquired for Chris Young and released before he ever threw a regular season pitch, may have saved the Rockies season by throwing three shutout innings. Dave Littlefield is laughing, assuming he knew there was a game tonight.

The final play will no doubt be talked about for a while, not because Brian Giles threw a Barry Bonds-like lollipop to the plate, but because it appears Matt Holliday never touched home.

Either way, it's an instant classic and the perfect ending to an incredible run by Colorado.

Count me as a member of the Rockies playoff bandwagon as it would be damn near impossible to root against this team. This October is setting up to be incredible, at least in the National League, as we get a fresh look at somebody other than Atlanta, St. Louis or New York in the post-season.