Weekend Notes

From around our little sphere:

• Booger Still Hanging: We still may see a big black and gold booger this fall:
  

  "He's a veteran football player that's a good football player. He's won world championships in two different cities," Tomlin said of McFarland this week during the owners meetings in Florida. "We felt it was worthy of our time to spend a day with him, We'll see where that goes. Absolutely."

  Unless Tomlin is playing mind games, his words indicate there could be a roster spot for McFarland if he makes a full recovery from the knee injury he suffered last August.

  "Anthony had an extremely positive visit with the Steelers, and I think it was mutual," said agent Karl Bernard, who stressed that no negotiations took place between his client and the Steelers. "There was no urgency from the Steelers to sign him right now. Based on the conversations I've had, it's definitely a possibility that he could be in a Steelers' uniform."

• Bucs Ink Capps: It's not Manny Corpas length and money, which is good, and the window for negotiating a longer deal is still open. Let's see Capps put together a second solid year.
  

  On Friday, the Pirates signed Capps to a two-year deal, which could be worth up to $3.2 million. The right-hander will make $500,000 this season and receive a $250,000 signing bonus. Next year, Capps will get $2.3 million in base pay, with the chance for another $150,000 in incentives based on games finished.

• Tomorrow's Pens/Flyers game could not only be a playoff preview but could also play a major part in the Pens getting the #1 seed in the East and the Flyers just getting into the playoffs. With all that on the line and the history between the two, things could get ugly and Michel Therrien is already crying foul and demanding that the Pens start the game on a 4 minute 5-3 power play.
  
  
• Former Bengal Chris Henry was released from jail Friday, after being fitted with a court-ordered monitoring device. Now Ike Taylor has no excuse for losing Henry in coverage.
  
  
• People are writing retrospectives on the Pens season already? This can't be good - I thought the real season was just starting.
  
  
• Bucs lose 5-4 to the Marlins on a walk off HR. Good news is that they are 2-2, same as the Yankees and only 1 game behind the Brewers and Cardinals in the NL Central. The Bad News is the horrible relief pitching, lack of stamina of the starting pitching, 6 errors already by the defense, and a lack of offensive production in the middle of the lineup makes this all sound ridiculously familiar.
• Over at si.com, journeyman NFL o-lineman Ross Tucker lists the positions along the offensive line in order of difficulty. Nothing too surprising: the two tackles are most important, than the guards, then center. As he says about the center position:
  

  it was unanimous among the four offensive lineman that I polled that center was the easiest position, at least physically, along the line. The center is rarely in a one-on-one pass blocking situation, which as we have noted, is the most likely situation in which an offensive linemen could have a large impact on the outcome of a game.

  Centers are often the ones providing the help in pass protection so it is surprising to me that teams like the Buccaneers value the position highly enough to reward a player like Jeff Faine with a contract that guarantees him $15 million. Most centers go through an entire season without giving up any sacks and are rarely credited with even being responsible for a pressure.

  Tell me again who in the Steeler front office thought Sean Mahan was a good signing? Change the word 'season' to 'drive' in the last sentence and you get about what Mahan was able to deliver last season.