DOG: Post Game Comments TB

Batch Processing in Real Time!

3 and 0 without Big Ben. Homestead Charlie got off to a rocky start only to have one of his best days as a Steeler today. Among a whole bunch of guys who were outstanding, I'm picking Charlie Batch as my feature player this week. But there's lots to mention this week and most of it is good, as it tends to be during wins. Here We Go:

• Rashard Mendenhall has answered the bell. With defenses knowing we're going to run, Mendenhall has been putting up some very impressive numbers.
• People still complain about our offensive line. But by replacing 40% of it with Flozell Adams and Maurkice Pouncey there's marked improvement.
• There is no defensive back that can cover Mike Wallace on a deep pattern. Not even Darrelle Revis.
• The Keisel TD was a thing of beauty. You'll will wait a long time to see a defensive lineman make that athletic a return for a TD again.
• The light is most definitely on for Lawrence Timmons and it's coming on for Ziggy Hood.
• William Gay seems to be much better as the nickel back.
• People should be happy with Jeff Reed... after New Orleans and Oakland both missed FGs from 29 and 32 yards to lose today.
• Can we please make Mewelde Moore inactive? His time has passed. Redman & Dwyer need to see the action.
• Important Divisional matchup with the Shitbirds next Sunday. Still A. Fan and I will be there. If we can go 4-0 without Ben, I'll be excited about the last 3/4 of the season.

DOG: Post Game Comments TEN

Where In The World is Troy Polamalu?

Were is Troy? That has to be the question Vince Young was asking himself all day. Troy was where Troy wanted to be. That is, EVERWHERE! In the backfield sacking the QB. In the end zone intercepting passes. Rushing the passer. Dropping into coverage. In the backfield making tackles and disrupting plays. All the above. I'm pretty sure LeBeau was not certain of where Troy was going, so Tennessee QBs had absolutely no clue. They'd have had an easier time finding Carmen San Diego!!

But that's just the beginning of the comments for this weeks win against the Titans.

• Lawrence Timmons is rapidly becoming Troy II from his LB position. I am certain he closed faster and hit Chris Johnson harder than he'd ever seen before. Timmons and Woodley make a nice 1-2 Exacta for Mike Tomlin's first picks.
• The Silverback was turned loose today. No human could stop him. I love that guy.
• Pouncey continues to impress. With injuries to several offensive linemen today the rookie held that line together like a 10 year vet... and it was only his 2nd NFL start!!
• Mewelde Moore is done. Washed up. He adds nothing. We need to clear the way for Redman and Dwyer in the backfield. We have other veterans for "veteran leadership" we do not need Moore. Every time he's in the game the play gets blown up.
• Who plays QB next week? Does it matter? The way this defense is playing anything more than 10 points can win a game. Reminds me of the '76 defense already who really buckled down when Mike Kruczek had to play QB while Bradshaw was out.
• Nice call on the special teams KO return for a TD on the opening kickoff.
• How many guys can say they scored a TD on their very first NFL play? Antonio Brown can!
• Hard to maintain this level of intensity for 16 weeks and the playoffs. But if Ben comes back ready to play and the defense continues this effort, we could be scary good.
• Who would have thought we'd be 2-0 and playing a 2-0 Tampa team next week??

DOG: Why Fantasy Football Sucks

Fantasy football sucks, because it is not football, it is a fantasy. Like a wet dream. Like jacking off to Pamela Anderson in US magazine. It ain't real.

Fantasy football is absolutely huge in this country these days. And it has completely distorted and undermined our understanding of the game of football. It is a game of numbers and statistics. To which I retort an old saying, "Figures don't lie, but liars can figure."

My case was made by Steeler CB Bryant McFadden this past weekend. McFadden has come under criticism by fans and the media for allowing Atlanta's Pro-Bowl receiver Roddy White catch 13 balls for 111 yards on him last weekend. Just looking at those numbers you would say White burned McFadden like toast. But that is simply untrue.

You must look at what McFadden was tasked with in the context of LeBeau's defense. He lined up against White with a 5 to 7 yard cushion on most downs. His job was to prevent the big play by Atlanta's primary receiver. So, did White break any long gainers? Nope. In fact, he was thrown to 23 times. That means McFadden was successful in preventing a catch 10 times! Hell, Matt Ryan only attempted 43 passes the entire game and 23 of them were thrown to Roddy White!!

Did Atlanta take that 5-7 yard out that was there? Absolutely. Did Roddy White score a TD? Absolutely not. But Fantasy Football players who analyze the statistics will see that Roddy White did have a big day statistically. Then they will spout off more statistics which support their case for "knowing football." They don't know jack shit. And they miss the best part of watching the game.

DOG: Some Like Them Hot

I am becoming one of the people I used to think were crazy, loco, you know, flip-city. Those who took great delight in eating hot peppers. I used to think it was pure insanity.

I slowly have been adding more and more hot pepper spice in everything I cook beginning with my patented Firedog Chili. Last October I made the best batch ever using 11 different kinds of peppers, 3 different kinds of groud meat (bison, beef, & venison), and a bunch of different kinds of beans including light & dark kidneys, black beans, pinto beans, & red beans. That's all of the recipe that gets shared. Cause we're here to talk peppers.

Of those 11 different peppers only a red, green, yellow, and orange bell pepper were not hot. The rest ranged from jalapenos and serranos to poblanos, Anaheim, and cherry peppers. Plus just one scotch bonnet (almost a habanero). Notice that didn't add up to 11 but again, I'm not divulging my secrets here.

Right after I made that batch of chili I was diagnosed with diabetic neuropathy. Went on a diet, lost 35 lbs. exercised more religiously and my diabetes is well under control with no drugs. But the neuropathy in my feet remains. Seems the extra sugar in your blood eats away the tiny nerve endings in your extremeties like it was battery acid. That's apparently what happened in my feet.

So I started to research what I could do to try and get some of the feeling in my feet back. Aside from various vitamins that seem to help, Capsaicin is named. Capsaicin is the active ingredient in hot peppers that make them, well, hot. And so, I began my quest to increase my tolerance for hot peppers in an attempt to help with my neuropathy.

I started putting Tabasco (cayenne) sauce on my eggs. Added jalapenos and serranos to meatloaf. Slowly but surely my tolerance to hot peppers has risen.

So today I decided to eat a raw jalapeno by itself. Some people with gardens who work with me have been bringing in fresh produce to give away so I snagged one. And WOW, I had no problem except where the capsaicin hit my lips. Tongue OK. Lips hot. Damn, I am starting to really like this stuff.

I know there's a lot of people who can't handle hot peppers. I used to be one of them. Hell, I used to work with a woman who I called a fucking lunatic when she offered me a pepperocini back in '78. But, much like the reborn Christian, I am here to confess the error of my ways and spread the gospel of hot pepper therapy!

If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, I say unto you, a hot pepper a day can make medical science go the way of the dinosaur! Amen.

DOG: Post Game Comments ATL

Mendenhall Saves The Day

Stillers looked just like I thought they'd look and got exactly the result I thought they'd get in another hard fought OT victory over the Dirty Birds of Atlanta.

Arians, much to the surprise of many including myself, put together a nice gameplan and called a decent game for Dennis Dixon. DD was pretty shaky at times but also had his moments. He managed the game, did not make critical errors, and allowed Rashard Mendenhall to finally break one to put a W up on the board to start the season.

• Pittsburgh and Atlanta have played to Overtime in each of their last 3 meetings.
• Flozell Adams is a bad hombre. He played like a grizzly that got kicked in the nuts.
• It's amazing how good Trai Essex can look flanked by Pouncey and Adams.
• Let us be thankful that nobody on Atlanta's defense can catch any better than Ike Taylor.
• We gonna miss Max Starks at LT. Hope he can return by the time Ben is back.
• Excellent D-Line rotation. And we needed it with Fat Casey out with a hamstring. Hoke, Hood & Eason was almost no practical dropoff from Keisel, Smith & Hampton.
• Timmons finally coming into his own.
• Troy is back. Makes all the difference.
• Hines Ward turned in the standard Ward day. 6 catches 108yards.
• Dixon could have kept a couple drives alive were it not for those "worm burner" passes that appeared to be intended for gophers living below the Heinz Field turf more than to Randle-El and Mike Wallace.
• Jeff Reed, ever the enigma.
• Silverback & Woodley are as good a pair of OLBs as anyone has. Talk about setting the edge, those guys were on their game.
• Dan Sepluveda averaging 50 yards per kick on 5 punts!
• Don't overlook that Harvey Dahl, Sam Baker, Justin Blalock, & Tyson Clabo are 4 real good offensive linemen. And we whipped their asses.
• Matty "Ice" not so cool. Better than Flacco though.
• On Troy's INT Matt Ryan never looked to his right until he threw the ball. Despite that, Troy jumped the route from his deep safety position. That's pure instinct. Then to get there and catch it inbounds. We need to realize we are witnessing something special with 43 every weekend.
• And of course Mendenhall. Kept plugging away until he finally broke the game winner.

DOG: Who Love Some DD?

Now that I have your attention! Nah man, not that kind of DD. Although I sure do loves me some a dat DD meat!! I'm talking about a different kind of DD. Like this here:

Yeah DD as in Dennis Dixon. The starting QB for the Pittsburgh Stillers on Sunday.

Lots of people are skeptical about how DD is going to play for us. But I'm not worried at all. In fact I hope Dennis has as much confidence in himself as I do.

Ben Roethlisberger he is not. So get that shit out of your heads right now. He is far closer to Kordell Stewart than Ben Roethlisberger. But hey, we won a lot of game with Kordell (a different #10) at QB. And I see no reason why we can't win 2 or 3 out of the first 4 with DD under center.

There's an old John Hartford song that has a line that goes, "Style is based on limitations." And it's very true. Dennis Dixon does have his limitations. But if we can construct an offensive gameplan to play to his strengths, he'll do very well. We can keep the chains moving, keep our defense off the field, and play some old school CowerPower football. We can get back to Huck It-Chuck It football once Ben returns from Roger's Time Out.

There's another old saying that goes "You can't win the Super Bowl in September. But you can lose it." So basically we've got to put DD in position to succeed. I think he's athletic enough to take advantage of the opportunity. He just can't lose the Super Bowl in September. By October Big Ben will be back and foaming at the mouth to play football. Then we'll go.

So people need to stop worrying about Dixon and get behind him. I'm looking at you, Pittsburgh Sports media. You ever see him play at Oregon? Dude lit up the whole Pacific Coast his senior year until he was injured. He can play NFL football. Maybe not for a 16 game season but by October 4 you're gonna be glad we got him.

Here We Go!!

DOG: "Soda" goes the Weasel

Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, I've always called all soft drinks "pop." When I was little we used to visit my aunts who lived in Cleveland and Toledo and the people there called it "pop" too.

But then I moved East. First to a farm on the Mason-Dixon line in Franklin County, PA to take a job in Hagerstown, MD. Then later I moved to my present home in a rural area outside Baltimore. And people in all those places call it "soda." I laughed my ass off the first time I heard someone order a soda. I was thinking either a straight Club Soda, Creme Soda, or Arm & Hammer Baking Soda.

Then today I chanced across this map (click on the photo above to enlarge) that lists what folks commonly call soft drinks by county in the USA. Soda ain't the half of the story! Most of the South apparently calls all soft drinks "Coke." From Texas and Oklahoma all the way to the South Carolina and Georgia coastline "Coke" means just about any soft drink you can order! I'm sure the Coca-Cola company loves that!!

I remember that for graduating to second grade my dad bought me a case of pop with 48 8oz returnable bottles in it. It was Regent pop made over in Westmoreland County, PA. It had a variety of flavors, orange, cherry, cola, root beer, creme soda, grape, and lemon-lime (this was before Sprite ever came out). I had to make it last all summer. I just can't imagine wanting a root beer and ordering "Coke." Cannot get my head around that concept.

Anyway I found the map intriguing and I thought somebody else might too. As for me I still call it "Pop" even though I don't drink soft drinks of any sort anymore. Too much high fructose syrup. That shit'll kill you... slowly.

DOG: Caption This Picture

I'll start it off with "Eat Me"