Thoughts for the Weekend

To consider over the weekend:

• The headline of this week's SI reads: "How the Browns Learned to Win" (subscription required). Excuse me? Win what? This sounds a a lot like Bengal-mania which has inflicted media types for the past 3 years. The diagnosis goes like this: team spends years losing, team acquires big name offensive talent, team ignores defense, team wins more games than expected, team continues to lose to the Steelers, team does not win playoff game. After this, the virus is spread infecting the media, which then displays symptoms: predicting Super Bowl for team, predicting Steelers will not win division, forgetting that defense is part of football, lamenting poor season and blaming it on the coach, continuing to proclaim QB/WR/TE/RB (pick one) as one of the best in the league despite contrary evidence, watching team slide down the standings, professing surprise that the Steelers win the division.
• I wish the above disease could include the Ravens, but unfortunately, they have won a Super Bowl and actually did win the division last year in a season when the Steelers went 8-8. For that, they seem to have avoided the trap.
• Dr. Z thinks the Steelers play dirty. Is he really a doctor? If so, shouldn't he recognize symptoms of Alzheimer's or increasing senility? If not, take the silly 'Dr.' away from him and get him to a real one ASAP! Slowing down the game to examine how a player ran down a fumble on a muddy slop of a field and concluding he was "deliberately veering off" in order to step on a player is a good sign he needs help.
• More from our favorite crazy doctor:

  "Some things, it seems, used to be [called as penalties] but just aren't anymore, my number one example being the penalty on the crowd for excessive noise while the other team is trying to run its offense."

  Is there a hotline where I can report people who use the Dr. moniker without any qualifications? In this case, any understanding of football and its fans?
• BTW: I like Lawrence Timmons a lot. Too many were tagging him with the dreaded "next Huey Richardson" tag, but remember that he's still a rookie and learning a new position. When he does get on the field, he seems to always be around the ball making plays, recovering fumbles, etc. whether on defense or special teams.
• On the flip side: I know he's hurt now, but coming out of the preseason, I expected more from LaMar Woodley this year than what we've seen.
  
• PFW gets in on bashing football announcers and pregame personalities: this column could be 5 times as long as it is. They forgot to include the "analysis" from Monday night that since it was wet and the field was muddy, teams wouldn't be able to throw and would have to revert to running the ball. Which is why Big Ben set a team record for completion percentage and consecutive completions and the Steelers moved the ball on the lone scoring drive almost exclusively through the air.
• Perplexing gambling note of the week from PFW:
  The Steelers have covered eight of their last 10 night games vs. AFC North rivals but have covered only three of their last nine contests after having held their previous opponent to fewer than 10 points.
• Bigger ice surfaces for new arenas? Why not, it's a better idea than larger nets. Why can't new arenas in the NHL have bigger ice surfaces? For years, the arenas in Boston and Buffalo had smaller surfaces; it led to home ice advantage and visiting teams had to subtly change their gameplans, but it wasn't the end of the world. In fact, it was intriguing to see how teams fared in the cramped corners of Boston Garden. The only issue with this is that preexisting arenas, including the many that are still relatively new, realistically can't increase their ice surface. But that's fine, why do all ice surfaces need to be exactly the same size? Something tells me Mario would like the idea of having Sid an Geno skating on the big ice. Hell, he might even try another comeback to give it a shot himself.
  
• Again, Eklund is out there and throws rumors around like the Yankees hand out money, but trading Recchi makes too much sense, especially if he's going to moan about not playing.
• Making a run for biggest blowhard in journalism, Mike Celezic chimes in again, this time about Sean Talyor:
  

  And is really that much different that Ben Roethlisberger? Big Ben also felt the need to show what a tough guy he was, except he did it by riding a motorcycle without a helmet. That doesn’t have the same air of danger about it that waving guns around and acting like a thug does, but it almost killed him. It seems that the underlying psychology is the same, it’s just the cultural backdrop and mode of expression that’s different.

  One guy gets intentionally shot by another person, the other injures himself in an accident. He makes it worse by bringing Josh Hancock and Thurman Munson into his head spinning argument.
• Of course, Celezic has a tough task before he can catch old Bill Conlin from Philly. On case you have missed it, do yourself a favor and acquaint yourself with the definition of a crotchety old curmudgeon who should be in a rest home by now.
  
• Best Fill in your own joke headline: Father, son cited for hunting at airport.