Tree of Life

12 Aug

Jag-Off of the Week Update by Ken Laird

published in category: Sports Talk Radio on Wednesday, August 12th, 2015 – 2:39 pm

Here is an update of our TribLIVE Radio Jagoff of the Week winners so far in 2015, with Pirates General Manager the latest “victor” this week.

Jan 7 – Jagoff of the Year Voting
ROGER GOODELL for the Ray Rice fiasco w/ a 2 game suspension, then the TMZ video, then indefinite suspension, denials they ever saw the video… incompetence and cover up
2nd Place Legarrette Blount for fight, DUI, Walkout, Release
3rd Place Mike Milbury (lifetime achievement)
4th Place Jameis Winston (shoplifting crablegs, sexual assault accusations, student union outburst)
5th place Pens Organization (Lemieux, Burkle, Morehouse)

Jan 14 – Ryan Suter, Minnesota Wild Dman, for his elbow to the head of Steve Downie as he skated by without the puck. Suter was suspended for two games for the incident. 2nd place was the Steelers for their handling of Dick LeBeau’s departure.

Jan 21 – Zac Rinaldo, for his hit to the back of Kris Letang along the boards, leaving his feet and hitting Letang in the numbers & driving his head into the glass. Tight race with Belichick the morning after DeflateGate was amplified to 11 of 12 footballs having been deflated during Patriots – Colts

Jan 28 – Robert Kraft, Patriots owner, who demanded an apology from the NFL if their investigation doesn’t come up with conclusive proof they deflated footballs. Pats organization 2nd, Shady Brady 3rd, Belicheat 4th.

Feb 4 – Warren Sapp, after his arrest the morning after the Super Bowl for solicitation of a prostitute as well as a charge of assault. Sapp admitted the prostitution guilt and was fired by the NFL Network.

Feb 11 – Jackie Robinson West Little League WS team, adults administrator Michael Kelly and manager Darold Butler, who were stripped of their 2014 US title for cheating rules and assembling an all-star team from Chicago outside of their district boundaries.

Feb 18 – Penguins Players, for being too soft in trying to respond to Alex Ovechkin’s slash of Kris Letang’s ankle which sent Letang into the boards in the 3rd period of Pens – Caps III. Kunitz & Perron sort of confronted Ovie after the hit, but mostly Lapierre & Downie went after lesser players in an attempt to send a message. The Pens lost on a 5-on-3 PP goal against later in the period. Ovie finished 2nd in the voting.

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Feb 25 – Keith Olberman, who was suspended by ESPN for a week after Olberman bashed Penn State students and alumni on Twitter for merely being PSU students and alum, calling them pathetic, dumb, and unethical. Also seemingly indirectly attacking the THON dance marathon cancer fund raiser which generated some 13Million.

Mar 4 – Rob Rossi, Trib Columnist, for Pens negativity & perceived bitterness toward the franchise.

Mar 11 – The Oklahoma Frat Sigma Alpha Epsilon for a racist chant on a bus caught on video, causing significant future athletes to decommitt. 2nd Jim Boeheim. 3rd Stephen A Smith for insinuating Chip Kelly made football moves based on race.

Mar 18 – NHL Officials, for not calling any penalties on New Jersey (v the Pens) 2 days after the Pens racked up 60+ PIM and mocked refs in a loss to Detroit. Perceived vendetta. Plus, it was the 10th time on the season the Pens had gotten 1 or 0 PPs.

Mar 25 – Jim Boeheim. After a near JOTW win on March 11, Boeheim locked up a title as he conducted a press conference on the morning of the NCAA Tournament to announce his retirement in 3 years and to scold the NCAA.

April 1 – The Philadelphia Flyers, just because they were in town and assuming they’d do something Jagoffian

April 8 – Mike Johnston, Penguins HC, as the teams was in death spiral L 10 of 13 and facing missing the playoffs

April 15 – Home plate Ump Mike Holbrook in the Pirates – Detroit Tuesday night game who ejected Clint Hurdle from the bench as he was commenting on balls / strikes on what showed to be an erratic strikezone throughout the game.

April 22 – Britt McHenry, ESPN reporter, for her caught-on-tape berating of a tow-truck company employee.

April 29 – Jim Rutherford, the week after the Pens were eliminated by the Rangers for admitting he made a mistake in trading Simon Despres to Anaheim in addition to other mis management including the team playing w/ 5 D down the stretch

May 6 – The Mayweather – Pacquiao fight for being a boring letdown.

May 13 – The New England Patriots Organization, as Tom Brady lawyered up to fight DeflateGate punishment that was handed down from the NFL after the Wells Report.

May 20 – Russian Hockey Team at World Championships, who other than Malkin & Ovie didn’t stay to shake hands of the victorious Canadians.

May 27 – FIFA and Prez Sepp Bladder as 14 members were arrested for roles in a 20+ year elaborate scheme of bribery and kickbacks

June 3 – Flyers VP Bobby Clarke, who said on the 40th anniversary of the last Flyers’ Cup that at least his team hadn’t tanked to get players like Crosby & Malkin in order to win.

June 10 – Hope Solo, goalie, as the US Women’s National Soccer Team entered World Cup play w/ details of a year old domestic violence charge plus her hurling insults at arresting officers were released.

June 17 – St. Louis Cardinals organization, with details of Hack-Gate emerging

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June 24 – Rapper P. Diddy, who allegedly attacked UCLA strength coach Sal Alosi with a kettle bell in his office. Diddy’s son is on the UCLA football team

July 1 – Victor Martinez of the Detroit Tigers, who said he had no respect for the Pirates after getting plunked by Gerrit Cole. Martinez had previously doubled off Cole, and Marte had been hit earlier in the game.

July 8 – Peter Karmanos, owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, who took shots at the Penguins and Jim Rutherford unsolicited during a media gathering, taking jabs at their acquisition of Phil Kessell (relating it to Alex Semin), comparing Ron Francis to Rutherford’s awareness of finances, and talking about Pittsburgh’s draft picks which had been traded, & the owners who were selling before the cupboard was bare.

July 15 – Vic Carapazza, the home plate umpire in the previous weekend’s Saturday Pirates-Cardinals game, as Clint Hurdle and Francisco Cervelli were ejected after Carapazza incorrectly called a swing-and-miss from AJ Burnett a foul tip by batter Mark Reynolds. The next pitch went for a home-run. It was a quick ejection and Carapazza refused to speak to the media after the game.

July 22 – Rick Sofield, Pirates 3rd base coach, for sending Starling Marte home to be thrown out in Kansas City down 3-1 in the 9th inning with no outs on a Jung Ho Kang double over the head of CF Lorenzo Cain. It turned into a perfect relay throw to the plate and ran the Pirates out of the inning.

July 29 – Tom Brady, in a landslide as news of his broken cellphone hit the media as the NFL upheld his 4-game suspension citing his further lack of cooperation in that Brady’s camp told the NFL he had destroyed his cellphone on or around the very day he was to be interviewed by Ted Wells for his report; this behavior was said to be “common practice”.

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August 5 – The Penguins organization for releasing Bob Grove, Steve Kolbe, and Brian Metzer. Narrow win over Neal Huntington for acquiring JA Happ.

August 12 – Neal Huntington, Pirates GM, after another shaky start from Jeff Locke (to the Cardinals) and only acquiring J.A. Happ at the trade dealine.

Posted in Sports Talk Radio

 

12 Aug

Baseball America on Glasnow

published in category: Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday, August 12th, 2015 – 12:23 pm

JJ Cooper of Baseball America joins Junker, Laird, Benz to say Tyler Glasnow cannot help Pirates right now. Some of our guys disagree with the reasons.

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Three members of the Pirates organization took home player-of-the-month honors yesterday. The announcement was made by Minor League Baseball.
West Virginia Power right-handed pitcher Yeudy Garcia was named the South Atlantic League Player-of-the- Month for July after going 6-0 with a 0.90 ERA in six games (five starts). Garcia allowed just 16 hits and five walks while striking out 23 batters over 30.0 innings of work.
West Virginia Black Bears outfielder Logan Hill was named the New York-Penn League Player-of-the-Month for July after leading the league in total bases (51), RBI (23), home runs (four) and OPS (1.011). His .330 average and 19 runs scored were fourth-best inthe league. Hill was selected by the Pirates in the 25th round of the 2015 draft out of Troy University.
Bristol Pirates first baseman Carlos Munoz was named the Appalachian League Player-of-the-Month for July after leading the league in average (.396), hits (40), extra-base hits (20), total bases (74), doubles (13), home runs (seven) and OPS (1.194). Munoz’ 23 RBI were the second-most in the league in July and his 21 runs scored were tied for fifth in the league.

Posted in Pittsburgh Pirates

 

12 Aug

Benz, Junker, Laird on Pirates loss, new Steelers kicker

published in category: Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday, August 12th, 2015 – 11:13 am

Pirates lose in St. Louis, the guys debate if Locke should have been pulled earlier? Steelers have new kicker in camp.

The Steelers signed veteran kicker Garrett Hartley.

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Hartley is entering his seventh NFL season. He spent time with the Cleveland Browns (2014) and the New Orleans Saints (2008-13). Hartley originally signed with the Denver Broncos as an undrafted rookie free agent on April 28, 2008, out of the University of Oklahoma.

In 59 career regular-season games, Hartley has made 85-of-104 field goal attempts and 178-of-179 point after attempts. He has seen action in four postseason games, making all eight field goal attempts and all 15 point after attempts. Hartley will wear No. 8.

To make room for Hartley on the roster, the Steelers placed quarterback/wide receiver Devin Gardner on the Waived/Injured List.

Posted in Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Steelers

 

10 Aug

Suisham injury could be costly by Tim Benz

published in category: Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday, August 10th, 2015 – 8:27 pm

This is a tweet I got as the post game show began Sunday night following Pittsburgh’s 14-3 loss to the Vikings in the Hall of Fame pre-season game.

Ok, perhaps A BIT strong to characterize the 2015 Steelers in that fashion after four quarters of fake football in August (oh, and I’m guessing that guy is a Patriot fan by the way). But to draw out the analogy, it was indeed a dog *bleep* game. And it was a dog *bleep* Steeler showing.

However pre-season football is, by rule, an abomination. If you’re like me, you spend three-and-a-half hours watching these games through your fingers as your hands cover your face, hoping that no one of substance gets hurt as a bunch of future Canadian Football League second teamers battle to make it through another week of training camp.

Well, so much for that! Not only did the Steeler scrubs play poorly. At least one of the good players couldn’t even stay healthy. Kicker Shaun Suisham is out for the year with A-C-L injury to his plant leg after trying to make a tackle.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13412234/shaun-suisham-pittsburgh-steelers-torn-acl

It’d be bad news for any team to lose a place kicker in the pre-season. But consider these angles on Suisham’s absence from the roster:

-He is 62-71 at the kicker Death Valley known as Heinz Field. That’s good for a conversion rate of 87%. Other Steeler kickers converted at just a 75% clip in the nine years between when the stadium opened and when Suisham took over. And those numbers include Jeff Reed’s largely successful run as Steeler kicker before he fell apart in 2010.

-Suisham has had just one kick blocked in his entire Steeler career

-Suisham has never missed an extra point as a Steeler. And that becomes more important this year as the P-A-T is moved back to a 33 yard kick. Furthermore, between 30-39 yards Suisham is 34-38 in black and gold.

-The Steeler offense ranked just 19th in Red Zone TD efficiency last year. They are 28th in goal line offense. So a reliable kicker is key, unless we are willing to assume that the Steelers will suddenly reverse fortune in 2015.

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The names of free agent kickers who may be in the mix to replace Reed are speculated to include the likes of Billy Cundiff, Jay Feely, and Shayne Graham. Brandon McManus are Connor Barth are apparently in a kicker battle in Denver.

http://www.scout.com/nfl/broncos/story/1570692-competition-making-connor-barth-better

And Reed himself is on the record as saying he’s reached out to Mike Tomlin about coming back.

Did he make that phone call before or after he was allegedly escorted out of the stadium in Canton Sunday night? Reed refuted reports that he was drunk and argumentative and that HE WAS the victim of fan taunting in the stands (this is where you insert whatever joke you like about how he was also attacked by the paper towel dispenser in that Sheetz bathroom).

Well if he thought that fan was over the line, wait until what he hears if he does come back and endures another 9-15 stretch like what he went through in 2010 before he was let go.

And the Steelers are in this mess because Suisham decided to “knuckle up” and make a “Sunday football” tackle in a worthless pre-season game. Irony-of-Ironies…remember how many people used to gripe about Reed’s poor tackling whiffs on kickoffs in the middle of his career?! And those were games that counted! Why couldn’t Suisham look at those game tapes?

The Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony can be a real spectacle. That was evident by the throngs of Terrible Towel churning Steeler maniacs who cheered on Jerome Bettis’ speech as if he was barreling through yet another hole created by an Alan Faneca block at left guard. But the celebration weekend is good enough without making two teams play an extra game in what is already a pre-season that is two weeks too long for every other team in the league.

Posted in Pittsburgh Steelers

 

10 Aug

TribLIVE Radio Four Horsemen

published in category: College Sports, Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday, August 10th, 2015 – 1:36 pm

Sportspocalypse is here-Junker, Laird, Benz, Taylor all in-studio talking Steelers and Pirates.

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College Sports News- Freshman linebacker Daiquan Kelly (Newark, N.J.) has been dismissed from the Penn State Football team due to violation of team rules.

-Pitt Rising junior Josh Newkirk will return home to continue rehabbing a knee injury school officials announced Sunday. Newkirk, who had microfracture surgery on his left knee May 6, leaves in good academic standing and is expected to transfer to another Division I school.

“Josh is looking to get closer to home while he recovers from knee surgery and we are in full support of his decision,” said head coach Jamie Dixon. “He has been an excellent student and strong representative of the University of Pittsburgh. We wish him the best of luck in his rehab and recovery.”

Newkirk averaged 5.9 points, 1.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game last season for the Panthers. The Raleigh, N.C., native appearing in all 34 games last season, including four starts.

Pitt returns four starters, including All-ACC performers Jamel Artis and Michael Young, from last year’s team that finished 19-15 and reached the NIT. Artis and Young are the only two returning players in the ACC to rank in the conference top 20 in scoring and rebounding a year ago.

Posted in College Sports, Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Steelers

 

10 Aug

Rossi of Steelers TV Ratings

published in category: Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday, August 10th, 2015 – 12:26 pm

Rossi after covering the Hall of Fame Weekend, Bettis speech and Steelers game plus the big Steelers TV rating.

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USA Football, the sport’s national governing body in the United States, and the Pittsburgh Steelers recently awarded football equipment and uniform grants to youth and high school football programs throughout Pennsylvania and West Virginia based on merit and need.
USA Football partners with the Steelers and all NFL clubs to annually distribute more than $2 million in equipment and uniform grants to youth and high school football programs across the United States. The grant program has supported youth organizations and high schools in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., since 2006. USA Football equipment and uniform grants are made possible through support from the NFL Foundation.

Grants are valued up to $1,500 for youth organizations and $2,500 for high school programs, offering new equipment, uniforms, equipment reconditioning and flag football equipment to provide young athletes greater access as well as the fun and fitness benefits of the sport. Grants are fulfilled by USA Football and its equipment and uniform partner Riddell.
USA Football is the official youth football development partner of the Steelers, the NFL and each of the league’s other 31 teams.
“We are pleased to work with USA Football and our teams to donate much-needed equipment to youth football leagues and high school football programs nationwide,” said ALEXIA GALLAGHER, director of the NFL Foundation. “These equipment grants will help ensure that youngsters who share our love of the game are able to play it safely.”

“The health and safety of every young football player is our No. 1 priority,” USA Football Executive Director SCOTT HALLENBECK said. “Having proper equipment is an important step toward that goal. Even with fundraising and strict attention to budgets, many leagues and school districts need help to properly outfit their young athletes who love to play football and enjoy the fun and fitness that comes with it. We are proud to lead this important program with support from the NFL Foundation and Riddell.”
Area youth and high school programs awarded a 2015 USA Football Equipment Grant:
ORGANIZATION CITY
Beaver Youth Football Beaver, Pa.
Follansbee Blue Wave Youth Football Organization Wellsburg, W.Va.
Hopewell Youth Football Aliquippa, Pa.
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School Bethel Park, Pa.
West Mifflin Community Foundation Youth Football and Cheer West Mifflin, Pa.
Windber Youth Football League Windber, Pa.

Posted in Pittsburgh Steelers

 

10 Aug

Steelers, Bettis and Pirates

published in category: Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday, August 10th, 2015 – 11:18 am

Tim Benz joins the crew officially and the guys talk Steelers game, Bettis Hall of Fame speech, Pirates sweep Dodgers.

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The Steelers signed free agent safety Jordan Dangerfield.

Dangerfield was on the team’s offseason roster in 2015 but was released prior to the start of training camp. In 2014, he was on the team’s offseason roster, and he was added to the team’s practice squad in November and early December.

To make room for Dangerfield on the team’s active roster, the Steelers placed safety Isaiah Lewis on the team’s Waived/Injured List.

Posted in Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Steelers

 

10 Aug

Riverhounds move up in standings

published in category: Riverhounds on Monday, August 10th, 2015 – 10:32 am

Michael Grau talks about the Riverhounds moving up in the standings after a big win over the weekend with Trib Beat Writer Matt Grubba and Riverhounds player Sterling Flunder.

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The Pittsburgh Riverhounds closed to within one point of fourth place in the USL Eastern Conference standings Saturday night with a 3-1 win over Toronto F.C. II at the Ontario Soccer Centre.

Reigning USL Player of the Week Rob Vincent got the ball rolling for the Hounds with an early blast to bring his tally for the year to a league-leading 17 goals. Lebo Moloto doubled the Hounds’ advantage going into the interval. Canadian forward Miro Cabrilo secured the points with a late third goal before Raheem Edwards netted a consolation for Toronto in stoppage time.

Pittsburgh’s win followed defeats earlier in the evening for the Richmond Kickers and New York Red Bulls II, two teams now sitting one point above the Hounds (9-8-4, 31 points) in the East’s playoff zone.

Hounds head coach Mark Steffens made a couple of changes from last week’s 3-0 win over the Wilmington Hammerheads. Mexican Under-20 national team goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez entered into the starting lineup after arriving on loan from F.C. Dallas this week. Anthony Arena returned to the center of defense after serving a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation. Calle Brown and Sterling Flunder dropped to the substitutes’ bench.

Vincent’s opener arrived on 11 minutes when he received a short pass from Moloto on the left side of Toronto’s penalty area. The English midfielder smashed a 25-yard drive high into Quillan Roberts’ net.

Toronto came close to leveling the score on a couple of occasions midway through the first half. Gonzalez denied Edwin Rivas with a fingertip save before Molham Babouli sent a close-range header wide when a goal seemed inevitable.

The hosts were left to rue that miss on 30 minutes when Moloto doubled the Hounds’ lead. Kevin Kerr seized upon a loose ball near the edge of Toronto’s penalty box after Skylar Thomas had slid in to break up a through ball. Kerr slipped an instant feed toward Moloto for him to bend a precise first-time finish around Roberts’ despairing dive.

Toronto enjoyed a greater share of possession after the break as the Hounds kept their opponents at arms’ length. Substitute Cabrilo made the points safe on 79 minutes when Moloto controlled a loose ball in the penalty area before squaring it across the 6-yard line for the Hamilton, Ontario native to convert.

Hounds captain Danny Earls appeared to have ensured a shutout win when he headed Wesley Charpie’s shot off the goal line in the first additional minute. Edwards ended those hopes with seconds remaining when he chested down Babouli’s long cross before thumping an excellent left-foot shot into Gonzalez’ far corner from 25 yards out.

The Hounds return to Highmark Stadium on Aug. 15 when they host the Charlotte Independence in a key game for the team’s playoff ambitions. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. The first 3,500 fans will receive a free black and gold Hounds towel courtesy of Highmark.

Posted in Riverhounds

 



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