World Champs

Okay, so after much needling and prodding by my coworkers, and the vast amount of my friends' rantings and ravings online on everything from the Wizards, to movie reviews, to their children, I've finally decided to throw my hat into the ring. And I thought of no better subject for my inaugural blog than...the NFL World Champions, my team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Oh, yes, you will see a million-- or have already seen-- a million articles, sites, tattoos, various discreet and indiscreet crimes associated with my beloved Steelers. My blog? Well, perhaps I haven't had the chance to peruse all the related material to their stunning win in the Motor City, but every recap I HAVE read, hasn't talked about the true fact that this team, this Steeler team, was a team of destiny.

I know what you're saying. Yadda, yadda, yadda, everybody thinks when their team wins the big one, their team is the "Team of Destiny." But people, I'm serious. I mean, look at the facts -- and here's where I won't bore you with the entire season, just the playoffs:

We go up against Cincinnati first -- the Bungles, who finally look like THE BENGALS and have won our division. They crap all over us in our second meeting of the year. Some people attributed their ascendancy this year to a weak schedule, and to some extent that's true. But if you only used that, you'd be doing this team a huge disservice. Chad Johnson-- you tell me he won't be a top ten, if not top five receiver picked in fantasy drafts next season. Carson Palmer looked like he finally fulfilled the promise a lot of people saw in him. The D was playing great, TJ Houshmanzadeh (you say Houshmanzadah) was a great number two receiver...this team was hitting all cylinders. So when we play them in the opening rounds of the playoffs, take away the fact that we each had won one of the two contests we played against each other in the regular season. This was for pride. So the Bengals first play from scrimmage, Palmer throws up a loogie to Chad, he catches it--beating our secondary I've always thought questionable--and it looks like it's going to be one of those days. Flash back to Palmer...lying on the ground...in pain. Now, I've watched football since I was a kid. I've seen the Joe Theismann leg break on TV when it happened. I saw when Roy Williams horsecollared T.O. in the regular season to make him miss every game until LAST year's Superbowl. I'm no doctor, but the roll Von Olhoffen took to Palmer's leg didn't look that bad to me. I'm sorry. Blame my untrained eyes. I thought he'd just go off for a quarter or two, maybe a sprain, he'd come back. ACL and MCL injury....MAY make it to training camp, if not the beginning of the season. On a play IN THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME, and on one that I honestly thought the hit wasn't that bad, we accidentally took away the field general. It was then I knew the Football Gods were smiling on us. Jon Kitna, contrary to popular belief, is not a bad quarterback. Just a season ago, he led the Bengals almost to the post season if I recall. He played well in Seattle when he was there. But he's no Carson Palmer. We won, 31-17. Just hands down beat the pants off of 'em. Destiny enters the picture.

So we get to the Colts. Probably the biggest debacle on Monday Night Football ever in the regular season...okay, that's just in the minds of us Steelers fans, but for us it's like number two nightmare behind the Neil O'Donnell Super Bowl (there's no number to this Super Bowl. It is simply known to us as the Neil O'Donnell Bowl). But needless to say, in that MNF contest, we looked like Master P against Fred Astaire in a dancing contest. So the oddsmakers, the fans, any sane individual would be right in picking the Colts, who almost went undefeated all season, who were the odds-on favorite to get to the Super Bowl if not outright win it. And then we played. It was beautiful to watch as a Steelers fan because even though doubt always clouds a game for us, there's a nugget of hope. And as that game goes along and we play well, that hope grows, and grows, and grows and we become the loudest mo' fo's you ever had in your bar. I won't even get into the bad calls, the penalties, and the Troy Palamalou interception that was a key play of the game not only for possession, but for what happened next, but let's say the Colts were fighting the Football Gods something fierce. You gotta respect that. But I say again...Team O' Destiny. We just need to give Jerome the ball at the one, he gets an easy TD to keep the clock running and we go on to the Broncos. There's the fumble. The dude whose wife STABBED him, was not expected to even play in the game, picks up the ball....and makes the dumbest decision he'll ever remember. His right side completely clear along the sideline, he instead goes to the middle of the field where Ben Rothlisberger makes what is now known as...The Tackle. Saves our season. If the Colts score on that run back, there is no way we are winning that game. Period. So the Colts --man, I've got to find their mojo and sell it -- still manage to get in field goal range that can tie up the game and send it into overtime. No fan wants their team who's winning to go into overtime by the way. It reeks of doom and a long night of picking up pieces of your TV after you've thrown it when your team does something idiotic to let the other team win. So out comes the most reliable kicker in the NFL, the Drunken Kicker. It's something like 30, 40 yards, no problem for this guy. He misses. And he doesn't just miss...he misses SPECTACULARLY. No bad snap. No bad foot plant. No block on it. The ball just...doesn't go through the uprights. To quote Al Micheals: "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!"

So here come the Broncos. Jake Plummer has been on fire all season and has been the Jake the Snake of old with no mistakes and getting his team to the playoffs. But they didn't even have half the mojo to thwart the Football Gods that the Colts did because it wasn't even really hard. I didn't get to watch this game all the way live; I was working so I Tivo-ed it. I watched the second half live and thought, "Was the whole game like this?" and many people said yes. But when I watched the replay, I thought the Broncos were giving it to the Steelers...for about a quarter. Then we opened the can of whoopass on 'em. Another team that had been projected to go far into the playoffs, was playing stellar football on both sides of the ball all season long, and us-- the number six seed -- were going to the Super Bowl. Sure we had fancy gimmicks, but for the most part, we played what is now Steeler football: passing to set up the run. Hadn't been done in a lot of years, but look where it got us when we did it in the '70s, and look what happened at Super Bowl XL. And so we get to the Super Bowl, in Detroit this year, the hometown of the fifth leading rusher in NFL history who happens to be playing for our team and is thinking retirement. This year would probably be his last and they ACTUALLY MAKE IT TO THE SUPERBOWL. You know the rest.

I recently wore my XL gear to work, my hat and my shirt. Again started up the "Oh, it should have an asterik by it," and the "the refs wanted you guys to win like they wanted the Colts to win when you played them." I laugh at all these whinings, but I have issues with them. If you're going to use the Colts analogy, look what happened! We won DESPITE the refs blowing calls in the Colts favor. That should tell you, it can be done if a team gets its head out of its ass and tries to win a game, not use poor clock management, drop balls, and commit penalties. Honestly, I feel for Seahawk fans. At one point or another, every team feels robbed of a win by refs, and because its the Super Bowl, it's just way bigger than every other time. And I will give them that the push off call on Darrell Jackson was a ticky tack foul--but it was a foul. And I will give them that the holding call that called back the one-yard line catch by Stupid Loudmouth TE, aka Jeremy Stevens, was not a hold. And I will say the penalty assessed to them because of Matt Hasselbeck's supposed "illegal tackle" was nonexistent. But everything else in that game, they should have been able to overcome. Yeah, it's hard to overcome stuff when you feel the refs, and the world, is against you, so it's hard for you to win, to muster up that extra effort. But isn't that what's called character? It's been said many a time that football, and most other sports for that matter, is a game about heart. If you have the strong enough heart, if you have the strong enough character, if you want to WIN bad enough, you overcome that stuff and just freakin' win the game. So no more whining, Seattle fans. I fully expect that now that the players know what's expected of them going into that event, what they need to do as a team to survive, they just might win if they get there again next year. If they can put down their lattes long enough ;)

Team of Destiny, ya'll. Jerome, I'm glad we could send you out on top, baby...