The Steel City and the Steel Cardinal

Plenty of exciting things have happened since the last blogging.

Let's start with the Saints/Steelers tilt that I attended with my brother on Nov. 12th. We drove out to Pittsburgh (about a 5 1/2 hour trip...which didn't include a stop at Arby's....I am still shocked to know that Arby's is given its name for the initials of Roast Beef....amazing)

On Saturday, we went to Heinz Field about 4 hours prior to the 4:15 p.m. kickoff (thank you flex scheduling) and ran into the Fox Pregame show. While donning Local Shill's Raymell Rice jersey, I met Howie Long, who reminded me how Lee Corso had "KILLED Rutgers" that week.

I told him Corso also picked Cal/WVU in the title game and then informed him I purchased all my batteries at Radio Shack.

He wasn't amused.

After the pregame ended, Jimmy Johnson was the first to bolt from the autograph session...then Bradshaw and Long. Joe Buck stayed the longest and even do some shtick with the fans. I enjoyed watching that small tuft of hair blowing around. That kid definitely uses Propecia.....not that there's anything wrong with losing a little hair.

Or all of your hair.

Back to the game....we had some pretty crappy seats...they were about 2 rows from the top.....the top of a passing 747. So, we elected to move down and took a risk. Heinz Field is built in sections, so if you want to move to the sideline sections, you have to go down a long ramp. Fortunately, we were able to find two seats at the 50 about one section up and watched the game with some hard core fans.

The game was ALL offense. It didn't help the Steelers that Troy Polamalu was knocked out early in the first quarter. The final score was 38-31....there was more scoring in that game than on the Spice Channel (and no, I'm not putting a link in there). Marques Coltston has some of the best hands in football and was truly a sight to see in person. I'm not annoiting him as the new Jerry Rice, but the guy has real talent.

Other items:

-- The Hall of Fame ballots are out and I couldn't agree more with Mr. Rosenthal (and not just because he probably celebrates Rosh Hashana). I was a big fan of McGwire and was thrilled with what he did for baseball during that remarkable stretch in the late 90s. However, if we are to ostracize Bonds and Palmiero, why should McGwire get a pass? Even though steroids weren't "banned" from baseball, they were and still are illegal when unauthorized. I don't think you can make an argument for McGwire and maybe he should be voted when he comes clean....as for now....I think all of his votes should go to someone else....

....like Don Mattingly? Please? Yeah....even I don't think he deserves to be in....but it was worth a shot. How about Paul O'Neill? (thought I'd give it a shot)

-- We're coming to the stretch run in the fantasy football season. As much as the girlfriend hates me for it, I'm addicted to watching stats add up on my cbs.sportsline site to see if I can beat someone else, who is also watching the stats, while we play "pretend" football.

It's amazing because I'm sure I couldn't beat most of these team owners at a game of REAL football but when it comes to the fantasy world, I'm 9-3 and 6-5-1 and likely heading to at least one playoff berth. And it's almost as satisfying as winning a real game, too.

When can they make Fantasy Supermodel Dating? I keeed, I keeeeed.

-- Last and least, the Giants....what an agonizing loss. I don't even want to break it down because it's get me more fired up than Local Shill after the 2001 Stanley Cup playoffs. I never knew plastic, white patio chairs outside the 16th and A compound could absorb so much brute force.

I'm glad the Rutgers run has given him and all of us something for which we can cheer.

My Coke Rewards approaching 1,400! Still...nothing good.