ESPN's Greatest NFL Head Coach of All-time

My buddy Keith Thomas of Steel Curtain Rising, brought to my attention an on-going poll conducted by ESPN, asking fans to vote for the greatest NFL Head Coach of all-time.

While that is certainly a subject that can be argued about for hours, there is no question that a strong case can be made for Chuck Noll, the legendary Steelers coach who was the architect of four Super Bowl championships in the 70's. In fact, not only did Noll lead his team to four Lombardi trophies, he's the only head coach to do so--while the late Bill Walsh was mostly responsible for the 49ers winning four Super Bowls in the 80's, he retired before San Francisco won Super Bowl XXIV, following the 1989 season.

While credit has to be given to team president Dan Rooney and scouts such as Art. Rooney Jr. and Bill Nunn, Noll was in charge of assembling a Steelers squad that would eventually send nine players to the Hall of Fame. And in 1979, Pittsburgh became the first (and maybe only) NFL team to win a Super Bowl with a roster full of players who never played for another team.

No matter where he finishes in this poll, there is no doubt that Noll is one of the all-time greats.

Click on the link in the first paragraph and cast your vote.

Penguins drop Game 4 in New York--series tied 2-2

What to make of NHL playoff hockey? I sure can't figure it out, and, apparently, neither can the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team that is struggling against a lower seeded team for the fourth straight year, after winning the Stanley Cup in 2009.

You may have been able to forgive last year's early round exit to the Flyers. After all, Pittsburgh just missed earning the number one seed in the Eastern Conference and had to settle for the fourth seed and a first round date with its cross-state rivals--a team that only finished a few points behind in the standings.

But this year? The Penguins are the Miami Heat of the NHL (at least in terms of talent), but unlike the top seeded Heat, who dispatched Milwaukee in four games in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, top seeded Pittsburgh is in a dog fight with an Islanders team that finished the regular season with 17 fewer points.

The Penguins lost Game 4 in New York's Nassau Coliseum Tuesday night before a raucous crowd, and the first round series now heads back to Pittsburgh for Game 5, Thursday night. Many thought Pittsburgh would dispatch the Islanders in as little as five games, but now the best a game five victory will do is send the Penguins back to that old rat's nest on the Island.

But in a league where last year's champions, the eighth seeded Los Angeles Kings, practically waltzed through most of the competition along the way to winning the Stanley Cup, the fact that New York is taking the play to the Penguins should be a surprise to no one.

People are blaming Pittsburgh for not playing "playoff hockey," but the mere fact that the style of play so severely changes in the postseason is all you need to know about the crazy nature of hockey.

Can the Penguins recover in time and get back to the kind of play that earned them the second most points in the NHL and the top seed in the Eastern Conference? Even if Pittsburgh does make it out of the first round, I can't imagine facing a tougher opponent than the Islanders the rest of the way.

It's not a shock when the Pittsburgh Pirates win, these days

It's hard for a sports team to shed itself of a stigma, like that of a long-time loser. The Pittsburgh Penguins had that reputation for many years before Mario Lemieux arrived in Pittsburgh (and for a few more years after); the Pittsburgh Steelers had that reputation for decades before Chuck Noll came on the scene in 1969.

Having finished with a losing record for 20 consecutive seasons, the Pittsburgh Pirates are currently fighting that same reputation. However, after averaging a shade under 60 wins in '09 and '10, the Pirates have a nice mix of young talent in Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Starling Marte and Pedro Alvarez, complemented by a group of veterans, led by pitcher A.J. Burnett and catcher Russell Martin.

After winning 72 games two seasons ago, the Pirates jumped out to a 60-44 record last year, before collapsing down the stretch and finishing 2012 with a 79-83 record. I'm not great at math, but I do have a calculator on my cellphone, and it tells me the  team has averaged a tick over 75 wins the past two seasons. That may not be good enough to end years of losing, but you would think it should be good enough to end the "shock and awe" every time Pittsburgh actually wins a baseball game.

But no, unfortunately, not only are the Pirates still facing the stigma of losing more games than they win, they still have the reputation of a team that is just absolutely pathetic--if you've been paying attention, you'd know that nothing could be further from the truth.

As the roster is currently constructed, I believe the Pirates have the talent to win between 75-85 games this season. Winning 85 would obviously mean a lot in terms of shedding that "loser" label (and maybe in terms of actually making the playoffs), but I don't think it should actually shock people if it happens.

I think if the starting rotation gets a boost from a group of pitchers that include Charlie Morton, Francisco Liriano, Jeff Karstens and the young Gerrit Cole, that could go a long way towards helping Pittsburgh finish closer  to 85 victories.

Right now, the back-end of the rotation is too shaky and unreliable. And while the bullpen may, once again, be among  the best in baseball, it's also, once again, being severely taxed by a starting staff that often fails to reach the seventh inning. And like last season, an over-taxed bullpen could prove to be very detrimental in August and September. If there is one thing the Pirates have acquired in recent years, it's pitching depth. It would be nice if they could actually take advantage of that soon and find a couple more guys to eat up some innings.

In terms of hitting, this team is going to hit. The lineup may struggle at times, like it did during the first week of the season, but there is too much talent for the hitters to struggle like they did for most of 2011 and huge stretches of 2012.

Lastly, the Pirates may not be "winners" right now, but they're far from pathetic losers. So please, you out there are facebook and twitter with your "the Pirates won and the Penguins lost?" status updates, give it a rest.

Thank you.

Penguins look to defeat Islanders in Game 4 and take strangle hold of first round series

Much like they were in their Game 2 loss in Pittsburgh last Friday night, the Penguins were again outplayed in Game 3 in New York Sunday afternoon by the Islanders, the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, but like a lot of super-talented sports teams, Pittsburgh was able to survive in overtime and take a 2-1 lead in the first round series.

Tuesday night, in Game 4 at New York's Nassau Coliseum, the Penguins look to take a strangle-hold on the series.

The Islanders are young, upstart and talented, and they may have dictated the play in the last two games, but like a lot of upstart teams new to the playoff scene, another loss before the home crowd (New York has dropped seven straight home games, dating back to before the last time they made the playoffs in '07) would put their chances of advancing on life-support, with Game 5 in Pittsburgh Thursday night.

As for the Penguins, the number one seed in the Eastern Conference, they've suffered three straight early round exits to lower seeds--including two straight first round losses to the Lightning and Flyers, respectively--and a loss in Game 4 could severely damage the team's (and fans') psyche.

Many people think Pittsburgh is built to win the Cup, but a loss to the Islanders would make a lot of fans fearful that the team isn't even built to get out of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Penguins escape with overtime victory in New York. Take 2-1 series lead over Islanders

For the fourth straight year, the Penguins are struggling in their opening round Stanley Cup playoff game. But unlike last season, when the team fell behind, 3-0, in the first round to the Flyers, Pittsburgh has taken a 2-1 series lead over the upstart Islanders, thanks to a 5-4 overtime victory Sunday afternoon before a fired up New York crowd in the Nassau Coliseum.

After being dominated in Game 1, the Islanders stormed back from a 3-1 deficit to take Game 2 in Pittsburgh Friday night and stormed out of the gate with a 2-0 lead in Game 3, Sunday afternoon. The Penguins responded and scored four unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead into the third period, before New York scored  two goals to send the game into overtime.

Pittsburgh won on a Christ Kunitz power play goal early in the first overtime to escape with a 5-4 victory.

Entering the Stanley Cup playoffs, Pittsburgh was the odds-on favorite to at least make it out of the Eastern Conference, but as we've seen so many times before in playoff hockey, seeds mean very little, and each series is a grind.

Should be interesting to see how both teams respond in Game 4.

Mike Wallace tweets and real gay bashing

Social media has a strong presence among celebrities in 2013, and former Steelers receiver, Mike Wallace, is a celebrity (in a professional athlete sort of way), so it's only natural that he would share his views on a controversial subject via twitter, and it's only natural that people would strongly react.

The controversial subject in this case is journeyman NBA player, Jason Collins, coming out as the first openly gay active player in a major professional sports league.

It's a tremendous revelation by Collins, especially considering the dominant culture in most male sports locker rooms. How many players have made stupid homophobic remarks after being asked if an openly gay athlete would be accepted in their locker rooms?  I'm sure you can guess the kind of comments I'm referring to--no sense trying to go back and find them on the Internet.

With that in mind, Wallace is the latest athlete to come under fire for a homophobic remark when, following Collins' admission on Monday, he tweeted: "All these beautiful women in the world and guys wanna mess with other guys. SMH."

Wallace later went on to tweet: "I'm not bashing anybody don't have anything against anyone I just don't understand it." And finally, he tweeted: "Never said anything was right or wrong I just said I don't understand!! Deeply sorry for anyone that I offended."

In terms of gay-bashing, I'd say Wallace's comments were pretty benign. But in terms of stupidity, Wallace's comments were pretty dumb, if only because he should have known people would react to them and call him homophobic.

I'll take the same stance I took with Ravens' quarterback, Joe Flacco, when he came under fire for saying "retarded" during a press-conference in the lead-up to the Super Bowl. People reacted negatively to Flacco, and rightfully so--when you're on that kind of stage, you really need to watch everything that comes out of your mouth--but my retort to that was, how many of us hear ordinary people use the word on a daily basis and never give them grief for it?

Same thing with gay-jokes or gay-bashing. How many ordinary people do that everyday? Tonight, I'll be going to play pick-up volleyball and basketball with a group of guys I know through my boss. And knowing those guys like I do, I almost guarantee there will be gay slurs and homophobic remarks flying around like sharp elbows from Robert Parrish or Bill Laimbeer.

I probably won't call any of them on it and tell them what they're saying is wrong. So for me to go on twitter and criticize Wallace for what he said would be a bit hypocritical.

And for any of you out there in Internet Land (especially those of you who like to engage in sports debates on blogs and message boards), how many of you use the word "homo" or "fa@@ot" when either talking about a professional athlete or when insulting a fellow sports fan you are having a disagreement with?

Mike Wallace should have known better (why any celebrity would tweet anything even remotely controversial is beyond me), but remember to also criticize your friend the next time he or she makes a homophobic remark.

This is the time when a pitcher like Paul Maholm would really be valuable on the Pirates' staff

Prior to the start of the 2012 MLB season, I had many intense arguments with other Pirates fans about why the team would allow a solid pitcher like Paul Maholm, the eighth overall selection in the 2003 amateur draft, to leave and instead sign veteran starter A.J. Burnett to a two year deal. Many argued that Maholm wasn't a power arm--a true ace--and the team needed that kind of guy to anchor the staff.

As it turns out, Burnett was a key acquisition--maybe the best free agent pick-up the team has had in years--and has not only established himself as Pittsburgh's ace, he's become the true clubhouse leader a young team learning how to win sorely needs.

Having said all that, what's wrong with having BOTH Burnett and Maholm on the same staff? The thing is, Maholm should never be the ace of any staff. However, that doesn't mean he can't be a valuable member of one.

Maholm is now with the Braves and has started off the season 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA. How good would Maholm look on a pitching staff with Burnett, Wandy Rodriguez and a soon-to-be arriving Gerrit Cole?

This might seem like revisionist history, but as I said earlier, I've always been a Maholm fan. He may not be Stephen Strasburg (or Cole), throwing 99 mph, but not everyone can be that guy. What Maholm is, however, is an innings eater and a solid contributor.

Every staff needs a Paul Maholm. Unfortunately, for a team like the Pirates, it's usually an either/or scenario in cases like these.

That's too bad.