Rapid Fire

Rapid fire football going on. The Pitt Panthers this evening play their third game in 12 days facing 4 and 0 South Florida. This is a very important game for both teams. Both USF and Pitt played Notre Dame with USF coming out victorious against the Irish but lest we forget Notre Dame had 5 turnovers against South Florida. Pitt battled the Irish, had their chances, but came up a little short. Notre Dame is 2 and 2 right now with some tough games down the road. As veteran sports prognosticator Beano Cook once said, the 3 toughest jobs in America are: the President of the United States, the Mayor of New York City, and the Head Football Coach of Notre Dame. Switching gears to talk about Upper St. Clair's high school grad Sean Lee who was an excellent linebacker coming out of Penn State, and now a very talented inside linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys. Lots of teams passed on drafting Sean Lee. If the NFL scouts that went into Penn State would have listened to Coach Tom Bradley's outstanding assessment of Sean Lee, then Sean Lee would have been a first rounder. After watching Sean Lee play last Monday night vs. the Redskins, I validated my original evaluation and said he is for real. Sean Lee had knee injuries at Penn State but being around Sean Lee a few times at workout facilities, I realized how hard of a worker he is. The Steelers discussed taking Lee 4 picks before the Cowboys but decided on taking Jason Worilds. Barring injury, he could develop into one of the finest linebackers in the entire NFL.

Defensive Backs From This Area

Two former Chartiers Valley H.S. players from Scott Township are now active in the National Football League. And Oh by the way, they just happen to be brothers. Coach Bill Belichek just activated Ross Ventrone for today's game vs the Buffalo Bills. Ross was a walk-on at Pitt, then transferred to Villanova and played in the secondary for the Wildcats. His brother Raymond also played at Villanova, was a undrafted free agent with New England, and now is a stalwart special teams player and safety and is on the field a lot for the Cleveland Browns. This a great story and both Ross and Raymond deserve a ton of credit. Both have excellent speed and balance, they are super hard workers, love the game of football, and both have excellent football instincts. And I cannot forget to mention, both Raymond and Ross are great people. Talking about another excellent young guy, check out #23 for the Indianapolis Colts, Corner Terrence Johnson from Woodland Hills H.S. and California U. of PA. Terrence Johnson was an undrafted free agent, also signed with New England but was signed by the Colts in January. He is in the mix with the Colts as a corner and may play a lot vs. the Steelers on tonight's Sunday Night Game. Pennsylvania is producing talented football players.

Hope to Hear From You

Where have you gone Mr. Bob Nutting? Everything was peachy on the day when the Pittsburgh Pirates were 51 and 44 and in first place. Since that great day in July, the Pirates have gone into a non-recoverable swoon. On September 20, their record is 68 and 86. That means the once popular Buccos have gone 17 and 42 since that wonderful day in July. This is just a shade over .250 baseball. Mr Nutting, you went into hibernation way too early. A multitude of Pittsburgh Pirate baseball fans would like to get an explanation of what has happened the last 70 days. Maybe from Coach Clint Hurdle and his staff, maybe from G.M. Neal Huntington, and probably from you Mr. Nutting. I remember seeing an interview with Bob Nutting when the Buccos were playing well in early July and telling everyone that the organization is looking good and how positive the atmosphere was at PNC Park but now Mr. Bob Nutting has pulled a David Copperfield on the Pirate fans and disappeared. I think the fans of Pittsburgh need some sort of explanation of what has occurred. The Pirate team batting average is a weak .242, just the same as the bad 2010 season. They are getting crushed in game recently by scores of 15 to 1 and 14 to 3. It looks to me like the team wants the season to end in a hurry. They are lucky to get 70 wins. As a the old slogan goes "Hope to hear from You!"

Injuries, Injuries, and more Injuries

What is the National Football League to do with all of these injuries? I mean season ending injuries to some top players in only the first 2 weeks. Steelers OT Willie Colon out for the season with torn Tricep. K.C. Chiefs safety Eric Berry out for the year with an ACL tear, Green Bay Safety Nick Collins out for the season with a neck injury, K.C. Chiefs star running back Jamal Charles out for the year with an ACL tear, and this is just to name a few. Big Ben Roethlisberger had a scare in the Seattle game when DE Raheen Brock rolled up his right leg. Tom Brady has a scare in the San Diego game when someone rolled up his leg. Football is a collision sport and these collisions are high level by players that play fast, are strong, and very powerful. And there are 14 regular season games remaining. The all important remedy is that each team needs quality depth on their rosters. Are the rosters big enough at 53 and a common question that continually arises is: should the rosters be expanded. With all these injuries, is an 18 game season way out of line. Are 4 pre season games too many? Each team is going to play 20 games, whether it be 4 pre season and 16 regular season or 2 pre season or 18 regular season. There is the human element here also and that is the body can only take so much punishment. Is there an answer to all of these injuries. I don't think so. When you have a 350 pound Defensive Tackle like Ravens Haloti Hgata chasing down speedy running backs, the only answer I can think of is hopefully no one gets hurt badly.

High School Promoter

This guy was a local Sports fixture on Channel 11 for a multitude of years. This guy is a sportcaster for Local TV station WPXI, which is Channel 11 after changing its call name from WIIC in 1981. This guy is Sportscaster John Fedko. A little more than a decade ago, Pittsburgh Magazine voted him Pittsburgh's most favorite Sportscaster. John Fedko did receive much criticism for his "goofy, self aggrandizing routine" and many felt it was annoying to watch him on his Sports Broadcasts. But not me. I think John Fedko is entertainment. His enthusiasm doing the WPXI High School football SkyLights is unmatched. Fedko mixes in well with the fans and cheerleaders at every game he attends, and in a unique manner, Fedko is an excellent promoter of Western Pennsylvania high school football. His skits include coming up with nicknames for players along similar lines but at a different level referring to ESPN's Chris Berman's great example"Andre Bad Moon a Rison." Fedko orchestrates songs combined with a high school players' nickname creating a unique verse when watching the individual players high-lights. I do not think John Fedko gets enough credit for what he does especially for his promotion of high school sports in this region. Keep it rolling John Fedko.

One Game At A Time

As you talk to Pittsburgh Steeler fans across this region, many were in disbelief how the Steelers were handled by the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens had an excellent game plan, QB Joe Flacco played a solid game and took care of the ball, and the addition of Left Tackle Bryant McKinnie for the Ravens is a huge pick up. The Ravens offensive line is very solid. And on the other side of the ball, the Ray Lewis led defense played very well. Ravens DT Haloti Ngata may well be the best defensive player in the entire NFL. This guy is a load, can run, is very physical and strong, and just keeps making plays. ILB Ray Lewis is on a mission. He provides the Ravens with great leadership and enthusiasm and at 36 years old, Ray Lewis is very talented ILB. Lewis caused 2 fumbles yesterday, he is always in position to make plays, and he makes up for his lack of great speed by playing with very good instincts. The Steelers are very resilient and will be a factor in their division. A few years ago, the Steelers were 7 and 5 after 12 games, were the sixth seed in the playoffs, and subsequently won 8 straight games to win the Super Bowl. Hey Steeler fans, there is a lot of football remaining. Put your helmets on and buckle those chin straps because the Pittsburgh Steelers are a bunch of winners and will not let this lose affect them.

This and That

Sixty Six and Seventy Nine(66 and 79), here we go for another losing season(19th in a row for the Pittsburgh Pirates). The young people under 20 years old from this area have never seen a winning season from the Pirates. The Pirates record since the All Star break is 19 and 36, a dismal .345 winning percentage.......The Irish of Notre Dame off to a rough start at 0 and 2 with the Michigan State Spartans coming to South Bend this weekend and then the Irish traveling to Pitt on September 24th for a rare noon game time start for the Irish......Hopewell running back Rushel Shell just surpassed 7000 yards rushing for his career. Barring injury, Shell should break the WPIAL rushing record here soon. If you have not seen Rushel Shell play, he reminds me of a former U of Alabama running back who is now with the New Orleans Saints, Mark Ingram.....It would be nice to see the Mylan Golf Classic at Southpointe become a bigger venue. It attracted some decent younger players and 2 veterans in John Daly and Rocco Mediate. The payoff is low but if more revenue was inserted into this Classic, it would attract more good tour players. The Mylan Classic has lots of upside......The Boys in Vegas are projecting the Pittsburgh Steelers to win 11 games. I think the Steelers are very capable of winning more than Eleven regular season games. Today vs the Ravens will be a good test and a great season opener.