Hockey at Heinz Field

As I am sure everyone knows The 2011 Winter Classic is being played at Heinz Field between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals, does it get any better? Easily the most exciting event to come to this city ever. Anyone who is not excited for this is not alive. However all the talk I have heard since the official announcement is "What's going on with the tickets?"

Tom McMillan was on the fan Thursday to breakdown exactly how the tickets are being distributed.  According to McMillan the NHL has control over all 65,000 tickets, initially, then they give them out as they see fit. So the Penguins and Capitals front offices have to beg for all the tickets they get. Which seems kind of dumb. It seems to me the Penguins should get 80% of the tickets the Caps should get 15% and the Steelers should get 5% for their trouble. In Gary Bettman's infinite wisdom(sarcasm) he has given 30,000 to the Pens, about 19,000 of which are going to season ticket holders. The Capitals are going to be given between 15,000 and 20,000 tickets, yes a team that can't sellout its 18,000 seat arena is going to be given maybe 20,000 seats to an "away" game. The Steelers are getting about 1,000, that seems about fair. The NHL is keeping the rest to give to sponsors, about 14,000 tickets. This is all according to Tom McMillan the Penguins VP of communications.

I think it will be interesting what the NHL does when the Capitals have to give back about 8,000 unused tickets, cause they couldn't sell them. Also the Penguins might win more games at Heinz Field than the Steelers this year.

No matter what your thoughts are of the ticket situation, it will be one of the most entertaining hockey games ever. The atmosphere at Heinz Field that day will be amazing. I am most looking forward to walking down the rotunda after the game, with a mixture of 30,000 Pens fans and 20,000 Caps fans. It will be a great day for hockey.

^

Fail

The Pittsburgh Power

Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, Pittsburgh has an Arena Football Team. Officially announced today the team will be named the Pittsburgh Power, i guess it has a ring to it. The most interesting thing about the team, so far, is that Lynn Swann is a minority owner. So yeah he does not have much of a role however it is an interesting face for the franchise. The front office is all in place and they will be playing games at The Consol Energy Center (The house that Sid built). Supposedly a head coach will be named in the next few weeks and tryouts for the team will begin soon. I am hoping the team will consist of Steeler "cuts" and Pitt alumni. Charlie Batch will need a new team in about 8 weeks, why not stay close to home.

Most people don't believe there is any chance of this team lasting very long, given Pittsburgh's history with leagues like the USFL and ABA. However most people also did not think the Arena Football League would survive long and guess what they have been around 20 years and are expanding. No one seems to care about this team or have any excitement for it. I do. Pittsburgh is the perfect city for an AFL team. The arena season starts in April, perfect timing. There is no Steeler news so the city is starving for football, hockey season is winding down so that void will need filled, the only other sports team happens to be the worst in all of professional sports. Anything to distract us from the Pirates gets a gold star from me.

One of the best things about the Power is they provide a cheap option to get to be in the Consol Energy Center. Tickets start at $15/game and only $119 for season tickets. Any college student can afford that. While most people shrug off this new team, I am excited.

Pirates sign a future Yankee!

Please excuse the cynicism if you are one of the few people that does not realize the Pittsburgh Pirates are a joke. At this point though I am sure everyone laughs at the Pirates. With that being said they have done 3 things right this summer. They signed their top 2 picks Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie. They actually paid them its a miracle. Now they have made an enormous move, by Pirates standards, signing 16 year old Mexican pitching sensation Luis Heredia. At least he says thats his name. He apparently throws a 93 mph fastball and has more pitches than I can make up. He is 6'6" 185 pounds. Yes his birth certificate is probably fudged and he is actually 20 years old, but who cares the Pirates got a guy that the Yankees wanted.

So yes every Pirates fan can be excited for the next year or two. However I do hope everyone remembers the Pirates past with guys like Bay, Mcclouth, Schmidt and so on. Do not get to attached Heredia will be a Yankee and Taillon will be in Boston or vice versa. The only faith I have in the Pirates is they will do everything in their power to fail.

Dawson Sleeps

“I fought my fight.” It’s an interesting phrase, isn’t it? Often it means controlling space and the speed of the action. It’s what a fighter wants. Mastery.

It seemed somehow different on Saturday when Chad Dawson used the phrase after he “fought his fight,” to his first career loss. Jean Pascal is a good fighter and it’s normally an unhelpful modern boxing phenomenon to overeact to one loss, but wasn’t there something fundamentally revealing about Chad Dawson – pound-for-pound contender – on Saturday night?

I joked earlier about Dawson’s non-personality, and I sometimes call him the first comatose titlist in boxing history, but didn’t it feel like that? That’s your title, Chad, don’t give it away.

I had the fight 106-103 Pascal when it was stopped on that gruesome cut. Pascal is a good fighter, though a bit of a spazz. He's not particularly fun to watch and I don't think he'll hang on to that championship long. Bernard Hopkins uses a similar move and lunge technique and it has gotten him far, but I don't think Pascal has the same type of evil intellect to keep it going too long.

Dawson had Pascal dinged at the end, but did you really feel he was going to stop him? I’m thinking here of Chavez chasing down Taylor, Israel Vazquez hammering at Rafael Marquez, or hell, even Librado Andrade flattening Lucian Bute…

Dawson doesn’t have that, or at least didn’t on Saturday night. Which is not to say that he can’t one day become everything he’s capable of, a tremendous champion with a long string of defenses. But it’s hard to imagine he’ll ever be a moving champion, it’s hard to imagine he’ll ever inspire passion. It's entirely explicable that he has zero fans.

Because he only wants to “fight his fight,” and sometimes you have to do more. You have to go where it’s uncomfortable and push. You think the other guy is head butting you? Fine, hit him low. You think the crowd is against you? Send a straight left right through the guys mandible and shut them up.

I say this not as a judgment of his character – because I know I have more Dawson in me than I do Erik Morales – I just think it’s the truth. It’s some of the same frustration I feel when watching Joshua Clottey fight. I feel a little frustrated, but more than that I just feel tired and uninspired.

Boxing is about pushing beyond the possible, Dawson hasn’t even pushed up against it.

My trip to the Consol Energy Center

Yesterday was the season ticket/premium seat holders tour of the brand new Consol Energy Center, boy was I blown away. Initial reaction: the best sports venue I have ever been to by far, and I have been to a lot. There is not a single bad seat in the place. Even the standing room only sections are unbelievable. No more standing behind a six foot wall looking through people's heads. There are multiple ledges that hang out into the second bowl of seats. Standing room only might be better than sitting in the second bowl.

The clubs are spectacular whether your in the Captain Morgan Club or the Lexus Club. Each club has a Bistro, Grille, and a full bar. You can get almost any food you can imagine. Kielbasa Grinder, Chicken Nachos, Lo Mein, even cuts of Brisket. Do not worry all your typical Pens food is there like nachos and hot dogs.

There is so much to keep you entertained and distract you from the games. Interactive screens and rooms for little kids full of Nintendo Wiis. I half-jokingly said while we were there that it is kind of sad I will never see any of this "fun" stuff again. I'll just go in, go straight to my seat and leave.

Nostos, Or How I Came To Love The Blog

I’m back. And as I always say to the highway patrolman when he looks at me funny, “Get bent, honky!”

But really, you can check out my farewell post at The Rumble, here. The Sporting News is killing all of their blogging content and intends to become a waystation for discussions of RBIs and the dime defense. More power to them.

As for me, it’s time to get radical again. The Rumble was fun, but frankly I only get about one good idea a week, and most of them have to do with ways to bring down the mendacious system we live in. As L. Cohen always said, “They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom, for trying to change the system from within.” In some sense I consider this an early parole.

Inspired by some Freedarko friends I have some big ideas for the future; which I won’t expand on too much for fear of disappointing, given my family's somewhat loving nickname for me, “The laziest white boy in America. I’ve already talked with a couple outlets on doing some freelance stuff and you can also keep track of me on my newly acquired twitter. I’m so pithy I hurt my own brains.

But to start things off I thought I’d give a little preview of this weekend’s big fight, Chad Dawson-Jean Pascal. They made this sucker about six months ago, at which point I was incredibly excited, but I’m almost exhausted from the wait.

Almost, but not quite. I think it has some real potential. Dawson is an excellent fighter, well-deserving of his spot on the important lists, but let’s be real here… I might be “the laziest white boy in America,” but Chad Dawson is auditioning for the part of “the most boring black man on the continent.”

And I don’t mean only in the ring. He’s actually not a colossal stinker in there. Yeah, he’s a boxer first, but he’ll rumble when he has to. He simply has zero on the charisma meter, I’m talking nothing here… as in the first certifiably comatose champion in boxing history. So little interest he has garnered that he’s actually going on the road for this fight.

And that’s why he needs Pascal. Jean Pascal is just the sort of loose-limbed French speaking Montrealer (sic) that dreams are made of. He’s powerful and athletic, but reminds me of an MMA fighter, and I don’t mean that in a flattering way. He’s all flail and juke and lunge. The kind of guy who’s liable to head butt the referee by accident.

I have a feeling the styles will mix. I don’t see anyone at light heavyweight who can match Dawson’s science, so you need an opponent of a different sort. A martian using perhaps inferior - but nonetheless effective – technology is capable of disrupting a more mechanistically advanced society.

That’s Pascal’s shot. I think he’ll land some obnoxious wingers and Dawson will get hurt. Dawson has shown some fragility in the past, so he’ll be vulnerable, but… ultimately, I think he’ll make it to the end.

And if it goes the twelve I just can’t see Pascal winning. Dawson is too good. So despite some hairy moments I see Chad Dawson unifying the titles and becoming the Ring Magazine light heavyweight champion. He doesn’t have the personality to fill the prestigious role, but if you’re good enough, it makes up for all the rest.

Chad Dawson UD 116-111 Jean Pascal

Pro Sports + Las Vegas = Success?

I figured since it has been a slow sports week I would write about a topic I thought was interesting. That is a possible permanent professional sports team in Las Vegas. It has long been discussed whether or not a pro-sports team could survive there. I personally would love to see a team in Vegas.

There are a few arguments against it. The #1 argument is there is not a possible fan base. I strongly disagree. Las Vegas has the 28th largest population of any city in the United States. That is larger than Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh. All of those cities support multiple top of the line sports franchises. I understand that most of the Las Vegas was not born there so they might not be passionate about the team. I disagree, look at the Oklahoma City Thunder. That team is relatively new to a city that does not have any type of basketball history, yet that is one of the most passionate fan bases in the NBA. I think "Field of Dreams" had it right, "If you build it, they will come." To me no matter where a franchise is located, as long as they are winning, people will support them. If you move the Yankees to Lancaster, PA they would still sell out every game, because they win. Look at Los Angeles. The Clippers stink so they give those tickets away for free. However, it is almost impossible to get Laker's tickets, no matter who you know or how much money you have.

Another issue people have brought up, which makes no sense, is the worry that pro players will "throw" games because they are in the gambling capital of the world. How are teams in Las Vegas any more susceptible to pressure from gangsters to "shave points". I can understand in the days of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, when players and games were not televised or closely followed. In today's sports world if a player has one bad game he is berated by the media and is given less playing time. You would need to be one hell of an actor for people to not notice intentionally losing.

I see no reason not to have a team in Las Vegas. The only question is what sport could survive there? I wouldn't suggest football. It would cost a ton of money to build a stadium there and you would ideally want it near or on the strip. Where there is no land to build on. So for the same reason baseball does not work. Also Vegas is an exciting fast paced environment, baseball is a slow sometimes boring sport. That leaves you with hockey and basketball. I do not believe hockey could survive there. It is a niche sport and so it is very hard to build a strong fan base. Also NHL ticket sales are not strong in warm weather climates. So you are left with basketball. Which is perfect. Everything about NBA basketball games screams Las Vegas. Since the majority of my readers are Pittsburgers I am guessing most have not been to an NBA game, I have. I am not in any way an NBA fan, however going to an Orlando Magic game is one of my fondest sporting event memories. NBA games are fast paced, high flying, and exciting. I would equate an NBA game to a show in Las Vegas. There are exciting pregame and halftime shows filled with pyrotechnics and dancers. Even if the team was bad there would be exciting players constantly coming to town drawing fans. That is the nice thing about basketball, one superstar can take over an entire game and put on a show. Once a week Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, or Kevin Durant would be coming to fabulous Las Vegas. That is the equivalent to big name comedians and singers coming to Vegas to do a performance. So basketball is the perfect sport for Las Vegas.

Now there is the problem with finding an owner and place to play. Well there is no problem finding a place to play. Almost every major casino on the strip has a large enough event center to host NBA games. The MGM Grand Garden Arena would be ideal because it holds just over 17,000 people, same as the Mellon Arena. As far as finding an owner for the team would not be an issue either. Professional sports teams cost nothing compared the casinos on the strip. So I am sure MGM would be very open to owning the team and having the team play in their building(s), considering the MGM group owns 10 casinos in Las Vegas already. Another more likely option would be moving the Sacramento Kings to Las Vegas. Why the Kings?  George J. Maloof Jr. is the team's majority owner. Maloof also owns the Palms Resort and Casino in the heart of Las Vegas and is a  graduate of UNLV. So he is very tied to the city. I am also sure the NBA would be much more open to moving a team rather than expanding the league. Sacramento is the perfect team to move right now. They are currently struggling but have a bright future with players like Tyreke Evans and Demarcus Cousins. California already has 3 other NBA franchises, Nevada does not have one. Las Vegas also has a much larger population than Sacramento, not including all the tourists, which means potential for a larger fan base.

To me all of these things mean a pro basketball team in Las Vegas could be wildly successful.

Trash Talk vs. Skill

Saturday night is UFC 117. The main event is Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen, if your not an MMA fan you probably have missed the alarming amount of trash talk coming from Chael Sonnen's mouth. I don't think I have heard this much smack talk from any athlete in any sport, ever. He is saying that he is going to beat a hole in Silva's face. I love confidence, I love cocky, I love trash talk. I think Sonnen is a moron.

Don't wake a sleeping giant! Anderson has been in a sort of cruise control his last 5 fights, so why go and piss him off and make him want to kill you. Silva is bored with the middleweight division, his last 3 middleweight fights have been jokes. There is no middleweight fighter that can even give him a real fight, right now. He toyed with Maia and Leites, he is that good. Anderson Silva holds the UFC record for consecutive wins at 12. That is more wins than Sonnen has UFC fights. Sonnen has 3-1 record in the UFC. He has never finished a fight. His loss was to Damian Maia, the man Anderson Silva made look like a Rock em Sock em robot for 5 rounds. I am still confused why Sonnen is getting a title shot. Silva is great, maybe will be the greatest UFC fighter ever when he decides to retire. I think he is the greatest fighter in the world right now. People dislike Silva cause he dances in the ring and mocks his opponents. He only does that against lame duck fighters(Damian Maia, Thales Leites). When he fights "real" fighters he knocks them out or submits them fast. Forrest Griffin, 1st round KO. James Irvin, 1st round KO. Dan Henderson, 2nd round submission. He knocked out Rich Franklin, twice. He embarrasses the nobodies and dominates the somebodies. He is a modern day Muhammad Ali, if you do not agree you obviously never watched an Ali fight.

I'm guessing Chael Sonnen does not realize what he is getting himself into. Sonnen says he is going to attack Silva from bell to bell. If he tries that he will get knocked out in the first, like Forrest Griffin. He will probably realize the same thing all other fighters realized. That is the first time Anderson hits him, he will say to himself "Wow, this guy is way faster, way stronger, and way better than me". What usually follows is Silva's opponents go into survival mode, they fall on their back every time he pretends to hit them. Sonnen says he thinks he can beat Silva because he(Silva) has never fought a wrestler like Sonnen before. Maybe Chael should do some research and he'll see that Anderson Silva submitted Olympic wrestler and MMA legend Dan Henderson.

My prediction is Anderson Silva wins by TKO in the 3rd round. People that talk trash when they have done nothing tend to not back it up. Just ask Anthony Smith about it, oh thats right no one can find him. In case you forgot he was the backup safety that said the Steelers would beat the then undefeated Patriots in 2007.

Its hard to repeat...

...especially when you shoot yourself in the foot.

The Chicago Blackhawks have officially fallen out of Stanley Cup contention, in August. Someone should remind Stan Bowman that there is a salary cap and you should offer contracts accordingly. You would think his dad, Scotty, would tell him.

In case you have not heard the Blackhawks have signed 35-year-old goalie Marty Turco. The deal is reportedly 1 year for $1.3 million. The former Dallas Star goaltender is a former all star, and was once considered an elite goalie in this league. The problem is that is all way in the past. Turco has not been good for a few years. I’m sure Pavel Datsyuk is happy Marty is in the division:



Signing Turco was in response to the arbitration hearing that awarded Antti Niemi $2.75 million. That is almost nothing for a good starting goalie in this league, especially one that has won a Stanley Cup. I hope he signs in their division just to beat the Hawks and throw it in Bowman’s face.

This is not the only instance of them not knowing how to run a franchise in the salary cap era. They obviously do not have a capologist on staff. There are 5 other key components of that Stanley Cup champion they have traded away for almost nothing. Kris Versteeg, Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Ben Eager, and Brent Sopel. These are not players that wanted to leave via free agency for more money, these are guys who were still under contract, and outside of Versteeg, were all under paid. These are part of the problems that come from giving a 30 year old winger a 12-year $62.8 million contract, Marian Hossa. I am not saying they will not make the playoffs, however this team will be nowhere near as good as last season. I do know I cannot wait for February 20^th when the Penguins go to Chicago to beat them.

Training Camp Special

Pittsburgh Steelers 

 

Steeler training camp opened Friday in grand style, with Mini Coopers. Well whoopee doo. I guess I should let you all know I do not consider myself a Steeler fan, I will watch every game this season as I always do. I hope they win, the city is a happier place when they do, but I have no emotional investment in their games. In years past if the team lost I was a little depressed and when they won I was happy. This season I care as much about their record as I do the Pirates. This is the first season I will care more about my fantasy football teams success than the Steelers. With all the problems with this team heading into training camp anything better than 8-8 is a miracle. The defense is old, Ben is missing at least 4 games, the O-line is bad, Polamalu is always hurt, it seems the division is improved from last season too. So how can this team possibly improve on a disappointing 2009 season? My answer would be the same as Obama’s “Change”. What was different about last year than any season they won the Super Bowl? Two things: They threw the ball more and had a slow defense that didn’t have any pride. The previous 6 champs smashed the football down your throat and smashed the quarterback. If this team is going to have any success Rashard Mendenhall is going to need to breakthrough and have a Pro-Bowl season. Even that might not save this team, because all your cornerstone defenders are old or injury prone. Even if the defense steps up the offensive line is just not good enough for Byron Leftwich to get 2 or 3 wins while Ben’s out. So I guess it is safe to say I’m not optimistic about this season.

Darelle Revis

Aliquippa native and Pitt star Darelle Revis is holding out of Jets camp. Revis is the best cornerback in the NFL right now and deserves to have a contract that reflects that. I always used to think if I was a superstar player I would take less money so I could play on a great team, in reality I would take every dollar available. If your boss offers you a raise, you don’t say no that’s all right save the money to hire another guy. In the NFL the average career is less than 5 years and any player’s career can end on a single play, so get everything you can. I hope he doesn’t get a new deal and becomes a free agent next year. Maybe by some miracle he becomes a Steeler. Hey we can dream can’t we? Mark Madden has the same high hopes.

Brett Favre has retired?

 

I know, I know there is still plenty of time before the season kicks off. He could still come back. However you feel about Brett Favre there is no denying he was one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play. Even though a lot of people dislike him I cannot figure out why. There is no reason to hate a player just because he wants to play, especially when he is still a top-notch player. Favre was one of the 3 best quarterbacks in the league last season, and one of the most fun to watch. That is one thing we will all miss about Brett when he finally does hang ‘em up, his enthusiasm for the game. He was always fun to watch and no matter what his team’s were always better with him than without him. There is no arguing his hall of fame status, he will be ushered in as soon as he is ready, the only question is which spot he gets on the Mt. Rushmore of quarterbacks.

I hope Brett Favre plays for the next five seasons, he is one of the few “good guys” left in the game.