There is a new defense in town:
Steeler Defense Renamed ‘Mid-Level White-Collar Curtain’ To More Accurately Reflect Contemporary Pittsburgh
TAMPA BAY, FL—Just days before the Super Bowl, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ public relations department announced that the team’s vaunted “Steel Curtain” defense would be renamed to more accurately reflect their city’s current vocational demographics.
Did I mention the Steelers won the Super Bowl? Again. Six.
MikeJ
I thought the city’s current demographics would mean the team would be named "The Arizona Cardinals".
Dave
Well, at least you aren’t complaining about things this time while celebrating. Damn Steelers…
As a Pats fan, I feel like Wes Mantooth holding the ladder at the end of Anchorman as Burgundy climbs out of the bear pit:
"From deep down in my stomach, with every inch of me, I pure, straight hate you. But goddammit, do I respect you!"
Bondo
As a Vikings fan, have I told you to go fuck yourself yet?
Seriously, you are as insufferable as a Yankees fan. I mean, now that you are a Democrat and such (yeah, it sucks about as much as being a Vikings fan), you need to become more friendly with either spreading the wealth, or just losing constantly.
John Cole
Go to teh google. Enter the following search:
“Pittsburgh + Pirates”
Get back to me (hint: I was deployed in the first gulf war the last year they had a season over .500).
Laura W
@Dave: I think the point you made the other day about somebody being ambivalent about some ball sport due to a sucky team has been proven accurate.
G.Greenwald on Rachel.
former capitalist
@John Cole: And, sorry to say, they won’t be within 20 games of .500 this year either. Still, I hope they sweep every series they play against the hated Cubs. All Time Losers.
(And the Dodgers, too.)
John Cole
No ambivalence. The Pirates are just hopeless. I tried for a decade after they got rid of Bonds/Bonilla/Drabek?Smiley, and every year they get worse. I was briefly excited when McClatchey took over, thinking things would change, and they did not.
Every year, they get worse and worse. Every year, you say to yourself, “That was the stupidest god damned trade ever.” Then, sure enough, a month later, they make a worse trade.
And to add to it all, they are boring. They have had years when tyhey were bad, but they had moments of brilliance and were entertaining. The last few years though, they have just been bad, shown no signs of hope, and ARE BORING.
They don’t even have enough respect to start off the field controversies to at least give us something to talk about.
Laura W
I obviously can not clarify a thing tonight.
Forget it.
El Tiburon
Funny. The Dallas Cowboys, you know, America’s Team, could go 0-300 and still be better loved and admired than the Shittsburgh Bung-hole Stealers.
Sometimes God is fair and just. She realizes you moolyaks who live in Pittsburgh have NOTHING, so she gives you some Super Bowls to prevent mass suicide.
Basically, the Super Bowls are her way of apologizing for the abortion that is your town and sports franchises.
BTW, God’s college football team is the University of Texas Longhorns. That’s why the sunset is Burnt Orange.
Hook ’em and Holla!
former capitalist
@John Cole: Unfortunately, the teams in the NLC don’t have the money to go after the big guys. Well, except for the Cubs, and they could field the 1927 Yankees and Bob Gibson and still choke. Point: Sabathia could have taken the Brewers offer. It was fair, but compared the to the Yankees offer, it was pocket change.
Bob In Pacifica
Go Niners!
Josh Hueco
@El Tiburon:
Nice. You forgot to stomp your cowboy boots while yelling YEEHAH and firing your six-shooters in the air while saying all that.
J. Michael Neal
They bottomed out, not with a trade, but by drafting Daniel Moskos instead of Matt Wieters. Everyone knew at the time that that was stupid, but it’s really becoming clear just how stupid.
I think that they are now, very slowly, turning in the right direction. They took Pedro Alvarez instead of going cheap. I like a couple of the guys they got for Jason Bay. It’s going to take a long time, though.
Mike
The Green Bay Packers have won 12 championships, the Chicago Bears 8, and the New York Giants 7. Why do we act as if pro football began in 1966?
Glocksman
@El Tiburon:
I’m not sure if it’s true, but I read that the NFL first offered the moniker of ‘America’s Team’ to the Steelers.
The story goes that Rooney turned it down because it’d dilute the team’s Pittsburgh blue collar identity.
IOW, the Cowgirls got the Steelers’ sloppy seconds. :)
southpaw
One foot down. One. Foot. Down.
southpaw
Also: (What’s the call here?)
lucslawyer
Ah, but what is the only team to go to the Superbowl more than once without a loss?
Gus
The real sport starts soon. Pitchers and catchers in about a week bitches!
El Tiburon
Glocksman
I am calling you out, sir.
[spit]
High noon.
[Spit]
Stretch of land just outside of Crawford.
[Spit]
Bring a sack-lunch, you’rin gonna be a while.
Comrade Darkness
Those of us who did not care about the outcome were just happy to have a good game. So thanks for those efforts by your team to throw the win away to maintain the suspense–they were appreciated.
maya
Yes, Steel whatever, "won", but de baby Jebus did cover the point spread for the Phundix Cardinals. So who ended the game with more $$$ in their pockets? Praise be to Jebus!
terry chay
@Glocksman: They were approached by NFL Films with “The Nations Team” “The Greatest of them All” and “Team of the Decade” all of which were turned down.
Around the same time (1978) Dallas took on the moniker “America’s Team” the similarity between the first offer to Pittsburgh and the one that Dallas eventually took probably implies that the offer was done for the Steelers first—it’s hard to say really, the Cowboys had been to the superbowl four times, the Steelers only twice.
That year, the Steelers faced the Cowboys in the Superbowl to become the first team to win three of them. It was at that time the famous Rooney quote: “We’re not America’s Team, we’re Pittsburgh’s team” comes from. I would also guess that “The Greatest of them All” and “Team of the Decade” came after that Superbowl.
I’m glad. The Cowboys may have smartly used the moniker to become one of the largest, if not the largest, football franchise in terms of merchandising, but it has also come at great cost—they’re a flashy team that chases controversy and cheerleaders and, in the days of salary caps, the reward goes to the sure and steady hand.
Because of this, people say “Pittsburgh is a hard-nosed football team reflecting the city’s hardscrabble origins” still seem truthful even though Pittsburgh, as the Onion points out, is hardly blue-collar anymore. Still, having grown up there (and I’m sure John agrees), these “blue collar” values still apply even though neither of us qualify for the job description.
terry chay
@southpaw:
http://www.profootballtalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/holmescatch.JPG
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/04H32DNcdq4v3/610x.jpg
Please take more images out of context, the taste of your sour grapes are so sweet.
r€nato
just barely.
and with more than a little help from the refs.
See ya again, same time next year.