Super Bowl Halftime - The Pendulum Swings

In recent years, the NFL took a beating for bringing in geezer rockers - the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, The Who, Madonna - for the half time extravaganza at the Super Bowl.  While I didn't mind seeing the Stones, and I loved Bruce Springsteen at the Steelers game against the Cardinals, I had to admit that The Who and Madonna were pretty bad, and that the NFL need to unstuff their shirts and skew a bit younger in this area.  They took that step last year with Beyonce, and this year the pendulum has swung completely the opposite way with the selection of Bruno Mars as the halftime performer.

I say this because I, a soon to be 62 year old geezer himself, have absolutely no idea as to who Bruno Mars is and what type of performer he is.  Please understand that I am not passing judgement on Mr. Mars.  He may be the best entertainer since Sammy Davis, Jr. for all I know, and I hope it is a dynamite show in the Meadowlands come Super Bowl Sunday. One thing for sure, there will more 18-35 year olds tuned into the half time show and fewer geezers, and that is what Pepsi, who is sponsoring the Halftime Show, wants.

As for me, I would rather see either the Grambling University Marching Band or a dog and a frisbee.

The Lost Weekend

If you are a fan of classic old movies, you will know that the above is a picture of Ray Milland in his Oscar winning role in 1945's "The Lost Weekend".  I felt that there was no better metaphor than this for what Pittsburgh sports fans experienced this weekend.  As a matter of fact, I mixed myself a high ball after the final whistle blew at Heinz Field this afternoon.

First, the Pirates.

A sweep completed by the Cardinals today extends the team's losing streak to four, and they face the unpleasant task of having to beat Yu Darvish in Texas tomorrow night.  To make it even worse, the Cardinals laid waste to the Bucs' three best pitchers this weekend, Francisco Liriano, AJ Burnett, and Charlie Morton.  It also seemed that every time you looked, the Cardinals were doing the little things - going with the pitch and hitting to the opposite field or getting the opportunistic sacrifice fly - that the Pirates have been unable to do all season.  

A few weeks back, someone asked me who I thought would would ultimately win the NL Central, and my answer was the Cardinals.  They certainly were a better team, and a much better team at that, than the Pirates this weekend.  I still feel that the Pirates will make the play-offs, and that will mean that this season will have been an unqualified success, but unless they turn things around beginning in Arlington tomorrow night, it will begin with that one game crap shoot of a wild card playoff.

On the home front, however, the Steelers did all in their power to take the attention away from the Pirates' woes by putting forth one of the worst efforts of a Steeler team in recent memory.  In a word, they stunk today, and I'd hate to think what it would have been like if they were playing a really good team like Denver or San Francisco instead of the Tennessee Titans.

I won't recite play-by-rancid-play, but I have to say a word about the running backs.  Two seasons ago, King Art II decreed that the team was going to return to "Steeler football" and emphasize a strong ground game, and they fired Bruce Ariens and brought in Todd Haley to put such a ground game in place.  The results last year were awful, and this year, it is shaping up to be more of the same.  Why is Isaac Redmon the feature back in this offense? He has never shown anything to merit this, and today, with the Steelers driving for a first quarter TD, he fumbles into the end zone and costs the team the chance to go ahead 9-0. Who knows how the course of the game might have been affected had the team scored at that point?  We can only hope that Le'Veon Bell's foot injury heals and he can get on the field for the Steelers soon.  He's got to be better than what they are running out there now.

Oh, and to make it really bad, Maurkice Pouncy gets hurt four minutes into the game with what appears to be a season ending injury. 

It is shaping up to be a very long season at Heinz Field in 2013.

It's Steelers Time!

The National Football League kicks off tonight with the Ravens teeing it up against the Broncos, and the Steelers start for real on Sunday against the Titans, so it's time for The Grandstander's all-encompassing Steelers / NFL Preview.  Because of the season that the Pirates have been enjoying this summer, the Steelers have been pretty much relegated to my personal back burner.  Here then is only a semi-informed opinion on how I see the 2013 season going.

Yes, I know that the team went 0-4 in the practice games, but who cares?  Games are completely meaningless in terms of the who wins or loses.  I seem to recall that in Bill Cowher's first year as coach, the team won only one practice game and then proceeded to rip through the regular season with the best record in the AFC  (never mind what the Bills then did to them in the first round of the playoffs).  Alas, I fear that such good fortune will not follow Rooney U this year.

One thing that I like about the team is that they have gotten significantly younger this year.  As recently as two years ago, I saw that a significant number of key players were over thirty, some considerably so, and it concerned me.  The team managed a good record and playoff appearance in 2011, but it all caught up to them last year and 8-8 was the result.  So, guys like James Harrison and Max Starks are gone, and younger guys like Jarvis Jones and David DeCastro and Mike Adams are there to fill the gaps.  The BIG question now is, can these newer, younger guys play, and play at a high level, and there is really no way to know until they actually play the games.  Also, two key guys on defense, Troy Polamalu and Ike Taylor are not getting any younger, either.

I also have a grave concern at running back where Isaac Redman is set to open the season as the starter at RB. To me, Redman is the Josh Harrison of the Steelers - a nice guy to have on the team to fill in on occasion and in special situations, but you're in trouble if he's your #1 guy at the position.  Rookie Le'Veon Bell was drafted to rectify that, and he seemed to be the real deal in training camp, but, so far anyway, he has proven to be too fragile to get on and stay on the field when it counts.  

One big plus that the Steelers have going for them is Ben Roethlisberger. To quote Ron Cook, you can never count out the Steelers with Roethlisberger at QB for them.  He alone has the ability to win games for them that they should otherwise lose.   Now, you can come back at me and say, "what about those key interceptions he threw late in the season last year that cost them games and a trip to the playoffs?"  Well, you would be correct there, but I am willing to give Ben the benefit of the doubt and chalk that up to his injuries that occurred in mid-season.  You will recall that before those injuries, the Steelers were 7-2 and Roethlisberger was on his way to perhaps the best season of his career.  So, if Big Ben can stay healthy, an 8-8 also-ran season could turn into a 10-6 playoff season.

The Steelers will never admit to being in a "rebuilding phase", and that is to their credit, I believe, but nevertheless, that is where I think they are right now.  The hope is that the young guys today jell, that they can continue to add on other such players next year, and that they will be ready to be serious Super Bowl contender while Roethlisberger is still in his prime in, say, the 2014 to 2016 window.

As for 2013, I see the team being anywhere from 7-9 to 9-7 and not making the Playoffs this year.  I see Baltimore winning the AFC North with the Bengals - I can't believe I'm saying this - finishing ahead of the Steelers, who will still be better than the Browns.  However, one of the charms of the NFL is that a lousy team one season can be playing in the Conference Championship or the Super Bowl the next one.  For that reason alone, and for the fact that you can probably count on the Bengals always being the Bengals, the possibility exists that, with a few good bounces, the Steelers could be in the post-season, but I'm not going to bet on it.

As for the Super Bowl, how about the Broncos to defeat the 49'ers in a New Jersey blizzard on February 2. (By the way, I am really hoping that Arctic conditions exist in New Jersey when the Super Bowl is played. I'm guessing that Roger Goodell will borrow from the Bowie Kuhn playbook and will be standing on the sidelines throughout the game in a sport coat.)

As always, watch, but don't bet.

The Jolly Roger Flies in Ulaanbaatar!!

I had a very cool experience while watching the Pirates secure their 81st win of the season last night in Milwaukee.

As I watched the game, I was making comments on the "Pirate Chat" Facebook page.  At one point, along about the seventh inning with the score tied 2-2, the following comment popped up under one of my posts:

Matthew Algeo For some dumb reason AFN is carrying the Tigers-Red Sox game instead of the Pirates-Brewers game. I'm keeping track of the Pirates through your updates, Bob!


For those who don't know, Matthew Algeo is an author that I have read for a couple of years. He is from Philadelphia, and he currently is living in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.  That's it up there atop this post.  His wife is an American diplomat who is currently serving at the American Embassy in Mongolia.  At that point, I began posting a play-by-play of the game.  From my sofa to Mongolia.  What a world in which we live!

After the game, Matthew hoisted a shot of Mongolian vodka and the Jolly Roger as the Pirates assured themselves of their first non-losing season since 1992.  He also went on Facebook to proclaim that he, a life long Phillies fan, is now frantically rooting for the Pirates to make it to the World Series. (Actually, I think it was a theoretical shot of vodka, since it was 11:00 in the morning in Ulaanbaatar.)

Now, he did not ask me to do this, but in return for that loyalty, I will also take the time to recommend that you read any or each of his three very excellent books:

"Last Team Standing" - about the wartime combine of the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers, or "Steagles".

http://grandstander.blogspot.com/2011/09/book-reviews-last-team-standing-and.html

"Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure" - about a cross country drive that the former President and his wife took, alone, shortly after he left the White House.

http://grandstander.blogspot.com/2011/08/book-review-harry-trumans-excellent.html

"The President Is A Sick Man" - about a secret operation to remove a cancerous tumor from the mouth of President Grover Cleveland.

http://grandstander.blogspot.com/2011/07/book-review-president-is-sick-man.html

All very interesting and entertaining books.

Florida State 41 - Pitt 13

For the first time since my college days, I am a Pitt football season ticket holder (Man, those were the days - the Dave Hart and Carl DePasqua eras when 1-9 seasons were not uncommon, nor was it uncommon to see the clock run continuously in the fourth quarter when Pitt was getting thumped 62-7 to the Notre Dame and Penn State teams of that era), and I was anxious to see Pitt's ACC Inaugural game against Florida State, and to spend time with friends Dan Bonk, Len Martin, and their season ticket group.  

I make no claim to being an expert on Pitt's personnel, but those folks who are have told me that if Pitt manages a 7-5 or 6-6 season in 2013, they would consider it a success.  I do know that Florida State is always a force with which to be reckoned, so I had no great hopes for a Pitt upset last night.  Then, the Panthers took that opening kickoff and managed a very neat touchdown drive and led 7-0, and, well, the Seminoles are starting a freshman quarterback, so, hey, you never know, right?

Well, then that freshman QB, Jamies Winston took the field and the party was pretty much over.  He was simply remarkable.  At one point in the third quarter I said that I wish they would put his stats on the scoreboard, because, I said, "he has to have completed at least 75% of his passes."  Guess I wasn't playing as close attention as I thought, because Winston ended up going 25 for 27 (93%) for over 350 yards and four TD's.  Three of those TD's, by the way, were to  kid named Nick O'Leary, who happens to be the grandson of some guy named Jack Nicklaus.  Pretty cool.  Winston will be a most interesting player to follow throughout the season and his career.  He will certainly come up against far better defenses than what Pitt threw at him last night, but he sure looks like quite a talent.

It's easy, I suppose, to come down hard on Pitt, but both the good and bad news of last night was that eleven freshman received significant playing time in that game.  Pretty obvious that the there was not a lot there when Paul Chryst took over the Panthers in 2012.  If you are a Pitt fan, you can only hope that these kids turn out to be good players, and that Chryst and his staff can coach 'em up and get the best out of them.  Also, and I claim no expertise here, I am not sure that the ACC, with the exception of Notre Dame, is going to throw any stronger opposition against them than what Florida State did last night.  You just have to hope for game by game improvement as the season progresses and maybe for an unexpected upset somewhere along the line.

Two other things I'd like to comment upon concerning last night's game.

First, Pitt issued a special over-sized commemorative ticket for last night's ACC Opening Game.  I know that lots of folks collect such things.  The Heinz Field ticket takers then proceeded to fold the tickets and tear them in half.  And to make the cheese more binding, there was no perforation in the ticket so what you got back was a jagged, ripped ticket,  You could have gotten a cleaner tear if you bit your ticket in half with your teeth.  The tickets did have a bar code on them, but word was that the scanning equipment wasn't working last night.  So, so much for that nice souvenir ticket.  And you thought only the Pirates were capable of such screw ups!

Secondly, you may have heard reports on the radio today that the Pitt student section pretty much abandoned Heinz Field after the singing of "Sweet Caroline" at the end of the third quarter.   Wrong.  I would say that more than half of the Pitt students - and they had reported 11,000 student tickets sold - abandoned Heinz Field at halftime.  Those that were left then departed after "Sweet Caroline".  I am not sure how such a mass exodus can be prevented, but it doesn''t look good when your students exit in droves like that.  And I am not buying the reasoning of some hard line Pitt folks that this is all because that "damn Steve Pederson moved football off campus".

On the bright side, I had great time with the folks in the ticket group.  Male bonding at its finest!

Bring on them New Mexico Lobos!

To Absent Friends: David Frost, Dixie Evans

Word arrives on Facebook this morning of the death of British entertainer David Frost, or Sir David Frost to give him his due.  Frost was introduced to America as host of the satirical "That Was The Week That Was" in the 1960's and later had a long run as successful talk show host here in the States.  

Frost came back into American consciousness in recent years with the play and movie, "Frost/Nixon" about how he landed the first exclusive interview with Richard Nixon after his resignation from the Presidency.  After I saw that movie, I remember encountering an older gent in the lobby of the theater who asked me what movie I had just seen.  When I told him "Frost/Nixon" he said "Don't think I'll see that one. Too many bad memories."  I don't think he was referring to David Frost.

RIP David Frost.

OK, indulge me on this one, but it involves another one of those odd but fascinating, to me anyway, news obituaries that appeared in the Post-Gazette this morning. 

Dixie Evans died early last month at the age of 86.  After working as an airplane mechanic during WW II, she started dancing as chorus girl in touring musicals, but later drifted into the world of burlesque.  Because of an uncanny resemblance to a certain movie star, enhanced mightily by burlesque impresario Harold Minsky, she hit the burly-que jackpot by being billed as the "Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque".  Of course, when Monroe died, Dixie Evans career as a headliner pretty much died with her.

In the late eighties, she moved in to help care for her friend and fellow burly dancer Jennie Lee, who was terminally ill.  She and Miss Lee started a sort of informal Burlesque Museum, and Evans kept it up and expanded it to include a Burlesque Hall of Fame following Lee's death in 1990,   In 2006, Dixie Evans moved the Burlesque Hall of Fame to Las Vegas where she continued to maintain it and live until her death.

As I say, these kinds of stories fascinate me.

RIP Dixie Evans.

Justin Morneau Is a Pirate

Here is what yesterday's Pirate trade for Justin Morneau - and the trade earlier in the week for Marlon Byrd and John Buck - means.  

It means....

• ...that the Front Office has lived up on it's promise to do what needs to be done once all of the building blocks were put in place in the franchise infrastructure
• ...that Bob Nutting opened up his wallet and spent money, significant money in the case of Morneau, to put the pieces in place for a serious post-season run
• ...that maybe, just maybe, Neal Huntington has been right all along in his "plan" to make the Pirates a contender (and regular readers know that The Grandstander has been a huge NHR critic in the past)
• ... that in terms of the 2013 season, Nutting, Coonelly, and Huntington have done their jobs
• ...that the Front Office has given Clint Hurdle, to the largest extent possible, the tools he needs to succeed
• ...that it is now up to the players on the field to finish the job

So, I would suggest that everyone quit bitching about the timing of these trades ("should have done it on July 31") and just enjoy these last 28 games of the season.  Wait until the World Series is over to fire up the Hot Stove and put Nutting, Coonelly, Huntington, and Hurdle on the griddle.

Right now, there is a pennant race to enjoy.