Big Lead Sports Bar

11/16/2007

The News: Addendum

A few late-arriving links to share:

--Doubt About It has created a Big Ben video game. This gets the rarely-given "Mondesi Five-Star Recommendation".
--Very interesting article from USA Today about what's wrong with the Penguins.
--You can buy John Travolta's car on eBay. No, getting "Travolta Fever" painted on your hood isn't egomaniacal at all.

--Check out www.LetsSayThanks.com: you can pick out a thank you card, Xerox will print it, and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services.

--From Bill Simmons' column today:

"The football fan in me is furious because this particular Colts team was built for cold weather/January football, which would have made the AFC Championship Game a helluva lot more interesting than the Steelers getting blown out in Foxborough (which is where we're headed). The Patriots fan in me is furious because a 19-0 season wouldn't feel quite the same if they didn't beat the Colts twice."

--Patriot Haters, take note of this email from reader Zane:

I was in NYC for business over the past weekend and linked up with the New England rep and his fiancee to watch some football on Sunday. They're Patriot fans. Found out about a Steeler Bar in NYC, Scruffy Duffy's, donned my #36 jersey and headed over. An hour before kickoff, the place is filled with #7, #12, #32, #47, #58, #75, #86...........with more and more by the minute. As game time approaches, the Steeler polka and Here We Go is played. People are singing and my buddy asks me, "Do you know the words to this song?" Of course I do. Game starts and there's passion in the air. Folks are disappointed by the start, but no one has given up. The place is erupting with every key 3rd down pick up and exploding with Ben's touchdown run. After momentarily being silenced by Cribbs' return TD, the place builds up and explodes again with the final TD drive. Final Browns drive. The bar has a wheel that it spins with numbers associated with different plays that will result in a free drink: Interception return for TD, Fumble return for TD. The free drink for the second half was a 50 yard field goal. So as Dawson lines up, a make equals a free drink, and miss equals a victory. Victory is preferred to even a $6 beer and place goes crazy. Here We Go is being blasted again. High five and hugs for people who would be strangers if not for their Steelers garb.

The scene and passion of the past four hours has confused my Patriot friends. As we walk back to our hotel to begin going our seperate ways, the comments I heard were:

- "Why don't we (Patriot fans) have a song?

- "I'm not sure I wouldn't have been rooting for the free beer."

- "Even the girls wear Steeler jerseys. And not those pink ones."

- "You guys (Steeler fans) are crazy."

- "Do you think they have Patriots' bars in other cities?"

I have also come to find out that my buddy bought a Pats #12 jersey on Monday. It's amazing what happens when fans of other teams get a glimpse at the Steeler Nation.

5 comments:

peytonloveskenny said...

Yeah, it's going to be disappointing when the Steelers get blown out in the AFC championship game.

And Patriots fans claim to genuinely not understand why people think they're obnoxious.

Elib said...

The game is totally bogus. There is no way Kordell can accurately throw a football like that.

Jonny Van Mundegaarde said...

I read Simmons pretty regularly, and dude's obnoxious level is through the roof this year. This paragraph is from the same column from he talked about our future blowout loss:

"Have you ever seen a coach blow two timeouts on the same play like Crennel did in the waning minutes of the Steelers game? He called a timeout to SEE if he should challenge the go-ahead touchdown, watched the replay a few times, decided to challenge, then lost the challenge. ... Of course, the Browns eventually ran out of time and had to attempt a game-tying 54-yard field goal that fell short. Did Romeo know he should have called timeout and challenged the play during that same timeout so he didn't waste two? It's unclear."

Does anyone else see the flawed logic in that? HE LOST THE SECOND TIMEOUT BECAUSE HE LOST THE CHALLENGE. I know this whole challenge thing is brand new, but don't u think a supposed fan of football would know this?

Second is the whole idea that Simmons and ESPN dreamed up of there being a "Red Sox Nation." There is a Steeler Nation that we all know, due to the millions of fans that have left the 'Burgh and flocked to other parts of the world. Steeler fans are everywhere. In Bettis' book he talks about a throng of them he met when he was doing some promotional thing in Italy.

Who outside of Boston gives a flying fuck about the Red Sox? MLB's popularity is waning by the season, and I have yet to hear any publicity of there being huge throngs of fans outside of beantown that are fans of baseball let alone the Sox. But with ESPN's darlings the Yankees failures in the playoffs, the "world leader" needs someone else's balls to fondle. So they invent "Red Sox Nation." Whoever started that bullshit could suck the water from a steaming pile of elephant dung like that nature dude did.



Wow, drinking coffee before bed is a pretty stupid thing to do.

Bic said...

Simmons is a tool -- simple enough.

Jules said...

Couple of comments...I travel to NYC fairly often and also am often a guest at Scruffy Duffy's. Great place even though I never thought I would say that about a place in Hell's Kitchen.

Regarding Simmons...I was a few for quite a while despite the constant New England talk. I agree that this year he has become unreadable. However, what I wouldn't give to be able to sit in my house all day long watching sports and spewing Pittsburgh sports propaganda every week. AND get paid!