Are the Steelers the greatest franchise in sports?
Pittsburgh was once described by Boston writer James Parton as "hell with the lid taken off," and Frank Lloyd Wright once advised city fathers that it would be cheaper if they abandoned it.
Now it's Sixburgh, as city council has proclaimed, because Lombardi Trophy VI is renewed verification that a city once synonymous with steel is known to the world for silver produced by Steelers.
But while the tale of Sooty City remaking itself into Silver City is enchanting, does that make the Steelers the greatest franchise in sports?
It's in the eye of the beholder.
The unbiased voice of history would say the New York Yankees, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Celtics and Green Bay Packers have more titles. The priciest club in sports is Manchester United, the English soccer club that boasts a worldwide fan base of 330 million.
Yet no other city has six silver footballs. If that gives the citizenry a reason to feel good enough to cut loose with a "Woooooooooo!" now and then in frigid February, who needs outside validation?
It can be said with certainty that the Steelers are a team like no other, not because of six flags but because of what they mean to the city and their fans.
They are the city's new identity, and beyond that, the Steelers are the city's heartbeat, as James Farrior describes it. Through some visceral connection, they push the city's buttons.
Had the game gone the other way, grief counselors and talk-radio hosts would have never heard the end of it.
Remember the losses to Indianapolis and Tennessee? The relentless north wind cut its way up the Boulevard of the Allies like the jagged, cutting of cold steel. Oh, those were dark days.
But the day after Groundhog Day, more people than the city holds gathered for a curtain call on the same boulevard, which was transformed into the Canyon of Champions. That is some kind of afterglow.
"The biggest thing, the doctors tell me, is what this does in the hospitals," said Dan Rooney. "The patients maybe feel a little bit of happiness. It helps people get better, or at least feel better."
This is the same person who didn't want anything to do with a national label after NFL Films hung the mantle of America's team on the Dallas Cowboys. "We're Pittsburgh's team," he said.
That it is. But the phenomenon flourishes beyond boundaries.
Consider:
- At the Super Bowl, when the NFL honored the crew of USAirways Flight 1549 for saving all of its passengers during a watery crash in the Hudson River, one of the flight attendants carried a Terrible Towel.
- Among those in Tampa was 5-year-old Elijah Smith, who watched his father Aaron play in the game. The boy was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia but has been helped by Pittsburghers who donated their blood to the Central Blood Bank.
- A contingent of fans from Mexico City came to cheer the hombres de acero (men of steel) and wave their Toallas Terribles.
- Back home, gold towels are as visible at Heinz Hall as they are at Heinz Field. Penguins are inspired by Steelers. And St. Clair Hospital wraps its newborn babies, not in swaddling clothes, but in black and gold terry cloth.
What's this obsession with Steeler Country?
"What else do we have?" said Marci Smith, whose occupation is to sell dreams as a representative of the Kaplan Career Institute. "We're still losing population, and we rank behind Toledo. The Steelers have the power to bring families together on Sundays. What else can do that?"
The largest audience to ever watch a Super Bowl saw a furious fourth quarter in which the Steelers took a punch and got back up to win. To the Steelers' following, it was a page out of Pittsburgh history. The city has taken its share of lumps, for sure, but it keeps getting back up.
At 250 years old, Pittsburgh has been many things to many people -- a frontier fort, a trading outpost, the Gateway to the West, and now an academic and medical hub.
It is best known as a former industrial dynamo, where immigrants from the old country toiled in the misery of mines and mills to make a better life for the generations to come. Dirt meant dollars, as the saying went.
Somewhere along the way, the identities of the football team and the populace merged. Just as the city adopted William Pitt's crest and colors for its flag, a team born in the Great Depression put Pitt's crest and colors on its uniforms. In time, the team was named after the city's signature steel industry, and the steel logo of hypocycloids adorned its helmets.
There wasn't much to cheer early on. For having failed to win a thing in his first 40 years of ownership, founder Arthur J. Rooney would duck through back alleys to avoid hearing it from fans convinced he was too cheap and too dumb to win. His franchise was a model of futility -- bad teams, bad drafts, bad trades, bad coaches.
Attitudes changed when the Steelers started to win, and the city found a source of much-needed esteem in 24 playoff appearances, seven AFC titles and six Super Bowl titles, all since 1972 when the Steelers started selling out every game and never stopped.
"We may live in a dirty, gritty steel town," the late Ray Mansfield said after the second Super Bowl win, "but we have the best football team on the planet."
By the time the Steelers became the first team to win four Super Bowls, Pittsburgh was changing radically. The steel industry and the coal mines that supported it were in the early stages of a collapse that shook the city to its core.
Pittsburgh always had trouble hanging on to its youth, who found opportunities elsewhere. But by the mid-1980s, the exodus extended to legions of jobless steelworkers who had to relocate to find jobs.
Yet no matter where people ended up, they stayed connected to their families and the city through football. If it wasn't the Steel City anymore, it was and is the Steelers City.
What remains, however, is a blue-collar legacy with traits such as a strong-willed work ethic, a clear sense of faith and family and an ability to bounce back.
Troy Polamalu, who dives into celebratory crowds with the aplomb of one who dives after interceptions, recognizes those traits in the citizenry and his organization.
"The team takes on the personality of the city -- hardworking, blue collar, humble, resilient. People relate all those things to the Steelers," he said.
Mike Tomlin, the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl, has been awestruck at how much the Steelers mean to the city.
"Until you're a part of it, you have no idea the depths of it. It's generational," said the coach, who dismounted from his convertible to high-five the throngs along the parade route.
"I know the more I get to understand it, the more Steelers Nation drives me. I want to give them something to get excited about. I want to perform for them. I want to win for them because they are that special," he said.
Special? Take the case of Mike Johnson, a Florida native who followed the Steelers and spent his Sundays in autumn at Fanatics Bar and Grill in Bradenton, Fla.
One Sunday, as Steelers fans let loose their vocal cords at the TV, the passionate voice of North Braddock native Desiree Henderson rose above all the others.
"See that girl?" he told a friend. "I'm going to marry her one day."
Sure enough, they met and started to date. And on his first trip to Pittsburgh -- to see the Steelers play the Ravens on a Monday night -- he popped the question and she said yes.
"This year, we have the Super Bowl, and we're hoping to have our first child," said Johnson, a veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. "The Steelers will always be part of our family."
The world seems smaller because of the Steelers.
In Tampa, which welcomed the money spent by the hordes wearing black and gold, a street vendor sold his wares with this pitch: "Bling. Get your bling here."
"I've never seen people so supportive of their team or so proud to be from a place," he said.
On a street-car ride from the city center to the spicy, cigar-rolling neighborhood of Ybor City, a woman from Chicago, clad in her black and gold ensemble, took an empty seat next to a stranger.
It turned out that both of them were from Fayette County, and that she had gone to the same church and parochial school -- St. Mary's of Uniontown.
"Unbelievable," said Kim Marcinko. "The Steelers must be magic."
And if further proof is needed that you can't go anywhere without bumping into somebody from Pittsburgh, the Columbia Restaurant had a five-hour wait the night before the game. But a party of seven from the Enterprise Bank in Allison Park solved the problem by inviting a stranger from Pittsburgh to join them.
The magic number this season was six -- as in the number of NFL titles. But it also applied to six degrees, which was the temperature greeting some returnees from Florida.
Greatest franchise ever? Who cares?
If it can provide a day or two in the sun to make the winter more tolerable, and if it makes Pittsburgh's heartbeat lively, it'll get at least one vote.
Make it six, 'Burgh. And start climbing the stairway to seven.
Copyright (c)1997 - 2009 PG Publishing Co., Inc
Super Bowl XLIII: Can offense beat defense?
TAMPA, FLA. -- On Jan. 22, 1989, Jerry Rice caught 11 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown to earn Most Valuable Player in the San Francisco 49ers' 20-16 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII.
It took another 20 years before the NFL would showcase a receiver as dominant in the postseason as Rice was that January. Who knew a 5-year-old kid from Minneapolis would grow up to become that player?
But here we are. Game day for Super Bowl XLIII. Arizona Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers. And all eyes are on Cardinals All-Pro receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr., a former Vikings ballboy and Holy Angels star. "I have to approach the Super Bowl like it's an opportunity of a lifetime," Fitzgerald said. "What I've done up to this point really doesn't matter. I have to do it one more time."
Fitzgerald's 419 receiving yards in upsets over Atlanta, Carolina and Philadelphia already have broken the postseason record set by Rice 20 years ago. The 23 catches and five game-changing touchdowns make him Priority No. 1 for Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, the 71-year-old grandfather of the complex Fire Zone blitz and a veteran of 50 NFL seasons as a coach or player.
"It's a classic matchup between great pitching and great hitting," former Vikings receiver and current ESPN analyst Cris Carter, a mentor to Fitzgerald for more than a decade. "Will the Steelers' great pitching beat the Cardinals' great hitting?"
In a twist of fate, the offense is the brainchild of Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt, a creative schemer whose trick plays as Steelers offensive coordinator helped Pittsburgh beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-10 in Super Bowl XL just three years ago. Whisenhunt left the Steelers following the 2006 season and brought assistant Russ Grimm with him after Steelers owner Dan Rooney passed over both of them to hire then-34-year-old Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin to succeed Bill Cowher.
(c) 2009 Star Tribune
Moves the Eagles should make
1. ADDRESS OFFENSIVE LINE
Put franchise tag on left tackle Tra Thomas to keep him one more season. Make the difficult decision to sever ties with right tackle Jon Runyan. Move right guard Shawn Andrews to right tackle. Let Nick Cole, Max Jean-Gilles and Mike McGlynn compete for right guard or sign a top-tier free-agent guard. Draft a first-round tackle to step in if Thomas or Andrews get hurt.
2. GET TWO RUNNING BACKs
They need depth behind Brian Westbrook -- and Lorenzo Booker doesn't count. They can start by re-signing Correll Buckhalter and giving him more than six touches per game. If they lose Buck, they should draft one running back and acquire another through trade or free agency. Oakland might be willing to deal Michael Bush or Justin Fargas.
3. GET TONY GONZALEZ
They failed to get him during the season but the rebuilding Chiefs, with a new GM, should be more willing to pull the trigger now. Gonzalez, still an upper-echelon tight end, would fulfill the missing dimension in their offense this season. L.J. Smith disappeared and won't be back. Brent Celek's a solid No. 2 option. If they can't land Gonzalez, they can try again for Kellen Winslow Jr. Another strong target across the middle is T.J. Houshmandzadeh, a free agent-to-be. He's dangerous from the slot and tremendous on third down but he'll be costly and probably too rich for Joe Banner's blood.
4. TAKE CARE OF DONOVAN MCNABB, BRIAN DAWKINS
Whether it's a new contract or a backroom assurance that he's their quarterback of the future, do whatever it takes to keep McNabb happy and secure. That way, he won't be looking over his shoulder on every pass and he won't complain about the media's persistent questions about his job security. Anything to keep him focused on football and football only. Dawkns showed he can still play, especially with Quintin Mikell's emergence. A two-year deal should satisfy both sides.
5. MAKE MOST OF FIRST-ROUND PICKS
Use both first-round picks or package them to trade up. Don't trade down. Don't trade away those picks for future ones. And don't waste them on projects that aren't expected to make an impact until Obama's next campaign. A good idea would be to package both picks and trade up into the top 15, if they can.
delawareonline.com
Tennessee Titans 2009 offseason positional analysis: QB
In the second installment of our ongoing series of positional analyses, we'll examine the current state of affairs at the quarterback position.
Heading into the 2008 season, it was a foregone conclusion to most that Vince Young was the team's present and future quarterback. With the return of Mike Heimerdinger, many were hoping that VY would make strides and continue his development into a bonafide NFL signal-caller.
Of course, things didn't work out that way. A Vince Young injury in week one opened the door for veteran Kerry Collins, who took advantage of his opportunity by leading the Titans to a 13-3 regular season record.
With KC's impending free agency looming on the horizon, let's take a look at where things stand at QB for the Tennessee Titans.
Kerry Collins
Kerry brought a veteran presence to the huddle in 2008. For the most part, he executed the role of game manager to near perfection while playing second fiddle to the Titans' formidable Smash and Dash RB combination. Against Jax and Chicago, when the running game was less than stellar, Collins took matters into his own hands by passing the team to victory.
At 36 years old, Collins is convinced that he can still be a starter in this league. As an unrestricted free agent, he's only considering two potential options: being a starting QB or retiring to his North Carolina farm.
From his solid 2008 performance to the surprise gifts given to the offensive linemen for keeping KC's jersey routinely clean, Collins has demonstrated that he is the offensive leader of this football team.
IMO, the Titans would be wise to extend a new contract and the 2009 starting QB position in Kerry's direction.
Vince Young
2008 was a learning experience for VY. Accustomed to being the star on perhaps every team's he ever been a part of, riding the pine and holding the clipboard were Vince's main responsibilities during the Titans' run to the playoffs.
Depending on the team's decision regarding Kerry Collins, at best, Vince may get an opportunity to compete for his old job next year. At worst, VY could continue his remarkable plunge from the potential greatness he exhibited during his rookie season to possibly falling out of the team's future plans at QB.
First things first: Vince must come into training camp mentally and physically prepared to show the Titans that he is still more than capable of being the team's present and future signal-caller.
Will that take place? Stay tuned...
Chris Simms
Simms is an intriguing guy. With a strong arm and the experience of leading a team to the postseason already under his belt, I would love to see what Phil's son could do in training camp next year.
However, like Collins, Simms is also an unrestricted free agent. Unlike Collins, Simms' chances of becoming the Titans' starting QB in 2009 are less than ideal.
With reports suggesting that his arm strength has returned to its pre-spleen injury level, Chris may be tempted to venture to another NFL city where he could realistically compete for a starting gig.
As for his career in this NFL city, Simms could be a fall-back option if Collins decides to go elsewhere or retire next year. Under these circumstances, Chris would compete with fellow Texas Longhorn alum Vince Young for the starting job, with a #3 QB possibly arriving via the middle-late rounds of the draft.
What are your thoughts on the Titans' QB position in 2009?
Copyright 2008 Most Valuable Network, LLC
Graham on brink of Super Bowl
FORMER AFL star Ben Graham is within one win of becoming the first Australian to play in a Super Bowl after his Arizona Cardinals stunned the Carolina Panthers in the National Football League play-offs.
The Cardinals beat the Panthers 33-13 to move into the NFC championship final - with the winner of that match bound for American football's showpiece game.
Former Geelong forward Graham had four punts for the Cardinals, averaging 36.3 yards as his side cruised to an upset win in Charlotte, North Carolina. And he might be part of an all-Australian showdown in the title game, as former AFL player Saverio Rocca's Philadelphia Eagles are in a divisional play-off (today, Melbourne time).
If the Eagles beat reigning Super Bowl champions New York Giants, they will take on the Cardinals next week, guaranteeing Australian involvement in the Super Bowl on February 1.
Meanwhile, the Baltimore Ravens advanced to the AFC championship game with a last-gasp 13-10 victory over the Tennessee Titans in Nashville.
Copyright (c) 2008 Fairfax Digital
Peyton Manning: A True Class Act
Peyton Manning is the face of the NFL and for good reason. In a league that has so many troublemakers and finger-pointers, Manning always does the right thing.
We all know Peyton has his playoff troubles, but that aside, this guy is amazing. It's so nice to see a guy win and lose with so much class. When you see guys like Terrell Owens lose, it's always the blame game.
When you see a guy like Jay Cutler last week in his loss to the Chargers he was asked if the team they just lost to was the real deal he says, "Who, them? No, the Colts will handle them."
When the Colts win, Manning is always the first to say that it was a great game plan and the defense played well. Sometimes he even gives credit to his running game when they don't deserve it. They will have 70 yards on the ground and he will say they moved the chains on short yardage and did what was asked of them by giving the Colts balance.
When he loses, it's never a blame game. It's always, "I missed a couple open receivers, but you gotta give it up to (winning team who ever it was). They played great and executed well."
This guy knows how to win with class and lose with class.
In a time when players are shooting themselves in the leg and beating up strippers, you get none of this from ANY Colt players. Peyton sets an example for young football fans and his whole team. His off-the-field activities are amazing and his leadership is untouched by any athlete in almost any sport.
He also puts up the numbers and wins a lot of games. When all is said and done, and Peyton is retired, he will go down as the best QB ever to play the game, even if he doesn't win another Super Bowl. And he will be well deserving
Just so everyone knows, I am not a Colts fan or a Peyton Manning fan, so this is not a bias piece. I am actually a Chargers fan and spent all night hoping for Manning to make a mistake, and I always root against the Colts unless they are playing the Steelers or the cheating, video-taping Patriots, who always seem to get EVERY call.
Copyright (c) 2008 Bleacher Report, Inc
Late FG Gives Panthers NFC South Crown
NEW ORLEANS -- John Kasay's 42-yard field goal with a second left lifted Carolina to a 33-31 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, locking up the NFC South title and the second seed in the conference for the Panthers.
Carolina's DeAngelo Williams rushed for 178 yards to set the franchise single-season record. His 1,515 yards eclipse Stephen Davis' 1,444 in 2003.
Drew Brees, meanwhile, came up just short in his bid to top Dan Marino's 1984 single-season NFL record of 5,084 yards passing. Brees needed 402 yards to set the mark. He finished with 386, which made him only the second player to pass for more than 5,000 yards.
Carolina (12-4), the only team to go 8-0 at home this season, will get a first-round playoff bye and then a chance to extend its perfect record in Charlotte in the divisional round.
Jake Delhomme was an efficient 14-of-20 for 250 yards, including his 8-yard scoring pass to Muhsin Muhammad.
John Kasay hit four of five field-goal attempts. He connected from 45, 26 and 34 yards in the first half, but needed the winner to redeem his miss from 41 yards in the third quarter. The miss allowed the Saints (8-8) to turn a 30-10 deficit into a brief 31-30 lead after Brees' 13-yard touchdown pass to Lance Moore with 3:11 left.
Delhomme responded with a 39-yard pass to Steve Smith, who made a difficult grab in double coverage at the Saints 43.
Delhomme then had another clutch first-down completion to Muhammad, and the Panthers were able to run down the clock and set up for Kasay's winning kick. Initially, it was a 37-yard attempt, but a false start moved it back 5 yards. Still, Kasay nailed it.
Because Kasay's squib kick rolled out of bounds, Brees had one more play to break Marino's record and possibly lead the Saints to an improbable win, but his pass dropped incomplete.
Carolina, which had the ball for 19:53 of the first half, didn't allow Brees his first completion until late in the first quarter. Brees still threw for 137 yards passing by halftime. His 5,068 yards put him second on the single-season passing list, ahead of Kurt Warner's 4,830 with the St. Louis Rams in 2001.
But while the Saints could boast the NFL's most productive offense and passing game, they could not manage a winning record or a playoff berth for a second straight season, plagued both by injuries and untimely lapses on defense throughout the season, the last being Smith's big reception on Carolina's winning drive.
Carolina had 478 total yards in becoming the first and only NFC South team to win a division game on the road this season. Smith, a longtime Saints nemesis, had five catches for 134 yards.
With Pierre Thomas inactive with a sore wrist and back, Deuce McAllister started in what may have been his final game for New Orleans. With the crowd howling his first name, McAllister had 81 total yards, including a 20-yard reception for his longest gain of the season. If he leaves in the offseason, he'll do so as the Saints' leader in yards rushing (6,096) and touchdowns (55).
Carolina built a 23-3 lead late in the second quarter when Landon Johnson stripped the Saints' Skyler Green on a kickoff return. Dante Wesley scooped up the fumble and ran it back 12 yards for a touchdown.
Brees passed for 90 yards on the Saints' next possession, including his 26-yard scoring pass to Marques Colston to make it 23-10 at halftime.
Carolina went ahead 30-10 on Jonathan Stewart's 2-yard run early in the third quarter before Brees ignited New Orleans' comeback with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Robert Meachem.
Brees was 30-of-49 with four touchdown passes and one interception.
After his 9-yard scoring pass to Moore on fourth-and-short pulled the Saints to 30-24 with 5:33 left, the Saints quickly forced a punt. At that point, Brees needed just over 60 yards to break Marino's record, but Jason Baker shanked his punt for 21 yards to the Carolina 45. Brees completed three straight passes to give the Saints the lead, but would not get another chance until his incompletion on the final play of the game.
Copyright 1996-2008 The Washington Post Company
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