Marian Hossa is a whore

I was going to wait to post on this subject, but since new events
have been unleashed in the hockey-world, I must wait no longer.

I'm not going to act like I know what all of this legal/financial
shiz is so I'm just going to post the article and pinpoint several
things.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=4369897&campaign=rss&source=twitter&ex_cid=Twitter_espn_4369897

Basically the NHL is trying to figure out if the Blackhawks were
trying to find a way around the salary cap in the way that Hossa's
deal was signed- $62.8 mil over 12 years- or not. There are also
issues with Hossa's dropoff in payments in the final years of his
contract.

This is hilarious news because Marian Hossa is a whore. We all
know that he used to play for the Penguins in the 2007-2008 season
when they were up against Detroit in the Stanley Cup Finals and
that Detroit won that year.

He is trying to take the zombie crown away from Chris Chelios as the oldest, most useless player in NHL history (and that's sayin' something.) Chris Chelios didn't even get a chance to play in this year's final- that's pretty sad. Hossa one-upped him by at least making it onto the ice, but he then disappeared- scoring only 1 goal off a steal and really having zero impact on any of the games in the series whatsoever. They might as well have been on a penalty kill during Hossa's ice-time. Seth from Empty Netters posted this before game 1 with an amazing caption:

"We've already gotten more ice time than Chris Chelios will this
entire series"

(Cred to Seth, natch)

That's effing brilliant. I love it.

TANGENT
While we're on the subject of how ancient Chris Chelios is, I'd
like to reminisce (because now I can after winning the cup)...
June 6th, after Game 5 of the SCF 2009. Cried my eyes out for
hours, literally, and had a panic attack. Yeah, i'm hardcore like
that... Anyways, I couldn't bear to read any recaps or look at any
pictures, but I was able to take solice the next day with this
post from Kim and Zoe over at Puck Huffers.

"Isn't it just comforting to know that someday they'll all be
dead? (Except for Chelios, of course.)" -Zoe

Anyways, back to my original point. Marian Hossa is a whore
because he turned down a long-term contract with the Pens for
about $50 mil (or so I heard) for a $7.5 mil one-year contract
with Detroit. He left his team to go play for the team that beat
them. Not cool. He claimed that it was because it would give him
the best chance to win the Stanley Cup. If he had stuck with his
team (that he did well with) he would be hoisting that fabled cup
over his head right now.(Cred to Seth)

This year he turned down a huge 10-year contract with the Red
Wings for a 12-year deal with the Chicago Blackhawks. 12 years?!
He'll be 42 years old by the time that contract is up which is why
I brought Chris Chelios into the mix. 3 teams in 3 years = team
whore.

If you want to read more comparisons on Hossa's last two seasons,
read [this post from Seth]. It's really good and details
everything I want to say regarding this subject.

http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/emptynetters/archive/2009/06/10/marian-hossa-used-to-play-and-score-for-the-penguins-6-10-09.aspx

Finally, I leave you with this parting gift:

Orpik > Hossa

PS- happy birthday to our favorite Russian, Geno. Happy 23rd
birthday!

The art of flexibility

I grew up watching, loving, doing gymnastics from when I was a
little girl until I was graduating high school. I was always a
tall, lanky kid who could have excelled at other sports such as
volleyball or basketball. But I was into gymnastics. I was on my
high school competitive team, but it wasn't until I was older and
wiser (read: in college) that I came to terms with the fact that I
really wasn't that good. Maybe I just make excuses that my back
is too short and my legs are too long, but I was never built to be
a strong competitor. I was never graced with the ability to be
flexible, which can only help you in your routines. You don't
have to work as hard to have a beautiful scale or split jump, for
example, when you are flexible. So, because of my lack of
flexibility, I never could understand why guys, who would come
watch our meets in the gym, were so impressed by a girl who could,
pardon the choice of words, spread her legs. I accepted that that
girl would never be me.

So it finally dawned on me one day this year, while watching one
of the playoff games (probably on Versus since they do such an
awesome job overall with the NHL games over NBC) why guys liked
those flexible girls. It came to me as I was watching the pre-
game and staring at Marc-Andre Fleury as he was stretching and
getting ready for the game, warming up in front of the net. I was
able to finally fully understand the sex appeal of flexibilty at
that point. I knew there was a sex appeal to gymnastics in
general, but because of my own negative feelings from my own lack
of flexibilty, my mind had always been clouded. Well, let the sun
shine through the clouds because I finally get it. Maybe this is
a topic best for my female readers, but guys, you can relate to it
in the general meaning I'm sure, at least when I was talking about
gymnastics anyways.

Check out this video of MAF with an amazing splits save during
game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals last year in 2008 against Henrik
Zetterberg.

I give major props to any guy who can stretch like that who's not
a gymnast. That is impressive. Hockey goalies always impress me
because they are not only wearing skates and are on the ice, but
have to have lightning-quick reflexes in order to stop pucks
before they're in the back of the net.

Bob Errey had a cute thing to say about Fleury one time: that his
legs are like pinball flippers. I love it!

This is another view of MAF's flippers from a fan's angle
(backside!)

Prospects bonus

I found some extras to post about Eric Tangradi and Dustin Jeffrey.

Eric is so well-spoken and smart about choosing his words. I like him. Here's a bonus video of him talking mostly about his injury and a few other things.

Here's Dustin talking about his draft class and his hopes of making the Penguins roster out of training camp this year. He also touches on the OHL.

Prospects

I'd like to take the time to talk about two of the Pens prospects this off-season.

Eric Tangradi

Eric was part of the package deal with Kris Kunitz when the Penguins traded Ryan Whitney to Anaheim in February of this year. Despite a hand injury to a tendon below his left thumb, this guy looks promising. He had 38 goals in 55 regular season games with Belleville in the OHL this past year.

At 6'4" and 221 lbs, this 20-year-old forward is the 2nd leading scoring in the OHL, only behind Tavares. Do I need to remind you who went #1 overall in the draft this year? Yeah, didn't think so. To be only 2nd to John Tavares is quite impressive.

It also doesn't hurt that he is easy on the eyes and is all around adorable.

Dustin Jeffrey
This guy had 38 goals and 59 assists in 56 games with Sault Ste. Marie in, I believe, the 2007-2008 OHL season.

Dustin is 21-years-old and is a forward (center). He also played in the AHL for the Baby Pens in Wilkes-Barre when Dan Bylsma was still the coach. Maybe he has a decent shot of making the NHL because Danny Bylsma has already been able to see what he is made of and how he can be an asset to the Penguins.

Check out both these guys in this cute video of the prospects bonding over paintball.

Dustin Jeffrey @ 3:41

Eric Tangradi @ 4:45

Hungry like the wolf

A Black 'N Gold original

Inspired by these 2 images of Staalsy...

Is it just me or does it look like Staalsy is going to turn into a
werewolf? Like, his fur is just going to rip through his jersey
and pants and he's going to leap out of his skates, slashing
through Ericsson because he was in his way of ripping apart Chris
Osgood on the other side of the net. In fact, Jordan looks this
way every time after he scores a goal. Teen Wolf 3: Hockey
Edition. Only this time it's not starring Michael J. Fox.

I proudly present: The Staalsy Collection

This was actually my first real piece that I wrote down on June
10th after showing a couple co-workers who gave me the idea and
encouragement to start this blog you are reading right now. By the
time I got around to compiling images, we had won the cup (only
ensuring that more images would be available to further prove this
undeniable fact.)

The Staalsy Collection: Stanley Cup Edition

Remember when I said he was glorious on the back cover of the
Champions DVD?

Jordan Staal is one of the youngest, if not the youngest
professional NHL player to hoist the Stanley Cup over his head at
only 20 years old. He was drafted by the Penguins in 2006 as the
2nd pick overall. Standing 6'4" and weighing 220 lbs, Staalsy has
become clutch. One of the most amazing plays of the Stanley Cup
Finals this year was his shorthanded goal in game 3. The Pens
were down 2-1 and Detroit had a power play.

While I think Max created that, Jordan powered down the ice and
ultimately scored the goal. Max did receive an assist.

Jordan is a strong 2-way player in my book. He is a center, but
at times I think he could do really well as a defensive player.
He is always checking guys at the right time before they have a
chance to put a shot on goal and he is aggressive at getting the
puck in opposite zone. He is a great young player who
unfortunately is part of a team with a lot of depth, making him a
fourth-liner. On any other team he would certainly be a first or
second-liner, however, Pittsburgh's lines are all talented;
they're just running out of room on their active roster for all
their talent that they've managed to sign. I like what I see from
Staalsy and I hope he is with us for a long time. This kid has
got the makings of a star.

Be careful, he might eat you

half-man, half-wolf

grrrr

DVD review

Sorry for being absent for so long, I've been busy. Here is the (maybe long awaited) DVD review I promised. I'm going to list these because it's just easier that way. Deal with it!

First off, cool dvd menu page. Like the rocker music and clips. It's hardcore.

Really liked the combination of the mix of clips and interviews together.

Love that they're all wearing their champions hats during their interviews.

It's presented in nice HD quality, unlike some dvds.

Craig Adams looks adorable in his commentary interviews.

Kris Letang looked so good in a suit arriving at Mellon Arena
before game 3 of the SCF.

It's bittersweet to see Hal Gill's commentary. He looks like
he's teary-eyed the whole time.

Of course they had to address the 6-men-on-the-ice lack of a call
during game 3... Sid reminds us all that we were lucky to get away
with it. 'Bout time for some luck to come our way, I say.

I like that the dvd focuses more on the Pens' good games rather
than lingering on games 1 and 2 of the series. While they didn't
play horribly in either of those games, they really didn't have
the momentum until game 3. As Phil Bourque reminds us, the script
was changing from the year before. Game 3 was when things started
to get really interesting... everyone expected the Wings to
dominate the series so when they took games 1 and 2, no one
was surprised. Kris Letang's tying goal in game 3 was a big
shift. PS- Love Phil Bourque <3

Love that they show a shot of the ice when it flashed : Nothing
Worth Winning Ever Came Easy

Shows a lot of good highlights: staalsy's shorthanded goal in game 4: epic

I liked that we got to see a little Dan Potash get his chance to speak his
mind in there :)

The segment on Bill Guerin was touching and sweet. I love how
much the boys look up to him as a veteran leader even though he
has only been with the team since March of this year. His jab at
Sidney in line was amusing too.

So glad they mentioned Mario's text message. Mark Eaton said it
best: it sends chills down your spine. I think I almost cried
when I first read this article on it.

Media whores: PH staff was right to give Brooks Oprik the gold

2nd place: probably Phil Bourque, but that's ok, we love you.

3rd Mark Eaton

4th maybe Sidney, but he's the captain and you expect them to include a lot of his commentary just based on that alone.

It's nice to see some highlights with Mike Lange's radio broadcast voice-over.

Epic music

The pictures from the parade were great at the end

Bonus Materials:

The wisdom of Bill Guerin was great

Billy G yelling at Geno for being lazy on the bench haha

Staalsy yelling, "Ahhhhh!" twice during practice when Billy was
wired haha

Getting to see the parade was special for me in particular because I live in San Diego and was unable to go to Pittsburgh as I had to be at work on that Monday morning.

Get ready

Very exciting news today as the NHL released the Penguin's 2009-2010 regular season schedule! The Pens begin their defense of the Cup starting October 2nd at home in Mellon Arena.

You can view the full schedule here.

I'm hoping to make it to Anaheim, LA, and San Jose for their West Coast leg of the schedule. It'll be interesting to see Scuderi go up against his former teammates when the Pens play against the LA Kings. It should be a good battle: Crosby and Malkin versus Scuderi, arguably the best offense against the best defense.

Thanks to Seth from Empty Netters for the reminder that play for most of the Penguins will be suspended Feb. 15 through March 1 for the Olympic break. (More on that later as I plan to write in detail about the Pens on the US and Canadian Olympic teams in another post.)

So plan your schedules accordingly and buy new paraphernalia in support of the Penguins because the 2009-2010 season is just around the corner. October never looked so good!

g.l.a.m.o.r.o.u.s

Today I got my Champions DVD in the mail! Finally! It was only pre-ordered like an eternity ago and was officially in stores since the 7th, a whole week ago. Anyways, I will have a review up later this week, but for now I can tell you that just by looking at the back cover, it is awesome. The picture of Evgeni Malkin holding up the Conn Smythe trophy? Glorious. The picture of Staalsy?? Maybe even more glorious. (Reasons why Staalsy is glorious to come later in the week.) The boys with the cup? Glorious satisfaction.

This here's a winner and I'm looking forward to ripping off the plastic and devouring it. I am a bit busy this week, what with the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince tomorrow and everything (only my favorite book of the series!) so I will try to get to the Pens dvd closer to the weekend, maybe Thursday night. Any other day and I would have been all over it as soon as I opened the box it was mailed in. I might still do that tonight, but I won't be watching it in a reviewer's sense, more for just personal satisfaction so hang on for a couple more days and I'll have a review for you.

One month ago

Exactly one month ago the Pens were throwing their gloves into the air and skating over to Fleury in front of the net to congratulate their teammates on a winning season that ended with the Stanley Cup in tow. On that glorious Friday night in Joe Louis Arena is when Max Talbot stepped up and showed the world that he was a champion. Let the celebration continue on throughout the summer and all next season long!

Here's another reason why we won: Yanni was on our side.

I've been a Yanni fan since 1996, when the Olympics were held in Atlanta, Georgia. That year the Women's US Gymnastics team won the Gold Medal for the team all-around. Girls like Dominique Moceanu and Keri Strug made headlines with their courageous performances on beam and vault. There was one girl representing China that had glorious floor music; it was BiWenjing and her routine to Yanni's "Within Attraction" that caught my ear.

So Yanni, you are alright in my book. Thanks for the support. Let's go Pens!

Dancing in September...

The Penguins announced their pre-season schedule today:

Friday Sept. 18 vs. Toronto, 7:30 p.m.

Monday Sept. 21 at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday Sept. 22 at Toronto, 7:00 p.m.

Thursday Sept. 24 at Columbus, 7:00 p.m.

Friday Sept. 25 vs. Columbus, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday Sept. 27 at Detroit, 5:00 p.m.

I got REALLY excited when I saw this today... anyone else having hockey withdrawl? Raise your hand.

As thePensblog notes, "You know things are bad when something like the preseason schedule being released excites you."

And already a re-match against Detroit. Should be interesting.

Oh good, thePensblog guys are also having hockey withdrawl:

"We're analyzing the preseason schedule.
This is hockey withdrawl at it's finest."

If this is exciting, just think of when the regular season schedule is released...

Superstar treatment

Literally.

Today Max Talbot underwent surgery on his left shoulder. This was a surprise to many as fans were unaware of any injury. According to Penguins GM, Ray Shero, Max had been playing with the injury "for some time now." They felt it was best that they wait to have any surgery until after the season. Good move boys. As everyone knows, our Maxie scored both of the goals in the big 2-1 Game 7 win over the Detroit Red Wings. It was sweet, sweet redemption after the 2007-2008 season where the Pens made it to the finals against Detroit then had to watch as the visitor hoisted the Cup over their heads on the Pens home ice. But not this year!

Max owns fattie Osgood. Dreaming of cupcakes again there, Chris?

Max's shoulder looked ok to me as he was hoisting the cup over his head during the on-ice celebration, what do you think:

Looks like sweet victory to me. And I like it.

When Sergei Gonchar had a similar shoulder injury earlier, he missed 4.5 months. Hopefully our superstar won't be out that long. It is good that he had the surgery soon after the season, but since the Pens won the cup they have a shorter off-season than the rest of the NHL which means less time for Max to heal. He may miss 1-2 months of the regular season. Hopefully it's not 5 months. We love you Max, glad to hear the surgery was successful and hope you are recovering well. If you need a nurse, call me up.

We are the champions, my friends...

The DVD is finally here! Everyone go out and buy your copy if you have not done so already. Tangers and the President were continuing their promotional tour by signing copies bought at Dick's Sporting Goods stores and Giant Eagles in Pittsburgh. If I lived there I would have waited indefinitely for Kris. Since I'm in SoCal, I'll have to settle for a pre-ordered copy to come in the mail anytime between today and eventually.

I hear it's worth the money. At this point, anything is better than nothing. I'm worried my DVR is going to delete Game 7 and all of the post-game interviews even if I have them set to "Do Not Delete", I don't trust it. I would have kept all of the playoff games if my DVR had an abundant amount of memory but since it does not, I had to delete previous games in order to make room for the next one. That left me with only a Game 7 (as magical as it was) to relive. With the DVD, I'll be able to relive highlights of the regular season, playoffs and the final series. Nothing is sweeter than seeing previously injured Sidney Crosby skating on the ice with the Cup over his head.

Here's a link to buy it: Click me. Do it. Do it now.
Starsky & Hutch style.

Today's obviously a Tuesday...

This is gold right here...

Kris Letang and Tyler Kennedy have been promoting the Pens' Stanley Cup Champions DVD (released today, more on that later) and stopped into KDKA's studio long enough to give us the weather. This is the greatest thing to hit the internet today. These videos of them alone might be better than the Champions DVD (just kidding.) Thanks to Empty Netters for the find and the glorious screenshot of Kris in his element.

As a teaser, I want to give you some amazing quotes that come from these videos which illustrate how realistic and convincing these guys are at doing the weather forcast:

"Not so much here, more here"

"Not so much over here... but more right here"

"Right now it's unusual cool"

"Some more air's coming throughout the week"

And the gold medal goes to: "Today's obviously a Tuesday..."

And those are just TK's greatest moments.

Here are Tanger's:

"There's a hot spot there, right there, in the middle of the US"

"Tueday, behind me... with a low of 58.. probably at night?"

"Saturday, you're not lucky"

I would watch if they did this full-time. They rival Matt Baylow. CBS news is the best; San Diego, Pittsburgh... I'm convinced.

So without further ado, I give you:

I hope you enjoy them at least half as much as I did. Thanks to P.S.A.M.P. for the vids.

Some worthy things to note: What about John Burnett's creepy touching of both Tyler and Kris? Is he following in Pierre McGuire's footsteps? Sure looks that way. He grills Tyler about his vacation plans but seems to favor Tanger a bit more over the President with his comments of, "sounds like an invitation" when TK reveals to everyone that Tangers is going to the Bahamas and cuts him off mid-sentence in order to give Kris more air time.
"Kris, you wanna take over?" Sorry Mr. President, I guess your time is up.

Further evidence shows that John Burnett thinks Kris's French accent is "sexy." It's ok John, I agree. "It's a whole lot more romantic to listen to the weather forcast in French," John noted. He then added, "As long as it's Kris, you stud muffin, you." Ok, maybe not that last part, but he was probably thinking it.

Everyone wants a piece of Letang because the female news anchor chips in, "I could listen to it in French all night long!" Ok, stop throwing yourself at him, woman, he doesn't want you. Besides, John already called dibbs.

Lastly, notice Kris's little dance at the end of the second vid. Very cute. <3>

Silver and Gold...

Here's a nice little tidbit for you today. The 2008 Comissioner's Trophy (World Series) along with the 43rd Vince Lombardi trophy and thee Stanley Cup were all on display today at the Capitol building in Harrisburg, PA. It is the first time all three trophies have been on display together. The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series back in October of this season. Only recently has the trophy included flags representing all the MLB teams in the National and American Leagues. The Commissioner's Trophy is made of gold whereas the Steelers' and Penguins' are made of silver. The Steelers were the first team in NFL history to win their sixth Vince Lombardi trophy, the 43rd handed out thus far. Then there is thee Stanley Cup. I emphasize how special it is becuse it is the only one. The Comissioner's Trophy has been redesigned a few times over the years and whoever wins the Super Bowl gets their own Vince Lombardi trophy. That is what's so great about hockey. There is only one cup. Whoever wins the cup has it for the year, that's it. Dan Bylsma will get his name engraved on it, but he won't get to walk past six of them on his way to work like the Steelers do.

Yay Pennsylvania!

Personally, I think the Cup shows its domination of the other two just by looking at it. And because this is all about me and my opinion, I prefer silver to gold. Therefore, it is only natural to conclude that Da 'Burgh's 2trophies > Philly's 1

Of course Yukon Cornelius wouldn't mind either one.

Casting off: A farewell to the USS Hal Gill

While Hal Gill has never been a favorite of mine, I am sad to see the dynamic duo pairing of Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill part ways. I've already talked about what Rob has done for the Penguins so now I am going to turn to Hal.

Hal Gill is a defensive defenseman. He doesn't score very many goals, but he works around his own net to get to pucks and make sure they are cleared. He's decent at blocking shots and intimidating opponents. While speed has never really been on his side, he makes up for it with his huge amount of body mass, standing 6'7" tall and weighing 250 pounds. Hal Gill is a beast. As Pierre McGuire loves to say, "... is a monster!" It's not just Pierre though, most commentators love reminding us every time Hal gets near the puck just how long his stick is or how long of a reach he has. It's great. However, my favorite mentions of Hal Gill's long stick come from liveblogging. These two examples come from Seth over at Empty Netters. Read his blog. It's genius.

15:40: Richards and Hal Gill race for an iced puck behind the Penguins' net. Gill touches it a week before Richards gets there because of his long stick and the faceoff goes into the other end.

0:30: Hossa gets behind Gill on the left wing for a second. Before he can do anything with the puck, Gill uses his pool skimmer to reach back and interfere with Hossa's possession just enough to prevent a shot.

I love it even more than usual when Gill uses his pool skimmer against Hossa.

Hal Gill and his ridiculously long stick

It's a shame that we only had Hal for one full season. Luckily for him it was a major upgrade as he now has his name engraved on the Stanley Cup. He was traded to us from the Toronto Maple Leafs in February of 2008 and will now be returning to the other side of the pond after signing a 2-year deal with the Montreal Canadiens.

Puck Huffers had an unreal banner up the other day:

Bon voyage Hal, you will be missed.

Oh unhappy day

Today is a sad day. I never really enjoy Free Agency because you know that the team is never going to be the same again. When you have a winning team like Pittsburgh did this year with both the Steelers and the Penguins, you realize that next year may be harder without core players who left for more money. *cough* Nate Washington, you bastard *cough* Scuds, what were you thinking?! I don't want to see the Pens struggling on defense next season because they lost Rob Scuderi to the LA Kings. He got a nice 4-year contract for about $3.5 mill each season. Most of our salary cap for the 2009-2010 season was already promised to the likes of Crosby and Malkin then used up by offering contracts to John Curry, Ben Lovejoy, Tim Wallace, Alex Goligoski (why?), Bill Guerin, and Craig Adams. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Billy G and think he deserved more than just a 1-year contract extension. As Geno said at the victory parade, "2 more years!" At least. The problem I have with Goligoski is that he's similar to other defensemen that we already have, ie. Kris Letang and Gonch. These guys are more like 2-way players in that they can carry the puck. While it's always nice to see a defenseman score a goal from the blue line, I care more about protecting our end of the ice. I don't know how affective Goligoski is on the Penalty Kill, but I'm sure he isn't anywhere near as awesome as Scuds. Do I really have to remind you of the amazingness that happened in Game 6 of the SCF this year? End of the game, literally seconds remaining, Franzen would have for-sure scored except Rob made a huge play to stop the puck from getting to the back of the net. He stopped the puck once with his stick and then again with his skate as Franzen tried to get it past Scuderi at least 3 times as Fleury was not directly in front of the net.

It was amazing. I am in awe of him every time I watch it because it never gets old. It will probably go down in history as one of the biggest plays ever. Rob Scuderi is... "The Piece".

Scuderi was part of the core of the Pens and I hate to see him go,
even if he will be closer to me in that he's moving to LA. What
gets me is that Rob said he had wanted to stay in Pittsburgh and
that he has never been one to run off to big money contracts. He
knows that some guys leave for more money and are stuck with a
losing team which is not worth it. Billy G and Craig Adams just
took paycuts because they're smart and they know that they'll be
sticking with a winning team who's got an amazingly talented core
that will be strong for years to come and who can win more Stanley
Cups. Yet Scuds went to Shero with his offer from LA and Shero
decided they couldn't match it so Scuderi is no longer a Penguin.
(It breaks my heart to type that out. I am devastated about
this.) To top it off we lost Hal Gill to Montreal. No more talk
of Hal Gill's pool skimmer. Sadness.

The start of something new

This year has been one of the greatest in my life, and yes, it is exactly what you think: because of Pittsburgh sports. I'm writing this blog to organize my thoughts and for you to enjoy.

Ask anyone who knows me and they will say how much I love sports and Pittsburgh. They go hand-in-hand. I was once at a meet-and-greet meeting at work. In typical introduction fashion, I stated how long I had been with the company and what my job position was there. It was my boss and several co-workers who then cut-in and declared my love of the Steelers for me. All I could do was confirm that yes, I love the Steelers and think they are the best football organization that ever existed and yes, I did go to the Super Bowl in Tampa. (It was effing amazing in case you really needed to ask.)

It's true during football and hockey season the enjoyment level of each weekend depends on how my teams are doing. When we're winning, Monday is a great day at work; when we're losing, it can be the worst. But this is 2009. Pittsburgh is the "City of Champions" once again. I wasn't alive during the first go-around so I'm going to enjoy this summer and revel in the fact that Pittsburgh is the only city to bring home a Lombardi Trophy and Stanley Cup in the same year.

This blog is essentially no different than me talking to a few of my co-workers on a Monday morning about the latest game. I am going to share my opinions and thoughts on the Black & Gold and hope you stick around for the season... or two... or three...

Note: Today is Canada Day (in Canada.) I want to salute Canada for the creation of such fine-ass hockey players like Max Talbot and Marc-Andre Fleury.