Team Comparisons Across Sports

 Baseball, Basketball, Football, Futbol/Soccer, Pro-Football  No Responses »
Jun 022013
 

One of the things I love about sports is comparing teams across disciplines. Who are the Dallas Cowboys of the NBA, the the Pittsburgh Pirates of the NHL, the Boston Red Stockings of the MLS. MLS? Oh wait, nevermind that.

Let’s do a comparison of notable English futbol clubs to American sports teams.

Liverpool -> Los Angeles Dodgers. Recent ownership troubles. Massive commercial potential only recently being tapped. Beloved in their communities. Long history of success but not exactly recently. Continue reading »

Of Footballs and Accents

 Football, Pro-Football  No Responses »
Nov 152010
 

I drove up to Northampton, MA this extended weekend to spend some some with my sister, brother-un-law and niece. I was enjoying a leisurely time, when on Friday morning, I received a call from my mom that an unkel had offered two tickets to Sunday night’s Steelers/Patriots game in Pittsburgh. Done.

After driving home from Northampton in 7.5 hours (~515 miles) on Sunday, I was subjected to one of the worst Steelers games I’ve seen in years. Just a putrid, heartless display. Embarrassing, really.

The worst part? Although our seats were pretty sweet (section 108, row K), they were directly in front of five guys from Boston. Now I don’t mind that they were loud and boisterous for their team. By and large, they weren’t rude and there was some fun jawing back and forth.

But those accents! OH MY LAWD!! I mean a really thick, thick, Boston/New England accent. Like Ben Affleck in Good Will Hunting or Peter Griffin on the Family Guy.

“Let’s go Paaaats!”
“Let’s go boyyyeesss!”
“Atta boy Tommy!”

Horrible, simply horrible. I’d rather hear southern drawls, Long Island or Bronx accents, Midwestern accents, valley girl accents, maybe even Jersey Shore accents than that bile-inducing detritus. Worst regional accent in the world!

Those boyyeess made this the single worst sporting event I have ever attended. (And considering I’m a long-time Pitt football fan, that’s sayin’ something). UGH.

Here We Go (Again)!

 Football, Pro-Football  No Responses »
Jul 082006
 

“HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!”  It’s a mantra that Pittsburghers chant throughout the year, even during Pirates and Penguins games, Pitt or high school football games. Few things define Western PA better than our love of the Steelers. I can’t begin to describe how it felt for us to win the Superbowl; you’d have to be one of the Steelers Nation to understand it.

But now the draft has come and gone and the players are talking about next season and staying hungry and getting after it again. I would expect nothing less from our organisation. But whereas some of my fellow Steelers fans are getting all up in arms over the lack of respect being afforded the Steelers since the Superbowl, I don’t think I care. For instance, Peter King recently gave New England & Indianapolis better Superbowl odds than the Steelers even though NE suffered some big free agent losses and Indy lost Edgerrin James and didn’t significantly improve their secondary.

Maybe I’ve lost some of my hunger for the game now that my team has reached the pinnacle. I don’t read the papers as diligently or watch Sportscenter several times per day. I know all the arguments against the Steelers – Ben didn’t cross the line, the pass interference call was ticky tack, that wasn’t a holding call – but it’s not those in Steelers Nation making those arguments. If you’re not one of us, I really don’t give a d*mn about your naysaying. I’m just not debating with you if you’re gonna hate on us so bugger off and let us enjoy our turn.