I love the Stillers, but I also understand the hatred so many of you have for them, so even though I would have liked to have seen them squeak in, I think I predicted they would go 5-11 this year, so I really didn’t take the KC loss to hard. The Steelers had no business in the playoffs this year. The Chargers won, I took down my 11′ flag, put up the Pens flag, and moved on.
But man, people in the ‘burgh are not handling things well. Every 11 o’clock news cast has this somber atmosphere as if Art Rooney was reincarnated and then bludgeoned to death with a Lombardi trophy by Larry Brown. And the man on the street interviews with hammered yinzers who never made it home from the stadium, I mean, people, have another double jagar and let it go. I mean, I am right there with you in one sense, but god damned, you’re on tv you drunken jabroni, and we had no business being in the playoffs to begin with…
Plus, we lasted longer than the Ravens.
Corner Stone
I would’ve never guessed you had pigtails, Cole.
srv
Steve has already let it go.
Mike E
For whoever said that Nick Foles looks 13.
max
Plus, we lasted longer than the Ravens.
Yeah, what, three hours? (Yeah, I would up pullin’ for KC to win, because, you know…)
What I think the Cowboys should do for 2014 is fire Jerry Jones. That would help them a lot.
max
[‘The Redskins, of course, should dissolve and be replaced by a real team, like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.’]
Helen
@Corner Stone: Speaking of pigtails and babies and Cole – we haven’t had pics of baby Cole for forever. PLEEEEZZZE I can haz baby Cole pics?
Freemark
It was the way the Stillers didn’t make the playoffs. I wish Miami had won. Getting our hopes up, then the missed field goal, then the not a fumble and ridiculous spot. Actually if Antonio Brown hadn’t stepped out of bounds in the Miami game :) There is always next year and the Ravens lost too so its not all bad.
To top it off I lost my FFL SuperBowl because of the Orton / Witten love fest.
PsiFighter37
From what I read, it looks like Kyle Orton did exactly what we would’ve expected Romo to do on the Cowboys’ last possession.
I fail to see how Jerry Jones can bring back Garrett after losing 3(!) consecutive win-or-go-home games for the NFC East crown each of the past 3 years, to different teams each year. That takes a special kind of suckitude.
Freemark
@Mike E: I keep expecting to see him in one of those extra large Pee-Wee helmets.
srv
The nerd behind (or in front of?) War Nerd waxes philosophical about the fate Snowman and Murica:
Corner Stone
Wow. A penalty for the KC/SD game FG for Succop?
Ahhhh, Stillers pigtail grievers get some juice.
PaulW
As a Bucs fan let me say #FireSchiano.
At least your Steelers have a coach who knows how to win games and play in second halfs.
#FireSchiano
P.S. #FireSchiano
Davis X. Machina
At what point do the Steelers become the UPMC-ers?
dollared
I must say, it is a fine day to be a Green Bay Packers fan. Not just a miracle playoff clincher, but Chicago and Dallas lose heartbreakers. All is well in the original City by the Bay.
themann1086
It might have been the same for us in Philly if the Eagles had lost tonight, but mostly because it would have meant losing to Dallas.
lamh36
@PsiFighter37: I’m laughing at all the people blaming the Cowboys loss on Romo and dude didnt’ even play…lol
PsiFighter37
@efgoldman: You do know that Jerry Jones is also the GM…
@dollared: Packers got a tough one next week – Niners have had their number for a while now.
Hungry Joe
As a San Diegan I have to hope the Chargers get knocked out fast: If they go deep the Spanos family, backed by the troglodytic editorial writers at Doug Manchester’s Union-Tribune, might actually convince taxpayers to cough up half a billion dollars to finance a new stadium. (“We’re winners! We’re a playoff team! Do you want to lose the Chargers to [fill in the city]?” We’ll end up with fewer teachers, more potholes, higher transit fares, and a spanking-new arena stuffed to the gills with corporate luxury boxes.
Corner Stone
@PaulW: It seems like you may be trying to tell us something. It’s late, so I’m not sure, but Schiano-somethingsomething?
dollared
@PsiFighter37: True dat. But you know, 2 inches of snow and all bets are off. It’s good to be the division winner….at 8-7-1.
Corner Stone
@Hungry Joe: More likely you will end up with all those bad social outcomes and also no NFL team. No matter what else happens.
Ash Can
I feel pretty much the same way about the Bears. The only reason they were able to bring it down to the wire was that the rest of the division sucked too. If they had won today, all they’d have done was to prolong the inevitable for one more game. Instead, the Packers were the ones to prolong their own misery for one more game, After they and the other also-rans get bounced in the first round, it’ll be time for some real football.
Villago Delenda Est
@srv:
What are glibertarians to do? They love corporations, CEOs, and lots of money. They hate the idea of low paid selfless service that is pretty much what the Government offers. Yet here the two are working tendril in tendril.
Well, we can at least enjoy their heads kerploding.
Corner Stone
Holy Shit. Claire Forlani just waltzed into my house with a Dewars commercial.
I’m going to curl up into a ball now.
Redleg
The Bengals kicked @ss! My town in happy tonight!
patrick II
For the first time since ’85 the Bears have an offense — and they timed it so that they finally can score as their own defense has grown too old and hurt to stop anyone else.
Tommy
@dollared: Is there any division like the NFC East where we hate (Redskins fan here) more then to lose to anybody in our division? I mean last week it was openly said if we could beat Dallas and just be 4-12 we would be a mild success, cause well we beat Dallas and kept them out of the playoffs. I mean that is a level of dislike I am not sure how to put to words.
hitchhiker
Well, my mom is 89 and she’s devoted to the Pack beyond anything that makes sense. She might be seeing her last football season here, so every game they win makes me smile, and the way they won today was fantastic.
That said, if by some miracle they have to play the Hawks, sorry Mom.
TaMara (BHF)
@srv: Love that.
So it looks like I accidentally adopted a Maine Coon mix myself. I didn’t even notice until I posted his photo on facebook and everyone told me to look up the whole MC breed characteristics. The feet and fur are a dead giveaway (not to mention his ruff). I counted his toes twice because I thought for sure he was a polydactyl – nope just really big feet. Not Steve big, but big compared to my huge-ass tuxedo, who himself aspires to be a panther.
dollared
@Tommy: Oh yeah. 2-12 with two wins over the Bears is tolerable in Green Bay.
MomSense
@TaMara (BHF):
Welcome to the Maine Coon club!
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
I like Claire Forlani, but those ads are bullshit. They halfway make me wish I drank Dewar’s, just so I could start boycotting it because of the ads. “Go to sleep now, Angus.”
Still, not as bad as those Michael Imperioli tequila ads.
Yatsuno
@hitchhiker: I’ll send my apologies to your mother now, I don’t know how we lucked out having both playoff games in the Clink, but I am choosing to not argue about that.
Violet
Texans lost again. Does that make them the loosingest NFL team this year?
@srv: That is awesome. Love it!
Tommy
@dollared: My brother is a Dallas fan. Myself Redskins fan. Long story of how that happened to two folks in Southern Illinois, but alas the banter we have over those two games a year is pretty heated. Good natured, but heated.
He got a Dallas license plate holder the other day and I told him I felt the urge to key his car. Clearly not something I’d do, but he got the point :).
The Dangerman
It’s Monday on the East Coast; why is Mike Shanahan still coach? Wouldn’t you take your cue from USC and fire him in the parking lot?
ETA: Same with Jim Schwartz, but insert “locker room” for “parking lot”.
Tommy
@Tommy: Oh just a happy story, cause well it is fun to mock each other. Last Christmas my brother got his daughter a Cowboys jersey. I said I’d have to up it and get her a Redskins jersey.
He joked I could waste my money at the NFL Shop, but there would come a time when I went to his house and Katie would be wearing her Romo jersey and dancing around their fire pit with my jersey I got her on fire.
That is just the way we roll. Good natured. I mean it is only a game.
Corner Stone
@The Dangerman: Shanahan isn’t the coach for the players/system the Redskins have.
But. BUT. Snyder as the owner will never have a winning team.
Tommy
@The Dangerman: I don’t know how Shanahan even got on the plane back to DC. I don’t know who is in the right here, but Shanahan supporters are leaking to the Post. So is the owner. So is RGIII.
But what is clear is it is a totally dysfunctional setting. Synder as the owner isn’t going to fire himself. I don’t see you can RGIII, when you gave up three first round draft picks for him.
That leaves Shanahan as the odd man out. Even more strange cause he hired his son. Not like you can fire him and keep his son as coach.
Again I am stunned he wasn’t shit canned before the flight home.
Jay
“jabroni”
Sweet jeebus. How much more tremendous would this blog be if Cole-like the Rock-started blogging in the 3rd person and using pro wrestling lingo?
“Cole says this…”
“If you SMELL what the Cole is cooking…”
jl
As an ex-Raiduh fan, I am a bit puzzled that nowhere in that pile of football fan butthurt and whine, could Cole find the decency to point out the humiliating fact that the Stillers lost to duh Raiduhs this season.
Anyway, not sure backing into the post-season on a wing and prayer is such a great way to spend a week or two (meaning, I’m putting the ‘Niners postseason fate out of my mind until they meet.. I forget. Packers?).
Edit: Cole needs to find the humor and the pity in being the fan of a not very good team.
Tommy
@efgoldman: He owned Arnold Advertising. Sold for billions to a French firm when he was in his early 30s. I can comment all the time here about sports, but I don’t think I could run a professional team for a second.
Synder likes to make headlines. The most amazing stat about his ownership is that we’ve signed 27 high-profile free agents coming off a Pro Bowl year. While Redskins they have not once gone back to the Pro Bowl.
If that is not total mismanagement I don’t know what is.
pseudonymous in nc
I like the Packers out of sentimentality at the squillion-dollar mutual ownership in a city that would never get a franchise today thing, but 8-7-1 is a squeaky way to get into the playoffs. I honestly think that if you finish the season 8-8, you should forfeit the right to the postseason and instead put in a team with a winning season from the other conference. Even if it’s the Arizona Cardinals.
I’m more annoyed that most of the SE got the fucking Saints winning on autopilot on FOX instead of Packers-Bears.
Still, we got to see the handegg homunculus retreat in failure from his crystal lair tonight, which was nice.
piratedan
@Tommy: While Snyder is indirectly responsible for the fiasco, he’s been pretty hands off during the Shanahan tenure. Shanahan had complete control of the coaching staff, signed off on the Griffen trade and while the league engaged in a bit of selective hypocrisy in order to hamstring the team when it came to the salary cap, outside of having a few meals with the young QB, Snyder has let Allen and Shanahan run the team for the last 4 years. They’ve had one good year where they caught lightening in a bottle, but essentially these are Shanahan’s players with a few exceptions. Still, either the player performance or the lack of matching talent to schemes or the missing on talent or lack of player development, something ain’t right and while I mentioned above, Snyder is “responsible” for the salary cap decision, he’s followed Allen and Shanahan’s leads and let them run the show.
I know that Snyder has a history of being a pompous piece of work, but this time he did like everyone asked and stayed out of the hair of the coaches (from everything that I’ve read, he’s still being convicted for past transgressions here) and the guys that he hired four years ago simply haven’t done the job to change the culture and bring sustained success.
Tommy
@efgoldman: One other things about Snyder. Shanahan while at Denver traded Clinton Portis to DC for Champ Bailey. A quality player. Not a stud, but better than average.
Now retired he has been very vocal. In seven years he had five offensive coaches. I want result, now. But I also realize you see teams in the NFL go from last place to first. You got to give time put a scheme in place. Draft players. Teach them the system.
We want a fix yesterday and refuse to invest in the future, like giving away three first round draftt pics for one player.
OK I will stop ranting about this ….
PurpleGirl
Football, smushball…..
loss to hard.
Gonna be pita but it’s
loss too hard.
Now I’m gonna look at kitten cams.
Tommy
@piratedan: I am not so sure this is true if you read the DC media. I do place a lot of blame at Allens feet, cause he was supposed to be the “adult in the room.” The “football” guy that would change things
He also didn’t want RGIII. He wanted those picks and Ryan Tannehill. Synder vetoed him.
JoyfulA
@themann1086: Beating Dallas is a successful season for the Eagles, no matter how the other games go. It’s been that way ever since I remember.
piratedan
@Tommy: well I blame the RGIII disaster on Shanny for not pulling him earlier in the playoff game last year, as such… well lets just say that there are more than enough dubious decisions to go around. If Shanny had told Snyder that he couldn’t win with Griffin, I’ve yet to hear it.
MTmofo
Beast Mode and the Legion of Boom has started its march to NJ.
Tommy
@piratedan: I don’t get that emotional about football games. Cause well they are a game. I threw shit at my TV when they kept him in that playoff game. I was like get him out of there, get him out.
I am not sure Shanny ever said he couldn’t win with him, just didn’t want him.
piratedan
@Tommy: not sure I buy that Shanny didn’t want him, but hey… it’s an offseason and they’ll be plenty to speculate about, new coaching staff or not.
Death Panel Truck
@pseudonymous in nc:
That’s what’s fucked up about the NFL. An 8-7-1 team makes the playoffs while a 10-6 team is locked out.
Suffern ACE
@Death Panel Truck: it happens every year. It is unfair, But it makes no sense to have division schedules if those divisions don’t mean anything. At least the weak NFC norths and Easts only get to send one team each.
TheMightyTrowel
So, Packers fans, how legit are these gay rumours surrounding Aaron Rodgers?
I won’t lie, from this side of the planet that’s about the most interesting thing happening in American football (aka “Gridiron” on Aussie TV)
FlipYrWhig
@Steeplejack: I have no idea what’s going on in those ads. Are we, the viewer, Angus? Is she supposed to be mentally unstable? And why does every commercial have a close-up with accompanying loud sound of her cracking open the bottle? That’s no fantasy, it’s a bleedin’ nightmare. Poor Angus and poor Angus’s willie.
TheMightyTrowel
Gay rumours
(if so, the ex-bf is a heel for making all this public non-consensually and passive aggressively via twitter)
Steeplejack
@FlipYrWhig:
Yeah, there’s a “crazy (ex-)girlfriend” vibe that is kind of weird. And I can’t believe whisky helps in that situation. Maybe they’re going for the young demographic that wishes they had a crazy (ex-)girlfriend like that.
MTmofo
@Death Panel Truck:
Remember when Seattle won the Div. with a 7-9 record? Even us ‘hawks fans were a bit embarrassed.
Suffern ACE
@MTmofo: there’s no reason to be embarrassed, as long as that 7-9 record prevented inserthatedrivalteamhere from hoisting the divisional crown.
dollared
@MTmofo Dude, the team is not that good. Don’t jinx it. Remember 12-7? And Carolina is much, much better now.
Suffern ACE
@TheMightyTrowel: it is possible that there isn’t anything to out with Aaron.
? Martin
A few tips for parents to pass onto their kids when filling out college applications:
1) If you have bad grades, acknowledge them and explain them as best as you can. ‘I fucked up’ works better than pretending I won’t notice them. I do. I read every grade, what course it was in, what the grading trend is, was it honors or AP, and all of that. I’ve read probably 15,000 applications – I don’t miss much.
2) If you have bad grades, don’t then fall back on God getting you into college. God isn’t reading your app, I am, and praying to Him isn’t going to help nearly as much as explaining to me will.
3) If you did other stuff, fucking tell me. If there are no activities and no volunteer work, I’m assuming you passed your day on the Playstation. If you played a sport, great. Tell me about that. If you restored a car with your dad, fantastic! Tell me about that. I’m desperate for students that can use tools and weld. Just show me that you did something with your time. If you had to babysit your little sister so your parents could work, that’s completely understandable. I just need to know.
4) I don’t care that your grandpa was an awesome human being. I’m not admitting him. Tell me who you are, what you do, and why I should want to meet you and put you in my classes. What gets you out of bed on Saturdays? What are you eager to do each day? Hopefully it’s not Playstation, but I suspect that it is.
And mom and dad – there seems to be this attitude that C’s are good enough to get into college. C’s get you to community college. B’s get you to the little private school run by the church and the public universities in states that have no money or people. A’s get you to the research universities. My not well known public university will have an average admitted GPA of a 4.1. Seriously, get As. Take honors and AP courses. Work hard. Test scores mean a lot less than As.
Suffern ACE
@? Martin: my nephew has decided that GPA doesn’t matter because he’s going to join the marines (or the army if the marines won’t take him) and become a policeman. My niece has decided that math isn’t for her. I’ll pass on your advice, but I’m thinking they’ll ignore it and go back to using boredom as an excuse to half ass high school.
? Martin
@Suffern ACE: Pass this onto your niece. Math doesn’t require any particular gift – it’s all practice. She doesn’t need to excel at it and take extra courses – she can do that in subjects that she likes better, but she needs to do well in the stuff she does take. And it’s just practice. I didn’t do well on my math SATs because I’m smarter than anyone else – I did well because I didn’t just do problems 11-17 in the book, I did all of them. I figured out early on that the teacher was going to make the test out of problems from the book he/she didn’t assign, so I just did all the problems and then the tests were a breeze. I got a lot more practice than everyone else, and was a lot faster at it than everyone else. The SAT is a timed test. It’s a test of speed as much as anything else. If you can do 80% of the problems in 20% of the allotted time, you have loads of time to grind through the 20% that are hard and to double check your work. That’s why kids that do Kaplan four times boost their scores by hundreds of points. It’s all practice. Yeah, it’s boring. Put on some music and give yourself a treat for getting through it.
dollared
@? Martin: Seriously. 4.1 on a 4 scale. So basically we’re teaching our kids that fucking a chicken for meaningless grades is the American Way.
burnspbesq
The world would be a much brighter place is Sheikh Mansour were to sell Manchester City to Dan Snyder or the Spanos family, for them to destroy in the same way they have destroyed the NFL teams they own.
dollared
@burnspbesq: Let me guess: Man U?
Thlayli
@Violet:
Yes. Yes, it does.
Halfway through the season the Jags looked like a lock for the #1 pick, but the Texans showed heart and determination and got past them.
DecidedFenceSitter
@? Martin: Yeah the weighted GPA for Honors/AP classes through me for a loop when I was looking at colleges in the mid 90s – my school didn’t weight GPAs at all, so I was rolling with a 3.22 GPA and looking at colleges and listening to the presenters talk about how they were looking for people with at least a 3.8/4.0 GPA. My parents and I looked around and thought “these people can’t all be 4.0 students….” Afterwards, we went and talked to the college folks and had it explained to us what was going on.
A 4.0 scale is a 4.0 scale. Weighting it is just screwy.
PaulW
@efgoldman:
I’ve actually written an American Libraries Feb. 2000 journal article about squelching library thefts.
I have no sympathy for book thieves, especially ones who keep stealing the study exam guides. Every library system I’ve been at, we go through a rash of missing GEDs and SATs and ASVABs. And yet we’re compelled to order replacement copies because the public keeps insisting on them. Here’s hoping switching them to ebook formats may save our budgets…
PaulW
Man U is already owned by the Glazers (psssst, hey guys, FIRE SCHIANO!)… so yeah bad NFL owners can ruin other sports too…
PaulW
@Tommy:
I think you and your brother should switch gears and root for a proper Southern Illinois team: The St. Louis Rams. Now they (Rams finalize move to relocate back to Los Angeles for that rich stadium deal)… they… damn…
E Stamm
I’ve rooted for the Steelers in the past, but until they get rid of Rapistberger, I’ll be rooting against them.
pluege
probably more that after dashing all hope of the playoffs thru the first half of the season, the Steelers rekindled hope in the second half only to fall short, i.e., its the let down after the resurgence.
Woodrowfan
GO BENGALS! If they make the Superbowl I might actually watch the game (nawww, probably not)
kc
@TaMara (BHF):
He’s beautiful! What a great Christmas present.
schrodinger's cat
You look cute, love the pigtails.
Dupe70
@efgoldman: Peter Holt owns the Spurs. And the Spurs are just an awesome organization. Long time Spurs fan here.
Terraformer
@E Stamm:
Yup, pretty much how I feel too.
eastriver
It’s not hatred, JC. It’s just that most Steelers fans are assholes.
Not hatred. Honesty.
And when are you going to go back to writing about politics? It’s been years since you sharpened your quill and got down to some searing commentary on something other than your social life or pets.
cokane
I’m enjoying the schadenfreude Cole. You have to admit Steelers fans are an annoying bunch.
Paul in KY
@efgoldman: I’m always OK with the Ravens losing.
RIHAM!!!!
Paul in KY
@dollared: Y’all lucked out when you got Randall Cobb. Rodgers too, I guess.
low-tech cyclist
John, I’m just glad nobody shot you because you didn’t feel like the Steelers’ loss was the moral equivalent of the end of civilization itself.
Paul in KY
@Thlayli: Please don not take Teddy Bridgewater. Want him to go to Browns (poor Teddy may not want that, but I do).
Bob In Portland
Go Niners.
Louis
Wow, am I the only one here? Go Saints!! I will spare us an endless stream of WHO DAT!s. I’m from Chicago, by the way. Will not get to see the Saints beat the Bears in the play-offs.
Heliopause
Sounds like Pittsburgh is similar to the state of Alabama, a large grouping of people who have absolutely nothing positive in their lives aside from identification with a football team. Sad, really.
Paul in KY
@Louis: Hopefully you will get to see them lose to the Eagles.
danimal
Destiny, the Chargers victory was. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/22098477/chargers-will-win-super-bowl-xlviii-according-to-eagles-schedule
PG
Lifelong Steelers fan here, one who grew up in the ‘Burgh (but does not live there now). I agree with John.
I thought the Stillers were going 4-12/5-11 this year. And it’s okay. Our roster isn’t that good. It happens after you mortgage the future to win Super Bowls, and we did (well, 2 out of 3). If you think that’s some tough break after all that, tell it to a Browns fan.
The first part of the season they were living down to my prediction and then some (is constantly losing to the pathetic Oakland Raiders some karmic payback for the Immaculate Reception?). And then the second half of the season they kind-of righted the ship, to the point where we dodged a losing season, again.
And while it was a little thrilling to have our playoff hopes drawn out yesterday, let’s be real. MAYBE the Steelers could have beat the Bengals in the opening round, but that was it. No way they were going to beat Denver or New England the next round, so what would be the point of it all? This isn’t 2005 with a talented roster. This is a roster that needs a lot of help. I say let’s have all the bad breaks happen this year when it doesn’t matter, and it seems like they have (losing to Minnesota in London, the game in Baltimore, this loss by the KC JV squad).