Steel Balls
Where Steeler Nuts Hang Out
A Tale Of A Wishy Washy Raiders Fan
My buddy Richie S. comes to Portland on a Monday and the only time I can see him is during the Steelers Monday Night game vs. the Chargers. So basically, I told him that was what we were doing. There wasn’t really even a, “Hey, how do you feel about this?” type of suggestion floated out to Richie. I said, “This is going on.” He said, “Sounds like fun!”
Richie shows up, cheers for the Steelers, has a good time. It’s evident from the TV coverage (and subsequent stories that Rivers went to a silent count during a home game) that Qualcomm Stadium has been taken over by Steelers fans. Jonny has been sack tapped the week before as a good luck omen (long story). All seems right with the World. Steelers win. We go home because we all have to work the next day.
Fast forward 24 hours and Richie gets outed by my buddy Matt T. as a Raiders fan. On the one hand, after finding out that Richie was actually a Raiders fan, I thought to myself, “What the hell? I would never put on the shirt of another team and cheer for them, no matter how much I liked one of their fans.”
Then, “Oh, what the heck? We won. Why question it? Maybe it was because Richie finally left the Dark Side. The football gods must have rewarded us with our first West Coast road win in a decade due to my intervention in his sporting life.”
Fast forward again to this past weekend. Richie texts me about how our two favorite teams are playing.
I respond with, “You only get one team, Richie.”
He responds with, “That would be the one.”
I knew then that we would win. I was absolutely certain that the football gods would punish Richie’s wishy-washy, flip floppiness with a Raider loss. Then mid 1st quarter, Dan sack taps Jonny with his Terrible Towel and the outcome was all but completely certain.
I felt pretty bad about goading Richie into turning his back on his favorite team and fellow fans for a second….
Well, no I actually didn’t. It just seemed like a polite thing to write. But, you all know me and realize statements like that are BS. So, nevermind.
Fast forward again to the Sunday. Steelers are up 35-28 and cruising toward a victory, I’m teetering between whether I should send a conciliatory text to Richie or just taunt the heck out of him for showing some fair weather fan tendencies, thus sending his team on the path toward defeat at the Steelers’ hands.
And then,…. Aldon Smith stumbles while trying to tackle Roethlisberger and lands on Ben’s left foot. Watching the replay, I was sure that Roethlisberger’s foot was broken. Hoped not, but really thought it was.
It turns out that Big Ben’s injury was only a sprain. He will probably miss a week, but Monday morning on his radio show said that he is not counting himself out this week versus the Browns.
Just the same, I probably should have waited to gloat until it was over. That’s what I get.
How have the Steelers fared in Roethlisberger’s 2nd games back from injury?
I really am expecting Ben Roethlisberger to be improved Sunday versus the Raiders by comparison to last week’s game versus the Bengals.
Another week of recovery time on that bone bruise in his left knee should, in theory, give him the confidence he needs to follow through completely on his throws from his plant leg.
Unfortunately, my buddy Earl had to point out that he thought Ben historically had a rough go of it in his second game back as well. So I started digging. Sure enough, Earl, the buzzkill that he is, was right.
In fact, when you look at Ben’s first two games back from injury over his career, the picture isn’t a pretty one.
Ben is 33 and I would like to believe that after the 2011 debacle in San Francisco, when he tried to play on one leg after leaving the Factory of Sadness 10 days before in a walking boot, that he now waits until he is at least close to healthy before coming back. Maybe this game will buck the trend. His first 2 games back in 2012 were losses. However, his own stat lines in those games were not too bad, as you can see above.
Ben looked very good on the first drive this past Sunday. On the second drive, Geno Atkins brushed past, hitting Roethlisberger in the knee, and Ben was never the same again. His throws floated and lacked zip. It was obvious that while he was making good decisions about when and where to put the ball, his body was not up to the task of delivering what his mind wanted it to. Ben was not Ben. The tight windows that Ben can typically deliver the ball into were too tight for a guy who could not put enough on the ball because he couldn’t drive through his plant leg when delivering it.
Let’s hope that his knee has healed enough for his performance to more closely match his own standards this week.
They say Steelers Nation travels well…
If the sky is the limit, then go there.
Eye Black for Cam, Black Eye for Cancer and Roger
Cam Heyward, class act that he is, has decided to stop wearing his signature Iron Head eye black, and instead is teaming with eyeblack.com to sell customized eye black with proceeds going to charity. Under pressure and fines from the NFL league office, Heyward felt this was the right move as he was never intending to obtain publicity for himself but rather was making a simple personal tribute to his late father, running back Iron Head Heyward, who died of brain cancer at age 39.
Steel Balls recommends that every Steeler fan purchase a set of Iron Head eye black, to wear along with your other Steelers gear. There is no better way to honor Cam than to help him to honor his father while also contributing to a good cause. If Roger Goodell happens to find himself embarrassed on national TV when the cameras pan to show a crowd of towel waving, eye black wearing fans, that would just be a happy bonus, and a fantastic return on investment for a mere $3.99. 50% of all sales will be donated to the Heyward House, which in turn will be donated to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Southeastern Brain Tumor foundation.
The Iron Head eye black is available at eyeblack.com. I’m ordering mine today. Spread the word!
Steelers Multiple Restructures Of Timmons’ Deal May Not Impact Him The Way Many Think
I have this dream that one day Steelers fans will cease from looking at a players Salary Cap figure, conclude that figure is what he makes that season and then decide if his play meets that figure’s worth.
Alas, it will probably never happen. Most fans do not understand the NFL salary cap and most who have no understanding, also have no desire to gain one. And that’s ok. However, if you are going to take a hard stance on player worth, you should know what goes into a Player’s Cap Charge.
Take for example the most recent target of many Steelers fans’ perceptions of NFL contracts and their cap implications: Lawrence Timmons. Timmons IS NOT scheduled to make $15 million plus in 2016, contrary to what many believe. His total compensation will be $8.75 million. That’s still a lot, but it’s right in line with the other top ILBs in the league as you can see below in a screen shot table from Over The Cap that differentiates Cap Figure from Cash Expenditure for 2016.
I should first explain that the annual cap figure for a player consists of his base salary, plus any bonuses due, plus any bonus proration scheduled to be accounted for in that given year. It’s understanding how bonus proration works and how it is applied that is key to understanding how teams manipulate their cap each season.
A player is not going to willingly agree to push his earnings into a future year when he can be cut at any time and end up having to forfeit those earnings. In order to create space teams use accounting loopholes put in place by the CBA. Key among them is bonus proration.
If you have no desire to know why $8,381,250 of Timmons’ past (this is the key and operative word) earnings count on the 2015 salary cap, stop reading. But, if you do have a desire to know how NFL contracts are frequently structured and restructured to “kick the can down the road”, read on. It should be pretty simple to understand by the end of this. Read the rest of this entry »
Steelersfan58 Takes Out Mike Vick and Steel Balls
SF58 Whips Mike Vick
We collectively doff our caps to Steelersfan58 who proved us all wrong about Landry Jones being a superior alternative to Mike Vick. Jones, despite having the gayest mustache since the Village People, is the hero of the Steelers’ pleasantly surprising 25-13 victory over the Cardinals.
