Monday Semi-Roundup

It's been a good weekend for Pittsburgh sports fans. The Steelers kicked major Pawts ass in their home stadium. Maybe it will shut the pundits up for five minutes. I was ready to throw a shoe through the TV during ESPN's pre-game hoo-raw on Sunday morning because they were pretty much saying the Steelers were going to lose and weren't all that good. Let's have a look at that, shall we?

Patriots were one for 19 on third down conversions.
Patriots had three fumbles and two interceptions.
23 unanswered points for the Steelers.
The Steelers scored on four of five New England turnovers.
The defense was stifling and Dick LeBeau (love that guy!) made the needed adjustments, again, going into the second half. 267 yards allowed.

The fluidity and adaptability of the Steelers defense is, in my opinion, their most dangerous quality. I feel pretty good about the rest of the season now, what with the offensive line finally gelling. The titans are the biggest hurdle, but they're beatable. There isn't much in the NFC that can challenge today's team other than the Giants, and they're also eminently beatable, particularly with Plaxico Burress out of the lineup. Oh, Plax. Never change, ok? I love you just the way you are.

Moving on.

Pitt wins the backyard brawl against West Virginia. A moral victory and probably enough to keep Dave Waanstedt on board for another year. I think he's been a consistent underachiever and scouts poorly but what do I know. It never ceases to amaze me, though, that so many coaches think life is going to be easier as college coaches. College is harder-these kids aren't sure if football is going to be their life. College has a revolving door-you can't keep a player around much after five years unless you put him on staff. And as Charlie Weis can tell you, in college football, you don't get the other team's defensive signals taped for you. Oh, sorry, did I type that out loud? My bad.

Pitt Women's hoops is 4-1. I'll be glad when they start showing some games on TV. That probably won't happen until tournament time, unfortunately, because everything from poker to MMA to bass fishing has precedence over one of the most exciting team sports out there. Repeat after me, sports fans. Everyone suffers under the patriarchy.

The Pens are doing well, winning two out of three this past long weekend. Sid is on a roll, capped by his belly-flop hat trick on Saturday. (quote by my work daughter Liz, "he slid on his belly like a real penguin!! awwww he's soooo adorable.")

Finally, this edition of Errey-Otica might be one of the last. We took delivery of a new home theater (thanks, woot.com!) this weekend and now we can listen to Mike Lange's radio coverage while we watch on TV.

Friday, from Steigerwald...
"He's going to be whackin' and hackin' all night long!"
Several times, Steigy referred to Sabres' forward Daniel Paille as "Paiella". Yeah, the fish casserole that cross-checks you back!
The best one Friday was Errey's.
"He shed him like a bronking bull!"
I don't even know what that means.

Saturday, Steigy invited us to "behold the wonders of Sidney Crosby" during an intermission. It was mid-home theater installation so I didn't see it, but I think some of it must involve what he called "sid-o-rama". Hilarious.

Errey has been talking about people playing unconscious a lot lately. Now, I could be wrong, but I think being unconscious while playing hockey might be a bad thing. Errey obviously thinks it's a good thing. Who am I to contradict?

Errey-Otica is contagious! During the radio broadcast of the Steelers game, Craig Wolfley made repeated references to a player being sidelined with "a hitch in his git-a-long." Bob suggested he be flagged for talking like a grizzled 1890s prospector. Much amusement was had as we discussed the best way to signal that. I'll leave it to your imaginations, though.

Until next time-GO PENS, GO STEELERS, and GO SHOPPING if you need to.