Month: February 2009

As the Super Bowl nears, sports writers all across America will dig deep into the bag of statistics and trivia. Amazing facts are shoveled about everywhere, to end up on si.com, sports blogs, newspapers, and as factoids during the game itself. I compiled a list of some amazing Steelers facts during this past Super Bowl. My edited list follows. But first… some Steeler history:

The Pittsburgh Steelers were founded as the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 8, 1933, by Art Rooney. The rights to the team cost him $2,500, which is around $40,000 in 2007 dollars.

According to football legend, Rooney purchased the team using money he had won at the Saratoga race track. What actually happened is that Rooney bought the team in 1933 using money he already had, but in 1936 he did win a longshot parlay bet at Saratoga that netted him almost $160,000 ($2,370,300 in 2007 dollars). Rooney did use most of this money to improve the team, especially by hiring coach Joe Bach. In fact, Rooney’s winnings from that day in Saratoga funded the team exclusively until 1941.

In that year, the Steelers were involved in one of the strangest ownership moves in NFL history. Rooney sold the Steelers to NYC playboy Alex Thompson. Since there was already a team in New York City, Thompson wanted to move the Steelers to Boston, the largest city close to New York without an NFL team. As the Steelers sale was being finalized, Philadelphia Eagles owner Bert Bell began having severe financial troubles. So Rooney agreed to buy 70% of the Eagles using the proceeds from the Steelers sale. Since Philadelphia is much closer to New York than Boston, when Thompson found out about the Rooney-Bell deal, he suggested that the two switch sides. So the Rooney-owned Eagles moved to Pittsburgh and the Thompson-owned Steelers moved to Philadelphia, both owners kept their original team names, and everyone was happy. Bell would later become NFL commissioner, a job that required him to divest myself from the team, so Rooney convinced Barney McGuinley, his sister’s father in law, to buy out Bell’s shares.

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Since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, the Steelers have posted the best record in professional football. The Steelers have won the most total games, won the most divisional titles, earned the best winning percentage (including every expansion team), earned the most All-Pro nominations, reached the playoffs 24 times, won their division 19 times, played in 14 AFC championship games, and won six of seven Super Bowls. They are also 2nd overall in playoff wins and season game wins.

In the past 10 years, the Pittsburgh Steelers are an amazing 153-1-1 when leading a game by at least 11 points.

Continue reading “Fun Steelers facts!”

The NFL’s Pro Bowl has always gotten short shrift in the American sports world. Part of it has to do with the timing of the game: coming a week after the Super Bowl, the Pro Bowl usually is a pretty anticlimactic end to the season. Another part of it has to do with the nature of the game itself: unlike baseball, where winning the All Star game actually means something (the winner gets home field for the World Series), in football the Pro Bowl is meaningless. And lastly, you have the players themselves: many all-stars refuse to come, and those that do never seem to play all that hard because no one wants to get injured in a meaningless game.

But I’m here to defend the Pro Bowl. Sure, I don’t care about it much, either. But it’s here, and there are a few good reasons to watch it:

1) It has good rules. In the Pro Bowl, receivers cannot go into motion, you cannot have more than two wide receivers, defenses cannot blitz, pressing or bumping is not allowed, you cannot use a 5-6 cornerback set, and you must be in a 4-3 defense. In spite of all that (or, more likely, because of it), the Pro Bowl is usually lightning fast and offense oriented. And the lack of intentional grounding rule, coaches challenges and booth reviews make it actually fun to watch.

2) It’s kitschy! For the past 30 years, the Pro Bowl has taken place in Hawai’i, so there’s plenty of gorgeous HD shots of the islands, along with music straight from a 1970s playlist: Blondie’s “The Tide Is High”, The Safari’s “Wipe Out”, and the theme to Hawaii 5-0…  and the whole thing is sponsored by State Farm! See, it’s like that Brady Bunch special already! And everyone’s in tacky Hawai’ian shirts, too! How awesome! If only they showed Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth with mai tais in their hands!

Continue reading “In Defense of the Pro Bowl”

Ever wonder why the Pittsburgh Steelers let all-star wide receiver Plaxico Burress go back in 2004?

Well, wonder no longer. Plaxico Burress is trouble. Everyone knows that. But the sheer extent of his troublemaking is appalling. Check it out:

The Associated Press found that, since Burress joined the NFL in 2000, he has been sued at least nine times by people who said he failed to pay a debt, damaged their car or didn’t pay his taxes.

The people seeking payment from the football star run the gamut, from a Pennsylvania homeowners association trying to collect delinquent dues to a Florida woman whose car Burress rear-ended while driving without insurance. Why? He hadn’t paid the premium.

The pattern of irresponsible behavior extends beyond unpaid debts, records show.

In his hometown of Virginia Beach, Va., Burress has been fined for reckless driving, noise and public intoxication, and threatened with arrest after he didn’t show up in court. Last year in Florida, where he has a home, police twice cited Burress for speeding in the weeks before the car crash, which also earned him a ticket for careless driving.

via New York Giants’ Plaxico Burress has history of lawsuits over debts – ESPN.

Planners may name a street to be built near the Pittsburgh Steelers’ stadium after Chuck Noll, the coach who led the team to its first four Super Bowl wins.

Plans for an amphitheater near Heinz Field that were approved by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission include a one-block street named Chuck Noll Way.

via Pittsburgh planners may name street for Chuck Noll – NFL – Yahoo! Sports.