Everybody panic! It's just like the Titanic but it's full of bears!

So Brett Favre is retired

For now.

How can you not love this man?

I'll tell you, I really do hate all of the coverage about him. For each of the past 3 years I've nearly cried as sports talk was dominated by the original maverick. And I know there are sports people that say "we'll stop talking about him when you stop listening to us talk about him", and I promise you I did. When ESPN talked about him, unless it was Rachael Nichols doing the reporting, I changed the channel.

Honestly though, after everything he has put us through, how can you not love a man that says this "I really believe this is it...I truly, truly believe it's over...But if someone calls November 1, who knows?''

WHAT!?!?!?!?!

Those are mutually exclusive thoughts.

Favre has turned into the Saw franchise. Some people like him, most people despise him, but every year there he is again with a new story, sort of, ready to cash his check and continue his slow destruction of American society.

Moving on.

and speaking of slow destruction...

The Pirates announced, that, well, everyone has been traded.

The good news: The West Virginia Power just got a whole lot better

The bad news: that's what we got for Ian Snell

I'd break it down trade by trade, but frankly I don't have the time, plus you can find that analysis just about anywhere. All I'm going to say is that I'm gonna make sure I buy tickets to a game before the end of the season. kudos buccos.

Before this trade deadling the only coverage the Pirates EVER got on the national scene was about how bad they were, how beautiful PNC Park is, how much a shame it is that such a bad team plays in such a great stadium and the fact that their losing season streak is legally old enough to drive.

Now that they have essentially sold their starting line-up at least the press on them isn't ALL negative. Here's an excerpt from an article on ESPN.com by Jayson Stark with some expert takes on the trades

PRO -- "As they said themselves, it's not like they just broke up the '27 Yankees. They weren't going to compete with those guys anyway. And they were just going to start getting too expensive before they had enough talent to win. With the players they got back, some are more questionable than others. But I still think what they're doing is the right thing."

CON -- "I don't know what they're doing. They're either over-evaluating their return or under-evaluating what they're moving, or just trying to blow every [big] contract off their roster, because I really don't see a lot of upside in just about anyone they got back."

PRO -- "At least they're finally doing it right. Before, they'd always kind of half rebuild. Not this time. I'm not sure where it's leading. But I'll say this. They've definitely got a deep farm system."

CON -- "I've seen fire sales. But this is the biggest fire sale I've ever seen. I don't know how you can do this to your fans. You can't just wipe it out and say, 'Come see us in three years.' ... They've got a lot of players now, but I'm not sure what they've got. They've got plenty of quantity. I'm just not sure of the quality. All I know is, some of these guys, in two years, had better be pretty good players. Or somebody has a lot of explaining to do."

At least the opinions on what the team is doing is .500. That could be a start.


I'll admit it is bittersweet to see Jack Wilson go. My favorite bucco since he came on the scene, the guy really did love Pittsburgh. The Trib has a great article about him not getting to say goodbye to the fans.

Almost makes you want to drive to Cleveland at the end of the month when the Mariners travel there. Almost.


Andrew McCutchen almost hit a baseball all the way to Cleveland (see what I did there, it's called a Segway, and it's really expensive)

Pictured here talking to Jim Bowers,
aka Bowers the master of the water balloon from Little Big League

McCutchen belted 3 home runs Saturday night, the first time a Pirates player did that since 2001 when Aramis Ramriez hit...crap so that means he's gone.

I love that this team didn't hit a home run for like 10 games right around the end of May beginning of June, then Garrett Jones hits 10 in July, McCutchen hits 3 Sat. night, and Delwyn Young and FUCKING Ronny Cedeno each hit one on Sunday.

Yes THE Ronny Cedeno. Nothing like trading for a guy that hits .2oo points better for your team than the last one he played for. Mr. Egg meet Mr. Jack Zduriencik's face.


Finally, the Pens signed some guys. Nothing major, again I'd break it down for you but I missed the boat, and they are all likely WBS deals anyway. Check out thepensblog if you want more info.

Finally, (part two) I want to address this issue before it gets out of hand. If you want timely, go buy a watch. Let's face facts you don't read this blog to get fast breaking news, you read it because you're either a) drunk, b) lost, or c) related to me. Although if you're c) you're probably a) too. And I thank you for it, just don't expect me to be anything but me. I think it was Ghandi that said that, or was it Popeye?


Keep the Faith.

-the legend

This is my brother. And this is my brother's new girlfriend and she is NOT a whore!

Poor Andy Laroche. First, the guy gets traded to the Pirates. Now the greener side of the pasture is gone as his brother was traded to the Red Sox.

It's a good deal for the Pirates, as Laroche is expensive and never quite fulfilled the expectations we had for him. I'm not really sure what a .247 hitter is going to do for the Sox line-up, but as a depth guy and a defensive replacement, akin to the Mientkiewicz trade in 2004, he may be just what they need.

The Rays SUCKED for years and had virtually no one on their major league roster that anyone knew before they went to the World Series last year. Same with the Marlins. I'm glad the Pirates are dumping everybody, and I mean everybody, I want to see Wilson, Sanchez, Snell and even maybe some people like Grabow go if possible.

The Pirates actually have a promising future. Alverez, Tabata, and Milledge are all top notch power prospects, and as long as 1 of them turns out great and 1 turns out good, in addition to McCutchen, and the depth of pitching in the organization they might actually have a chance to make a big jump.

Pirates trade Adam Laroche to Boston Red Sox for SS Argenis Diaz and P Hunter Strickland

Solution to hitting slump: GIANT BAT

Speaking of giants

Penguins sign veteran G Brent Johnson to 1-year 525k contract

This is clearly a move made based on the possibility of the NHL expanding the size of the nets next season. I mean look at the guys range. He could cover a soccer net.

In all seriousness, it's a very good move for the Pens, bringing in a solid veteran, at a bargain basement price to compete with the unproven Curry for the back-up job. If Fleury goes down at any point this season, the Johnson signing will prove dividends, if not, no harm no foul. The guy is better than Sabourin and Garon, and cheaper.

I feel like giving kudos to Shero at this point is like congratulating the Sun for rising every morning. It just gets redundant.

I guess we'll wrap this up as an all Pittsburgh post.

The New Pens Stanley Cup DVD SUCKS

This is what a Stanley Cup video should look like.

Not This

It's over produced, over stylized, and completely impersonal. AND IT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A TITLE!!

One From the Heart, and Against the Odds, both mean something. I guess we'll just refer to this as Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup 2009 Champions. Bullshit. And that's not where the shittyness ends...shittiness...shityness...shitiness, fuck it you get the point.

The dvd menu comes up and looks and sounds like the intro to a video game. No KBL, no John Steigerwald, no early nineties facial hair. Then you press play.

The intro = breathtaking.

Perfect.

I would have been happier if the entire thing would have ended there. Because from that point forward it's choke city. There's no tiger sounds when bodies collide. The narrator is average at best. And the pacing is terrible.

There's nothing but glossy packaging here. The old tapes got into the Pens history, blue jerseys, and the drafting of Lemiuex. We got to see Recchi's mullet, and the tribute to Bob Johnson.

The new one simply move chronologically through the highlights of the year.

If you want to understand my dismay, here's the best metaphor. The old VHS tapes are like local coverage, Fox Sports, Mike Lange, Phil Bourque, Myron Cope. This new DVD has NBC, Mike Emerick, Ed Olczyk, and national coverage written all over them.

And worst of all there's no great lines from it. No "it became known simply as THE save" or "it was the dance of champions". We're a city born with character. We take pride in our uniqueness. And this DVD has too little of that.

I would have survived without all the aspects of the videos that could be construed as nostalgia. I get it production values have improved. But it's the impersonality of the whole thing that sets this apart. It's just another league produced highlight tape. There's no heart in it. Even that I could have accepted if it wasn't for the fact that all the Pens bloggers were saying this one holds up against the old ones. Thepensblog, Pensuniverse, and a host of others all claimed, incorrectly, that this DVD to be just as good as the first two.

I think thepensblog guys were blinded by their press passes, as they got to view the DVD at a special premiere. And maybe I shouldn't fault them for that because I imagine it may have been a lot better in that atmosphere. But I don't know how to explain their attitudes toward subsequent viewings of the tape, or how to explain any other Penguins bloggers views. It was crushing the first time I watched it because I let all of them build it up for me. And while I still got chills during Mike Lange's call, it was a bit bittersweet knowing how good it could have been.

The fact is the Stanley Cup Finals were epic and will stay with me forever. Unfortunately the DVD commemorating them will not.


Keep the Faith

-the legend