Steelers lose

The Steelers looked pretty horrible today as they lost to the Giants 21-14. More guys were injured, including one for the season in long snapper Greg Warren. Who would've thought it'd be that hard to snap the ball? James Harrison tried his hand at it and basically failed, giving the Giants a huge gift with a bow on top in a safety. We all know what that means, a free two points and a free kick. Pathetic. We do give him credit for trying it, but that was not good to say the least. Should be interesting to see who they pick up as their new long snapper and how much that is going to cost them. Warren signed a contract before this season to the tune of $2.3 million for three years with a $395,000 signing bonus. We'd do that job for that kind of cash. Must be nice. Ryan Clark has a separated shoulder, we hear, and he says he feels good and wants to play next Monday night in Washington. Mitch Berger also has some hamstring issues, but we don't know yet where he stands. Hopefully the PG has some stuff up soon.

While we're talking about injuries, we should talk about Big Ben. He had a thumb issue during the game on his non-throwing hand that doesn't seem to be much of an issue. But what is an issue is the fact that, once again, he spent most of his time on the field on his back. At one point, Fox put up some numbers and Big Benjamin had been knocked down on half of the plays. Completely unacceptable. He'll be the next to be on the lost-for-the-year list if someone doesn't help him out.

Right now, the positive things from today's game would be Nate Washington's TD and Heath Miller. Speaking of Nate Washington, what was up with the guy that was supposed to be covering him on that TD? Did he miss that Nate had the ball, did he just get drunk for a couple minutes, what? Thanks to that guy. Yes, we're too lazy to look it up. As for Heath, what a bruiser. Making plays with his hands, with his legs, and blocking on run plays. Awesome. Were we out of it today or did the crowd not do it's usual Heeeeeeeeeeeeeth when he caught the ball? We also missed the Crosby sucks chants during the Rangers game, but then again we were trying to watch that and the Penn State game. No, we didn't miss the Crosby boos though. Ridiculous.

Since we're talking about the Pens, didn't someone tell them before that there are THREE periods in a hockey game? 60 minutes, not 40? They obviously forgot the other night. That letting up after getting a lead needs to stop because it's obviously not working. Hopefully things get better in San Jose. Game starts at 10:30 p.m. EST. More than a few of you may be tired the next morning after this week's games.

PG has put some stuff up, and on the list of positives from today's Steelers game is Aaron Smith. He had been excused by Tomlin and the Rooney's but he decided to play anyway. It's still not at all clear what Smith's serious situation is, but we wish him the best. Ron Cook writes about it here.

Steelers notebook, Steelers report card, Gerry Dulac's two-minute drill, Offense stalled without Holmes, Plax center of attraction - good or bad, Ed's game recap.

On to the Pens: Pens' defense holding its own, Pens notebook, Molinari on the Pens. (The last link is the link we gave yesterday about donating brains and Sidney Crosby's "rear end" to science).

We also heard there is a new Max Talbot A&L Motor Sales commercial. We looked for it but couldn't find it yet. We'll post it once we find it on YouTube.

Update tomorrow

Or more like later today. Pens lose in shootout after being up 2-0 over the Rangers. Steelers play the Giants at 4:15. Go Steelers!

Until we're back, savor this...

When asked which body parts of teammates should be up for scientific study, Rob Scuderi said "I would probably give Sidney Crosby's rear end, because I'd like to see how in God's name it got that big."

We really want to see this butt. Is it really bigger than JLo's? Ah the questions hockey produces. If you're wondering where that came from, go here. We'll see you soon.

Pens play the Hurricanes tonight

The Pens will play the Carolina Hurricanes tonight at 7:30 and yes, the Staals are still brothers. Anyone want to take a guess on how many times that will be mentioned tonight? They already had ads on FSN mentioning the fact, so we're off to a good start. There will be no U.S.S. Hal Gill tonight as he has an injury. Since the NHL has that new you-don't-have-to-talk-about-injuries thing, we don't know what his problem is, but hopefully he'll be back soon. Although Seth over at EN thinks he ran aground in Guam or something.

Alex Goligoski has been playing well on the power play.

Pens notebook.

For those of you who don't get FSN or haven't seen the Evgeni Malkin FSN ad, here it is in all it's glory. Enjoy!

As for the Steelers, the NFL had to send some reps in to help.

Steelers notebook.

Gene Collier uses the word orgasmic in his column entitled, Stapleton icing on a delectable NFL entree.

Enjoy the Pens game tonight, we know we will. LET'S GO PENS!

Today's reading material

Nate Washington isn't dropping passes anymore.

Steelers notebook: Polamalu should play Sunday.

Bob Smizik says there's no need for you to miss Burress. We agree wholeheartedly. When will some of these athletes ever learn? Grow up. (And yes we do respect what he does on the field, but off the field stuff can have a huge effect on it.)

Ed Bouchette's Steelers chat transcript. Always entertaining. We love you Ed.

Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies says the Pro Bowl needs more flattop fades, so you should vote for Nate Washington. We agree that his hair is fly.

The Pens are quicker on the draw with Zigomanis.

The Pens will play the Hurricanes Thursday at 7:30. Something we bet you didn't know: the Staals are brothers! Be prepared to hear that all night.

If you haven't checked out the new wallpapers over at the Pens main page, you can get them here. They'll make your PC or Mac look fabulous. (We're partial to Macs but...)

Short Post

We're still having some issues but wanted to weigh in on a few things. One, GO STEELERS! Two, GO PENS! Three, we love shootouts. As well as this:

We think that was a clean hit, straight up. Maybe those defensive players should toughen up. Aww, a receiver hit you? GROW A PAIR! Kthanx.

Ron Cook has something to say about that hit. And it's positive. Are you shocked? So were we.

Steelers notebook: not every Bengals player thought Ward's hit was dirty and McFadden's arm is broken.

Dany Sabourin played awesome last night as the Pens beat the Bruins in a shootout, 2-1. Geno had the game winning goal. Geno also had his "You're watching FSN" ad played last night and we have to say once again, that English is sounding good. Like you really thought we'd miss on that? We're self-proclaimed accent addicts. And happy about it. But seriously, it's nice to see Geno involved in interviews and marketing considering we barely ever saw him outside of that A&L motor sales ad where he didn't say a word. It'll be nice to get to know the real Geno as he breaks out off the ice.

That's all for us tonight, we're sorry for the crappy posts, we know we can do better. We're dealing with some stuff and we appreciate anyone who follows this blog. Thanks for reading and thanks for the support, we really appreciate it.

Pens Win!

The Pens beat the Leafs 4-1 last night at Mellon Arena. Sidney Crosby had his first goal of the year and three assists while reaching 100 goals, 200 assists, and 300 points. Geno had four assists and reached 200 points. Obviously putting Sid and Geno on the same line was a good idea. Crosby was insane tonight pulling out all the stops with perfect passes and some ridiculous puck handling skills. And at this point between being overly tired and having sore hands, that's all we remember. Other than those "you're watching FSN" or "you're watching the Penguins on FSN" adds are back and Talbot is still a crowd pleaser. That and Geno talked to Dan Potash after the game and the English is sounding good. You really didn't think we'd miss or forget that did you? That accent is so dreamy!

Here's your reading material for today:

Pens beat Leafs while Crosby and Geno reach milestones.

Penguins notebook.

The Igloo is still booming.

Bob Smizik thinks the NHL needs to ban fighting. (ha-ha)

The Steelers play the Bengals tomorrow in Cincinnati at 1:00 p.m. According to our TV, we don't get to watch it. We can only hope that the Bills don't sell out and that rule still applies and we're not stuck watching that.

Game 6 matchup breakdown.

Head to head: Ike Taylor vs. Chad Johnson Ocho Cinco.

Ed Bouchette: Skirts on quarterbacks?

Ed Bouchette: NFL wants to protect its investment, but at what price?

Gene Collier: Tomlin's early career looking an awful lot like Cowher's.

Enjoy the game today.

Today's reading material

The Pens play the Maple Leafs tonight at 7:08 at Mellon Arena. The Steelers play the Bengals in Cincinnati at 1:00 on Sunday. Big Ben has never lost in his home state of Ohio. And the Bengals suck. But you already knew that.

Here is a list of today's required reading:

Coach Therrien is shaking up the lines a bit, putting Sid and Geno on the same line.

In Pens notebook, Sidney Crosby is on the brink of 100 goals, 200 assists, and 300 points. Someone please tell us how ironic that is. Sid also has purchased a suite in Mellon Arena for the second year to be used by charitable organizations. Tonight, young cancer patients with Make-A-Wish will use the suite. Can you really find a better person/athlete? We think not.

In Steelers notebook, Hampton and Parker won't play, Sweed will, Ike talks a lot of trash, and James Harrison has no comment.

Harrison and Woodley could set the Steelers record for sacks.

Someone asks, Why is there a hole on the practice field and why would you let Willie Parker anywhere near it?

Another YouTube for you today in the form of a good Polamalu Nike commercial with LT. We hadn't seen this yet, and it's a heck of an ad. Enjoy.

We're back and Pens lose 4-3 to Ovie and Caps

We know we haven't been around for a while, and we're sorry. We haven't been around a computer or else healing from IVs gone bad. Basically we had to have a medical test done and an IV was needed and it took three people four tries, yes FOUR, to get it in right. So basically our hands are now completely black and blue as well as sore, so typing isn't easy. Should be short tonight, maybe the next few days. Thanks for understanding.

So tonight the Pens played Ovie and the Caps and were up to a 3-0 lead before losing 4-3. WTF?!?! That isn't how you're supposed to finish games. One positive being all three goals came on the power play. The rest of our thoughts:

-What's with Ovie's determination of hitting Geno as many times as possible, whether he's got the puck or not? And why were none of those hits called? Some were totally legal, but c'mon, that's a little ridiculous. We think it's more like Ovie vs. Geno than Ovie vs. Sid but hey.

-Paul Bissonnette looked good dropping the gloves, even drawing some blood from Matt Bradley. Awesome.

-Does anyone else notice that most of the time Tyler Kennedy looks like he's had about 10 Red Bulls before games? He absolutely flies.

-Crosby's two assists were great, but it's time for him to score that 100th goal.

-We like Goligoski.

-We like that Geno's speaking more English.

-Best signs of the night outside Mellon Arena before gametime: "Knock on Orpik's door, he'll give you free candy" "A good day for free candy" and the wonderful "Ovechkin, go back to your cave."

We liked the last one especially because we've been saying for a while Ovie looks like a caveman. What man in their right mind wants to look like that? If that's attracting women then that's just sad. Messy hair, unshaven (and no not in that sexy way), and no tooth, that screams caveman or redneck, take your pick. We know, it doesn't matter because he makes lots of money, right? We don't care, if you have that much money then get a damn haircut, buy a razor, and get yourself a tooth for heaven's sake. Geez. And if you thought it didn't get any worse, check out this. We were over at The Sidney Crosby Show and made the mistake of having to check that out. He says he gets a haircut to stay looking good. Uh, obviously he's abandoned that thought. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Here's a random YouTube for you. We're sure you all know about being Rick Rolled, well here's Barack Roll and it's hilarious. Enjoy.

Sidney Crosby does not wear a speedo

Sorry ladies, Sidney says he doesn't wear a speedo. We know many of you would like to see that bod in a speedo. Somehow we think one wouldn't cover his rather large ass anyway. Why are we talking about speedos you ask? Sid was on OTR's Next Question and that was one of many questions asked. Like when will he outgrow Sid the Kid or one word that describes your playoff beard. One of the few laid back, fun interviews. Sid tends to be pretty serious so enjoy.

Continuing on the topic of Sid, ESPN has an article comparing Sid and Ovie with a pretty awesome graphic.

Also on ESPN, an article on, you guessed it, Sid! In the five things you didn't know about Sidney Crosby column, we find out he likes football and the Steelers.

So we got our latest issue of Sports Illustrated today and it's the hockey preview. Staring back at us from the corner was none other than good friend of the Pens Marian Hossa. We heard if you live in Detroit or Canada you got to see Marian Hossa on the full cover. Lucky them. People out there are already hoping the SI cover jinx hits Marian Hossa. We can't exactly blame them considering some of his comments but we'll try to stay neutral here.

On to what SI thinks about the Pens this year. They're predicting that the Pens will not only win the Atlantic Division, but the Eastern Conference, making it to the Stanley Cup Finals again only to lose to the Red Wings and, uh, that guy up there. They say "Thirty years after the last time two teams met in back-to-back finals, history is about to repeat itself. Same finalists as in 2007-08. Same result." We can only hope this is not the case. We really don't know if we can handle that. The Red Wings did lose tonight to the Maple Leafs. Make anyone feel better?

So here's to a nice warm summer spent in a freezing cold arena. Is this the year?

The Pens acquired a new face today from the Pheonix Coyotes. Mike Zigomanis, a 27 year-old forward at 6'1" and 195 pounds. He's a good penalty killer and good with faceoffs we hear, so shouldn't be too bad. Jeff Taffe also cleared waivers and will be sent to the Baby Pens.

Penguins notebook can be read here.

Mark Eaton ate a lot after coming back from Sweden.

On to Steelers news, Big Ben has got it.

Now another Steelers player has been hit with a fine. Hines Ward was now fined $5,000 for "unnecessary roughness" on a play from the Baltimore Ravens game. He thinks it was against Corey Ivy but isn't sure. He wasn't penalized on the play. What's with that? How do you get a fine, but no penalty? The NFL seems a little out of it lately. Big Ben also backed up James Harrison on his penalty in the Jacksonville game.

An article on safety Ryan Clark over at Yahoo! sports.

Sports Illustrated also had a little Steelers info this week. Pittsburgh football was on the Hot list with the Steelers winning and Pitt winning and making it to number 24 in the college football rankings, while Big Ben was voted onto the list of most overrated quarterbacks getting 7% of the vote.

Pacman Jones is still getting into trouble somewhere. When will this man learn? The Cowboys and Jerry Jones are brushing it off. Hmm...?

And Chad Johnson, Ocho Cinco whatever, is kissing his coach.

Slow day

We don't have much to report today other than in Pens news, they have placed forward Jeff Taffe on waivers and assigned foward Janne Pesonen and goalie John Curry to Wiles-Barre. Taffe will be eligible to join the Baby Pens if he is not claimed by another team by noon on Thursday. Center Kris Beech, who was assigned to Wilkes-Barre, has been placed on unconditional waivers. If he decides to continue to refuse to report and clears waivers, the Pens can terminate his contract in two weeks. He is trying to find a team to play for in Europe.

Paul Bissonnette has decided to switch his number from 67 to 16.

We think you can check out Sidney Crosby on TSN's "Off the Record" here. We haven't watched the video yet, but hopefully it works for you.

Something football related, a column by Gene Collier on the gang activity and the deaths of young football players in Florida with reaction by Santonio Holmes.

And last but not least, for your entertainment pleasure, Yinz Luv 'Da Guins episode #1 for the 2008-09 season. Enjoy!

Harrison is mad and so is the NFL

So yesterday we covered the comments that James Harrison had on the officiating of the Jacksonville game, particularly the roughing the passer call on him in the fourth quarter. Well, we all knew it was coming, right? The NFL has reportedly fined him $20,000 for his comments. No word yet on whether he felt it was worth it. When asked about it, Tomlin said he had nothing to say, not surprisingly. We can see why the NFL doesn't want these guys opening their mouths and saying whatever they want, because let's face it, there are plenty of players who can't control themselves and always have one thing on their minds...themselves. But if they can't say it, who will? The NFL most likely won't. And in this case, James Harrison was right, that was just a crappy call. Period.

On the injury front, there appears to be some good news. Jeff Reed should be ready to play Cincy after the bye week, although Mitch Berger may kickoff if necessary. Brett Keisel returned to practice yesterday so he should be ready to go as well. You can read the others here. And a little more on the injury issues here.

On the Pens front, the PG has an article today on the power play. The Pens will return to practice today.

We finally sat down and caught Sidney Crosby In My Own Words Season III and it's worth a watch. Good show with good questions. It looks like the "mini-mullet" as some like to call it is already starting. We really like the short hair, it looks good. And we know we tend to have a fetish with accents and freakishly large body parts, and Sidney Crosby is no exception. Be sure to check out the little bit of thigh you can see during IMOW. Those look like some very large thighs. It's still yet to be seen who wins the largest thigh title between Sid, Jeff Reed, and James Harrison.

Lastly, we saw this over at The Sidney Crosby Show and basically had to put it here too because it's insane. Check out the stick (sick) save by Carey Price in a preseason game between the Canadiens and the Red Wings. That's basically unbelievable. Insane. Enjoy!

WARNING: James Harrison is mad

We figured we'd better hurry up and warn the masses that James Harrison is an angry man right now. That's definitely one man we would not like to be mad at us because he'd basically break us in half in about 2.3 seconds. What is he so mad about you ask? The roughing the passer penalty that was called on him in the fourth quarter. Now we have to say, if we were James Harrison, we'd be pretty pissed off too. He has a few things to say, including that he thinks the refs should be fined for making bad calls. Not a bad idea. Sunday night's team would be losing a lot of money out of their pocket we think. Steelers notebook has all the quotes and details.

Jeff Reed hurt his left calf, his plant leg, at some point in the game Sunday night and was not available to kick a field goal in the fourth quarter. Mitch Berger would have kicked that field goal if the Steelers hadn't scored a TD on their last drive. He is supposed to be okay in time for their next game at the Bungles.

The PG has a couple more reads for you in some commentary by Ron Cook on Mewelde Moore and Ed Bouchette on the Steelers' offense reminiscent of 2005.

Here is this week's Yinz Luv 'Da Stillers where you'll learn how to make a Roethlisweiner. Yum! Also, Yinz Luv 'Da Guins comes back this week!

Moving on to Pens news, just an article from Shelly Anderson over at the PG. And for those of you that don't live in the FSN Pittsburgh area, The Sidney Crosby Show has the Sidney Crosby In My Own Words Season III in four parts from YouTube. Click the link above to be taken directly to that post. Tomorrow is also the day that Sid's new DVD comes out and if you live in Pittsburgh, Dick's at the Mall at Robinson is having a little party from 6 to 8 p.m. if you're interested. 

See you soon.

Steelers beat Jags, Pens fall to Sens

In the sports filled day that was yesterday, we had some good outcomes and some bad. The Steelers finally beat the Jags 26-21 in Jacksonville, while the Pens fell to the Sens 3-1 in Sweden. Basically it's 2 a.m. and we're extremely tired so we're going to give you some of our thoughts from yesterday because we know you care so much, and then it's up to you to check out the PG because they're just awesome at what they do. At least most of them over there.

As for the Steelers game, a lot looked good for them. Ben got tossed around a little too much for our liking, but he really stood in there and made some great plays. It was nice to see Heath Miller so involved in the offense. He's always been one of our favorite players since he was a rookie and we love seeing him get the ball. Most people probably overlook his many contributions throughout games, like his awesome blocking skills. He deserves to be appreciated we think, so this week we tip our glasses to Heath. Cheers!

Was it just us or were the penalties in that game ridiculous? How was that roughing the passer on James Harrison in the fourth quarter? Like you can stop that train once it's going that fast in about 1 second? No, we think not. We'd like to see the ref try though. He hit him like a second after he let go of the ball. Whatever. BS to us. And how was that not a fumble on James Harrison's sack of Garrard? That should be a forced fumble no doubt about it and it better be in the stats on our fantasy team tomorrow or there's going to be a smackdown. Of who or what we're not sure yet. And what about Nate's taunting penalty? WTF?! Okay so he shouldn't do that, but neither should the Jags. We apologize for not knowing the name of the dude that did it earlier in the game, but it was a defensive player who made motions toward the Steelers while standing right on the sideline and that wasn't called. Let's get the calls consistent here, please.

Now don't get us wrong, James Harrison has always been a big man, but tonight we noticed just how big of a man he is. Those thighs are insane and he just looks like one big beast. Which probably explains why he seems to be held pretty often with no calls (go figure). But that makes us wonder how his thighs measure compared to Sidney Crosby. If you don't know by now, Sid's lower half is utterly huge. As in he can't wear normal pants and must get them all specially made because his thighs and butt are that big. They also call him "the freak" in the locker room, which says a lot. If you've ever seen him in hockey pants without the shorts, yeah that ass is pretty big. We could throw Jeff Reed in the mix too, those thighs are pretty intense. Any thoughts on a winner?

As for hockey, what's there to say today? The Pens looked pretty flat and once again failed to score on a power play until there was about 1 second left in the final period. It was nice to see Alex Goligoski get his first NHL goal, although it was a little too late. No word on whether Sidney Crosby saved the puck for him as he did for Sydor on Saturday. Speaking of Goligoski, he looked good yesterday and seems to be a great addition to the Pens.

Now we liked Rutuu when he was with the Pens and were sad to see him go, and now that he's not with the Pens anymore it's probably easier to bag on him but c'mon. That "punch" to the back of Sid's head and sitting on him was a little ridiculous. As Seth said over at EN, Rutuu looks a little dirtier when he doesn't play for your team. As if that show wasn't enough, he had to give Sid an "accidental" elbow to the back of the head. We love the fights and the physicalness of hockey, but we could do without these cheap shots. Some may not consider it that, but we do because we think it's just stupid. Clean checks and a good fight are great, but punching someone in the head from behind and sitting on them is a little childish and cheap. Just our two cents. Although Brooks Orpik did give Rutuu some free candy, which was awesome. And we also think Sid's teammates shouldn't let people get away with cheap shots on him, "the Kid" deserves to be stuck up for.

Did anyone else see the Terrible Towel on the Pens' bench? We think it was after Rutuu was sitting on Sid that they showed him on the bench or something and there was a Terrible Towel draped over the back of the bench. Nice touch. There was also a Pirates fan in attendance. Someone obviously gave him the wrong information on what team he was going to be watching. Either that or we just feel really bad for him that he's in Sweden and he's a Pirates fan.

That's all for us tonight. We probably missed more than one thing but it's basically time for us to turn out the lights and get some sleep because we're exhausted. Be sure to head over to the Steelers' and Pens' sections over at the PG because you know we love them.

Also, on a side note, if you checked out the band we posted the other day, The Study Band, and were interested in seeing them live we have some info for you. If you live in the Pittsburgh area and can make it out to The Brillo Box on the 19th, the band has pre-sale tickets and you can get ahold of them by contacting them. They also have pre-sale tickets for a show on the 17th in Bath, Pennsylvania. Go check 'em out!

And lastly, (we swear) tomorrow is the deadline to register to vote in Pennsylvania. If you want to have your voice heard in this extremely important election, then you must have your voter registration form turned in or postmarked at the Post Office tomorrow. No exceptions. So please considering going out and getting registered if you aren't already and let your voice be heard.

Pens win opener 4-3 in OT

We have to say it was really nice watching hockey today. We've really missed it and we can't believe it's back. It's also great being able to watch hockey and football in the same day, but more on that later. Tyler Kennedy was on fire in the game yesterday, scoring two goals and flying across the ice. We'd hoped Kennedy would have a good year as he's always all over the place but had a slump in goals, well we guess he's off to a pretty good start for the year. Scoring that soon into the game was awesome and was a nice move. Then he scored the game winning goal in OT after picking off Jason Spezza. Wow. Great game for him. He also earned the first star. He might just make it pretty hard to move him down to a lower line when Sykora is able to play. Evgeni Malkin's short-handed goal was excellent, and it's obvious Geno has started off the year right. Although we're still waiting to hear that English. (We know, we're obsessed) Crosby was looking good and had one assist. Marc-Andre had a good game as well. We don't do game summary's because we'd probably bore you to death, so you should head over to Empty Netters and read Seth's blog because he's good at it and there is always some humor involved, which scores points with us. If you want the NHL game recap, you can go here. Seth also has all the key YouTubes for you, including Geno's goal.

The Pens will play the Senators again today at 2:30. All the same stuff applies, FSN starts their coverage at 2:00 and will be followed by FSN Live.

Here is the new Sidney Crosby NHL commercial in case you missed it.

As for the Steelers, the PG where we usually take our info hasn't posted anything new for today yet like the usually have, other than a column by Bob Smizik, which you can read here.

Here you can read the preview over at Yahoo! Sports. And ESPN might be worth a look. And there is always the Trib, but you may have noticed we're not huge fans for obvious reasons.

EDIT: The PG is updated now and you can read today's headlines here. They will be sure to please.

Pens' season starts today!

The NHL and Pens' season starts tomorrow. We almost can't believe it either. We can't wait to bust out that Crosby jersey and sit down for some good hockey for two days in a row. How could it get any better? Steelers football Sunday night of course. ;)

If you're in the FSN Pittsburgh area, coverage of the 2:30 game starts at 2 with a pre-game show and is followed by the first Pens' FSN Live of the season. Sidney Crosby In My Own Words also premiered last night and will air many more times we're sure, so be sure to catch that. We DVRed it (no, we're not cool enough for TiVo) so we haven't watched it yet but we'll get to that soon. Also, October 7th is when the Sidney Crosby On the Ice and Beyond DVD is released in case you're interested.

Who would have thought so soon into the season we'd see an old friend on the other side? Jarkko Ruutu is ready to play his old team and try to get under the skin of a few of his old teammates. It'll be hard seeing him on the other side, we'll miss him, he was a fun guy and someone better to have on your team than on the other side.

Janne Pesonon was sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton yesterday to get their roster down to the 24-man limit for the season opener today. We were really looking forward to seeing this guy play, but unfortunately we won't get to now. Guess we'll see how he develops down in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Michel Therrien has given Evgeni Malkin and Brooks Orpik the honor of being named alternate captains. They are going to be rotating monthly we guess. Gonchar will wear the "A" again when he returns from his injury. We can't wait to hear more English from Geno.

Gene Collier has written an amusing column for the PG today about the Art Ross Trophy that you just have to read titled, You want Ross trophy, score often and fast.

In Steelers news, Big Ben returned to practice after getting a shot in his shoulder on Thursday. Joining him was James Harrison who had a deep thigh bruise from Monday night's game against Baltimore. Bryant McFadden will also continue to start at corner Sunday night. He's been playing extremely well and we think this is a good choice.

Mewelde Moore will get more to do this week.

In case you've ever wondered what we do while we're writing these posts, we'll tell you. Tonight we're listening to a great Indie band called The Study Band. We were lucky enough to see them live, and they're great. We recommend you go and check them out and if you live anywhere near where they're touring, we recommend you go and see them. For those of you in Pittsburgh, that would be October 19th at The Brillo Box. Check 'em out!

Enjoy the games today and tomorrow. Go Pens! Go Steelers!

The Steelers have some competition?

The Steelers appear to have some competition in the form of fans. The Penguins' fan base is starting to rival the Steelers. We all know that the Steelers arguably have the best fans in the world, and that Pittsburgh generally stops when the Steelers are playing. Something similar is happening with the Pens and they couldn't be happier.

The Pens had a scavenger hunt yesterday in Sweden and had to do some rather interesting things. One team even decided to pose in underwear made to look like the Swedish flag while posing next to a moose. If anyone can find that picture, please let us know.

Shero sees a bright spot at the end of the tunnel with Gonchar's surgery.

Here you can check out the schedule and possibly pick up some tickets to an upcoming game.

Malkin's English is getting better and better.

Have you ever wondered what a sleeping Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury look like? Well if you have, head over here to see Potash Postcards at Pittsburgh Live. Dan Potash is traveling with the team and taking lots of pictures. Unfortunately he didn't get the underwear and moose picture.

Head over to Empty Netters for some more pictures from Sweden. We love Max Talbot's glasses. Very sexy.