What's up suckers. How's the workday going? Nice, me too.

So I have some kidswear for one of you's spawn-child. I have three charming little black and gold onesies, and two long sleeve black tshirts with the nice chest hypocycloid and some yellow stripes on the sleeves. All are 18-24 month size. I will happily send them off to someone, I seem to recall a few excited birth announcements over the course of the last season.

Think of it as a junior steel recycling program, and a small way to keep a couple dollars out of Goodell's pocket.

My girls incidentally, should someone care to barter, are now size 4T. If anyone else has some schwag to trade around, maybe this thread can serve as a marketplace. Just a thought.

So in the recent "get to know one another" thread, thedonger and gostevego, total strangers, realized that they both lived in Santa Barbara.  So they got together, had some beers, got to know each other, wrote a business plan, lined up some financing, built a vertically integrated software-biotech-social networking hybrid, and sold it for 974 million in Krugerand.  

Maybe other such synergies are waiting in the wings of the BTSC readership.  Perhaps you should suggest your locale and a watering hole where the game is on the TV.  You never know.

thedonger and gostevego will be watching the Miami game at the Hollister Brewing Company in Goleta.  Any BTSC crew in the area are cordially invited.  

BTSC in Bozeman? Papeete?  Singapore? Santa Fe?  Name your bar.  

A little bit of bye week fun, an open creative forum.  Certainly no shortage of BTSCers who like to rake BA over the coals for his play calls, his game plan, his golf game.  Well, time to put your foresight up against your hindsight.  Call Ben's first play back from suspension.  Play armchair OC.  Be as elaborate or whimsical as you like.  

The assumption:  KO to touchback, Ben starts at the 20.

My contribution:  Pony backfield with Redman and Navin (Mendenhall, obviously).  Wallace and Brown split wide.  Play action, insofar as play action is possible on the first playcall.  Brown and Wallace straight up fly routes.  Safety bites on run, go Wallace.  Safety neutral, pump Brown go Wallace.  Safety drifts to Wallace, what the hell, go Brown.  Or what the hell, go Wallace anyway.  Regardless, 80 yard TD, believers rejoice, naysayers look quietly into your light beer and ask yourself, "why oh why do I always say 'nay'?"

Clearly I'm not running for office as an OC since I am taking about zero consideration of any specific Cleveland matchups.  That being said, I am really really excited to see a watershed game from Ben.  I think we are spectacularly lucky to have him, and I am optimistic that he has his head tuned to absolutely tear the schedule to pieces through the end of the year.  And I for one am going to be really excited to see how that first play back unfolds.  

I am fairly certain that many of you are as conflicted as I am about the upcoming NFL network marquee matchup between Dallas and Baltimore.  I am flummoxed.  Who to support?

On the basis of pure emotion I must scream unholy terror for the downfall of the Cowboys.  I do so enjoy watching them lose.  I do so enjoy watching Romo get picked. TO's tantrums, Jerry Jones scowling, Wade flapping around like a gutted cod, these things make me happy.  I am sorry if that makes me a bad person.  The only good thing in the history of the franchise is that I sort of dig those hats Landry used to wear.  

The Ravens, while I despise them, I heartily respect them.  They make our boys play better.  They make Steeler nation scream louder.  There are sweet kung fu movie overtones to our relationship with the Ravens.  I think we can beat them a third time in one season, especially at home, but it would be an outright apocalypse.  It is better if they are bounced from contention, no AFC team concerns me as much.  

I think I go Ravens so that the end of Texas stadium is a loss. 

Any musings before we get obsessed about the Titans? 

Hey all.  I've been lurking for a while and decided to sign up, so I thought I'd jump in, introduce myself, maybe try throwing out a topic...

Lived in Pittsburgh from 78 to 81 as an 8 to 11 year old, got swept up and never have cared about any team since.  I used to collect those full page caricatures of the 79 players that were printed in the Sunday paper, remember those?  As a kid, my favorite thing was the emotional rush of the interception, and the Donny Shell and Mel Blount posters were plastered on my bedroom door.  As you can imagine, I about had an apoplectic fit on Sunday when DT won it for us.  

To the query.  I generally agree with the thought that our woes on the offensive line are due in large part to a lack of effective leadership and vision at the coaching position.  Execution of the protection schemes, opening lanes, I think these are performed when the coaching leadership effectively builds the trust and interaction on the line.  I don't see that happening.  So here's my question-- who's out there?  Who is on our dream list for a possible future Offensive Line Coach?  College coaches?  Young talent with crazy ideas?  Former players?  

Of course, Larry and Bruce are more than welcome to sack up and prove me wrong this Sunday and beyond...