A trip to Louisville

Haven’t done a column in a few days because I was attending a conference in Louisville, Kentucky.....very underrated city.....clean city with friendly people....I high recommend it as a nice three-day weekend vacation spot....

While in Louisville I visited the holy ground of horse racing – Churchill Downs.....I took the $8.00 tour and was in total awe of the place.....also dropped some money in the gift shop....

Other interesting sites I saw was the Louisville Slugger Museum, Science Center, and the newly opened Muhammad Ali Center......also went to legendary Freedom Hall and saw the Louisville-DePaul basketball game.....the people down there love their Cardinals....despite an average season, 19,000 people packed the old place to watch Rick Pitino’s team....

Read in the paper that the city of Louisville is working on a plan to construct a new 22,000 seat arena....however the major sticking point is where the arena will be built....some want it on the Riverfront while another faction wants it in the downtown area....

Detroit took it to the Cavs on Sunday.....they play again on Monday night at The Q......Cavs need to win this game....

I bought a 2006 NASCAR preview book.....I’m really trying to learn the sport.....the Auto Club 500 is on right now.....

The Winter Olympic Games in Torino are over.....here are a few thoughts:
- For some reason, down deep, I think Bode Miller purposely lost all five of his events....he’s flat out a drunken jerk.... by the way, guess who got interviewed by Tom Brokaw on the Sunday night news -- yep, Bode....the spotlight is still on him which is what he wants....
- If the U.S. hockey team is going to play like crap and win only 1 stinking game, I say send a team of college all-stars who train together for at least six months.....that performance by the NHL players was pathetic....
- Sasha, Sasha, Sasha.....you had the gold medal on a platter and once again you chose silver....
- Jerk 1a goes to Shani Davis.....
- Despite a poor showing by the so-called "studs" of the U.S. team, the United States did finish second in total medals....
- That’s about all -- see you in four years in Vancouver.....

Finally, I could not conclude this blog without noting the death of Don Knotts.....Knotts, who played the character Mr. Furley on Three’s Company, was a classic comedic actor....the role he will be most remembered for though is the bumbling, but lovable Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show.....Barney Fife made people laugh....unlike today’s actors, Knotts never had to cuss or make any sexual comments in order to get a laugh......there was only one Don Knotts – and he will be missed.....long live Barney Fife.....

Quick Hits

I’m tired of hearing about Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds and if they are going to retire....Clemens is obviously waiting to see how he pitches in the World Baseball Classic this way he could drain some team’s money.....and Bonds keeps waffling about this being his last season.....I just say to both of them, "retire already!!".....

Looks like the New York Knicks are close to trading for Orlando’s Steve Francis.....is this the trade that helps the Knicks upswing or is it just another big name who flops in the Big Apple?....

Whatever happened to Bernard King?......

I think George Bush and his administration made the wrong choice by having a country from the Middle East work on key U.S. ports....

Is it just me or does W. look like he lost a few pounds?....

A few years back it looked like tennis player Martina Hingis was never going to win another major....but after a brief retirement stint, Hingis has come back with a new fire....she will win either the French, Wimbledon, or U.S. Open this year....

Russian figure skater Irina Slutskaya is highly underrated.....she’s been skating for as long as Michelle Kwan and has been very successful but she does not get the recognition from the American media...

Bode Miller better go back to skiing loaded because he has not squat while skiing sober.....

Fact - Ricky Williams is a dumbass......

I bought a NASCAR magazine today because I am hoping to better understand the sport.....

I wonder if Drew Brees’ shoulder injury in the last game of the season is more serious than originally diagnosed.....today the San Diego Chargers are going to let Brees test the free agent market....you just don’t let a good 27-year old quarterback walk unless there is a reason....

Finally, most of the young folks don’t know the name Curt Gowdy....however, as a young boy, I was fortunate enough to hear Gowdy broadcast sporting events in his later years.....the 86-year old Gowdy died on Monday from leukemia.....his legacy in the sports broadcasting business has been cemented for years.....those who never heard him sure missed out.....

NBA All-Star Thoughts

The NBA Hall of Fame released the finalist for this year’s class.....they are: Charles Barkley, Dominique Wilkins, Joe Dumars, Geno Auriemma, Dick Vitale, Adrian Dantley, Ralph Sampson, Dave Gavitt, Gene Keady, Chet Walker, Don Nelson and Van Chancellor.....

Barkley is a lock for induction, as should be Dumars.....the three other people who should get inducted this year are Dantley, Sampson, and Vitale...unlike the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the NBA Hall takes into consideration a person’s college and international experience which is why Sampson should make it....

In the early 1980s while at Virginia, Sampson was the first dominant big man in the college game since Bill Walton....Dantley was an All-American for Notre Dame and an NBA All-Star with Detroit and Utah....

Finally, Vitale is absolutely the good will ambassador for the game of basketball.....yeh, his detractors will say some of his antics are shtick.....however Vitale is truly passionate about basketball and is always promoting the sport.....he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame....

Of the 24 players in today’s NBA All-Star game, only Tim Duncan and Steve Nash completed four years of college....the other players stayed three years or less at college or did not attend college at all....

Is it just me or does it seem like Allen Iverson has been in the league forever.....but in reality, the 76ers All-Star guard is only 30-years old and has been in the NBA for 10 years....

With a third of the season left, my predictions for the NBA championship will be Detroit against Dallas.....

The best story in the league this year is the play of the Los Angeles....the Clippers that is....at the break the Clippers are 30-21 and have a 4½ game edge over their counterparts, the Lakers....

Remember in his Portland days when Rasheed Wallace used to get T’ed up every other game.....

I wonder if Larry Brown is sorry he left the Detroit Pistons to go and coach the New York Knicks....

Whatever happened to former All-Star Game MVP Randy Smith of the Buffalo Braves?.....

Olympic Quick Hits

It’s only February 18th, but the idiot move of the year so far goes to Olympian Lindsey Jacobellis.....with the gold medal in her back pocket, Jacobellis decided to "hot dog it" and ended up falling down.....she finished with the silver medal....

By the way, how many gold medals has Cody.....I mean Bode won yet???.....he has been the most annoying person in this Olympics.....he is all hype.....

My money is on Sasha Cohen of the United States to win the gold medal in women’s figure skating.....

Does anyone really care who wins the gold medal in ice hockey now that the NHL players are involved???....

Will the media and people stop picking on the Olympic games.....the media keeps showing how ratings are down for these games and that people don't care about Winter Olympic sports.....chill out people.....the Olympic games are once every four years.....let these athletes have their two weeks in the spotlight without ripping their sport.....the same people who rip on curling, are probably the same ones who sit down at their local beer garden and are in a dart league...

The babe of these games easily goes to U.S. ice dancer Tanith Belbin.....she will be getting many endorsements after these games....and imagine if she ends up with a gold medal....

What is up with Mike Golic from ESPN radio’s Mike and Mike......Golic said ESPN made a mistake by hiring Tony Kornheiser as a color analyst for Monday Night Football because Kornheiser is not a former player....I have two words for Golic – Howard Cosell....

By the way, whatever happened to the Fabulous Sports Blob.....I mean the Fabulous Sports Babe??.....

The marquee basketball game of the day is Connecticut at West Virginia.....UConn is going into a hornet’s nest and may end up getting pittsnogled.....

Indiana head coach Mike Davis made the right move by resigning at the end of the season.....Davis has been whining about the pressures of being the head coach of the Hoosiers....people have to realize that whenever you accept a job at a big name university who is a traditional sports power in a certain sport, there is going to be pressure to win – and rightfully so.....over the last three seasons, the Hoosiers have not made the NCAA tournament and have lost out on some big time recruits from the state of Indiana.....

Of course, former Indiana star and current Iowa head coach Steve Alford is the favorite to land the Indiana job.....but there has been talk in the newspapers and on the internet that Ohio State head coach Thad Matta may have the inside track.....

Why are some baseball players concerned about playing in the first ever World Baseball Classic....these same players who will be representing their country would still be playing in exhibition games as part of spring training....an injury could easily occur whether they are playing in a spring training game or in the Classic....

Doesn’t Hillary Clinton have something better to do than to stir up the pot concerning Dick Cheney’s accidental shooting of his friend last week?.......there was no conspiracy Hillary!!!....

By the way, did I mention that Tanith Belbin is hot!!!.....

Quick Hits

- Michelle Kwan's dream of a gold medal in figure skating ended today after withdrawing from the Olympics because of an injury.....Kwan will go down as one of America's greatest skaters ever, but she will always be missing that Olympic gold medal from her resume....

- What is up with the Cleveland Cavaliers?.....just when it looked like they were making their move by winning seven straight games, they have lost to the Sixers, Wizards, and Warriors in the last week.....the Cavs will make the playoffs this year, but I could see them getting bounced in the first round....they are still not one of the elite teams.....

- Did you know that Lebron James’ favorite breakfast food is Trix cereal and honey-oat granola....

- The Oakland Raiders have sunk to a new low....who would have thought that Louisville’s Bobby Petrino would turn down Oakland’s offer to coach the team.....that just shows what coaches think about that franchise....

- Despite getting the cold shoulder from a number of coaches, I do think Oakland made a safe choice by selecting Art Shell.....this will be Shell’s second stint as head coach of the Raiders....in his previous tenure Shell had the Raiders in the playoffs almost every year.....

- Does anyone care about today’s Pro Bowl???.....

- Just when it looked like the Michigan basketball team was going to be a contender for the Big Ten title, the Maize and Blue came up with three straight clunkers.....last Saturday they got smoked by 30 points to Iowa.....then on Thursday night, Ohio State stuck 12 3-pointers in the first half on their way to another win in Ann Arbor.....then the low point of the season came yesterday when Michigan got beat by 15 points to lowly Purdue....Tommy Amaker’s days in Ann Arbor may be numbered....

- The days are definetly numbered for Indiana's Mike Davis.....

- All I know, Duke’s J.J. Redick has to be on the U.S. Olympic team.....like him or not, this kid could flat out shoot the three ball, which is needed in the Olympics....

- Whatever happened to Cherokee Parks?.....

- It is very possible that both Kentucky and Louisville may not make the Big Dance this year.....both teams are struggling.....

- Right now my Final Four teams are: West Virginia, Duke, Texas, and U.Conn.....Ohio State could be a sleeper....

- Why did Mike Piazza sign with San Diego?....it looks like he is going to try and prove that he can still catch....

- Finally, will the Cleveland Browns fans stop whining about the officiating in the Super Bowl....all week I have heard Browns fans saying the officials gave the Steelers the Super Bowl.....hmmmm, funny the Browns fans are saying that being that their beloved Ohio State Buckeyes won the national title in 2002 over Miami (Fla.) because of an official throwing a flag for pass interference on a fourth down play.....

A time and place for everything

Monday’s funeral for Coretta Scott King was supposed to be a celebration of her life....instead former president Jimmy Carter and the Rev. Joseph Lowery turned this celebration into a bully pulpit to push their political views mainly aimed at the current Bush administration.....

First off, I defend Carter and Lowery’s right to state their views....however, this was not the time nor place to do that.....

President Bush did not do enough in the hours after Hurricane Katrina struck.....the people who were left behind in need were African-Americans.....and that was wrong.....

But these barbs that were clearly directed at the president who was sitting just yards away were inappropriate by Carter and Lowery.....in fact, Carter even brought up the war in Iraq....why did he bring up the war during the services for Coretta Scott King???.....I think that was tasteless and disrespectful toward Mrs. King.....

On Wednesday’s NBC’s Nightly News, former Atlanta mayor, Andrew Young, who is African-American, even stated it was inappropriate for Carter and Lowery to go off on their political rants during the occassion.....

Yes, the Bush presidency has not been effective and the country is not well off....but I thought it was funny that Carter would be the one taking shots at Bush being that the Carter presidency has to rank as one of the worst over the last 100 years.....so if anyone should know about an ineffective presidency, it would be Jimmy Carter.....

In a side note, why did Sen. Hillary Clinton stand with her husband when he spoke???.....obviously she wanted to get her mug on television and the best way to do that was to make sure she was next to her husband....Sen. Thunder Thighs did speak at the service but why didn't she speak by herself to show her independence that she was her own person...I didn't see Laura Bush standing with W.....even old man Bush and Peanut Man spoke by themselves without their loving wife next to them....I guess her mug wouldn't have gotten on television if she didn't stand next to Bill.....and we all know that Hill loves those cameras....

The baby needs his diaper changed!!!

Waaaaaa......waaaaaa.....hurry, the baby needs his diaper changed......

It’s time for Seattle coach Mike Holmgren to stop blaming the officials for the Seahawks loss in the Super Bowl on Sunday, and begin looking in the mirror and at his team....

At a rally in Seattle, Holmgren continued to whine and cry about the officiating by stating that he didn’t know the Seahawks had to play the Steelers and the men in stripes (referring to a referee).....one fan held up a sign that said Referees 21 Seahawks 10....

Was the Super Bowl officiating the best? – no.....but the entire officiating in the playoffs were not on par.....look at the debacle in Indianapolis involving Troy Polamalu’s interception....

The reason Seattle lost this game is because the Steelers made the big plays when they had to and the Seahawks did not....case closed!!!.....

Holmgren should be the one to take the blame for the Seahawks loss.....his mismanagement of the clock right before halftime was baffling.....then Holmgren did it once again in the last minute of the game....that mismanagement was not the fault of the referees, it was the fault of the coach....

Let’s be honest, the Steelers were not on their A game on Sunday....at times, they may have been on their C minus game.....but despite not clicking on all cylinders, the Steelers still led at the half 7-3.....and won the game 21-10.....

Also, Holmgren must have forgot that his tight end Jeramy Stevens dropped three passes including one on the two yard line.....that was not the fault of the referees.....and his kicker Josh Brown missed two field goals also.....and that too was not the fault of the referees....

So I think it is time for Mike Holmgren to shut his pie hole and realize that his players did not perform up to par and he as a coach did not perform up to par......

Finally, will someone please go change Holmgren’s diaper, I think he wet it again.....

Waaaaaa......Waaaaaaaaaaaa......

Champions Once Again

A "Super" wish for 3 friends

You know you are getting old when some of your friends don’t even remember the last time the Steelers won the Super Bowl.....three of my friends (the 3 Js), are huge Steeler fans....the last time the city of Pittsburgh celebrated a Super Bowl title, these guys were still wearing diapers....(not to say that one of them still doesn’t wear a diaper every now and then – but that is another story)....

Like I have written before, Bill Cowher deserves to win this game.....and it would be nice to see a class-act like Jerome Bettis leave with a Super Bowl ring.....but on a personal note, these three buddies of mine also deserve to see their Steelers win the Super Bowl....

Over the last two weeks I have seen many Browns fans oozing with jealousy and trying to take any cheap shot they can at the Steelers.....The Vindicator’s Joe Scalzo acted like a first-grader when he predicted the Seahawks to win by the score of 637 gazillion to 0.....(grow up already!!!).....and of course The Plain Dealer took their cheap shots at the city of Pittsburgh which I thought was strange being that Cleveland has been rated one of the worst cities in the nation and a city who’s river caught on fire many years ago....Yeh, the Browns fans have been very sore losers.....even if Pittsbugh loses today, the Browns fans should still keep their traps shut....remember, the Steelers waxed the Browns twice this year including a 41-0 drubbing at Steelers Field....errrr, I mean Cleveland Browns Stadium....

So yes it would be nice to see the Steelers win because these three friends are class individuals.....they love their Steelers but they are not obnoxious or arrogant....they love their Iron City Beer and Black and Gold....they may often sleep with their Terrible Towel....they have come so close to glory only to be disappointed by losing to the Chargers and Patriots....and having Bill Romanowski talk trash at Three Rivers.....who can forget the 15-1 record only to fall short....and the name Larry Brown still haunts them....they made it through Neil and Kordell....and how can we forget Tommy Gun....there was Barry and Bam....and thank God there is now Bettis....and where is Yancey??.....and to them Myron Cope is a God.....

Hopefully around 10:30 p.m. today, they can crack open an Iron City and have a toast to their team -- Double Yoi!!! -- the World Champions!!!!

Super Bowl Memory - Dallas' misfortune

The Steelers third Super Bowl victory may have been their most fortunate....Super Bowl XIII, pitted the first ever re-match of a prior Super Bowl game....

In Super Bowl X, the Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys 21-17 in Miami....three years later the two foes would meet again in the same place - the Miami Orange Bowl....

Prior to the game, Dallas linebacker Hollywood Henderson berated Steeler quarterback Terry Bradshaw by saying that Bradshaw was so dumb that he could not spell "cat" if you spotted him the "c" and "a".....Henderson’s rants only added fuel to the game’s fire....

After a dead even first quarter (7-7), Dallas jumped to a 14-7 lead early in quarter two when Henderson sacked Bradshaw and Larry Hegman stripped the ball from Bradshaw and ran 37-yards for a touchdown.....that lead last only 1:43 as Bradshaw struck back with a 75-yard pass to John Stallworth to tie the game.....

The Cowboys were marching deep into Steeler territory late in the half when Mel Blount killed the Dallas rally with an interception of Roger Staubach....with less than two minutes left, Bradshaw led the Steelers to a 21-14 halftime lead in just six plays....

Most of the third quarter was a series of punts....however, late in the quarter Dallas began marching toward a game tying touchdown.....with the ball third and three at the Steeler nine-yard line, Staubach hit a wide open Jackie Smith in the middle of the endzone, only to see Smith drop a guaranteed touchdown....Smith managed to get behind the Pittsburgh defense, but this future Hall of Famer who was acquired late in the year from the St. Louis Cardinals quickly became a goat....but the Cowboys misfortune was just beginning....

With the scoreboard showing a narrow Steeler lead at 21-17, Pittsburgh knew they had to score more points....with a drive going, Bradshaw threw a pass deep toward Lynn Swann, however, his legs got tied up with Dallas cornerback Benny Barnes.....at the very least it was incidental contact....but more than likely the official would say the ball was not catchable.....inexplicably, a flag was thrown – and it was called pass interference on Barnes....that would be the second bad break for the Cowboys, but not the last on this drive....

Four plays later, the Steelers had a third and nine at the Dallas 22 when Franco Harris galloped right through the middle of the Dallas defense for a touchdown.....but replays showed that Harris would have been stopped short of the first down as Cowboy safety Charlie Waters had a clear beat on Harris....however, the umpire got in Waters way which allowed Harris a clean alley toward the endzone....this was the third bad break....

The fourth bad break came on the ensuing kick-off when Roy Gerala slipped on his kick-off attempt and booted it right to Dallas’ Randy White....however, White was playing with a cast on his one hand and was unable to handle the kick....with the ball loose on the ground, the Steelers recovered....

And once again, Bradshaw wasted no time as he hit Swann in the back of the endzone on a sliding 18-yard touchdown to make it 35-17....

Any lesser team would have caved in, but behind the arm and spirit of Staubach, the Cowboys scored twice to make it 35-31 with 22 seconds left.....however the Steelers recovered the onside kick to seal the victory....

Within a nine minute span, the Cowboys watched a Super Bowl win slip through their hands because of four unfortunate plays....