Hines Ward receives warm welcome in Baltimore

NBC Sports

NBC Sports

Look what Hines wrote on his FB page:

Heading to Baltimore tonight to do the Ravens-Pats game and as I'm at the gate heading to Baltimore, a flight attendant comes up to me and asks me, "You are Hines right?" and I said "Yes." He says, "I HATE you!" So… I'm on the plane and the guy next to me says, "Are you Hines?" I say "Yes". He says "I HATE you!" I’m thinking I'm about to have to fight this guy. As I'm flying, I'm praying the good Lord above isn't a Ravens fan (Haha). When I get off the plane in Baltimore, the fine people at NBC have the car service guy hold up a sign under an alias name because they don't want people to see my name in Baltimore. I get to the hotel and the lady hands me my key to my room and says, "thank you for staying with us today Mr. Ward, and by the way I HATE you" (Haha). I go to my room and the cleaning lady recognizes me from DWTS. She congratulates me but says, "I still don't like you" (wow). Now I love crab cakes. It's one of my favorite foods and Baltimore is known for their awesome crab cakes. But I'm too scared to order any from room service because I don't want to be poisoned or have someone spit on them. I'll starve myself today I guess. Guess what Ravens fans: I HATE you too but I will miss you guys the most. I had a great 14-year run here and besides the Super Bowls, I will always cherish the Ravens-Steelers rivalry. THANKS for the great memories Ravens fan. But I'm part of a new team now, NBC. I'm even picking you guys to win tonight because I know how hard it is to play in the LION's DEN. But come on, I really just wanted to taste some of your great crab cakes. Can't we all just get along? (Haha) - Hines

I know that he has to be impartial since he is now "team NBC", but I'm sure he privately wanted the Ravens to lose as much as I did.

Dear Mom

I do not want to talk to you on the phone about this but I know it's inevitable.

You will call me at some point this weekend and you will say most excitedly "GUESS WHAT BETTINA. THE BROWNS BEAT THE STEELERS." Then you will proudly tell me how many times Big Ben got sacked. And smugly announce how you really don't think the Steelers are good any more and they can kiss the playoffs goodbye.

YOU'RE RIGHT YOU'RE RIGHT YOU'RE RIGHT

And then you will talk about how great the Browns are even though everyone knows that's not true and I will have to "mmm-hmm" for 15 minutes in feigned agreement while silently gritting my teeth.

Since I have created this conversation publicly on the internet can we please not have it in real life?

Love,
Your Daughter.

Mean Joe Green gets Clio award for Coke commercial

This is cute! Megan and I were adventuring down at Bub's and missed this part before the game, and I just now read about it...

From kdka.com:

yeah it's hard to see what's going on hereBefore the Steelers and the Bengals took the field, there was a special reunion between a football great and the young man he teamed up with 30 years ago to make an award-winning commercial.

Mean Joe Greene is a retired Steelers legend and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Tommy Okon is a 40-year-old father of four.

But Okon was just 9-years-old when he filmed the now famous Coca-Cola commercial with Greene. In a gesture of kindness the boy offered the battered football player a Coca-Cola on his way to the locker room. And in return Greene tossed the kid his number 75 jersey.

"I had a reputation of being a mean guy, I wasn't," said Greene before Sunday's ceremony. "After the commercial, because of the camaraderie - the relationship I had with the kid - it changed. I was being referred to in some quarters as 'Nice Joe Greene.'"

Okon says they started a friendship that's still alive today.

"The first day when we were supposed to be filming we weren't because they were doing a lot of work to the scene and I was bugging Joe - throw a football or whatever - and my mom was pulling me away," said Okon. "He said, 'He's okay, let him hang out.' From that day on, he's been real good to me and we've stayed in touch."

The two have occasionally had meetings over the years, and Okon is now married and sharing the experience with his family.

"It's exciting for the kids; I think they're excited to see their daddy on TV doing the Super Bowl commercials," said Okon's wife, Kristin.

I'm not going to give a link to the commercial because if you're on this site you have seen it before and are probably intelligent enough to find it on the internet if you want to see it again. Instead, I found two really cute clips of Joe Greene interviews from this past February.

Here's a cute interview of Joe Greene talking about the commercial:

His comments on the Troy remake:

It's nice to know he's still a huge Steelers fan :)

Pink and Gold? Black and Pink?

Personally, I HATE pink football crap. Can't girls wear their teams' real colors? I know for a fact this is a common abuse in San Diego. I wonder how much the NFL makes per year in pink LT jersey sales. Makes me wanna barf.

So I can't decide if this Sunday will be cute or crass. I guess if we win I'm not gonna care either way? Johnny Lee, fellow CMU alum, sent me this article from the TimesOnline:

All the Steelers will don their throwback uniforms Sunday night. But that might not be the most eye-catching thing they wear. Some of them will have some pink in their wardrobe.

To show their support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, several players will wear pink cleats, wristbands or gloves when they take on the San Diego Chargers.

“Pink with black and gold, now that will be a different look,” said wide receiver Hines Ward, who wore his pinks cleats at Wednesday’s practice. said. “But, I’m all for it.

“It’s for a good cause. It’s great that players throughout the National Football League are showing their support.”

Steelers expected to wear some pink include Ward, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, wide receiver Santonio Holmes, running back Willie Parker and free safety Ryan Clark.

I will forgive this since this is for breast cancer and not fashion and because the Steelers believe in good causes. Remember a couple of years ago when the entire NFL had pink sweat towels with the Gatorade logo all over them? It was like someone accidentally washed those things with Kurt Warner's dirty Cardinals undies.

This Sunday I will be formally inducted into my Thirties. Jeff Reed, I will consider it a personal present to me if you dont eff it up. <3

Example of ugly pink NFL merch:

Q: How many of the G20 leaders know who the Pittsburgh Steelers are?

A: 20 out of 20

Nobody outside of the US cares about football, esp because outside of the US the word FOOTBALL means an entirely different sport. A sport that mainly involves a ball played with feet. But I digress...

So I really only know about the G20 with all of its formal/informal events from what the media tells me. I was very disappointed when I woke up this morning to learn that some protesters are taking pleasure in breaking windows and trashing the streets of this great city.

But this news snippet from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette made me smile:

A little before 9 p.m. hundreds of people were gathered on Schenley Plaza, the closest they could get to Phipps Conservatory where the heads of state convened for dinner. With the heavy police and protestor presence, things felt dicey until one familiar chant at least momentarily broke the tension: "Bill Peduto: great moment in Pittsburgh - someone just started a Here We Go Steelers cheer and everyone (almost everyone) joined in"

STEELERS CHANT at one of the biggest international forums. Beautiful.

Furthermore, this article describes how Pittsburgh hospitals are more than prepared for these protests:

Allegheny General staff doesn’t expect the [onflux of patients from the] G-20 summit to be “any worse than a Steelers game.”

A little before 9 p.m. hundreds of people were gathered on Schenley Plaza, the closest they could get to Phipps Conservatory where the heads of state convened for dinner. With the heavy police and protestor presence, things felt dicey until one familiar chant at least momentarily broke the tension: "Bill Peduto: great moment in Pittsburgh - someone just started a Here We Go Steelers cheer and everyone (almost everyone) joined in"

Hines Ward: Safety Police

He still takes time out of his day to care for the kids.

he is such a jolly steelers giant!

From kdka.com:

He's a wide receiver for the Steelers on the field, but today Hines Ward took over the role of coach during a visit to a local elementary school.
Ward made a stop at Park Elementary School in Munhall to help unveil a new pedestrian safety clinic and teach kids a valuable lesson.
"Ball goes into the street," Ward told the second grade students, "No! Let it go! Don't' run after that ball!"
Ward was on hand to help coach the safety clinic aimed at keeping students safe on their walks to school.
To help get the message across to students, the school transformed its gym into a "safety town."
I wonder if he got to wear a crossing guard uniform? That would be really hot. AAH and look at THIS. So precious. Look what is posted on Steelers.com:
“Anything that has to do with helping kids I like to do,” said Ward. “There is a sense of responsibility of giving back to the community. I like having an active role; that is something Jerome (Bettis) always taught me. Any time you can have an impact on kids in the community is a blessing in disguise.”
And this, gentle readers, are what real heroes are all about :)

Here We Go!!!

I've been in Hong Kong for two weeks. I THINK I found out how to watch the games online? I'll know in half an hour. Hong Kong is 12 hours ahead of East Coast time. Can't wait for the 4am games!

GO STILLERS! I can't effing wait to see my boys again!

Excuse me, but what is this supposed do mean?

 From today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

The Browns and Steelers are virtual co-favorites in the AFC North, according to early odds.

Did the Post-Gazette somehow mistakenly hire my mother as a writer? (love you mom!)

Anyway, here  is the Steelers 2008 Season schedule. I am missing all of these games because I will be in Hong Kong. If you are in Hong Kong and you are reading this, then please contact me immediately so we can start making 4am plans to watch these games! Also, these times are EST, if somebody knows these times in HKT, please help me because thinking about it hurts my head.

PRESEASONhines-ward-steely-mcbeam.jpg

AUGUST

8 -- Philadelphia, 7:30
14 -- vs. Buffalo in Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
23 -- at Minnesota, 8 p.m.
28 -- Carolina, 7:30 p.m.

REGULAR SEASON

SEPTEMBER
7 -- Houston, 1 p.m.
14 -- at Cleveland, 8:15 p.m.
21 -- at Philadelphia, 4:15 p.m.
29 -- Baltimore, 8:30 p.m.
 
OCTOBER
5 -- at Jacksonville, 8:15 p.m.
12 -- Off
19 -- at Cincinnati, 1 p.m.
26 -- New York Giants, 4:15 p.m.

NOVEMBER
9 -- Indianapolis, 4:15 p.m.
16 -- San Diego, 4:15 p.m.
20 -- Cincinnati, 8:15 p.m.
30 -- @ New England, 4:15 p.m.

DECEMBER
7 -- Dallas, 4:15 p.m.
14 -- at Baltimore, 1 p.m.
21 -- at Tennessee, 1 p.m.
28 -- Cleveland, 1 p.m.


Am I still allowed to be in denial?

I'm not ready to admit the season is over. I refuse to watch Sportscenter or even Inside the NFL (which is like my most favorite show ever, regardless of Steelers coverage). I also don't remember last Saturday's game - not due to beer consumption (although there was), but I think I have subconsciously blocked it out. People do things like this to cope with tragic events.

I only got to wear my 75th Anniversary edition Troy Polamalu throwback jersey Christmas present twice!

It's so hard to believe there's 9 more months left until Steelers football. 

ps - thanks for the great season, guys. If it really is over. Sigh.