The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

After veteran quarterback Michael Vick was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers a couple weeks ago, I've been slightly surprised to read so many articles protesting the signing. While I've always been and always will be a dog lover, I also believe in second chances, and since Vick reentered the league in 2009 with the Philadelphia Eagles, he's appeared to turn his life around, be a stand-up teammate, and more importantly, a stand-up citizen. He's worked with animal rights organizations to speak out against dogfighting, highlighting his previous involvement in it, and attempted to inspire others to not make the same mistakes he did. While this was mandatory at first, it has since become voluntary. I, and many others, were/are sickened by dogfighting organizations like the one Michael Vick had been previously involved with, but who better to speak out against such cruel and inhumane activities than a big name who had himself been involved with them, like Michael Vick? Who...

On the front page of Monday's The Columbus Dispatch 's sports section read the words "Rivals Again?" in reference to the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers. I chuckled pretty hard at the sight of this headline. Why is this? You see, the Browns beat the Steelers on Sunday by the final score of 20-14. This is what prompted the headline. With the win on Sunday, the Browns improved to 4-22 (.154) against the Steelers since the 2000 season. Since that season, Pittsburgh has outscored Cleveland 619-347 (average of 23.8 - 13.3). That sounds like the renewing of a vicious rivalry right there!  To make matters worse, this fourth win by the Browns over the Steelers in their past 26 meetings was by a measly six points over a team that turned the ball over eight times (that's not a misprint) with their 3rd-string quarterback behind center. What's that I smell? I'm not sure, but it's definitely not the renewing of a rivalry.

I have to wonder how many heart attacks have occurred amongst die-hard Eagles fans through their team's first five games this season. Including today's game, four of the team's five contests have been decided by a combined six points. If not for a last-second field goal by the Steelers today, the Eagles would have won their fourth game and by a combined five points. Having watched the game, I'm still not sure how the Eagles were a missed field goal away from winning again. For the majority of the game, they were dominated in all three phases. On offense, the Eagles were shut out in the first half, before putting forth two solid drives in the second half for their two scores. The rushing game was largely ineffective, although LeSean McCoy wasn't utilized nearly as much as he was last week against the Giants. The passing game wasn't very effective in the first half, but picked up some in the second. Quarterback Michael Vick got pressured early and often, and w...

Starting tailback Rashard Mendenhall? Out. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger? Hobbled. Left tackle Max Starks? Center Maurkice Pouncey? Out. Cornerback Cortez Allen? Out. Nose tackle Casey Hampton? Center Doug Legursky? Defensive end Brett Keisel? All hurt in yesterday's game. These players and others were either too banged up to play yesterday for the Steelers or severely limited. I didn't realize how banged up the team was going into the game. I heard announcers and analysts mention it pre-game, but until game-time, I was fairly ignorant on how bad things really were for the Steelers on the injury front. However, injury-riddled or not, the Steelers came in with a poor strategy on defense, executed that strategy poorly and were burned for it time and again. Get this. Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow completed just 10 passes for the entire game, including overtime. He was 10 for 21 throwing the ball. However, those 10 completions added up to an astounding 316 yards through the ai...