ESPN recently had Samuel L. Jackson and Heat superstar Dwyane Wade pick March Madness brackets. I'm still not sure why, but I'll go with it.

I didn't even pay attention to what badass Samuel L. was saying, because I was kinda distracted by Dwyane Wade's national champ pick. He picked Pitt, which I'm sure might sting to some Panthers fans.

Back in 2003, Wade famously knocked off Pitt in the Sweet 16 with 20 second-half points. In what was one of the games that put Wade on the national stage, he helped usher the Panthers to a second-consecutive exit in that round, and that's part of the reason that we gets so antsy when someone mentions Pitt as potentially going deeper.

Wade's Marquette team put an end to Brandin Knight's career. Chevy Troutman, Donatas Zavackas...we had so much hope in that team. But we weren't getting past Wade.

After the Golden Eagles built their 41-37 lead, Wade scored Marquette's next 10 points with short jumpers, long jumpers, a fastbreak layup and a duck-under 12-foot bank shot to make it 51-44 with 13:57 left.

His most spectacular play came when he drove the baseline, lost his balance when he was bumped and, while falling to the floor, flipped the ball over his shoulder for an improbable basket. He completed the sequence with a free throw for a 60-51 lead with 9:51 to go.

"I don't know what happened," Wade said. "I'm blessed to be able to do the things I can do. There was a little bit of luck right there," he said, laughing.

"I can't say I practiced that."

6 years later, and Wade is dropping 40 on any given night while Knight is an assistant Panthers coach trying to keep his team's minds right on the verge of the '09 tourney. It's weird how many careers were altered with that game that seems so long ago. Just read:

"We're really disappointed. We felt we had a chance to make a run at the Final Four and for the national championship," Coach Ben Howland said. "I'm still basically in shock the season is over."

Now Pitt officials must make a strong effort to keep Howland, who is one of the leading candidates for the job at UCLA.

Associate head coach Jamie Dixon has expressed interest in pursuing the head coaching position at Wright State University, a Division I program in Dayton, Ohio.

Not only did Wade go on to an NBA title and a MVP-like season this year while Knight eventually returned to Pitt, but Ben Howland left for UCLA and three-straight Final Fours while associate Jamie Dixon bypassed Wright State for continued success with the Panthers.

So when Panthers fans see Wade picking Pitt on some feature for ESPN, we aren't just looking at a star endorsement. There's a lot of old feelings that get brought up with something like that.

Video of the pick is below.

Look, Youtube videos are crucial to this site. If I'm going to highlight the local fans as much as I do the athletes, teams and owners, then fan videos are the way to go.

To you upstart bloggers out there, you must beware the dangers of Youtube. You may think you've stumbled upon the next great viral video, but most of the time, you're dead wrong.

Take, for example, my trek into Youtube-land today. I searched for "steelers" to see if there was anything unique and/or funny to be found about the team. What I came across was a file named steelers 006. And now my life has meaning.

That video is at the top of this post for your...enjoyment? I'd love to discuss this more, but I find myself drifting off into subliminal thoughts that seem implanted in my brain by someone else. Can't really explain it.

* If you don't get the reference in the title of this post, go here, then here. Then leave because you should've already known it.

You know me...I love to pick on foreigners for their accents and butchered attempts to master the English language. You can find a bunch of my thoughts on this back at the last China Jack post, which chronicles every time I insulted the Chinese man's English.

I'll go a little easier on Geno, since he's currently staking his claim as the '08-'09 league MVP. Plus, he had 5 (almost 6) points last night after  a sickness held him scoreless for back-to-back games. So with the scoring outburst in the win, you knew Potash was gonna interview Malkin. And I'm pretty impressed with how far he's come with the language.

He's learned the canned replies and understands to deflect the praise to your team, but it was pretty cool to hear him say that he'd get that 6th point "next time."

If you threw me in Russia, I doubt I'd get as far as Geno has gotten  in English over the past 2.5-3 years or so.

Thanks to Doug for this. If anyone has a Nintendo DS, you need to get this game and tell me how it is. It's a game where you create your own horse, be it weird and regular-sized or cool and miniature. I'd go for the latter.

These links are NOT available on your DS:

PSAMP made it the cut of 48 for the Best Sports Blog Name Tournament. Vote for me if you enjoy this blog's name. [Zoner Sports]

Pens win! [The Pensblog]

The numbers behind Martin Brodeur. Dude has been a pest and I've never really liked him for it, but I respect the hell outta him for breaking Roy's record last night.[Total Pro Sports]

The NCAA Tournament...of cheerleaders. [100% Injury Rate]

Could the Pirates contend next year? [WHYGAVS?]

The Reds. [Sharapova's Thigh]

Well Dan Rooney's St. Patrick's Day went about as well as could be expected.

Thanks to my good buds at HHR for passing this along. President Obama finally nominated Steelers owner Dan Rooney for the Irish Ambassador position that had been rumored for the past few weeks.

“I am honored and grateful that such a dedicated and accomplished individual has agreed to serve as the representative of the United States to the Irish people. Dan Rooney is an unwavering supporter of Irish peace, culture, and education, and I have every confidence that he and Secretary Clinton will ensure America’s continued close and unique partnership with Ireland in the years ahead,” Obama said in a statement.

Rooney, a Republican, also provided a key endorsement to Obama during the Democratic primaries before the Pennsylvania contest in April.

So help me God, I'm going to flip out if I find that Rooney has been "forgetting" to do his taxes like pretty much every other Obama nominee.

Kinda forgot to mention this last week. This past Friday was the 2 year anniversary of PSAMP. I would forget.

I was terrible at blogging when I started out, what with the refusal to capitalize and use semi-normal grammar. Just look at that first post...awful. However, I think I've stayed pretty true to the last few lines of that original post when I said:

"i'll try to keep updated on new pgh sports topics as well as cool mini pony pictures. sweet."

Yeah, PSAMP's m.o. hasn't really changed. But now I get to use the "terrible twos" as an excuse in case I'm in a bad mood or something.

Almost two years at Blogger and recently, a month+ at Bloguin. Who knows what the future holds, but I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for taking the time to read the bile I repeatedly spew wherever I've been. You guys reading is really the only reason to keep this up every day. So thanks for any and all support over these past 2 years.

Picture stolen from Cake Wrecks.

There are a few recurring MPotDs that just need to be used when given the chance. St. Patty's Day pony is one of 'em.

Erin go linkhs:

Welcome the good guys at Barry Melrose Rocks to Bloguin! [Barry Melrose Rocks]

A quick update on the Steelers Harrisons...Arnold and James. [OFTOT]

Inflatable fans to boost attendance. [Total Pro Sports]

Jimmy Rollins impersonates Rickey Henderson. [NESW Sports]

Felix Hernandez was dealin' last night. [Josh Q. Public]

Wow. ESPN advertises a violent, road-rage game in their story about Donte Stallworth killing someone with his car. [Sports Rubbish]

Two weeks ago or so, we found similarities between the acquisitions of Gary Roberts and Bill Guerin. Ray Shero had scouted both in 2007 near the trade deadline, which led to Roberts joining the team that year and Guerin making his way to Pittsburgh in '09.

Yesterday, the Penguins had a great 6-4 win over the East big dog Bruins, which pushed the point streak to 10 straight games. Chris Kunitz, the more controversial pickup in '09, had a huge (almost) hat trick in the game, and the production of the top line of Kunitz, Crosby and Guerin has been awesome so far in addition to the win over Boston. All we had to give up for Guerin was a conditional draft pick. For Kunitz, we lost supposed long-term defensive answer Ryan Whitney. And I guess now is the time to relate this to the Roberts acquisition.

In '07, more than a few people scratched their heads when we got Roberts, which is a far cry from how fans worshipped him after they saw him play. We were concerned not only for what Roberts would contribute, but also because we had to part with prized defensive prospect Noah Welch. Was it really worth it to get rid of young talent for Cup-winning experience?

We know how the Roberts story ended up...not with a Cup in Pittsburgh, but with a legendary status and the innumerable amount of knowledge passed down to the youngins on the team. And now Kunitz is making his mark in his own way. He's proven that he can play with a supreme talent like Sid (as he did with Getzlaf in Anaheim), and he's finding the back of the goal. It seems like so long ago that we were complaining that Whitney looked uncomfortable after coming back from injury while the top line struggled to produce. So in hindsight, the move that was made was really the only answer.

We had to drop Whits, which will forever be debated in Pittsburgh, but for now, it seems like Shero just made another amazing decision.

Um...is that a three-legged rottweiler? Or, as Katt Williams would say:

"Is that a rottweiler or a bear?" (1:05 mark of this video...language WAY NSFW!)

Another former WWE wrestler died. [Paneech]

My buds from Gunaxin started a Capitals (blech) blog, and now have press passes. [Capitals Outsider]

Congrats to Marty Brodeur. [Josh Q. Public]

Pitt got a 1 seed in the East. [Pitt Blather]

UFC 97 fight card. Nice. [MMAjunkie]

Ken Griffey Jr. is doing wonders for the Seattle economy [King5]

I really don't have the energy to describe this right now. Just enjoy.