Posted on 01/24/2011 5:17:14 AM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
PITTSBURGH -- You see it all around town these days. The "Big Ben" signs gradually returning to the windows in working-class hillside neighborhoods. The No. 7 jerseys on the backs of suburban convenience-store clerks, grade-school teachers - even, strikingly, children.
Most prominently, you see it in how the discussion unfolds when talk turns to Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Instead of phrases like "criminal investigation," ''NFL suspension" and "bad example," the words today are back to what they were a couple years ago: Completed passes. Makes things happen. Leader.
(Excerpt) Read more at wtae.com ...
Talk about going from one extreme to the other.
It’s sad because PNC Park looks like a great place to watch a ballgame.
Lock up your daughters until after SB XLV
I'd say you should get your eyes checked.
His 'official' stats are 6' tall at 205 pounds. That is damn small when his job is to catch passes over the middle and get crushed by linebackers anywhere between 30 and 70 pounds bigger than him. And he gets up smiling (most) every time and has been doing it for a dozen years. He has absorbed far more 'cheep shots' over his career than he could ever hand out in ten careers. He is one tough guy.
Personally, I think some of the gripes are that those big guys are embarrassed when a little guy like Ward cleans their clock with a bone crunching block. They figure their job is to dish out punishment, not to absorb it. If you can't appreciate a small guy like him giving as good as he gets, then you either don't appreciate football, or you are just bitter that this guy always beats the hell out of your team.
As long as he beats the Packers.
It is. Even with that sad excuse for a team, it's still a nice summer evening at the ball game.
Compared to the LBs he regularly knocks on their ass he is. Most of them out weigh him by close to 50 pounds, then they go whining that he’s “dirty” because he hits harder than them.
Yeah they would. If Ben gets in trouble again the league will probably slap him with a half season or even whole season suspension, that’s the same territory Holmes put himself into. There’s no reason to keep a player that might be suspended that long. It’s not just morals, there’s good football sense to the dumping of Holmes, and if Ben can’t keep his nose clean he’ll put himself in the same situation.
It’s part envy and part disgust on my part. I envy his guts and tough as nails attitude. However, he was rated one of the dirtiest players in the league in a secret poll of players last off-season by one of the sports mags (I forget which one). The disgust comes from the fact that the local team is rostered with gutless pussies who take shots and NEVER do anything about it.
I envy Stillers fans. I genuinely do. As for the Bungles, my season ticket dollars abandoned them in `94 and went up I-71 to the Horseshoe.
Rapelisberger
I have quite a few other reasons to hate the Steelers, and most of it revolves around their own delusions of grandeur. Steelers fans really do believe that they are superior to everyone else, and the media feeds their mindset. They have the same opinion of themselves that Big 10 fans do; that they represent REAL football, and that everybody else is just faking it. I first learning this watching the run up to Super Bowl XXX, and we were treated to endless diatribes about how the Steelers represented history and the working man, and during the game the camera would always show Bill Cowher's family cheering after every Steeler 1st down, as if to drive home that the Steelers really deserved to win. It was vomit inducing
In my mind, the sports media has specific teams that they root for. One of them is whatever team Brett Favre happens to be playing for, since he's the media's favorite. In the 80's and 90's, it was the 49ers. In the late 90's and past decade, it was the Steelers.
I always try to root against them.
I have a lot of respect for the Jets. I rewatched all of the episode from the HBO Hard Knocks special on Saturday, and they overcame a lot of adversity and ran a great training camp. It was such a great show and reminded me that the NFL isn't all flash and cash, that it's actually quite a bore most of the time, and that most players are literally playing for their jobs during every game, caught between making a handsome league minimum on one hand but also being at risk of being unemployed on the other. It's hard work and most of those guys earn every penny.
The odds of the Jets being able to beat Manning, Brady, and the Steelers on the road in three consecutive weeks was just overwhelming, but they came close and should be proud.
As for SB XLV, I know who Obama will be rooting for, and I'll be rooting for Aaron Rodgers and the other guys.
It goes to show you that if you are going to assault women, you DAMN WELL better be a good quarterback! :) Go Steelers!
One could make the case that they acted differently for the camera, but they were followed by the HBO camera crew for months at a time at all hours of the day so I don't think its likely. I think if you watched it you'd feel differently about them and their internal mindset.
Sure, running down to the end zone might have been over the top, but after living and breathing the game against Patriots for months, day and night 24-7, I can see how it might be tough to contain yourself. Let's be fair before we start calling him Woody Hayes.
There's nothing I saw in all of the coverage of the Hard Knocks show that would make me call Ryan 'classless', from dealing with the Revis' holdout to letting players go. He is honestly trying to build up the same pride in his organization that the Steelers have, but he doesn't have the media on his side cheering for his team like the Steelers do.
The trash talking might have been over the top at times, but they felt they needed to to have a chance at the Pats; this isn't figure skating. They got into the Pats offense's head and sacked Brady five times. They beat Manning and Brady on the road back to back, and almost played their way into the Super Bowl when no one gave them a chance, with the media bashing them back and forth all along the way.
From what I saw with all of the behind the scenes stuff on the show and seeing how successful their season was, I think they're a great lesson in tenacity.
As for when I look at the Steelers, and while no doubt they work their asses off, I also see a massive air of entitlement. Much like the rich kid who thinks he deserves it because his Daddy is famous.
I’ve seen coaches celebrate big wins, and that was a huge win for the Jets. I like Ryan, he’s fun, he loves his guys, he puts himself in front of the firing squad (how many coaches have you seen blame every loss on themselves, that’s Ryan’s official stance in multiple interviews, if they lose it’s his fault of they win it’s all the players), and he’s perfect for the media circus that is NYC football. And let’s not forget 2 trips to the conference finals in 2 years, he’s clearly got something on the ball.
I bleed black and gold and wanted the Steelers to win, but I really do hope Ryan gets the trophy someday, and wouldn’t have been that devastated if they’d pulled it off yesterday. The Jets are a good team and he’s a big part of why they’re a good team.
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