Life just isn’t fair for the Pittsburgh Pirates. They had a terrific season in which they won over 90 games; but just by sheer geographical coincidence they were stuck in the division with the team with the best record in baseball. And what is their reward? They get to play in a winner-take-all Wild Card game against another National League Central opponent. Oh, and they have to face a pitcher that dominated them all season. Sounds like the situation the Pirates will be in against ... Read More
Subtle celebration shows Pirates have bigger aspirations
The Pittsburgh Pirates do take clinching a playoff berth for granted, but they have also bigger goals. Players did not pop champagne after securing their third straight playoff berth Wednesday in Colorado. No plastic covered the locker room. No goggles were needed, nor were players wildly jumping in celebration with the fizzing, white bubbly drink spraying all over. Instead it was just their usual postgame high-fives on the field after beating the Rockies 13-7, followed by a low-key ... Read More
Penguins take Game 1 from Senators
Special teams, or lack thereof, killed the Penguins in the postseason the last two years. This year though, nothing seems to stop Pittsburgh’s special teams; as the Penguins got two power play goals from Paul Martin and Chris Kunitz along with a shorthanded goal from Pascal Dupuis to take game one over the Ottawa Senators 4-1. Tomas Vokoun also stopped 35 Ottawa shots to pick up his third consecutive victory since taking over for Marc-Andre Fleury after game four against the Islanders. The ... Read More
Why the Ravens have a little bit of Steelers magic in them
When thinking about the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens football teams, most think of a hard nose, physical rivalry between two teams that do not like each other. Besides the physical state of play, there is not much that you could find that both teams have in common. That is, until he Ravens set off on their most current playoff run that looks quite similar to a playoff run that the Steelers embarked on earlier this century. As most already know, before the playoffs started this ... Read More
Playoff Preview – Conference Championships
NFC Championship – San Francisco 49ers @ Atlanta Falcons – Sunday January 20th 3:00 p.m. ET Matt Ryan finally got a playoff victory and Colin Kaepernick set an NFL record. Now these two will face off in the NFC Championship game. The 49ers seem to be clicking on all cylinders after beating the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round, while the Falcons struggled to close out their game against the red hot Seahawks. If Atlanta wants to advance to the big show, they’re going to have to keep ... Read More
Andrew McCutchen enjoys offseason, but remains focused
To say the 2012 Pittsburgh Pirates season was a roller coaster for the team and fans alike would be a tremendous understatement. You all know the story by now. A team that is 16 games over .500 in August just collapses like we've never seen before. Ok actually, we saw the same thing take place in 2011, but not to this magnitude. There is one man who stayed consistent throughout the season for the Pirates winning awards and becoming exposed to a national audience. Don't let the recognition or ... Read More
Playoffs from the outside in
With the Steelers missing the playoffs and the first round over, as a fan, can we be happy with any of the remaining teams winning the whole thing? Eight teams remain and I believe the teams can clearly be lumped into two categories. The “Please don't let this team win” and “I guess I'm okay with them winning.” The “Please don't let this team win” group is the easier and most obvious of the two. The Baltimore Ravens are the Steelers most hated rival, so they are the easiest to add to the ... Read More
Playoff Preview: Wild Card Weekend
The NFL Playoffs begin this weekend with the Wild Card games. On Saturday January 5th, the Cincinnati Bengals take on the Houston Texans along with the Minnesota Vikings making the trip to Green Bay. On Sunday January 6th, the Indianapolis Colts square off with the Baltimore Ravens and the Seattle Seahawks battle the Washington Redskins. Here’s a look into this weekend’s games. Saturday 4:30 p.m. ET – Cincinnati @ Houston A rematch of last year’s Wild Card game, the Bengals will take ... Read More
Steelers playoffs hopes come to a stop with loss to Bengals
For the second straight week, a late interception from Ben Roethlisberger came to haunt the Steelers dropping their third straight game in a 13-10 loss to the Bengals. The Steelers are officially are eliminated from playoff contention with the loss. After holding AJ Green to only one reception for eight yards in their week seven meeting, Green exploded for 116 yards on 10 receptions. With arguably his biggest coming on 21 yard pass from Andy Dalton to set the Bengals up for a Josh Brown game ... Read More
Wednesday ALCS Recap
In what was probably the greatest day of playoff baseball in a long time, the Yankees and Athletics both pulled off 9th inning comebacks. One took a strong hold of their series and the other kept theirs alive for at least another day. Baltimore 2 – New York 3 / 12 Innings In the Bronx, Hiroki Kuroda and Miguel Gonzalez both went seven-plus innings while allowing a total of three runs combined but the Yankees got the last laugh in extras as they will look to close out the series in game ... Read More