Picture of the Year: Finishing Round 2

So we've been a little lax in this area, but we're going to try to finish this thing out before the preseason starts. So, in that vein, we'll be doing about a round a week (ish). This week, we're going to finish off the second round. As always, you can click the pictures to enlarge them.

ESPN Ultimate Standings

ESPN recently released their most updated version of their "Ultimate Rankings" where they rank all 122 professional sports franchises.

The Steelers ranked #3.

The Penguins ranked #8.

The Pirates? Well...they came in at #94, barely eeking out the Los Angeles Kings, Indiana Pacers, and Washington Nationals.

Interestingly, the New York Yankees came in at #107, surrounded by the Atlanta Thrashers and Kansas City Chiefs.

As we like to do around here, let's break down some of these numbers and see how our teams fared.

For starters, teams were ranked across 6 different categories: Bang For The Buck, Fan Relations, Ownership, Affordability, Stadium Experience, Players, Coaching, Title Track

Across the board, the Steelers ranked thusly:

Bang for Buck: 9

Fan Relations: 14

Ownership: 2

Affordability: 36

Stadium Experience: 26

Players: 2

Coaching: 4

Title Track: 4

Let's start with some initial reactions, then we'll dig deeper. The Los Angeles Angels ranked #1 and Carolina Hurricanes ranked #2. Between the two, they have 2 championship trophies. The Steelers have won that many in the last 4 years. But obviously, championships aren't everything.

However, it's hard to see how the Angels rank above the Steelers in "Title Track." The Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Cardinals also ranked above the Steelers here. I can see how the Red Wings could be ranked above the Steelers, given their success in the past and their "likelihood of winning in the future." However, I find it a little hard to believe that the Los Angeles Angels and St. Louis Cardinals have a higher likelihood of titles than the Steelers. The Angels play in the AL West, which they should be able to cakewalk through for a while, but regular season success doesn't always translate into Post-Season glory. Just ask the New England Patriots.

The Fan Relations category was broken up into 4 sub-categories: Players Act Professionally, Fan Appreciation, Player Accessibility, and Fan Feedback.

The Steelers ranked first in Fan Appreciation. Interestingly, they ranked 29th in Players Act Professionally. The Washington Capitals ranked 25th. I guess this is considered "acting professional"

Interestingly, no NFL team ranked in the top 10 in Players Act Professionally. The highest were the Colts (#12) and the Patroits (#14).

In the ownership category, the Steelers were bested only by the Detroit Red Wings. The Steelers ranked first in the "Honest Ownership" and "Committed to the Community" subcategories, but fell to 7th in the "Loyalty to core players" category, allowing the Red Wings to pass them overall. I guess this is a matter of opinion, as the Steelers have let Alan Faneca and Joey Porter go the route of Free Agency the past few years. However, James Harrison has done everything and more that we could have expected from Porter (not to mention LaMarr Woodley being a freaking beast). A-Fan was tough to lose, and he was a solid member of the team, but with the salary cap, you have to make choices. This isn't Major League Baseball. And the Steelers chose players like Hines, Ben, and Troy over A-Fan, which is understandable.

The Steelers ranked lowest in Affordability. Not much to say here. Tickets are expensive, but they also don't cost an arm and a leg like Yankees or NY Giants tickets. On the other end, they're also not like Pirates tickets where you can get tickets for less than beer costs inside. Somehow, the Steelers ranked 7th in the subcategory of "concessions affordability", which is a little odd considering that a bottle of Coke is $4 and beer is somewhere between $7 and $8.

I was a little surprised by how low they Steelers ranked in Stadium Experience. In the "Environment" subcategory, the Steelers were 21st between the Portland TrailBlazers and San Antonio Spurs. Correct me if I'm wrong, but neither of them have Terrible Towels.

I guess not selling out your home playoff games didn't factor in, as the Carolina Hurricanes ranked #1, the Washington Capitals ranked #4.

The Steelers also ranked 36th in "Great Stadium" tied with the Capitals and the Los Angeles Clippers. Interestingly, the LA Lakers, who play in the same arena as the Clippers, ranked 29th in this category. Similarly, the NY Jets were #107 and the Giants were #97, even though they play in the same stadium. The Pirates actually came in at #4 here, which was well-deserved because PNC Park is just an awesome stadium. According to this list, the top 5 stadiums are:

1. Xcel Energy Center (Minnesota Wild)

2. AT&T Park (San Francisco Giants)

3. Lambeau Field (Green Bay Packers)

4. PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates)

5. Qwest Field (Seattle Seahawks)

The Steelers also ranked well in the Players category. Interestingly, they fell to 12th in "Likeability"

You mean Hines Ward breaking Keith Rivers' jaw wasn't likeable?

The Cleveland LeBrons Cavs, Detroit Red Wings, and Portland TrailBlazers ranked highest in likeability. Portland? Really? Do people like to watch Greg Oden sit on the bench that much?

Finally, let's give some props to Coach Tomlin here for ranking as the #4 coach in professional sports.

1t. Bill Belicheat (New England Patriots)

1t. Greg Popovich (San Antonio Spurs)

3. Jeff Fisher (Tennessee Titans)

4. Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers)

5. Mike Scioscia (LA Angels)

Well, there we have it. We already touched on the "Title Track" portion of the calculation.

All in all, Pittsburgh's got some great things going for it right now, and the Steelers (and Penguins) are at the forefront of that. It's great to see the Steelers get some national recognition for it, even if they fall behind two teams like the Angels and Hurricanes.

How'd that turn out for you Bill?

Whole Foods Hates Capitalism

I discovered today that Whole Foods hates capitalism. Now, I know it's a popular thing in bourgeois culture to look down on the ills of capitalism, but that's not what our ire is directed towards today.

Being residents of Pittsburgh, we grew up with Giant Eagle. The Big Bird is usually where it's at, but it's always good to look around at your other options as well.

If you live in the city, there are either a whole bunch of grocery stores near you (like in the East End where there is the Market District Giant Eagle, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's amongst other smaller stores) or none (like the Hill District, which is in the process of getting one, which will be great for that neighborhood).

If you're lucky enough to live in an area, either in the city or outside of it, where you have access to more than one grocery store, I'm sure you, like any good shopper (and American!) have compared prices between stores.

Hey, groceries aren't cheap and every little bit you can save counts.

In lieu of this, my fiance and I decided that we were going to do some comparison-shopping today. Like any normal people, we don't have the ability to remember prices on everything we like to buy from a variety of stores. So, using the common sense that we have, we took along some paper and a pen to jot down prices so that we could compare.

Well, while we were in Whole Foods today, we were approached by a manager and told that "Writing down prices is against national store policy" and that we had to stop. I've never really been that close to being kicked out of a grocery store before, so I wasn't thinking to ask to see the policy or where it was posted.

However, if this "policy" was posted, it wasn't anywhere prevalent that I saw, and an overview of their website reveals no such policy listed.

Their website does mention

We offer value to our customers by providing them with high quality products, extraordinary service and a competitive price.

Well, we must beg the question: how does the customer know what a "competitive price" is when you're not allowed to price-compare? I was always under the understanding that good customers "shopped with their feet" and would frequent the place that was cheapest. At least, that's what the tenets of capitalism, and in turn the American economy, were built upon.

However, I guess this isn't good enough for the bourgeois folks at Whole Foods who don't really want you to think about what you're buying and how it's at least a dollar cheaper at Trader Joe's or Giant Eagle. Therefore, without further ado, we call upon our Minister of Ire to put Whole Foods in their place.

Steve McNair

When you were playing Steve McNair, you knew it was going to be a struggle. McNair was the best running quarterback we have seen since Steve Young. While Donovan McNabb may eventually surpass McNair, Steve was a more complete passer than Donovan, which also made him a more dangerous runner.

Without looking at any stats, but just thinking off the top of my head, Steve McNair might have had the best career against the Steelers of any quarterback in recent memory.

Nothing we can say can really do justice to just how many times Steve McNair tore our hearts out over his NFL career. From his time in Tennessee to his last full season as a starter in Baltimore (not a coincidence that this was the last time Baltimore swept the Steelers).

Of course, you always love to see your team play well against someone who has traditionally been a thorn in your side. Which is why the Steelers Monday night game against Baltimore in 2007 was one of our favorite games at Heinz Field. The Steelers came out sporting their throwback jerseys for the 75th anniversary. Legends were in the building, and a legend was born. For those who don't remember, this was the game that put James Harrison on the radar as a dominant defensive player. Harrison had 10 tackles (9 solo, 1 asst), 3 1/2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 interception. It was a totally unreal defensive performance against Steve McNair, who had torn our defense to shreds in a 37-0 rout in late 2006.

As much as we disliked McNair for what he was able to do against our defense on the field, you never wish for bad things to happen to people in their personal lives. McNair's death is sad and tragic, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family.

An Archive of Futility

I went to the Pirate game on Wednesday night against the Indians. It's always nice to see a Pittsburgh team beat up on a Cleveland team.

Watching Cutch fly around the field last night made me think about how long it's been since the Pirates have actually had a legit prospect on their team. Sure Sanchez and Wilson had good years at the plate and are good defenders, but Cutch is at a whole nother level. It kinda makes you wonder though, why didn't we trade Nyjer Morgan and put Cutch in left field (or move McLouth over to left) if we were so desparate to get him in the lineup?

Thinking about could-have-beens, and in preparation for another brutal summer which will probably see the Pirates trade away Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, Adam LaRoche, Paul Maholm and maybe Zach Duke, here's a brief look back at who the Pirates have traded away.

We won't bore you with all the gritty details of the all-star cast that the Pirates had assembled in the early 90's that was then traded away. Therefore, we'll start with 1995, the year after the strike.

1995

58-86

Released young knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. Wakfield is second in the league in wins this season.

The Pirates did make two acquisions that year: they drafted Bronson Arroyo in the 3rd round, so they could trade him later.

1996

73-89

The Pirates traded pitcher Denny Neagle to the Braves, acquring Jason Schmidt in the trade. We'll deal with Schmidt more later.

We also sent Third Baseman Charlie Hayes to the New York Yankees, who went on to catch the final out of the World Series in foul territory that year. In return, we got pitcher Chris Corn who never made it higher than AA.

Traded Dan Miceli to the Tigers for some joke who only had 2 At-Bats with the team. Miceli played for 10 more seasons in the league.

Traded Orlando Merced and others to the Blue Jays for Abraham Nunez and Craig Wilson.

Finally, the Pirates capped off their Dynasty Destruction by sending Jay Bell and Jeff King to Kansas City for a few jokes and Joe Randa. Jay Bell went on to score the World Series-winning run for Arizona.

They did sign a pitcher named Francisco Cordova who is still the last Pirate to throw a no-hitter (July 12, 1997). The Pirates draft was pretty promising this year as they picked Kris Benson (P), Tike Redman (OF), and Rob Mackowiak (IF).

1997

79-83

Since we were actually in contention, there wasn't much wheeling and dealing during the season.

Joe Randa was selected by the Diamondbacks in the expansion draft, meaning we got virtually nothing from the King/Bell trade.

Drafted John Grabow.

1998

69-93

Passed on pitchers Brad Lidge and CC Sabathia to select 1B Clint Johnston in the first round of the draft. Also passed on Aubrey Huff (6th round), Matt Holliday (7th round), Aaron Rowand (1st round), Adam Dunn (2nd round), and Juan Pierre (13th round) throughout the draft.

Traded Esteban Loaiza (who would go on to be a 2-time All Star, and lead the AL in strikeouts in 2003) to Texas for Warren Morris and Todd Van Poppel. Morris was released before the 2002 season, and Van Poppel was released to free agency at the end of the season.

Traded Jon Lieber to the Cubs. Lieber would go on to be an All-Star and NL Cy Young winner in 2001. In return we got a OF Brant Brown who hit .232 with 16 HR in one season with the Bucs.

In an actual good move, we traded pitcher Ricardo Rincon to the Indians for Brian Giles.

1999

78-83

Little did we know this was the last time we would sniff 80 wins in a season. But this didn't stop the front office from moving players.

Traded All-Star and 3-time NL SB leader Tony Womack to the Diamondbacks. Womack went on to win the World Series with the Dbacks in 2001 and lose it with the Cardinals in 2004.

Traded Jose Guillen for Humberto Cota

Drafted Ryan Doumit

2000

69-93

Traded perienially disappointing outfielder Al Martin to San Diego for John Vander Wal.

Traded Jason Christansen to St. Louis for Jack Wilson.

Trying to recreate 1991, the Pirates signed Derek Bell and Terry Mulholland after the 2000 season. Neither finished the 01 season with the team.

Drafted Sean Burnett, Jose Bautista, Nate McLouth, and Ian Snell.

2001

62-100

In possibly the worst trade in Pirates history, the Bucs traded Jason Schmidt and John Vander Wal to San Francisco for Armando Rios and Ryan Vogelsong. Rios hit .264 in one season with the Bucs. Vogelsong was the butt end of bullpen jokes for the next 4 years as he only once posted an ERA under 6.35. Schmidt went on to be a 3-time All-Star, finish in the Top 5 in Cy Young voting twice, lead the NL in ERA in 2003, and lead the NL in shutouts in 03 and 04.

Traded Jose Silva to the Reds for a minor leaguer.

Received Josh Fogg and Kip Wells in a trade from the ChiSox.

Jokes.

2002

72-89

Passed on BJ Upton, Zack Greinke, Prince Fielder, Scott Kazmir, Nick Swisher, Cole Hamels, and Matt Cain to select Bryan Bullington. Bullington cycled around the minor leagues before finally making his major league debut April 23, 2009 with Toronto.

Drafted Matt Capps and Nyjer Morgan.

Traded for Randall Simon from the Tigers, who would go on to become the infamous Sausage-wacker in Pirate lore.

Traded former #1 pick Chad Hermansen to Chicago.

2003

75-87

Bronson Arroyo selected by the Red Sox off waivers. Arroyo would go on to win a World Series with Boston and make the All-Star game in 2006. Arroyo was also the Red Sox pitcher involved in the incident in the ALCS where A-Fraud batted the ball out of his hand and the umps originally scored it a hit.

Traded Kenny Lofton (we had him?) and Aramis Ramirez to the Cubs for some jokes.

Traded Jeff Suppan and others to the Red Sox for Freddy Sanchez.

In one of the better trades we made, sent Brian Giles to the Padres for Jason Bay and Oliver Perez. We definitely came out on top on this one.

Drafted Paul Maholm.

2004

72-89

Traded Jason Kendall to Oakland for Mark Redman and others.

Signed Raul Mondesi, Jose Mesa, and Daryle Ward in the offseason. None of them are currently on the team.

Traded Kris Benson to the Mets for Ty Wigginton and Jose Bautista.

2005

67-95

Traded Matt Lawton to the Cubs for some noname.

Traded Mark Redman for some minor leaguers.

Traded Dave Williams for Sean Casey.

Traded Rob Mackowiak for Damasto Marte.

2006

67-95

Traded Sean Casey for Brian Rogers.

Traded Kip Wells for Jesse Chavez.

Traded Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez to the Mets for Xavier Nady.

Traded Craig Wilson to the Yankees for Shawn Chacon.

2007

68-94

Traded Mike Gonzalez to Atlanta for Adam LaRoche to not hit with runners on base.

Released Shawn Chacon to free agency.

Traded Solomon Torres for two minor leaguers.

2008

67-95

Am I still writing this? How do I have any heart left. The sad thing is, it gets worse.

12 games out of 1st place on July 26, traded Nady and Marte to the Yankees for 4 minor leaguers, including Jeff Karstens and Ross Ohlendorf, both of whom are now in our starting rotation. Pirates went 19-39 after this trade.

8 games under .500 on July 31, traded Jason Bay to Boston while Manny Ramirez went to LA and got Andy LaRoche, Brandon Moss, and some minor leaguers. Went 17-37 after this trade.

Traded Jose Bautista to Toronto for Robinzon Diaz. Went 10-25 after the trade.

2009

35-40

June 3, 6 games back in the division, 4 games under .500. Traded Nate McLouth to Atlanta.

The McLouth trade might be the straw that broke the camel's back with the fans. The only thing keeping the fans from irate mob-mentality storm-the-clubhouse mode right now is the fact that Cutch has been so good thus far. If Cutch starts to slump and the Pirates fall 10 or more games below .500, watch out. Things might get ugly. Local papers started calling for the mangement's head after the McLouth trade, but McCutchen's play has shut them up-for now. If the Pirates are even anywhere near the semblance of in contention and Sanchez, Wilson, Duke, Maholm or LaRoche get traded away for minor leaguers, the media might go after the "Let-them-eat-cake" management French Revolution-style.

I realize that it is unrealistic to think that these players will play their entire career with the Pirates, but for as long as we've put up with this crap, they had better be traded for some major league or major leagure-ready talent.

Twitter and Starks

We are now on twitter! You can follow us here:

Secondly, the Steelers signed Max Starks to a 4-year, $26.3 million contract that included a $10 million signing bonus. To be honest, this is a pretty standard contract and is a graet move for the Steelers. The Post Gazette, as always, has more.

In my opinion, this was a good move. They freed up $2 million in cap space and have a rising left tackle stud signed for four years. All in all, a great move.

The team also announced the retirement of Fernando Bryant. You may remember him from breaking up a pass intended for Antonio Gates in the end zone of the 11-10 Chargers game.

City of Champions: The Debate Continues

In lieu of the Penguins wrapping up their third Stanley Cup, a debate has started to emerge over the notion of whether or not Pittsburgh has regained the "City of Champions" helm that it touted during the late 70s when the Steelers and Pirates were both at the top of the league.

In my browsing, I came across the Donovan Index (no relation to McNabb), which not only accounts for the number of chanpionships won by each city, but the number of teams in the league at that time. Therefore, all the stanley cups that teams like Detroit and Montreal won back in the day are "discounted" because there were only 6 teams in the league. The basic formula is something like this:

Number of Teams in the league for each championship won/Seasons in the league

The basic idea is, if there are 20 teams in the league, each team should win once every 20 years, so the metric number here is 1. A score above 1 means the team wins championships on a higher than average basis, while an index below 1 indicates the team has been disappointing in the success department.

The index accounts for all professional Basketball, Football, Baseball, and Hockey clubs in a city.

Not surprisingly, New York and Los Angeles came out as #1 and #2. With the 26 titles the Yankees have won and the 10 the Lakers have, it's not surprising that these two cities topped the list.

But guess who was #3? That's right, Pittsburgh.

Pretty impressive, right?

Well, there's a catch. In "identifying the true city of champions" the Donovan index does some creative shuffling.

If you look into the teams accounted for in the "New York" calculation, you will notice that the Islanders do not appear. Rather, they are listed under the "Nassau/Suffolk" city, despite calling themselves "New York". In addition, all of the Brooklyn teams are listed under "Brooklyn" rather than New York, completely ignoring the fact that Brooklyn has been an incorporated part of New York City since 1898.

Since the New York Jets and Giants play their games in the same arena complex as the New Jersey Devils/Nets, (which isn't even in the state of New York) it seems odd that they are included in the "New York" listing whereas Brooklyn teams (which have all played in NYC Proper) and the Islanders (who call themselves "New York") aren't.

Adjusted New York numbers (to include "Suffolk" and "Brooklyn" teams):

54 Championships, 987 "points", 628 seasons. 1.57 index.

Adjusted Top Cities:
1. Los Angeles - 1.64
2. New York - 1.57
3. Pittsburgh - 1.55


By the same standard, if you want to include the two Anaheim teams with the LA teams and not separate, LA's number becomes:
19 Championships, 456 "points", 299 seasons. 1.53 index.

Adjusted to include Anaheim:
1. New York - 1.57
2. Pittsburgh - 1.55
3. LA/Anaheim - 1.53

Whichever way you slice it, in spite of the Steelers being bad from 1933-1970, the Penguins being crappy before drafting Lemieux in 1984, and the Pirates recent streak of misery, Pittsburgh still has one of the top 3 index ratings in the country. And there's no fancy inflated math needed to get our number to where it is (like excluding teams that play within your city limits).

In fact, let's break it down a little more and look at the matchups head to head.

Football

vs vs

If this was just the Steelers and Giants, it would probably be a push at best. As the two teams showed last year, they were two of the best teams in the league, with the Steelers hoisting the trophy at the end of the season. These two teams are the last two Super Bowl Champions and have accounted for 9 Super Bowl trophys between them. However, when you throw the dismal Jets into the mix, I would argue this gives the Steelers the advantage here. Let's look at Donovan's numbers:

Current teams:

Steelers: 2.61

Giants: 1.56

Jets: 0.57

This gives us a sum of Pittsburgh 2.61, New York 1.21, Los Angeles

Including all historical teams:

Pittsburgh: (172 points, 76 seasons) 2.26

New York: (159 points, 162 seasons) 0.98

Los Angeles: (40 points, 68 seasons) 0.59

Teams included: Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Giants, New York Jets, New York Bulldogs, New York Yanks, New York Yankees, New York Titans, Brooklyn Lions, Brooklyn Tigers, Brooklyn Dodgers, Los Angeles Raiders, Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Buccaneers, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Dons

Whichever way you cut it, Pittsburgh is on top as far as football is concerned.

Baseball

vs vs

Anyone who would argue that the Pirates right now are better than any of these teams is out of their head. In the big market game of baseball, people with cash to spend have better teams, and let's face it, New York and LA teams have that cash.

Current Teams:

Yankees: 5.22

LA Dodgers: 2.16

Mets: 1.09

Pirates: 0.94

As we can see, Pittsburgh is getting served here, partially because the LA Dodgers have existed for a much shorter period of time as a franchise than any of the other three, which leads to their inflated rating.

All Historical Teams:

New York: (642 points, 258 seasons) 2.49

Los Angeles: (108 points, 50 seasons) 2.16

Pittsburgh: (98 points, 104 seasons) 0.94

Teams included: New York Yankees, New York Mets, New York Giants, New York Highlanders, Brooklyn Dodgers, Brooklyn Superbas, Brooklyn Robins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates

If the Angels are added in to the LA team count, their number drops from 2.16 to 1.42. Either way, the order is consistent: New York, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh.

Hockey

vs vs

The Rangers won three championships before World War II, and have won one since. The Islanders dominated during Reagan's first term. Pittsburgh has won the cup 3 times since I was born. The Kings have never won a title.

Current Teams:

Islanders: 2.33

Penguins: 1.78

Rangers: 0.63

Kings: 0.00

Including all historical teams:

Pittsburgh: (73 points, 41 seasons)1.78

New York: (136 points, 136 seasons) 1.00

Los Angeles: (0 points, 43 seasons) 0.00

Teams included: Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New York Raiders, New York Americans, Brooklyn Americans, Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles Sharks

Pittsburgh has a pretty clear advantage on this one, giving us the advantage in 2 of the 3 major sports so far, with only one remaining, it's nearly safe to say we've got this one in the bag. But let's not count our chickens before they hatch.

Basketball

vs

The Lakers are obviously the best of this bunch and arguably the best team in the NBA this decade. But right now, who really would have taken the Knicks or Clippers last year if they went head-to-head with the Pitt Panthers? Sure it's a different style and a different game, but with Levance Fields, Sam Young and DeJuan Blair, I think Pitt could have held their own against either the Knicks or Clippers. Just saying.

Current Teams:

Lakers: 5.06

Knicks: 0.49

Clippers: 0.00

Including all historical teams:

Los Angeles: (248 points, 76 seasons) 3.26

Pittsburgh: (11 points, 5 seasons) 2.20

New York: (50 points, 72 seasons) 0.69

Teams included: New York Knicks, New York Nets, Pittsburgh Pipers, Pittsburgh Ironmen, Pittsburgh Condors, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Stars, Anaheim Amigos

Tallying everything up, here was the final scorecard:

1st: Pittsburgh (2), New York (1), Los Angeles (1)

2nd: New York (2), Pittsburgh (1), Los Angeles (1)

3rd: Los Angeles (2), Pittsburgh (1), New York (1)

Overall, across all 4 sports historically we see these numbers:

New York (987 points, 628 seasons) 1.572

Pittsburgh (354 points, 226 seasons) 1.566

Los Angeles (426 points, 284 seasons) 1.500

It is very close between all three, and New York has definitely been carried by the strength of the Yankees and the Lakers are holding their own in Los Angeles. The Steelers and Penguins are mutually bearing the load for Pittsburgh, and they are also both in possession of shiny silver trophies right now, and you really can't argue with that.

What to Look for During the 2009-2010 Season

Here is a list of a few things you can expect from us beginning (most likely) in early July and continuing throughout the season:

1) 2009-2010 Team-by-Team previews and predictions similar to last year

2) A fantasy football preview prior to your draft, as well as weekly fantasy opinions and tips

3) Award predictions and a summary of the best rookies - in our opinions, of course

4) Ian's wonderful game recaps (assuming he wants to do them), because, let's face it, his summaries are the best in the business

5) A brief synopsis of the prior week's happenings and a quick glance at the coming week's important games.

In the spirit of the "n'at" portion of "The Steelers n'at," we'll also bring you:

6) A review of your Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins' free agency dealings after all is said in done in early August

7) Analysis of any trades the Pittsburgh Pirates make in order to field a "championship caliber organization"

Finally, if either of us has any time, you may see:

8) NCAA Football and Basketball previews and recruiting news

9) A weekly poll or trivia question for yinz to muse over

10) Anything else you might like to see

Also, you soon will be able to follow us on Twitter (thesteelersnat)

We hope you enjoy the upcoming season as much as we will, as we all cheer on our teams in the City of Champions!

City of Champions

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Congratulations to the Penguins on winning the Stanley Cup.

I'm going to the parade tomorrow. I'll try to take some pictures and post them.

Yes We Can

Everyone knows about Steelers Nation.

Go to any city in America. There is at least one Steelers bar. As a Steelers fan, you are never alone. The long arm of Steelers Nation even prompted this quote:

"When you play Pittsburgh, you don't just play the team. You play the whole city." - Howard Cosell

Tonight, the Penguins take the ice in their biggest game in 17 years.

Though there has been some contention between Steelers fans and Penguins fans (mainly stemming from the fact that the Steelers are the media darling of this city and the Pens are often put on the back-burner), tonight we have the opportunity to make a statement. Not just that we are the City of Champions, not just that we support our team, but that we are one.

WE. ARE. ONE.

We are not Steelers Nation and Penguins Nation. We are Pittsburgh Nation. No matter where you are, I do not doubt that if you are reading this blog, you were living and dying with every pass that Big Ben threw in the last two minutes of the Super Bowl. Names like Patrick Bailey and Darnell Stapleton have a special meaning to you.

So should names like Max Talbot, Tyler Kennedy and Rob Scuderi. If you don't live in Pittsburgh and still cheer for the Steelers, it's likely because you have roots in the Steel City. I know the Penguins had a bad stretch of years and ownership during the middle of this decade. But they are also Pittsburgh's team. And tonight, as ONE NATION, we need to stand and support them.

We all yell at our TVs during Steelers games. Do it tonight. Is there a place where you usually go to watch Steelers games? GO THERE TONIGHT.

The Penguins have the chance to do something incredible. Their story is the story of Pittsburgh. Everyone said they couldn't. Everyone said they were down and out. No one gave them a chance.

They exude that one trait common of all Pittsburghers, either former, current, or future: PERSEVERANCE.

Is there another city in America that is defined by a single word? As Pittsburghers and Pittsburgh fans, this is who we are, what we do, and why we love our city and our teams so much.

After the Steel industry collapsed, no one gave Pittsburgh a chance. Now it has been repeatedly named the Most Livable City in America by numerous publications and is the host of the G-20 Summit.

The Penguins were in 10th place in the conference and 6 points out of a playoff spot in February. They had just fired there head coach. Everyone counted them out.

As Steelers fans, we know full well the pressure of performing in one, sixty-minute game for the championship. The Penguins face that tonight. Stand behind them. Be loud. Always remember:

Image from The Pensblog