They're not booing, They're saying "Duuuuuuce!"

So, just for fun, I decided to take a look and see what Steelers jerseys were available on ebay.

You've got the usual crop of current Steelers - Roethlisberger, Ward, Polamalu, Holmes, Harrison, Casey Hampton, even some less popular players like Mewelde Moore. You've got some of the popular old-timers such as Bradshaw, Lambert, Greene (Joe and Kevin), Woodson. I guess you could even put Levon Kirkland in that category.

Then you've got some oddities. Duce Staley, who was a bust as a free agent. Yancey Thigpen, who was actually good for a couple of years, but I will always remember him for dropping a wide-open TD pass at the end of a meaningless game in Green Bay in 1995 (in a game we watched at Messiah's house, I have no clue why I remember this so vividly). Mark Bruener, nondescript tight end. Kordell Stewart. Oy. I think I would buy this, just to cross out the "Stewart" and write in "Holmes". My personal favorite, though is the Plaxico Burress jersey, which has the wrong number on it.

Twas the Night Before the Super Bowl

'Twas the night before the Super Bowl,
when along the gulf shore,
Steelers fans were praying for "just one more;"
The players were nestled all snug in the sack,
With visions of the first NFL Six-Pack;
Coach Tomlin was young, but wise for his years,
So I drifted off to sleep without any fears;
When at the stadium there arose some strange chatter,
The Cardinals feared, what was the matter;
We heard "Okel Dokel",
we heard "Double Yoi,"
We jumped from our beds, our hearts jumped for joy;
He stood at the fifty with a grin ear to ear,
Steelers fans everywhere started to cheer;
Then in an instant to our surprise,
This little old man had tears in his eyes;
He went to the booth and there took his chair,
While Terrible Towels waved in the air;
Then over the airwaves came his shrill voice,
The Steelers Nation began to rejoice;
He said, "I am back, but you know I can't stay,
I just had to see my Steelers play;
From my home up above, I have a great view,
But I wanted to celebrate here with you;
So bring on the Birds, we'll send them a flyin',
On the way back to Phoenix , they will be cryin';
Ben, Hines, Troy , Jeff and all of the rest,
No matter the outcome, to me you're the best;"
The airwaves went silent, the stadium still,
Was this just a dream, it seemed so real;
In our team we have faith, in our team we have hope,
But the game's not the same without Myron Cope.

What What What?

The video really speaks for itself. All I can add is "Fox sucks."

news from the iss

steeler fans in space.

Hail to the Chia-f

I can't get the image to embed for some reason, but this is an actual product.

I have not yet located the Chia-Tomlin.

Dan adds: I posted the image. When saving, I changed the file type from PNG (which doesn't work -- whatever it is), to Bitmap, which typically does.

Quick Inaugural Liveblog

11:42 AM: Dick Cheney in wheelchair. Old man must've come back, shot him in the knee.

11:45 AM: Barack looks like he may hurl.

11:53 AM: Warren's such a douchebag.

11:57 AM: John Paul Stevens finishes Biden swearing-in, mutters under breath "Praise Jesus, I could safely quit in four minutes!"

11:58 AM: Bush looks like he's counting down nanoseconds until he can get the hell out of that town.

12:01 PM: Constitution violated. It does not call for Yitzhak at high noon.

12:04 PM: Did they remember to invite Good Looking Chief Justice John Roberts?

12:05 PM: Yes.

12:06 PM: History...

12:07 PM: Guns fire. Startled Cheney wheels self toward undisclosed location.

12:20 PM: "We are a nation of Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers." He just lost the Shinto vote in 2012.

12:23 PM: Wow, he's talking about service to others without using creepy Bush phrases like, "You can go to a shut-in's home and say, 'I love you.'"

12:37 PM: Boring poetry. Hey! They already have a Presidency of Barack Obama entry in Wikipedia. It is very brief.

Willie's Gonna Spin You Arahnd.

Saturday Night Liveblogging

Get it?

A Funny from Jodi in Munich

Warning! Major Time Suck Ahead!

OK, so last week when I was looking for the box score from the Pupunu game, I found Pro Football Reference, which, as you may guess if you've ever spent time on Baseball Reference, is a site full of useless yet valuable football stats. I just spent my entire lunch hour perusing the site, and it will probably suck up a substantial amount of my remaining should-be-working time over the next week or three (depending on Sunday's result).

For example, did you know that Yancey Thigpen holds the Steelers record for single-season receiving yards? Even more shockingly, he accomplished this feat during a season when Kordell Stewart was throwing him the ball! Also, Hines Ward and Plaxico Burress are 3 and 4 on this list - from the same season (a disturbing reminder of how out of whack the offense was during the 2002 "Tommy Gun" season).

Anyway, sorry if this gets anyone fired.

P.S. We may want to (at least temporarily) change the name of this site to "White, Black and Gold Nerdy Wonks."

Steelers-Ravens III: Electric Boogalee

Come on, who among us didn't know in their heart of hearts that it would come to this?

Here is your AFC Championship game discussion thread.

Initial thoughts:

1) Willie Parker's running last week, coupled with Chris Johnson's success against the Ravens (until he got hurt), gives me some hope that we might be able to run just enough to set up playaction.

2) Corollary to #1, if Ben can be just a hair more accurate on deep balls (heh) than he was against the Chargers, it's possible that good things could happen on offense.

3) I'm not holding my breath on 1 and 2, so the defense better maul some folks. I'm hoping Polamalu gets tired enough of hearing about Ed "the greatest safety ever" Reed that he goes completely nuts (in the good, football way).

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Playoff LiveBlog

If anyone's around, we can do a playoff version of the LiveBlog, starting about 45 minutes before the game. Hopefully, the Steelers can buck the trend of visiting teams winning.

Re-Post: November's Steelers-Chargers LiveBlog

To help prepare for the game, we've got the LT/Troy commercial up top and a re-post of the Live Blog from the Week 11 game down below. Relive the glory as Bram, Sean, and I discuss Troy's interceptions, Big Ben's sexual exploits, goal-line strategy, how not to aid choking babies, and the introduction of the Bud Lite (or is it Miller Lite?) drinkability ads..

Steelers-Chargers Thread

Consider this a Steelers-Chargers discussion thread. I have already written to the NFL to find out if, since Polamalu's TD in the last game was not properly credited to the Steelers, we can start off with a 6-0 lead, and begin the game by attempting an extra point.

I'll get the actual discussion started by saying that I am thankful we don't have to play the Colts. They were the only team out there that really scared me (No, really, the Ravens don't scare me).

I think one key to this game is to get some pass rush and hit Rivers a few times early in the game. He's an emotional player, and if we rattle him early it will be a good thing.

The other key to this game is to have a somewhat less-than-atrocious punting game.

Finally, let's all pray for a blizzard.