Shero: "I'm comfortable with this team moving forward"

The trade deadline passed at 3 pm without the slightest whisper of the Penguins being involved.  For the first time in 23 years, Pittsburgh was neither buyers nor sellers, they simply chose to pass.

But that is OK.  At least, according to Pens' GM Ray Shero who announced shortly after the trade deadline that the team did not make any moves.  Why? Confidence and a lack of viable options in a slow trade market.

"This is the first time we have not done anything. It just really wasn’t there for us in terms of the players that were available.  I like our team and I believed in our hockey team. I still do and I’m comfortable with this team moving forward," Shero said.  (source: WTAE)

And why shouldn't he be confident?  When breaking down the components of a Stanley Cup contending team, the Penguins seem to have a fighting chance, with or without Sidney Crosby.  

Elite Talent

Assuming Evgeni Malkin doesn't slow down -and judging by his play as of late that seems extremely doubtful- the Penguins look to have the MVP of the league.  If they get Sidney Crosby back, the rest of the league could be in double trouble as Dan Bylsma can roll out three lines as tough as any team in the NHL. The Penguins also have a pure goal scorer in James Neal who is on pace to score 40+ goals, a component that was missing in their 2009 Stanley Cup run.  And don't forget about Jordan Staal who has 21 goals in 42 games, this season.  Staal has always had the size and strength and this season, he seems to have learned how to use it. 

Role Players

Pascal Dupuis, along with being an excellent penalty killer, is having one of his best seasons and is only two points away from tying his season record with the Penguins.  Craig Adams is one of the leaders on the penalty kill, arguably sacrificing his body more than anyone on the team to block shots.  Joe Vitale leads the team in face-off percentage and is ranked 15th in the league.  Chris Kunitz has complimented the Malkin-Neal pairing as a physical presence on the line.  Kunitz is a heavy hitter despite  being the smallest on the line, while also closing in on 20 goals this season. 

Solid Goaltender

While the performance of a goaltender in the playoffs is always unpredictable, Marc-Andre Fleury has shown that he possesses the ability to win big games.  Although, if he does not get more time off in the regular season, the chance of breaking down in the spring could become a reality. 

Lock down defense

This is probably the only quality lacking on the Penguins.  While the defense is not necessarily a weakness, the Penguins have not been as stingy as they were last season.  Paul Martin and Brooks Orpik have had a rough season while the defense, as a whole, has had trouble limiting their turnovers.  At the same time, the Penguins have played well against some of the best teams in the league.  They limited Boston to one goal on the road and shutout the New York Rangers at home.  Kris Letang is an excellent two-way defenseman who often is mistaken as a pure offensive-defenseman.  Brooks Orpik and Deryk Engelland are very physical while Zbynek Michalek has a knack for always having his stick in the right spot.  The talent on the defensive side of the ice is there, it is a matter of consistency. 

Playoff Experience

Every player on the current roster has playoff experience and ten of those players hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2009.  While the team draws leadership from its young core, those players have more Stanley Cup experience than some ten-year vets.  The Penguins also have a coaching staff that has experience on the biggest stage and can make the adjustments to turn a series.  

Ray Shero knows the makeup of his team heading into the postseason.  He chose not to make a move on the grounds that the team is already a contender in the Eastern Conference.  This is in direct contrast to last year when he made moves to improve the roster because he wanted to give the team a fighting chance despite season ending injuries to his two top players.  Shero believes that this team can not only compete in the playoffs, but continue playing through the month of May.  

Trading: Columbus, Howson On the Verge of Yet Another Mistake

By: Chris Albert

The NHL trade deadline is upon us and for many hockey fanatics, it’s like having another Christmas in February. While the perennial questions are always who is going to be traded to whom and for what, it’s important to look at whether or not these trades should happen in first place.


The typical approach for the General Manager of a bad team is to make trades to stockpile prospects and draft picks for the future. It turns teams into “sellers” and “buyers” at the deadline. Many times a GM is required to trade away his best players in hopes that a prospect/draft pick will turn out to be the answer to his team’s woes. This season there is a tremendous amount of parity in the league meaning there are fewer sellers and subsequently fewer players available to be traded. Currently, Columbus finds itself about to partake in its perennial fire sale, but it does not need to take this approach, at least with Rick Nash.



The Columbus Blue Jackets have had a terrible season on all accounts, but trading away their best players is not the answer. The Blue Jackets entered the NHL in 2000, but have only been to playoffs once (2009) in their twelve-year history. Their draft history has been about as putrid as their record with one of the few exceptions being, Rick Nash, the 2003 first overall draft pick. After coming off yet another down year, hope sprung eternal in Columbus. In fact, hopes for this season were especially high with the arrival of Jeff Carter via trade with Philadelphia Flyers, James Wisnewski an off-season free agent acquisition, and, to a lesser extent, Vaclav Prospal. Many were picking Columbus to be a sleeper that would give the big guns in the Central Division a run for the division title, but a string of bad-luck (see James Wisnewski suspension and Jeff carter injuries) managed to derail the season to the point of no return. Again, Columbus is in the league basement, has all but locked up the first overall draft pick in the 2012 draft, and has begun another rebuild.



For what has seemed like months now NHL analysts have been discussing the rebuild that must take place in Columbus. Names like Carter, Prospal, Vermette, Umberger, and even Nash were likely to be traded and Columbus was destined to start from scratch. Of course the feeling of desperation that Scott Howson and the rest of Columbus’ management is feeling must be similar to what Indiana Jones felt in the Temple of Doom as he was watching the spiked ceiling come rushing towards his head, but trading away his best players is surely not the only answer.



There are several reasons for Columbus to clean house: Columbus is not winning with its current players and Columbus is one of the only true “sellers” going into the trade deadline and is likely to get a lot of value for its players. However, a look at Columbus’ roster will show that this team is not as bad as its record. Its most glaring weaknesses have been bad defense and horrible goaltending, but they did have a promising top six consisting of Carter, Nash, Prospal, Umberger, Brassard, and Vermette. Now before all the criticisms start flying around, keep in mind many hockey analysts had predicted a successful season in Columbus. Furthermore, it is not a guarantee that the draft picks, prospects, or starters Columbus will acquire for trading away their stars will turn out to be better than those traded away, let alone make it onto an NHL roster.


On Wednesday, Scott Howson traded Vermette to Phoenix. So what did Columbus get in return for a player who has recorded twenty or more goals three times in his career and plays good defense? A minor league goalie, a second-round draft pick in 2012, and a conditional fifth round draft pick in 2013. Howson then went on to trade newly acquired Jeff Carter to the Los Angeles Kings getting Jack Johnson and a 2012 or 2013 first-round draft pick in return for the 3 time 30-goal scorer. So by trading away two talented players with Stanley Cup experience Howson received an underachieving defenseman, a backup goalie, and three draft picks that may or may not pan out. Those do not seem like useful trades from Columbus’ standpoint. It is astounding that Columbus was willing to part with Carter without getting a goalie in return when its biggest need is a goalie. They traded away from their area of strength (offense), but failed to fix any of their glaring weaknesses. In fact, it’s as if Howson just made the trade because he heard he should make it or tradition was forcing him to. Admittedly Vermette and Carter were having down years, but had proven themselves as legitimate NHL players; players that could make an NHL team better.


Now two players are gone, Columbus’ team looks even worse, and Howson is looking to trade away franchise cornerstone Rick Nash; the one player who has played well despite the teams around him, the one player loyal enough to stay with this terrible franchise despite the many mistakes management has made. Nash has scored 30 or more goals 6 times in his first 8 years in the NHL, has reached the 40-goal plateau twice, and has given a lot back to the community. He has done all of this while playing on one of the worst teams in the league. Assuming that Columbus plans to draft Nail Yakupov and assuming he turns out to be the superstar he is billed to be, and assuming Jack Johnson lives up to expectations in Columbus and assuming that all of the draft picks turn out to be great… that’s a lot of assumptions already. But assuming all of those things happen, Columbus still has some glaring weaknesses, especially in goal. Yakupov cannot be expected to carry the team all by himself and it would not make sense to put another superstar through what Nash has gone through, yet that appears to be exactly what Howson is doing. How many years does Howson plan on spending on this rebuild? Rick Nash wasted the first half of his career playing on bad Columbus teams, why would or should Yakupov do the same? Carter and Vermette are gone. That’s enough. Howson needs to keep Nash, period. There are countless rumors about where Nash could end up and what Columbus could get back in return, but the bottom line is that no return for him will be worth it.

2012 Trade Deadline May Be Shero's Biggest Challenge

The Penguins have shown their talents on the ice for the past five months including an All-Star Game, Tuesday night's victory against the New York Rangers, and 33 other wins on the season so far.

Now, it is GM Ray Shero's turn to show why he is one of the best in the business at his job.

Shero has orchestrated blockbuster trades such as Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis for Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito, and a first round pick in 2008, Chris Kunitz and Eric Tangradi for Ryan Whitney in 2009, and James Neal and Matt Niskanen for Alex Goligoski in 2011.  Yes, this has been Shero's time to shine as he always seems to execute trades that look lopsided in his favor.

However, this season may be his biggest challenge yet.

The Penguins currently have $1.9 million in cap space but could free up more should they decide to put Sidney Crosby on long term IR.  If they go that route, the team could have $4-5 million in cap space which would, theoretically, give them enough room to get two solid players.  But the problem lies within the original decision to place Crosby on LTIR.  Judging by the fact the Penguins haven't placed Crosby on IR this close to the trade deadline, it seems they are anticipating his return before the regular season ends.  Or, the Penguins could be stalling because they do not want to show their hand to the trade market.

That brings me into my next point: what trade market?

Of the 30 teams in the NHL,  28 are within 8 points of a playoff spot.  That means teams like Buffalo, Montreal, Carolina, Anaheim and Colorado may not be so keen on trading away impact players.  The Tampa Bay Lightning may be the exception as they traded Pavel Kubina and Steve Downie less than a week ago.  But the Anaheim Ducks are currently soaring which pretty much slams the door on dealing Teemu Selanne.

The two teams out of the playoffs -Edmonton and Columbus- also present a challenge to the Penguins at the deadline.  Columbus is looking to deal Rick Nash and Jeff Carter but both players career large contracts that the Penguins would be unable to pick up.  Meanwhile, the Oilers have a young team and would be hard-pressed to deal their impact players, some of whom are still teenagers.

Ray Shero certainly has a tough task in obtaining talent this season.  My guess?  Any player obtained in a trade will be more of a role player than an impact superstar.  Then again, we should never underestimate the ability of Ray Shero to find the right player at the right time.

An Early Look at Bucs' Rotation in 2012

What a difference a year makes.

At this time last year, the Pirates were projected to be just as bad as they were in 2010 when the team posted an abysmal 57-105 record.  After all, the three "big" free agent signings going into last season were Lyle Overbay, Matt Diaz, and Kevin Correia.  The focus was still on the future of the team as Pirates fans hoped for Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker, and Jose Tabata to develop.  2011 was supposed to be a breakout season for the young bats while the pitching staff was supposed to be the team's achilles heel.

Instead, the young bats went south.  Alvarez had a terrible year, Tabata missed 70 games due to multiple injuries while McCutchen and Walker made minimal progress.  The pitching, however, was through the charts successful.  At one point, the Pirates had three starters (Morton, Maholm, Karstens) ranked in the top 20 in NL ERA.  As a result, the Pirates found themselves leading the NL Central in mid-July while stunning all of baseball with their quick turnaround.

Their mid season success then turned to a second half collapse, leaving the Pirates 70-92 and a 19th consecutive losing season.

Fast forward to today.

The Pirates enter spring training with expectations of being a competitive ball club.  While they still lack the talent to make a serious run at the division, the Pirates may be inching closer to ending the losing streak.  With the additions of AJ Burnett and Erik Bedard, Pittsburgh is hoping to catch lightning in a bottle, as they did last year with Karstens.  Both starters have talent but they also have struggled to be consistent in their own right.

AJ Burnett pitched well in Game 4 of the ALDS against the Tigers, last October but had a terrible season otherwise.  When Burnett is on his game, he is nearly untouchable, blowing hitters away with a mid-90's fastball, or making them look foolish with his sharp breaking pitches.  He is also classified as an innings eater, throwing 200+ innings in 4 of 13 seasons and throwing in at least 150 innings in each of the last 5 years.  Nobody doubts the natural ability AJ Burnett possesses.  However, his head seems to be the bigger issue.  When things are going well, Burnett shows the confidence and swagger of a guy who won 18 games in 2008.  When things are going bad, Burnett illustrates self-perpetuated meltdowns that led to his 5.00+ ERA in back to back seasons with the Yankees.  The Pirates are hoping Burnett will rebound now that he'll be out of the spotlight in New York.

Erik Bedard has struggled to stay healthy in each of the last five seasons, completing 100 innings just once in that span.  Bedard may not throw as hard as Burnett, but he can be just as effective when healthy.  The southpaw's curveball is a strikeout pitch as it was advertised in 2007 when Bedard struck out 221 batters in 182 innings.  While fans will miss Paul Maholm who has departed to Chicago, Bedard can ease the pain by pitching to his talent.  The biggest question, of course, is if he will be able to stay on the field.  Bedard needed surgery on his throwing elbow in 2003, then faced oblique and shoulder issues a few seasons later.

The Pirates will enter 2012 with several questions regarding their starting rotation.   One of the biggest questions the pitching will have to answer is how good are they?  Is Charlie Morton as good as he was in the first half or the second half of last season.  Can Jeff Karstens continue to strand base runners at a high rate?

Spring training has begun, the answers will follow in the next 8 months.

My projected rotation:

Burnett
Bedard
McDonald
Morton
Karstens

Steelers 2012 Season Already Filled with Questions

While the Steelers made few changes to their roster after their Super Bowl run in 2010, this upcoming season sees enough change to warrant GM Kevin Colbert stating that the team is not rebuilding but merely, "retooling."

With free agency one month away (March 13th), the Steelers will have plenty of names on the market as they are currently $10-20 million over the salary cap.  The roster will also look different considering some of the moves made, already.

Chris Hoke: retired.  Aaron Smith: retired.  Bryant McFadden: cut.  Bruce Arians: retired/cut.  Rumors around the NFL are pointing to Hines Ward possibly leaving the Steelers albeit, against his will.  Meanwhile, Casey Hampton's position on the team could be heavily influenced by the draft as he is set to make $4.9 million next season and, oh by the way, he has a torn ACL and won't be able to practice for training camp (where he usually shows up heavily out of shape) much less a game.

The speculation surrounding roster moves will circle the team until July.  At this time, it is impossible to know which players the Steelers will keep and which ones they will cut.  However, one thing is certain: the roster for the 2012 season will have significant changes.

The Steelers have an aging defense and a bright, young offense.  They are not a carbon copy of the Steelers teams from the early 80s; slowly fading as a collective team.  With the oldest player on their offense 29 years old (Roethlisberger), the team has plenty of years left to make a Super Bowl run.  But they need to upgrade their defense and they need more production out of their offense.

Insert Todd Haley.

A Pittsburgher, a former Steelers' ball boy, a fiery coach who clashes with players and coaches.  He was not brought in to be Ben's friend.  He was brought in to teach the offense how to put up points; an offense that hasn't touched the top ten in scoring since 2007 despite having an elite quarterback and superb talent at wide receiver.

While it is important to have the quarterback's interests in mind when creating an offensive gameplan, it is not his job to run the offense on the sidelines.  That will be left for Haley, an offensive coordinator who saw three wide receivers reach 1000 yards in the same season down in Arizona and then, as a head coach, created the number one rushing offense in the league with Kansas City.  Haley is a chameleon with his plan, Ben needs to be too.

The 2012 season already looks to be filled with story lines as the team moves into Spring with several questions.  Will Hines Ward be a Steeler?  Can Ben and Todd Haley work together?  Will the defense take a giant step back?  Will they regroup for another stellar season? Can the offense carry the team?  What will be some of the position battles in camp (since there were none last year)?

Those questions will be answered and a few of them could be answered in the next few days.

Stay tuned.

What About Wolski? The Problem With Marketing in the NHL By Chris Albert

By: Chris Albert

Wojtek Wolski was seventeen years old when he became Colorado’s first round draft pick in 2004. Expectations were high for the big left wing from Zabrze, Poland. After several successful seasons in the minors, Wolski played his first full season for Colorado in 2006-2007 recording twenty two goals and 50 points; impressive numbers for any rookie season. Fast forward to February 2, 2012 and a mere five years after making his debut, Wolski has cleared waivers and been demoted to the New York Rangers minor league team. What happened since his debut six years ago? What about Wolski?

           

            The problem regarding Wolski, and the rest of the hockey for that matter, is one of notoriety. Yes, the NHL is the fourth largest sport in US so it must deal with the problems that come with it (lack of coverage, especially by ESPN), but this problem and the problem that faces players like Wolski everywhere is one created entirely by the NHL itself and it is due to the NHL’s failure to increase the coverage of the game.

            After the lockout in 2004, the NHL realized that it had to make some changes. These changes appeared not just in the way the game was played, but also in the way the game was marketed to its fans. ESPN and the NHL went their separate ways and the NHL had to make the best of that decision. The NHL realized that like any other professional sports league, hockey was built on its stars. Therefore, the NHL executives decided that hockey needed a couple of big names that they could use to introduce fans to the new and improved league. In Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin they found their superstars and, since their rookie year in 2005-2006, the two have lived up to their billing. This marketing approach has ushered in a whole new generation of fans, but unless the league is content with the status quo and is satisfied with stagnation, it must change. This approach is creating problems for the NHL both now and in the future.

            First, by focusing on a few players, the NHL is preventing the casual fan or new fan from exposure to players from around the league. This is especially true of the Western Conference where stars like Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar, San Jose’s Joe Thornton, Nashville’s Shea Webber and Pekka Rinne, Calgary’s Jerome Iginla, Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk, and the Sedin twins from Vancouver go largely unnoticed on a nightly basis. Commissioner Gary Bettman has fought tooth and nail on his Southern Expansion Experiment (placing hockey teams in southern states to increase viewer ship across the country), but how often do we see Dallas Star’s Loui Erikkson and Jamie Benn or Phoenix’s Shane Doan and Radim Vrbata? One of the best lines, and stories for that matter, has been the Kris Versteeg, Thomas Fleischmann and Stephen Weiss line for the Florida Panthers, but they rarely appear on any NHL commercial or news segment. How can Bettman and the rest of the NHL expect the experiment to work if no one knows the players who play for southern teams? These players are or will become stars, but their chances of being noticed are low so long as the NHL continues its marketing process and so long as they play for teams in the Western Conference or other nontraditional hockey markets. While this phenomenon is especially prevalent in the Western Conference, it also exists with players from the Eastern Conference. So how exactly does this phenomenon affect the casual or new fan?

Let’s take a casual hockey fan from Colorado, Bill, who has only been exposed to hockey through the few games he’s watched, some advertisements he’s seen, and the rare highlights that ESPN chooses to show in their daily Top Ten Plays. Bill wants to buy tickets to a Colorado Avalanche game and his choices to buy tickets to see the Avalanche play the Washington Capitals or the Nashville Predators. Well barring any extenuating circumstances, it should come as no surprise that Bill buys tickets for the Capitals game. Is that because the Capitals are one of the hottest and most exciting teams in hockey today or because Ovechkin is having another superstar year, racking up points and goals the way he has in the past? The answer to that question is a resounding no. In fact, while Nashville appears to be a lock for the playoffs and is pushing for a division title in the incredibly competitive Central division, Washington is currently battling with Florida for the Southeastern Division title. This year, the Southeastern Conference is the worst division in hockey and based on points alone, Washington would not be in the playoffs. The reality here is that the Capitals are having a down year; two of their stars are hurt, others aren’t playing well and Ovechkin is having yet another pedestrian year. Contrastingly, Nashville is led by the outstanding play of its top two defensemen, Shea Webber and Ryan Sutter, and their goalie, Pekka Rinne. Each is arguably having a more significant and successful year than Ovechkin or anyone else for the Capitals. Furthermore, Nashville has scored more goals and has a better plus/minus. Unfortunately, Bill is still going to be buying a ticket for the Capitals game because the NHL has failed to motivate him to do otherwise. Casual fans want to go to games to watch their team, but in watching games, they want to watch the superstars. They want to see hockey played at its finest, by its most exciting players and therein lies the problem; aside from those few stars the NHL cares to showcase, casual fans do not know many of the league’s most exciting players.

If the NHL continues to market its sport in the way it does, by focusing on two main players and keeping the rest in the periphery, it will stymie the growth of the sport. Instead of getting fans excited to watch their team play whoever comes to town, fans will continue to only be interested for the big names. This in turn will hurt the NHL in the place it hurts the most, the wallet. The NHL needs growth and that growth can only be obtained by introducing the casual fan to hockey. If casual fans continue to be interested in only the big names and great teams, ticket sales will never increase, nor will television ratings, which in turn means that advertisers will invest less of their time and their clients money in NHL events. There is a huge market out there and the NHL needs to open itself up to it.

So what about Wolski? During the 2009-2010 season, Wolski was traded from Colorado to Phoenix where he finished the season with a career high twenty four goals and sixty five points. Wolski had been having a fairly pedestrian career in Colorado, but after being traded Wolski was a point per game player who helped lead the hapless Coyotes to their first playoff appearance since the 2002 season; A feel good story right? This garnered about as much attention as my intramural football team losing its second consecutive championship and for the NHL that’s a problem. Of course, the NHL cannot cover every career in detail, nor can it market one player for having one good year, but the lack of information and coverage provided by the NHL and its inability to grasp onto a good story is damaging.

Over the years, sports fans have been exposed to countless stories of athletes from other sports that have overcome adversity in their own lives; Michael Turner, Tom Brady and Jimmy Graham to name a few. Fans of any sport can relate to a good story; they can relate to the players, not just the stars.  So why can’t the NHL provide fans with a broader view of its league by introducing them to more players and those player’s stories? Sure we can blame networks like ESPN for failing to provide coverage of the hockey, but isn’t this a much deeper problem, a problem for which the NHL must take responsibility?

Pirates Looking to Improve Rotation

In the past few days, the Pirates have been linked to Edwin Jackson and AJ Burnett as possible targets to improve their starting rotation.  On Monday, the Pirates released information that they had offered Jackson a 3 year, $30 million contract before he decided to sign with the Washington Nationals for 1 year, $11 million.

Despite pitching for six teams in his young career, Jackson would have undoubtedly bolstered the Pirates' rotation.  He has a consistent mid-90s fastball with late movement and a solid slider in the mid-80s; he had 44% ground balls last season and limited his walks to 2.8 per 9 innings.  At an age where many pitchers' careers begin to skyrocket (I.E. Roy Halladay), Jackson would have been the perfect staple in the Pirates' rotation over the next three years.

But he didn't sign in Pittsburgh. He didn't take a three year deal; it seems he wanted to play for a team he thought he could compete with.  Seemingly, he would only play for a team like the Pittsburgh Pirates if they overpaid him.  With an extraordinary amount of talent coming through the system and a dire need to give Andrew McCutchen an extension to his contract, spending at least $15 million would have been an unwise decision.  Although Edwin Jackson has a lot of talent, he is far from an elite pitcher and worth much less than $10 million, in my opinion.  Keep in mind, he's had issues with his command as his BB/9 ratio and WHIP have fluctuated from season to season.

Since Edwin Jackson was out of the equation, ESPN's Buster Olney and Fox Sports correspondent Ken Rosenthal, rumored the Pirates to have interest in Yankees' starter AJ Burnett.  In fact, they both wrote about how the Pirates were the ONLY team that would have interest in the veteran righty.

To acquire Burnett, the Pirates would need to initiate a trade with the Yankees. In such a trade, they would likely agree to pay most of the remaining $33 million on Burnett's contract.  Olney indicated that Garret Jones would be a potential trade piece.  While the Yankees would get a platoon/DH player, the Pirates would get a 35 year old pitcher with a 5.00+ ERA in each of the last two seasons.  While many are quick to point out that he pitched in Yankee stadium (comparable to Williamsport in terms of dimensions), it is notable that last season his road ERA was the concern, as it ballooned to 6.28.

Nevertheless, Burnett has an explosive fastball and he has a sharp curveball that racked up 173 strikeouts last year (31 more than James McDonald).  If the Pirates can send a bench player and receive a player of this caliber, what is the risk?  In the worst case scenario, he pitches poorly and is eventually dealt for a low-grade minor leaguer.  In the best case scenario, he escapes the New York spotlight and delivers a solid season before the end of his career.  Unlike Matt Morris, Burnett certainly has the talent to put up one more outstanding season.

So, why are the Pirates doing this?  Why does it matter if they go after Edwin Jackson or AJ Burnett?  Is it just for ticket sales?  Not exactly.  Despite playing in a six-team division, the NL Central is arguably the worst division in baseball.  While the Cincinnati Reds look to be the favorite, the Pirates went 10-5 against them last year.  That leaves the St. Louis Cardinals (without Albert Pujols), the Milwaukee Brewers (minus Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun for 50 games), the Chicago Cubs (currently in the process of rebuilding), and the Houston Astros (give me a break!).  The Pirates have an great opportunity to make some serious noise in an otherwise mute division.  Signing a solid, veteran starter would go a long way in 2012.

Finally! Dermontti Dawson Reaches Hall of Fame

Sometimes eight times is a charm.

In Dermontti Dawson's case, that certainly appears to be true.  After being overlooked by football Hall of Fame voters -whether it was the fact that there were already "too many steelers" or better players to choose from- for 7 years, Dawson will finally be enshrined as one of football's immortals.  Going with him are Curtis Martin, Jack Butler, Will Roaf, Chris Doleman, and Cortez Kennedy.  

Dawson was selected by the Steelers with the 44th pick, in the second round, of the 1988 NFL Draft.  He played alongside Mike Webster before permanently replacing him in 1989.  From there, Dawson became a 7-time Pro Bowler, including 6 selections to First-Team All-Pro and the 90's All-Decade Team.  The Steelers led the league in rushing twice in Dawson's 13 year career and they also put up the most points in the AFC (406) during their Super Bowl season in 1995.  At roughly 6'2 290 pounds, Dawson was strong but also extremely fast for his size.  He was best known for "pulling" to throw the lead block on wide running plays.

Dawson played in all 16 regular season games from 1989-1998 but ended up retiring in 2000 after dealing with chronic hamstring injuries.  He is second in franchise history in consecutive games played with 170.  

Despite never officially retiring his number, the Steelers have never had another player wear #63 in honor of Dawson's contributions to the Steelers.  It is nice to see the NFL finally pay tribute after nearly a decade of rejecting one of the greatest centers of all time.  

If I Were a Betting Man: Super Bowl XLVI

Other than the occasional blackjack game, I hardly consider myself a gambler.  While I never bet on sports, and still won't on the country's biggest sporting event of the year tomorrow, the list of prop bets on some of these websites is intriguing.  After all, how interesting is this Super Bowl for fans of the black and gold?  It's New York vs. New England -essentially Boston- two big market teams that already played each other four years ago.  To build on that point, the stories are limited and boring; no massive underdog, no new teams.

So, much like the fun in fantasy football, betting on some of these props would at least give you another reason to look forward to Sunday's matchup.  Here's a hefty list thanks to www.thespread.com:

Coin Toss

According to www.casinoanswers.com, the toss result for the first 45 Super Bowls is 23-22 in favor of Tails.  Given the 50-50 odds, I'll pick heads to even it out.


National Anthem  Over/Under 1:34 for completion

I'm going OVER on this one.  Kelly Clarkson nailed the anthem at exactly 1:34 in the NBA Finals last year, but she's singing on an even bigger stage.  Allow a long finish.

Will Kelly Clarkson mess up 1 word of the Star Spangled Banner


A Texas native who, I'm sure, does not want to embarrass herself (unlike Christina Aguilera who appears to have no shame), Clarkson nails the anthem.  If she screws it up, she'll get fined $25 bucks thanks to senator Vaneta Becker.

Will Kelly Clarkson's bare belly be showing during the anthem?


I hope not.

What will Madonna be using to start the halftime show?


I am picking headset over handheld microphone.  Madonna is a not just a musician but she's also an on-stage performer.  She may be getting old, but she's not dead.

Over/Under 0.5 times Gisele Bundchen will be shown during the game


Hopefully way over.  In all seriousness, I imagine she will be shown at least once but it may depend on the of the game.

Over/Under 1 time Jim Irsay will be mentioned during the game

Over, over, over.  As I stated before, the Super Bowl is so devoid of major stories that the hometown team has made most of the major headlines over the past two weeks.

Over/Under 1 time Andrew Luck will be mentioned during the game


Over.  He'll be just as much in the conversation as Irsay.

What color gatorade will be dumped on the coach?


The best odds seem to be with water.  The spread involves Orange, Yellow, Red, Green and Blue.  I would pass on this but for the sake of picking, I'll pick orange.