Big News

I think it's interesting that the biggest things most Steelers related Web site are talking about is whether or not we're going to have three quarterbacks on the roster and how well Chukky Okobi is recovering from his neck injury. I mean, we're talking about the third string QB and the back-up center.

Anyone remember what we were talking about last year going into the regular season? We were talking about the secondary, how Ike Taylor would do in his first year as a starter, the fact that we couldn't find anyone better than Deshea Townshend (i.e. we didn't sign Ty Law). We were talking about how Willie Parker shouldn't be counted on to handle the majority of carries throughout an entire season and the playoffs (how silly were we? Oh wait, a lot of people still have doubts). And, we were worried about the fact that the first team offense looked absurdly sluggish and failed to score a touchdown in four pre-season games.

But the big thing everyone was worried about was whether or not Ben would come back down to Earth (like he did against the Pats in the AFC Championship Game) or if he'd be the player he was through the first half of the 2004 season.

Think back to two pre-seasons ago. Ben held out, we weren't sure if our offensive line was any good, Hartings kept complaining about his knees, Cowher had that relieved look in his eyes after his contract got extended. And everyone was hoping that we didn't waste a first round pick on Ben and Polamalu and that we could withstand the loss of Dwayne Washington. Hopefully, Tommy could turn things around and give us a decent season.

I'm going to let that sink in for a moment...

Okay. I do have a point.

A lot of times, we as sports fans worry about a lot of useless shit so that we can take our minds off the fact that football season still hasn't started yet. And the sportswriters enable us by giving us story after story, preview after preview. Training Camp visit after Training Camp visit. I mean, some Web sites even offer analysis of every team and every division and how they think the divisions are going to "play out"! Can you believe that? After all, let's just forget that we're at war, bad things are happening in the Middle East, and New Orleans still ain't right one year later.

In the sports world, the US just beat Japan in the Little League World Series. Tiger Woods has been professionally golfing for 10 years. We're about 2 months from the World Series and hockey season starting. The US is playing the rest of the world in a basketball cage match. AND ALL ANYONE CAN TALK ABOUT IS THAT T.O. NEEDS TO BUY AN ALARM CLOCK!

I feel better now. Really. I do.

I just get a little edgy the first few days before football season starts. I'm like an eight year-old the week before Christmas. I understand that Santa is my parents, but that doesn't mean I don't want gifts. A couple months beforehand, I made a list of everything I wanted that year. Then I kinda forgot about it and went back to watching cartoons and giving my sister Indian burns. Then the Advent Calendar went up. Then I thought, "Hey, it's still four weeks away. That's a lifetime." Now, the presents are piled up under the tree. Mom's buying the turkey. I'm starting to take the really cool stuff out of the pockets and velcrowing it to the cloth tree. And there's nothing I can do to make Christmas get here faster. I just have to wait.

The articles suck. Even this one. Nothing to do but wait.

I wonder if T.O. has done anything since I started writing this.