This is a story I want to share with my fellow BTSC members. This subject will make everyone reflect about what's really important in life. It has nothing to do with football but it is so much more important.


My beloved 14 year nephew is fighting the battle of his life in Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. He has been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma which is a very aggressive childhood cancer. It has been an extremely heartbraking journey. Nothing compares to seeing sick children with cancer.

One Friday afternoon, our family was told that a certain Pittsburgh Steeler comes up to the 9th floor every single Friday to visit the children who are cancer stricken. That Pittsburgh Steeler is Troy Polamalu. Mr. Polamalu arrives at the hospital very discreetly with no fanfare, cameras, or bodyguards. He is completely by himself as he ascends up to the 9th floor. He goes from room to room to talk with each and every sick child. He came into my nephew's room and hugged my sister and sat on the bed with my nephew. He never said a word about football. He found out my nephew's passion was fishing and they talked about it for 20 minutes. As he spoke with him, he was completely focused on him as if nothing else in the world mattered. There aren't enough adjectives to describe what a kind, caring,and compassionate person Troy is. He gives the children something to look forward to and most importantly he gives them hope. When I saw Troy so upset after last week's game, I couldn't believe his humility. He called himself selfish because he made a bad decision on the football field? Troy , I somehow hope you read this. You are the most UNSELFISH person that I have ever met in my life. Do not ever hang your head in shame. You are an asset to your faith, your family,your organization ,and your fans. Not only are you an outstanding player, you are a greater person. I can't thank you enough for giving your precious time to my nephew and all of the children. God Bless You

As I look at the winter snow mold that has ravaged my lawn, I decided to look a little closer at this guy who is seemingly flying under the radar at this point. Kyle Wilson seems to have all of the tools necessary to be a solid starting cornerback in the NFL for many years to come. Due to a slight hamstring injury, he did not participate in the run drills at the combine. He is scheduled to workout for pro scouts at Boise State on March 26th. Bet the house that the Steelers will be seated in the front row with two pens in their pocket protector. He has been clocked as low as 4.32 and as high as 4.51. These times are very solid as compared to the overall consensus no. 1 cornerback, Joe Haden. The Steelers like corners to be physical and support the run. Wilson looks rock solid at 5'10" 194 and put up 225 25 times!!!! Let me repeat that again.... 225  25 TIMES  He beat every single corner at the combine by at least 5 reps and overall finished 2nd when the safeties were included in the mix. He is extremely fluid at the hips,so much so that some scouts talked about his hips so much that another joked that they should get a room. He makes transitions in coverage seem effortless because of this hip fluidity.He is considered by many scouts to be the best cover corner in the draft. Mike Mayock of ESPN raved about this guy after the first day of senior bowl practices and claimed that he stood out above all the rest. Our defense is complicated and he is known to be very intelligent and has a genuine love of the game of football. After he intercepts a pass, he return ability is outstanding. His hair flowing out of his helmet and his moves remind me of .......Yea Troy   Last but not least he is ultra competitive. His biggest weakness is level of competition and his aggressiveness sometimes gets him burned. They said the same thing about Rod Woodson. I know, I know, visions of Ricardo Coclough may be dancing through your head. Listen, let's quit kidding ourselves about Lewis and Burnett. Free agency has addressed immediate needs and or depth at NT, ILB. and WR. There is a glaring hole ( Sorry Willy Gay) at cornerback. With the 18th pick of the 2010 NFL draft the Steelers select.......Kyle Wilson cb/Boise State

Tick, tick, tick, No , I'm not talking about Joe Montana noticing John Candy  in the stands... tick, tick, tick, I was sitting at a Superbowl party at a buddies house. I kept repeating the same play over and over in my mind. The quick slant to Larry Fitzgerald....Tick, tick,tick  Where was the safety help on that play? Was this going to be one of the greatest defensive collapses in Superbowl history? Tick, tick, tick  My heart was pounding so hard that it felt as if it were going to explode out of my chest. My stomach was in such knots that it felt like I was going to throw up all over myself. Tick, tick, tick There was no way that our offensive line was good enough to take us the length of the field. Ben drops back deep in our own territory and somehow avoids a monster pass rush to make a crucial completion. Ben appears to be in another dimension as he marches the offense down the field. Tick, tick ,tick Ben throws a great pass to Holmes and he DROPS IT. What a great opportunity wasted. It will be almost impossible to have another great opportunity like that. Tick, tick,tick, Ben breaks the huddle and .....

     the TV goes to another channel........ It sickens me to type this but I must do this to get it out of my system. My buddies wife had the TV preprogrammed to switch to her favorite TV show at that exact precise time. Tick,tick,tick We are now an angry mob screaming at this guy to put the proper channel on. It was mass chaos. The remote control was the size of a small notebook and he was so nervous that he fumbled and bumbled with it so much that he enter the wrong channel TWICE. Tick,tick,tick The proper channel is now on and the Steelers are going nuts. I had a feeling of complete jubilation and utter disbelief that I missed the end of the greatest drive in Superbowl history.The only thing that kept us from killing him was the fact that we won the Superbowl.
     Every time that we get together, we remind him about how he ruined one of the greatest moments of our lives. We tell him over and over again and he apologizes again, again, and again. Jeremy, it's been a full year and I forgive you. The next time the Steelers are in the Superbowl, we are not watching it at your house.

    It has been well documented that Ryan Clark suffered a life threatening battle the last time he suited up in the oxygen deprived high altitude of Denver. As a result of his sickle cell crisis, he sacrificed his spleen, gallbladder, and could have potentially lost his life.  Following this traumatic episode, our galliant Steeler warrior suffered dramatic weight loss as he fought his way back down a long road of recovery.  In my opinion, it was the greatest comeback since Rocky Bleier.  Presently, the debate continues as to whether or not he should participate in our upcoming battle with the undefeated Denver Broncos.

     First, lets take a closer look at the disease that not only threatened his professional career, but also potentially could have cost him his life.  Sickle Cell Disease is an inherited disorder of the oxygen carrying cells of the blood. This abnormality involves the substitution of one protein building block, an amino acid, for another amino acid at a key point in one of the chains of the major protein of red blood cells.  The name of this protein is hemoglobin.  Hemoglobin is an iron containing protein found inside red blood cells.  It carries oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body and releases it to the body's cells and tissues.

    Abnormal hemoglobin is very sensitive to conditions of low oxygen within the body.  Under these conditions, a sickle cell crisis may occur because the abnormal hemoglobin loses it's solubility in blood and begins to form thick polymer strands.  Consequently, these polymers hold the red blood cells in abnormal shapes which have been described as banana shaped or half moon shaped hence the term "sickle cell".  Abnormally shaped "sickle cells" cause vasoocclusion which means the blocking of small blood vessels.  If these cells become lodged in small blood vessels, they obstruct the flow of blood.  If the flow of blood is obstructed, oxygen cannot reach the tissue comprising the organ.  As a result, the tissue becomes necrotic (the cells comprising the tissue dies) and organ failure occurs.  Organs that require a large amount of blood  flow and oxygen are particularly susceptible .   

     Considering all the potential medical complications that could arise as a result of participating in this game, I do not think it would be wise for Ryan Clark to play in Denver.  It is true that these types of complications are rare, but it could certainly happen again.  It is only one game in the long journey of a season and Steeler Nation would completely understand if you stood along the sidelines.  It is simply not worth the risk.  One day the roar of the crowd will subside and your family, who loves you dearly, needs you to be there for them in the future.

ESPN has reported that he has come to an agreement with the hated Ravens. The agreement is 2years/5million. Ok, I know the motto is to trust the front office, BUT this recent deal really bothers me. We had the money to get this deal done. Plus, it would have improved our special teams tremendously! He was ranked third in kickoff returns last season and tenth in punt returns. Cary Russell returning kickoffs is definately not the answer, and I would argue that we absolutely had the slowest returner in the league last year. On special teams, speed kills. We have none. Santonio cannot continue to return punts because he has become too valuable as a receiver and we cannot risk an injury especially now that we are thin at wide receiver. This signing would have made sense. It would have given us depth in a secondary that needs depth. We would have had a legitimate kick returner. The icing on the cake is that we have to face him twice a year against our biggest division rival. The Steelers never even offered him a contract. Does this make sense to anyone?

A local Pittsburgh news station has reported that the much maligned free safety has come to terms with the Green Bay Packers as they prepare to switch to a 3-4 defense this season.  I can't help to think what went wrong with this player. The Steelers media guide states that he is "an impact player that shows the abilty to make a hit in the defensive backfield".His college career was outstanding as his 293 tackles were the third best of all time among Syracuse defensive backs. His 14 interceptions rank third in school history.He holds the school record with six blocked kicks. His senior year he was an All Big-East Conference first-team selection on a Syracuse team that was not very good.Obviously, he made some mistakes due to his immaturity. Do you guys remember when Coach LeBeau went nuts on him along the sideline after he "hotdogged" it following an interception? Everybody remembers the guarantee against the Patriots. He also had a tendency to stick his nose into the backfield too often thus making him susceptible to the deep pass. The final straw I believe was his less than enthusiastic play on special teams. Why wasn't he able to be "coached up?"  It was said that coach Lebeau was willing to continue to work with him but ,Coach Tomlin made the final decision to release him. Do you think the Steelers may have given up too early on this young player?

It was announced Wednesday that under the terms of the collective bargining agreement, the salary cap will be increased by 4 million for this upcoming season. This is great news for the Steelers because it will give them more flexibility and cap room to operate under. Considering the recent article about the Steelers having difficulty getting Harrison's deal done, this announcement comes at a perfect time. It would seem very promising at this point that we could finalize Deebo's contract. Also, it would also be realistic to assume that we could possibly step up talks in relation to working out a contract with BMac. At this point, do you think it would be more imperative to pursue BMac or allocate the money to another prospective free agent from another team?

Just what we didn't need right now following a spectacular Superbowl run. Jeff Reed was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. Apparently the blonde spikes in his head caused him to go ballistic on an empty paper towel machine in a Sheetz convienent store. Does the Steeler organization need this type of distraction? Why do athletes continually put themselves in this position? If you play for the greatest organization in professional sports, conduct yourself in a proper manner. It's embarrassing for yourself and the organization. Well Steeler Nation, how should it be handled?