Steel Balls

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+39

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+6

Copa, defend your Docking buddy to the end.

I am loyal to the Steelers but Tomlin has been ruining them for a decade.

James who never participates in anything is the first to CnP and tell you you are wrong.

im possibly one of the few that actually goes to camp, FNL and games.

but I’m wrong…

FO and out for good.

0

The legend lives on from the Strip District on down

Of the confluence, they called the Three Rivers

The Steelers, it is said, always wind up ahead

When the skies of December turn gloomy

With a load of Cowher’s men, they won the Super Bowl again

And the other teams rosters looked empty

That good team and true other offenses they chewed

When the games of December came early

The team was still the pride of the city’s North side

With a loss to Green Bay, Wisconsin

As the veterans did go, the cracks did begin to show

With a team and a new coach not seasoned

We lost to some teams with losing records it seems

And they even got blown out by Cleveland

And in later years now with Tomlin’s gang

Could it be that the standard was no longer “Steel”ing?

Tomlin on the side lines never makes a damn sound

When the team on the field is a failing

And every fan knew, as the players did too

That the head coach of team was a reeling

The first downs came late, and the touchdowns had to wait

When the Hell of December came crashing

When January came, it was always the same

Not a chance for a team playoff win

With the end of the game, Tomlin came on TV sayin’

“Obviously, the barn’s painted red”

At seven pm, at the post game, he said

“Obviously, the only paint I had was red”

Tomlin stated again he had Hell comin’ in

And the good team and players would give all

And later that season when playoff chances went outta sight

Came the wreck of the Tomlin Fitzgerald

0

We sailed up a river wide as a sea
And slept on the banks
On the leaves of a banyan tree
And all of these spirit voices rule the night

Some stories are magical, meant to be sung
Songs from the mouth of the river
When the world was young
And all of these spirit voices rule the night

By moon
We walk
To the brujo’s door
Along a path of river stones
Women with their nursing children
Seated on the floor
We join the fevers
And the broken bones

The candlelight flickers
The falcon calls
A lime-green lizard scuttles down the cabin wall
And all of these spirit voices
Sing rainwater, seawater
River water, holy water
Wrap this child in mercy – heal her
Heaven’s only daughter
All of these spirit voices rule the night

My hands were numb
And my feet were lead
I drank a cup of herbal brew
Then the sweetness in the air
Combined with the lightness in my head
And I heard the jungle breathing in the bamboo

Saudocões (Greetings!)
Da licenca um momento (Excuse me, one moment)
Te lembró (I remind you)
Que amanhã (That tomorrow)
Será tudo ou será naoa (It will be all or it will be nothing)
Depende coração (It depends, heart)
Será breve ou será grande (It will be brief or it will be great)
Depende da paixão (It depends on the passion)
Será sujo, será sonho (It will be dirty, it will be a dream)
Cuidado, coração (Be careful, heart)
Será util, será tarde (It will be useful, it will be late)
Se esmera, coração (Do your best, heart)
E confia (And have trust)
Na força do amanhã (In the power of tomorrow)

Lord of the earthquake
My trembling bed
The spider resumes the rhythm
Of its golden thread

And all of these spirit voices rule the night
And all of these spirit voices rule the night
And all of these spirit voices rule the night

0

Make your 2025 season predictions below. Same rules as last year – including a bonus point subtracted for the Steelers’ record prediction winner. Entries must be submitted by midnight before the season opening game.

Please include (1) W/L predictions for each Steelers game, (2) season records for each team in the division, and (3) tie breakers. If you fail to submit the tie breakers, you lose the tie.

Here is your prediction template. Good luck.

Please make it easy for me by putting W or L to the left of the game.

01 – @NYJ
02 – SEA
03 – @NE
04 – MIN (Dublin)
05 – bye
06 – CLE
07 – @CIN (TNF)
08 – GB (SNF)
09 – IND
10 – @LAC (SNF)
11 – CIN
12 – @CHI
13 – BUF
14 – @BAL
15 – MIA (MNF)
16 – @DET
17 – @CLE
18 – BAL

Final Standings (wins):
– Steelers
– Bengals
– Browns
– Ravens

Tie Breakers:
– Games started by a QB other than Aaron Rodgers.
– Total team sacks.
– Total touchdown passes.

+1

I’ll keep this brief because I’m way behind after my trip, and I don’t want to keep you waiting any longer. Here are the final tallies for our draft contest:

• MWalsh26-1: 6 points
• Eleven-1, Eleven-2, drock-1 and EstimatedProphet-2: 5 points
• drock-1: 4 points
• copanut-1 and copanut-2: 3 points
• TomPaulBillyBob and MWalsh26-2: 2 points
• EstimatedProphet-1: 1 point

I have to say, we all acquitted ourselves well, certainly better than the national talking heads. Unlike them, we at least understood the real priorities for the team, and were well acquainted with the strengths and weaknesses of the players on the board. Every single one of us had at least one draft with one of the big DLs as the first pick, between Harmon and Grant. Personally, I picked Grant on the assumption that Harmon would already be gone, otherwise Harmon would have been my choice. We all picked an RB high, though none of us got the right one. We were all looking for a project QB, generally at value positions. Most of us picked a double-dip at DL. Several of us correctly predicted the trade of George Pickens for draft stock, although we were a week ahead of our time.

Well done, gents, and congratulations to MWalsh26 for being the master of his domain.

p.s. Please review your scores for potential mistakes. Next year, I’ll endeavor to revise the rules to make them less error prone, because frankly, scoring this way is a PIA and not a good fit for my dubious skill set, like Mike Tomlin with the challenge flag.

UPDATE:

Eleven pointed out that I scored differently this year. He’s right – I did it in a rush to get it off my plate. I suggested that using the historical method would not significantly impact the results since the same rules apply to everyone, and it turns out I was wrong. For clarity, this is the scoring system:

• 2 point – Correct name (drafted)
• 1 points – Correct name (UDFA)
• 1 point – Correct position/round
• 3 points – Correct name AND correct position/round

Note that the position/round assessment is for anywhere in the round, and not necessarily the original pick number. Thus all of us who selected DL for pick 156 still got credit even though the actual pick came at 164 due to a trade. This still counted as a hit because either pick fell in the 5th round.

Here are the revised results using the historical methodology:

• Walsh-1: 9
• drock-1 and EstimatedProphet-2: 8
• Eleven-1 and Eleven-2: 7
• drock-2: 5
• copanut-1 and copanut-2: 3
• MWAlsh26-2 and TomPaulBillyBob: 2
• EstimatedProphet-1: 1

The winner did not change, so I was correct as far as that went, however this methodology does provide some clarity for second place, as it pushed Eleven from a tie for second down into third place. I guess the lesson is be careful what you wish for!

However, as consolation, I make the observation that Eleven had a great run with points for each of his first four picks, which nobody else was able to do – not even our resident brain, MWalsh26. That’s pretty impressive.

+1

It’s that time of year. April 24, NFL draft day. Green Bay, Lambeau Field (named after Curly!), site of the most recent Steelers Super Bowl appearance, oh so long ago. Also the career proving ground for the ancient quarterback the Steelers are trying to land prior to the draft. I’m sure there must be some mystical significance, but we’d need a Dark Retreat to figure it out.

You have up until the day before the draft to produce your predictions: have your predictions in no later than midnight ET, April 23rd. If you submit a mock earlier than that, you may edit the mock up until the deadline (e.g., in the event of a signing or trade that wrecks your initial mock). 

Please use the following format as a template. Any deviation from this format that causes me to have to interpret your gibberish will result in unfavorable scoring, so beware.

Identify any trades if applicable
Round (Pick) – Position, Name, School
1 (21)  – WR, Moe Howard, Harvard
2 (n/a)  – (DK Metcalf)
3 (83) – OG, Curly Howard, Stanford
4 (123) – ILB, Larry Fine, Yale
5 (156) – NT, Joe DeRita, Brown
6 (185)  – RB, Shemp Howard, Princeton
7 (229) – PK, Emil Sitka, Allegheny County Community College
Add up to five UFAs

This year, you may submit up to two mocks: one without any trades, and one with trades.

As in the past, you will be given two points for each correct name, and one point for each correct position/round combination. For UDFA selections, you will get a point only for a specific name. I may give or take other points for special predictions or egregious failures, at my sole dictatorial discretion.

Trades: Given the difficulty and risks of predicting a trade, I will grant bonus points for a successful prediction. If you predict a trade, you will be granted bonus points as follows:

• +1 if you correctly predict the trade partner
• +1 if you correctly predict the Steelers pick position(s) being traded
• +5 if you correctly predict the partner, the Steelers pick position(s) and the partner’s pick position(s)

I normally kick things off with my own predictions, but I’m not quite ready yet. There is still time for you to have the glory of being first.

Good luck, ladies and gentlemen…

0

Another season has come and gone, and another Baller can lay claim to superior football knowledge. The final results are in the table below. I’m only showing the “delta” tabulations – the difference between our guesses and the final result.

This year, by popular request, I added a bonus point for the person who most closely predicted the Steelers’ final result, although you may be happy to know that it didn’t matter. TomPaulBillyBob and Tuskegee_Brown both accurately chose the Steelers final tally of 10 wins, but Mr. BillyBob blew everyone away by also accurately predicting the Ravens’ 12 wins, and missing out on the Bengals by only one point. With his bonus point, he pretty much lapped the field with a total score of 4. There was a three way tie for second place between Tuskegee_Brown, Copanut, and tennbob, but I think we can give the edge to Tuskegee_Brown for more accurately predicting the Steelers’ record.

Last place goes to Earl, who took a big hit for not submitting guesses for the rest of the division, but on his Steelers pick he beat out MWalsh26 and drock, with their chronic underestimation of the Power of Tomlin to pull out yet another winning season. If we’re going for last place on the Steelers prediction, we’ll have to give the edge to MWalsh26, because drock edged him out on the tiebreakers. They both correctly guessed the 2nd most receiving yards (Friermuth) and exactly divined the total touchdowns thrown (21), but drock predicted Wilson would have the most starts, while MWalsh26 went with Fields.

Dishonorable Mention goes to JAMESH, who had a ghost writer submit his usual 17-0 prediction. He finished with a score of 22, which is kinda sad, until you consider that Earl finished with 27.

May we all have better luck in 2025.

+2

Pickens vs Miami 2022

Pickens vs Washington 2024

+2

Make your 2024 season predictions below. Same rules as previous seasons. Entries must be submitted by midnight before the season opening game.

Please include (1) W/L predictions for each Steelers game, (2) season records for each team in the division, and (3) tie breakers. If you fail to submit the tie breakers, you lose the tie.

Here is your prediction template. Good luck.

01 – @ATL
02 – @DEN
03 – LAC
04 – @IND
05 – DAL
06 – @LVR
07 – NYJ
08 – NYG
09 – Bye
10 – @WAS
11 – BAL
12 – @CLE
13 – @CIN
14 – CLE
15 – @PHL
16 – @BAL
17 – KC
18 – CIN

Standings (wins):
Steelers –
Bengals –
Browns –
Ravens –

Tie Breakers:

• Who has the most starts: Russell Wilson or Justin Fields?
• Who has the second most number of receiving yards on the season?
• # touchdowns thrown.

Edit 9/2/24: We’ll add a tweak to the scoring this year. To give extra weight to the Steelers wins predictions, we’ll add a bonus point for the person who comes closest on that metric. The way our scoring works (lowest score wins), this means a point will be subtracted from the overall score.

+2