Thanks to my texts from Steelers.com, I just got the word Coach Tomlin said Ben is recovering well from the concussion and should play on Sunday. 

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I apologize if this has already been brought up, but is anyone else having trouble looking at the highlights from the game against Denver on NFL.com?  I've been trying since Tuesday to see the videos, but each time I get a message saying the videos are no longer available. 

Sucks, because I listened to the game on the radio and decided not to go to the sports bar (I don't have cable... yeah I know), and it sounds like it was a highlight-worthy game. 

My uncle (a lifelong Browns season ticket holder who is slowly converting to the good guys) took his daughter, who's 10 and loves the Steelers, to training camp yesterday.  I asked him if they got any autographs.  Here's a snippet of what he said:

"...got 5 autographs. No big name players... they all get back to the dorm/locker room by golf cart to avoid the crowds. But she was happy about with what she got. The coolest of all the players was an RB named Isaac Redman. The guy must have spent an hour signing, he wouldn't turn anyone down, anyone who asked for a pic, he obliged, he even held a baby for a photo opp."

So there you have it.  Not only is Redman impressing on the field, but he sounds like a high-character guy off the field, as well.  I am really rooting for this guy to be a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Hey everyone, I was just wondering if anyone here has our playoff run (including the Super Bowl) from this year taped.  If so, if I were to send a few blank DVDs (or VHS tapes, if that's how you have it taped) for the actual games, as well as a couple extras for your labor, would someone be willing to help me out?  I'd really appreciate it.  Respond to this and we can exchange information over e-mail.  Thanks a lot. 

The anticipation is growing with each and every hour as we get close to Super Bowl XLIII.  That's 43, for you non-Romans.  It certainly has been a special, special year, and I, for one, am glad to have found this jungle community.  But since I unfortunately am most likely not going to be near a computer Sunday Night, this is what I'm bringing to the party. 

Enjoy the brew, boys and girls. 

So Friday Night, I was hanging out with a bunch of friends, two of whom were Bengals fans. I had on my Steelers '05 AFC Champions hoodie, much to the chagrin of said friends. One of those friends is dating a Pittsburgh girl who bleeds Black and Gold, and she was telling me how she had to get a fifth of vodka in him last week during the Ravens game in order to get him to cheer at all for the Steelers.

After our time of imbibing had come to an end, I decided to head uptown for some late night chow. As I was standing in line, waiting for my gyros, some Browns fans behind me decided they would heckle me. "Kurt Warner's gonna pick you apart!" was one of the preferred chants. "Who's gonna hang with Larry Fitzgerald? Nobody!" was another. You have to realize, this was 3 A.M. or thereabouts, so engaging in an intelligent, thoughtful, BTSC-esque conversation was out of the question. So I fought back with general retorts. Things like, "Kurt Warner should be afraid of James Harrison," and "Troy Polamalu and Ike Taylor can cover Fitzgerald."  On my way out of the restaurant, one of the Browns fans goes, "You know why we hate the Steelers so bad? Because we want to beat the (snot) out of every single of their fans!" Not feeling like sinking to that level, I just told him, "Anytime," and left.

So that brings me to my point of this fanpost. It seems to me fans of certain other teams either have to root for: a. other teams to win because their team can't, or b. other teams to lose in order to get a sense of satisfaction. I split my time between Athens, OH (my college) and Youngstown, OH (my home), so I have to put up with members of both Browns Nation and... whatever you call the 10 or so fans the Bengals have. And anytime I'm either place, I do not get any sort of intelligent argument from either of them. What that guy said to me Friday Night is indicative of what I have to put up with all the time from fans of those teams.

Folks, that we have chosen to be a part of the tradition of this team means we automatically have the ability to argue football, and not ad hominem, personal attacks, like fans of so many other teams have to resort to when discussing football with us. Everytime a fan of another team who can't actually talk FOOTBALL (and there are some who can) opens his or her mouth to me, I am a little more proud to be a Pittsburgh Steeler fan.  Regardless of what happens Sunday, I will still feel that way.   

So sorry I had to miss out on the party Sunday here on BTSC .  I was back home in Youngstown for the AFCCG, and when I am home for a playoff game, I have a certain room where I superstitiously have to watch it, and that room is not where the computer is.  Anyhow, I don't know how much of this has already been said or not, so if I repeat anything, I do apologize for the lack of originality.  Here goes:

-Credit must go to Bruce Arians for sticking with the run in spite of the fact it wasn't working.  That's not sarcasm, either.  It was apparent Baltimore's defense was wearing down late in the game. 

-That said, what WAS that call on 3rd and 1 early on in the 4th?  See, for those who don't understand why there is so much dislike for Arians on here, look no further.  It's the fourth quarter.  You're up by two scores.  Your offensive line just opened up a seven yard hole for your running back after not generating any sort of ground game the entire game.  Your usual primary receiver is out of the game.  The clock is running, and a first down gains you at least three more downs and somewhere between two and three more minutes off the clock.  So what do you do?  Certainly not pass it and risk an incomplete pass that not only gives the ball back to the other team, but also stops the clock.  Real head-scratcher, that Arians. 

-Limas Sweed, meet Mark Stock.

-Underrated play of the game goes to Lamarr Woodley's butt-tackle on Willis McGahee on 3rd-and-1 late in the first quarter. 

-Glad to hear McGahee is okay.  I was honestly fearing whether or not he would ever walk again.  Especially after Tunch Ilkin was speculating on the radio it might have been a spinal cord injury.  At the end of the day, it's only football.  No matter what the magnitude of the game might be.

-That being said, I thought Ryan Clark's hit was a total microcosm of that game.  All week long, the talk was the winner would be whoever would be the more violent team and whoever would be able to walk off the field.  Two trains collided at 100 MPH, and the one wearing the Black and Gold was the one able to teeter on down the track (walk off the field).

-After much thought, I absolutely think the two teams in the Super Bowl are the two teams who deserve to be there.  The number one defense in the league vs. the only team with three 1,000 yard receivers?  Who (besides Eagles and Ravens fans) doesn't want to see that?

I was listening to the post-game stuff on DVE after the game last night, and Tim Benz said Troy had been very sick leading up to the game.  So sick, in fact, he did not run out onto the field with the rest of the defensive starters when they were announced.  This is because he was in the locker room tending to his illness.  He said Troy directed all questions about his illness to Coach Tomlin, but apparently it was some sort of intestinal thing. 

So I had a really bad dream last night, one that actually woke me up feeling all nervous, and ruined an otherwise great sleep. 

It was a playoff game at Heinz Field, and the weather was typical of January in Pittsburgh (think the Chargers game from earlier this year).  Anyhow, my dream joined the game in progress early in the fourth.  The Steelers were down 14-0, when they put a really long drive together that ate up the clock.  With around 7:00 to go, we got down to their red zone, when we stalled.  Facing fourth and goal, what do we do?  Kick a bloody field goal.  It was shades of something Cowher would do.  Then the Browns got the ball back and put together a drive that went well past the two minute warning, and all I could keep wondering was, how could we let the Browns exorcise their demons in our house, IN THE PLAYOFFS?  Apparently we got the ball back and they stopped us for a safety, because they ended up winning 16-3. 

It was horrific, and it made me realize just how much we should savor our streak of victories over those guys (even this last game that meant nothing), because one day, they WILL exorcise their demons and beat us, possibly in a scenario not unlike my dream. 

According to the Tribune-Review, James Harrison has been named team MVP for the second year in a row.

What a well-deserved award, maybe even more so this season than last.  Even if the coaching staff didn't always get it right by cutting him multiple times, the scouting department aboslutely deserves a shoutout for finding this diamond in the rough.  Let's hope the league has taken notice and he wins Defensive Player of the Year, too.