Game Day 3

Game Day #3 is here.

The Olympics are winding to a close, and Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter is capturing headlines this week by running away from everyone, Willie Parker-style.

Bolt also said he is donating $50,000 American dollars of his own money to help the relief effort for the earthquake that struck China earlier this year.

The "Redeem Team" with The Artist Formerly Known as "LeBronze" at the helm are set to seize the gold from a Spanish team they beat by 30 earlier in the Olympics.

Finally, someone in attendance at the Women's Beach Volleyball Championship deserves a shout-out. Props to the person who snapped the picture at the opportune moment as well.

Upper-right hand corner.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO

Here's what you need to know about Minnesota, if you didn't read the team preview.

Adrian Peterson is scary good.


T-Jax got some targets to throw to, but the question remains if he can get them the ball. He suffered a strained MCL last week, so he may be out this week, which means we might get to see some of John David Booty, which means plenty of bad jokes ahead in the recap.

The Vikes defense, already tops in the league against the run, added last year's sack champion Jared Allen, who is now sporting a Hulk Hogan-esque mustache.

Those pictures are eerily similar.

From the Steelers end, they have to cut their roster down to 75 players on Tuesday, so this is their last chance to get a look at some of the people right on the edge.

The third preseason game is usually one where the starters play a bit longer (usually the majority of the first half) and they go a little deeper into the playbook to try and work out some things they've been practicing. It will be interesting to see if the Pony Formation with Parker and Mendenhall together in the backfield gets unveiled tonight.

Why is this game important?

A win means we will clinch at least a .500 record in the preseason.
You might think that's not important. But look at this:

Over the past 11 years, in years where we were at least .500 in the preseason, we had a winning record in all but one year (1998). In years when we did not have at least a .500 record in the preseason (1999, 2003, 2006) we missed the playoffs and did not break .500 in the regular season.

So, you think preseason doesn't matter? At least for the Steelers, I think it's a pretty good indicator of success.

So, even though it's only preseason, I think we can deduce the implications of this game.

Saturday night games seem like they take forever to start.

6:00 DVE Pregame show

8:00 Gametime on CBS

This is a nationally broadcast game, so we don't have to listen to the schmucks from KDKA.



GO STEELERS.