Thanks to my buddy Benson for sending along his newest video. And yeah, it doesn't disappoint.
This is from the same cloth as the awesome "Burghability" parody. If you want Pittsburgh sports in parody form, Benson has you covered.
Plus, I'm a sucker for any IN-YOUR-FACE, SUNDAY-SUNDAY-SUNDAY-style monster truck announcer-esque voices. Like Powerthirst. That was great, too.
Always good to support Sweed.
With Nate Washington leaving the Steelers via free agency, it's no doubt that second-year WR Limas Sweed needs to elevate his play. Big Ben had a nice chemistry with Nate, and if the Steelers want to mimic last year's success, then we can't really afford to take a step back at any skill position.
Much will be made about Rashard Mendenhall coming back from injury, but Sweed's potential contributions are arguably more pivotal. Pittsburgh has shifted to an efficient passing game mentality, and Santonio and Hines are already world champions who have each altered the outcome of a Super Bowl game in their careers. And now it's Sweed's turn.
It sucks that whenever you mention Sweed's name, any cognizant Steelers fan will automatically start yapping about the dropped passes. I'm not absolving Sweed, as he clearly looked overwhelmed in his rookie year and made seemingly preventable mistakes, but that's the kind of thing that can haunt a young player. Sweed's the only one who can change his legacy, and the best way to start is with a strong second season.
He's a guy that can do it, too. A wrist injury is the only thing that kept him out of the first round of his draft class, and he was overshadowed by the current Steelers WRs and the drafting of Mendenhall.
So if I was to predict, I'd say that Sweed's going to emerge as a guy that obviously isn't the #1 guy in Pittsburgh, but will show up with big-time catches and a monster TD total. He'll have something like 30-35 catches, but 8 or 9 will be for TDs. Hell, I'll say 10 TDs, just to be that guy.
Keep in mind that my prediction skills don't always pan out. And also, I'm not as bold as this guy:
"Mark my words: By the 2011 season, Limas Sweed is not only going to the best WR on the Steelers—he is going to be in the top 10 in the league.
Once Big Ben has confidence in Sweed, Sweed will become Ben's favorite target. He has the size, speed, and hands (you'll see) that is going to make him elite.
By 2011, Ward will no longer be the receiver we all love, if he is even still playing, and Sweed will more than take his place."
That would be AWESOME if Sweed pans out like that! I'd be more than pleased if that ends up happening, but I'll settle for a great second season and take steps from there. And if I'm right, '09 is going to be just that season.
This guy would be making that face. Your face is gonna stay that way forever if you keep doing that, you jerk.
These links oughta straighten him out:
I whole-heartedly support my buddy Cian's college football playoff scenario. [fuhbaw]
Alyssa Milano had some thoughts about Yankees bust Carl Pavano in the bedroom. [Hugging Harold Reynolds]
Going to baseball games rules, but paying out the wazoo sucks. [Paneech]
Sweet stuff in slow motion. [Gunaxin]
In like a lamb, out like a Tiger. [Josh Q. Public]
Mike Vick is a positive thinker. [SI's FanFation]
PSAMP has a love/hate relationship with Pittsburgh Post Gazette writer Bob Smizik. Well, just about everyone hates his wet blanket, don't get too excited attitude towards the local teams, but I did score the only interview he's done with a blog. In our conversations, I was able to get a better view of his style while countering his arguments with the prevailing thoughts in the local blogosphere.
Today, he mentions the possibility of Jamie Dixon leaving Pitt for a big name school, much like Ben Howland did when Dixon was just a Pitt assistant. There have already been several schools with openings...Kentucky is looking into John Calipari, UVA and Arizona should have vacancies...why would Dixon continue at Pitt with Young, Fields and likely Blair gone next season?
In today's society, contracts mean squat. Sure, Dixon is locked up, but just think about the shenanigans pulled by former WVU football coach Rich Rodriguez when his "dream job" at Michigan opened up.
Maybe it's just the Pitt homer in me, but Dixon has proved himself to be in a different class than the cut-and-run-at-the-next-best-opportunity coaches. He's no Larry Brown. Sure, Dixon recently set the mark for most wins in the first 6 years of a career, but I doubt he'd use that as leverage to take on the stress at a larger school. Howland may have moved on and had a string of success that included 3 straight Final Fours at UCLA, but at a school of that status, the team won't be hanging banners celebrating a trip to the semis. It's championship or nothing.
And as Smizik noted, Jamie has never been a top-of-the-nation recruiter. Sure, it takes time to rebuild the confidence of recruits after the the head coach bolts, but six years later and Dixon finally scored a top-10 level incoming freshman in Dante Taylor. With the recent good pub from guys like Blair, Fields and Young plus the news of Taylor's decision, would it really behoove Dixon to leave when the shallowest section of his talents is finally starting to glimmer with hope?
Will Dixon ever leave Pitt? It's really hard to say what a college coach in today's game will do in the upcoming season, so I'm not going to claim that I can predict the rest of Jamie's career. He's kept Pitt near the top of the pile for his entire tenure in the 'Burgh, and with his first Elite Eight appearance and pride-boost of finally snatching up the prized recruits, I'd say that Jamie has a ton of reasons to see his hard work come to fruition at Pitt.
And if this all blows up in my face while Dixon bolts for more money elsewhere this offseason, I'll formally apologize to Smizik and recognize his supreme mental fortitude.
Yo dog, quit being so pushy. How about just hanging out with your friend instead of dragging him around on a leash? But that's just my two cents.
NBA intro wars...LeBron goes home run. [NESW Sports]
Blake Griffin is too cool for school. [Total Pro Sports]
Go ahead ans let the gas rip. [Zoner Sports]
The Astros. [Sharapova's Thigh]
Will the Cardinals go for Beanie Wells in the draft? [Arizona Sports Beat]
T.O. in T.O. [Hoop Heads North]
I'm probably going to watch Levance's one-minute-left heroics like 3,000 times before Saturday's Elite Eight matchup with noted thorn-in-the-side Villanova. I've always liked their coach, Jay Wright, and would've rather played Duke in the next round. There are still a few questions surrounding Nova, like what happens when their outside shots quit falling against the Panthers (Ok St.'s second half, anyone?) and they have to rely on the inside game? Sure, they out-physicaled Duke, but Duke was just a scrawnier Nova. In my mind, the biggest question surrounding Pitt is...
...will Levance lose the cornrows for good?
Also, you remember that I tried to find pictures of now-vanquished Xavier coach Sean Miller in a Pitt uniform yesterday. Turns out the only two pictures of Miller at Pitt are ridiculously small and in black and white. However, my buddy Ethan dug up an incredibly awesome video of pre-pubescent Miller showing his skills to an also-youthful ESPN. There's so much to warn you about, young Sean.
There's so much awesomeness in this picture that I can barely handle it. Dog, dog, dog, MINI HORSE! A hearty applause to whoever (whomever?) put this image together.
I put these links together, so congratulate me, jerks:
The Pirates are in talks with Will Ohman. [WHYGAVS?]
Levance re-wrote his legacy in about half a minute. [Pitt Blather]
Top 10 deadbeat dad athletes. Wouldn't that be "bottom 10?" [Total Pro Sports]
The Pirates' number 1 overall pick of Bryan Bullington might've been the worst #1 pick in the past 10 years or so. [More Hardball]
My buds shot exclusive video of Miguel Torres as he spars in preparation for WEC 40. Sick. [Chicago's MMA]
LeBron has shades of Kareem. [Josh Q. Public]
Everyone was supposed to lose the cornrows once Allen Iverson shaved his head.
Levance Fields just got the memo.
Go Pitt!
**UPDATE** PITT'S GOING TO THE ELITE EIGHT! SWEET 16 CURSE, WHAT? LEVANCE HIT THAT THREE BECAUSE HE TOOK THE CORNROWS OUT!
I use "every known" as it pertains to me. If I can't find anything on a Google Image Search, then it exists outside of my realm of imagination. Plus, as I said earlier, I have some sort of tiny attention span, so you're kidding yourself if you believed that I was going to put more effort into this thing.
What we know. Sean Miller, former Big East Freshman of the Year in 1988, is coaching Xavier against Pitt in the Sweet 16 of this year's NCAA tourney. Tonight. I'm sure there's tons of opinions about this fact all over the Internet, but I'm too lazy to go check.
So I decided to just search for pictures of Sean in action for the Panthers, you know, so I could embarrass him or make fun of the athletic fashion of the late 80s/early 90s. This turned out to be a pretty daunting task. Apparently, pre-Internet 2.0 pictures are hard to come by on the information superhighway.
These are the only two pictures I could find of Sean from his time with the Panthers. What I didn't know is that pictures from the 80s are reeally tiny. And the 80s were in black and white!
The more you know...
Go Pitt!
Evgeni Malkin did a spot for Penguins TV called "Cooking with Evgeni." In the video, Geno and correspondent Alyonka Larionov (Igor's daughter) make pierogies...because that's what NHL scoring leaders do.
To be honest, I didn't watch the whole thing. I have some sort of ADD that really shuts my mind off after about a minute or two. However, the bit was funny enough, and really got some pub around the blogosphere yesterday.
My favorite part was right at the beginning. As Alyonka turns to face the camera during the introduction, Geno siezes the moment to totally check out the unsuspecting Alyonka. With the hugest grin ever, too. Eh...if it was good enough for Ovechkin...
The entire video is below. You'll laugh when Geno goes for the butt-glimpse.
