Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

Republicans got rid McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

… looking like a winsome Bee Gee who has stumbled into teaching geography

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Consistently wrong since 2002

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

You are here: Home / Sports / Steelers Open Thread

Steelers Open Thread

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Go Steelers!

*** Update ***

The Jags have just owned us the past few years. Tonight looks like it is going to be no different.

9:12 pm- 14-10, Jags. Why does the stock photo of Reed have his eyes closed?

10:56 pm- That call against Harrison was total bullshit.

11:31 pm- Not a conventional Steelers win, but I will take it.

Reader Interactions

71Comments

  1. 1.

    Punchy

    Need Hines Ward to go nuts, and MJD to have an average game. Hope Freddy T. takes all the carries.

    My 7 fantasy teams own me on Sunday.

  7. 7.

    Josh E.

    O-Line is actually getting some push and holding their blocks.

    Punchy, Ben is not a starting fantasy QB. If things are going well for the Steelers he throws 20 times.

  11. 11.

    Punchy

    Punchy, Ben is not a starting fantasy QB

    Looks at TV. Sees Benny engineer a drive and chuck a TD. Thinks Josh is smoking crack.

    Ben is Jeckyl and Hyde. I need him to me more of….uh….whomevah was the gooder one.

  15. 15.

    Foxhunter

    Why does the stock photo of Reed have his eyes closed?

    My wife, no real fan of football, just asked me the same thing. She thought he was trying to be ‘cute’. Told her punters can’t get away with that kind of shit. Kick the ball, sit at the end of the bench and all that.

    Unrelated but self-promoting sort of comment, I went to middle school and some college with Hines Ward. Nice guy. He is missing an ACL in his left knee….go figure.

  16. 16.

    Paul in Boca

    Be afraid, be very afraid. The lowly Dolphins have beaten, in consecutive games, the AFC teams who played in the AFC Championship game last year.

  17. 17.

    DFD

    Why does the stock photo of Reed have his eyes closed?

    He was afraid the camera would steal his mojo?

  19. 19.

    Josh E.

    Why does the stock photo of Reed have his eyes closed?

    Probably drunk. The guy likes to party. As long as he keeps nailing clutch kicks he can get as drunk as he wants.

  20. 20.

    Punchy

    Bears are tops in the NFC North baby! Whoo hoo!

    After seeing what my beloved Cubs just did, I am forcing myself to ignore my Bears and Blackhawks. If in January and….jesus….June?…respectively, they’re in the playoffs, then I may get excited.

  21. 21.

    lost in GA

    After seeing what my beloved Cubs just did, I am forcing myself to ignore my Bears and Blackhawks.

    Ouch!

  23. 23.

    Foxhunter

    Funny comment on Jeff Reed pics linked above:

    Let me guess, these photos were taken somewhere in Jersey, right?

    Did anyone see the George Brett story/vid?

  24. 24.

    Comrade Jake

    Be afraid, be very afraid. The lowly Dolphins have beaten, in consecutive games, the AFC teams who played in the AFC Championship game last year.

    What is there to be afraid of? Parity?

  25. 25.

    MBL

    So the site’s doing this awesome thing where it loads completely for about a second, then if I don’t hit the stop button immediately the entire page goes to white until I reload it.

    IE and Opera, latest versions on both, WinXP. Any ideas?

  26. 26.

    Comrade Jake

    IE and Opera, latest versions on both, WinXP. Any ideas?

    Firefox, Mac, latest versions of each.

  28. 28.

    Paul in Boca

    What is there to be afraid of? Parity?

    No, afraid of the laughing stock of the NFL over the last few years.

  32. 32.

    Punchy

    Can anyone PLEASE explain why the Jags go for 4th n 7 when they could have drawn within a FG by kicking a FG in that situation?

    Seriously, is he trying to throw the game? How could his actions be interpreted otherwise?

  33. 33.

    Andy K

    Ben is not a starting fantasy QB.

    He is in my league. At least tonight. And when completion % is one of the factors in scoring in your league, Ben looked mighty appealing to me when I drafted.

    But I would have played Favre if he didn’t have the week off.

  35. 35.

    Andy K

    Cole, what would it take for the ‘Eers to take Rodriguez back?

    I’ve never been so depressed watching the Wolverines. Ever.

  36. 36.

    ComradeJ. Michael Neal

    It looks like the pick-me-up for the markets is going to be short lived. Germany just panicked into guaranteeing all deposits, and it looks like the whole country of Iceland is about to go bankrupt. Asia’s down 3%, and the Dow futures down about 170. Tomorrow could be ugly.

  37. 37.

    A Different Matt

    Punchy,

    did you happen to see the colts/texans game? I thought the same thing about Sage rosenfield – he had to be trying to throw the game. 3 turnovers on his last 3 drives. hmmm…

    speaking of game throwers, I’m convinced to this day Brian Griese (from his days as a denver qb) has a serious gambling problem.

    Bob in Pacifica,

    The 49ers have consistently sucked under 49er management. Nolan’s just an easy scapegoat. No coach can succeed under incompetent management.

  42. 42.

    Cassidy

    Completely OT, but whoever brought up "Damn it feels good to be a gangsta" a few threads back has brought some musical goodness into my Sunday.

  44. 44.

    Dennis - SGMM

    The 49ers have consistently sucked under 49er management. Nolan’s just an easy scapegoat. No coach can succeed under incompetent management.

    QED Raiders. Al Davis’ histrionic firing of Lane Kiffin was almost as hilarious as Steinbrenner forcing Joe Torre to leave the Yankees. Sometimes the owners are the last to know that the game has changed. See: McCain/Palin.

  45. 45.

    TheFountainHead

    Completely OT, but whoever brought up "Damn it feels good to be a gangsta" a few threads back has brought some musical goodness into my Sunday.

    That was me. I plan on playing it on loop when Obama wins, and at a volume likely to disturb most of Northern Jersey.

  46. 46.

    The Moar You Know

    The 49ers have consistently sucked under 49er management. Nolan’s just an easy scapegoat. No coach can succeed under incompetent management.

    Bill Walsh himself couldn’t save this situation. The ownership has a stated goal of not putting one dime into the team that they don’t absolutely have to, while also following through on their stated goal of extracting as much cash from the franchise as possible.

    I still blame DeBartolo for the mess he left that team.

    You should; if not for his gambling/political shenanigans, he’d still be the owner. He turned it over to people whose motto seems to be "milk it for all its worth". Truly a sad ending to a great franchise.

  48. 48.

    The Moar You Know

    and it looks like the whole country of Iceland is about to go bankrupt.

    Iceland is in the hole for about six times their annual GDP. Turns out they were the lender of choice for a lot of construction projects in Europe, so there will certainly be a ripple effect when their cash flow dries up, which seems pretty inevitable at this point. If they default all bets are off.

  50. 50.

    TheFountainHead

    He is walking and holding his arm like I did every time I dislocated my shoulder.

    It didn’t look like he went down hard enough for that.

    Oh, and a touchdown. Sweet.

  51. 51.

    Andy K

    Josh E.

    Rothliesberger? Last year he had a great season. High completion %, low INT’s (my league subtracts for picks and incompletions), and around 30 td passes. My stupid ass just forgot to look at the strength of schedule this year. And to factor in the O-line.

    But Ben’s got me about 30 pts tonight, and I’ve got Ward going too (17 or 18 points)…not so shabby.

  52. 52.

    Dennis - SGMM

    and it looks like the whole country of Iceland is about to go bankrupt.

    Speaking as someone who flew barriers out of an NAS in Rekjavik back in the Sixties, I can assure you that it couldn’t happen to a nicer place.

    Sorry, jargon got the better of me.
    barriers: patrols along the coast of the then USSR. This included sudden turns inland to see if we’d be lit up by surface to air missile sites.
    NAS: Naval Air Station

  54. 54.

    rob!

    can i just say i hate these sports posts?

    i don’t give a shit about sports, never did. i come to Balloon Juice for funny cat pictures and posts calling McCain an asshole.

    please don’t dilute the beauty that is Balloon Juice.

  55. 55.

    norbizness

    I love that the Houston Texans have channeled the leftover unfathomable chokejob karma of the Oilers, blowing a 17-point lead against the Colts with 5 MINUTES TO GO.

    Rob: Eat a Sam’s Club Economy-Sized Bowl of Dicks™.

  60. 60.

    Ron

    Other than that horrible pass early that got picked off, Ben looked pretty damn good. I don’t think I’ve seen that many unsportsmanlike penalties in one game in a long time, and at least some of them were a tad dubious. Ah well, all’s well that ends well.

  62. 62.

    Common Sense

    Normally I’m a fan of the sports posts. Being a Texans fan, I’ve got to agree that the sports posts need to go. At least until 2012 when they may have a team together.

  64. 64.

    Jeff

    Sixty Minutes does an entire story tonight on Credit Default Swaps.

    "We wouldn’t be in any of this trouble right now if we had just had underlying investments in mortgages. We wouldn’t be in any trouble right now," says Partnoy.

  66. 66.

    Andy K

    Being a Texans fan, I’ve got to agree that the sports posts need to go. At least until 2012 when they may have a team together.

    Optimist, huh?

  67. 67.

    iluvsummr

    Off topic:

    Mortgage forgiven for woman, 90, who shot herself

    Sun Oct 5, 11:31 AM ET

    Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae said it is forgiving the mortgage debt of a 90-year-old woman who shot herself in the chest as sheriff’s deputies attempted to evict her.

    Addie Polk’s plight was cited by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, on Friday before the House voted to approve the $700 billion financial rescue package. Kucinich voted against the plan.

    Fannie Mae announced later Friday that it would dismiss its foreclosure action, forgive Polk’s mortgage and allow her to return to the Akron home where she’s lived since 1970.

    "Just given the circumstances, we think it’s appropriate," Fannie Mae spokesman Brian Faith said, citing Kucinich’s statement and news reports. "It certainly made our radar screen."

    Polk remained in Akron General Medical Center and was expected to recover from chest wounds suffered last week.

    She became the home’s sole owner in 1995 when her husband died, then took out a mortgage loan in 1997 and refinanced several times, court and property records show.

    Countrywide Home Loans filed for foreclosure last year, and Polk’s home was sold to Fannie Mae at a sheriff’s auction in June. Deputies were to escort Polk from her home Wednesday when gunshots were heard inside.

    Polk’s longtime neighbor, Robert Dillon, climbed through her window and found her lying in bed bleeding with a gun next to her. He visited Polk in the hospital on Friday.

    "She said it was a crazy thing to do, now that she’s had time to think about it," Dillon said.

    ___

    Information from: Akron Beacon Journal, http://www.ohio.com

  68. 68.

    iluvsummr

    2nd try…
    OT:

    Mortgage forgiven for woman, 90, who shot herself

    Sun Oct 5, 11:31 AM ET

    Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae said it is forgiving the mortgage debt of a 90-year-old woman who shot herself in the chest as sheriff’s deputies attempted to evict her.

    Addie Polk’s plight was cited by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, on Friday before the House voted to approve the $700 billion financial rescue package. Kucinich voted against the plan.

    Fannie Mae announced later Friday that it would dismiss its foreclosure action, forgive Polk’s mortgage and allow her to return to the Akron home where she’s lived since 1970.

    "Just given the circumstances, we think it’s appropriate," Fannie Mae spokesman Brian Faith said, citing Kucinich’s statement and news reports. "It certainly made our radar screen."

    Polk remained in Akron General Medical Center and was expected to recover from chest wounds suffered last week.

    She became the home’s sole owner in 1995 when her husband died, then took out a mortgage loan in 1997 and refinanced several times, court and property records show.

    Countrywide Home Loans filed for foreclosure last year, and Polk’s home was sold to Fannie Mae at a sheriff’s auction in June. Deputies were to escort Polk from her home Wednesday when gunshots were heard inside.

    Polk’s longtime neighbor, Robert Dillon, climbed through her window and found her lying in bed bleeding with a gun next to her. He visited Polk in the hospital on Friday.

    "She said it was a crazy thing to do, now that she’s had time to think about it," Dillon said.

    ___

    Information from: Akron Beacon Journal, http://www.ohio.com

  69. 69.

    Martin

    I’m gonna go out on a limb and predict that if Cole gets off his ass and does some canvassing, Obama will win WV. Mountaineers will respond to their neighbors better than most states, and most polls have Obama behind by single digits. A solid ground game advantage is good for 5 points.

  70. 70.

    Conservatively Liberal

    Sixty Minutes does an entire story tonight on Credit Default Swaps.

    The world markets are bathing in red ink this morning. Hang Seng down just over 7% at this moment.

    The bailout is not going to do it, and neither is the expected rate cut (100 bp).

  71. 71.

    Rob

    One thing in this life that pisses me off almost as much as neocon fundie BS is the fact that the Steelers get no respect. As mentioned last night by Al Michaels, the Steelers have the toughest schedule of any NFL team in the last 25 years! Furthermore they are sustaining injuries that, added up, are more potentially damaging than the loss of Tom Brady to the Patriots. On top of that, they are dealing with weaknesses never fully resolved from last year, most notably the offensive line (which I believe sometimes gets blame it doesn’t deserve because Big Ben often holds on to the ball a long time).
    Despite all this the Steelers have battled and fought and scraped their way to a 4 and 1 record. But all we hear about week after week on all the sports hows are Patriots this, Bret Favre that. Chargers this, Cowboys that.
    I’m sick of it! I want more recognition! I want more respect!
    Am I being petty? I don’t care. GO STEELERS! GO OBAMA!

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