Wednesday, May 15, 2013

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.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

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.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

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.