Matt Cooke Out. For a Long, Long Time

After Matt Cooke stupidly threw his elbow at the head of Rangers Ryan McDonagh on Sunday, the NHL wisely suspended him for the rest of the regular season (10 games), plus the first round of the playoffs.

The sad thing is that Cookie doesn't have to play like that. He's got enough game that he doesn't need to be head-hunting, throwing dangerous cheap shots and putting his team behind the eight-ball. It's frustrating to see and, frankly, kinda embarrassing for Pens fans. He vows to come back a smarter player and I hope that he does. Come back smarter, that is.

Ironically, this is the kind of 'get tough on crime punishment' Penguins owner Mario the Magnificent has been calling for since, well since his playing days.

But does it mean a permanent sea change in the way the NHL is officiated on ice and the kinds of reprimands we will see coming out of HQ in Toronto?

After the GM's meetings last week, the NHL said that they would not put an out-right ban on all head-shots; but rather they would simply begin strictly enforcing the rules that already exist pertaining to player safety and unnecessarily dangerous hits. [It's pretty much what the NFL said after one Sunday that saw four players concussed into stupors in a matter of hours.]

Per Shelly Anderson at the PG, some GM's have no interest in changing the game at all,

"'I don't think it's realistic,' he said [NHL VP Brendan Shanahan]. 'I think defenders defend standing up and forwards attack bent over.

'There are other things we can do first. It's healthy that every few years we have to re-evaluate the game and make tweaks and adjustments. The game will never stop evolving.'

[NHL Commissioner Gary] Bettman said the lack of support for penalizing all head shots stems to some extent from data the GMs received Monday that show most concussions this season are not from head shots, and that 44 percent are the result of legal hits."

[I call shenanigans. I just love when people toss out hard percentages. I want to see the data on this 44% that Bettman referred to. Maybe he's right, but I get the feeling he pulled that number out of thin air.]

It is true that the NHL can call games much tighter, that rules already exist on the books which would protect players more, which on-ice officials eschew calling. Heck, when was the last time you watched a game and they actually sent somebody to the box for charging? They could call that twice per game on Ovie. They turn a blind eye to a whole crapton of cross-checks that occur and almost never call obstruction or interference. They have started calling boarding more which is great. And I also understand that hockey is fast, so maybe the on-ice zebras just can't see everything.

Which is where Colin Campbell comes in. If the officials miss something in live action (easy enough to do), he can issue fines and suspensions from his NHL lair in Toronto to address egregious, unnecessary and dangerous shots. His shot across Cooke's bow would seem to be the opening salvo.

But ... I've been led down the garden path by the NHL before. They will tire of policing the game like this, because the NHL does this from time to time. It's a dance they do every couple of years. "We're going to open the game up," they say, and the fans are happy, the sun shines and skill players flourish. Then over the course of a season (or two or three), without noticing it, they just slide back to the old clutch and grab tactics.

Eventually, the NHL again says, "Oh, yes, we're going to start calling obstruction and interference" and again there is much rejoicing everywhere. Then they revert back. The cycle repeats. Over and over again.

So I worry that they will tire of this new, more enlightened thinking on cheap shots, head-hunting and general goonery, and revert to their old, comfortable, well-worn neanderthal thinking.

But the cost is too great. This change from the league itself has to be permanent because if the league doesn't police this stuff, then the players and coaches do. You just know that one of the Canadiens is going to take a run at Zdeno Chara the next time the Habs and B's meet, right? I mean, I'd make a large bet on that eventuality.

It is precisely because of those types of situations that NHL has to be the Sheriff. It has to police head-hunting and other forms of general goonery, so that the players and coaches, many of whom live with their heads in the dark ages, won't mete out justice themselves.

There's a new Sheriff in town. I only hope he sticks around this time.

Putting the Pitt Loss to Butler in Perspective

For Pitt fans, we've been here before -- bounced from the tournament. Bitterly. Devastatingly. Even prematurely, some would say.

Every year, there's a reason, some phenom who decides to explode on the scene at the exact moment he takes the court against Pitt, or a bad match up, or just dumb luck. There's always a reason, isn't there?

Let's take a stroll through the last decade of painful losses.

2002: As a 3 seed, Pitt made it to the Sweet 16, beating 14-seed Central Connecticut State and 6th-seeded Cal along the way before going down to Kent State (10 seed.)

Reason: A Golden Flash player named Antonio Gates. Maybe you've heard of him. He's gone on to be the fame and fortune in the NFL as a tight end for the San Diego Chargers and has been selected to the Pro Bowl seven times.

2003: As a 2 seed, Pitt made it to the Sweet 16, beating 15th seed Wagner and 7th seed Indiana, before losing to 3rd seed Marquette, by a score of 77-74.

Reason: D-Wade. Was named the Midwest Regional Outstanding Player after compiling 51 points, 14 boards and 15 assists in two games -- taking out Pitt, then Kain'tuck.

2004: As a 3 seed, Pitt made it to the Sweet 16, beating Central Fla. (14) and Wisconsin (6) before losing to Oklahoma State, 63-51.

Reason: Okla. St. was smoking hot coming into this game, having won 19 of their last 20.

2005: Pitt (9 seed) lost a depressing game to Pacific in the first round, 79-71.

Reason: Who cares, really?

2006: Pitt won their first round game versus a D-Wade-less Marquette, then dropped in the 2nd round to Bradley (out of the Missouri Valley Conference)

Reason: Two Braves went completely bananas in this game, as Patrick O'Bryant had 28 points and 7 rebounds, while Marcellus Sommerville added 18 points and 6 boards. To think, this was supposed to be the Panthers' bounce-back year.

2007: Pitt earned a 3-seed and advanced to the Sweet 16 before losing to UCLA.

Reason: UCLA did advance to the Final Four. And they proved to be a much tougher team. Probably Ben Howland's best team.

2008: Lost in the second round to Michigan State.

Reason: There's never really any shame in losing to Tom Izzo's Michigan State program. When the game was on the line, Drew Neitzel and Kalin Lucas took over, putting on a late shooting-and-ballhandling show. Of note: This win over Pitt gave Spartie five wins in five NCAA tournament games against Big East teams, which tied the longest winning streak against Big East teams in NCAA tournament play, set by Duke (won five straight against the Big East from 1990 to 1992.)

2009: Lost in the Elite 8 on a last second bucket by Villanova's Scottie Reynolds.

Reason: They were one great play away from going to OT and possibly advancing to the Final Four, when Reynolds made the best, most clutch play of the night. Still, this loss was a move in the right direction -- as Pitt finally got past the Sweet 16. Still, it was disappointing, given that this was probably Pitt's best team ever, and certainly the best team in the Jamie Dixon era. This one hurt. A lot.

2010: Lost in the 2nd round to Xavier.

Reason: This was a team figuring out who they were in the absence of Dejuan Blair, Sam Young and Levance Fields.

2011: Do we have to relive this second round loss to Butler?

Reason: Facing Butler which should never have had a seed as low as 8 with four starters returning from last year's Butler team. Plus Shelvin Mack going bananas and hitting 7 of 12 three-point shots. Plus Matt Howard flopping like an Italian futbol player. Plus Pitt's shot clock violation. And their sheer stupidity. That about sums that up, right?

I had this wonderful principal in high school -- Sister Regina Clare. She used to tell us that there was a world of difference between an excuse and a reason. But I wonder, if I could ask her now, if even valid reasons cannot turn into excuses when they are heaped upon each other, layer after layer, over and over again?

Sure, there's really no shame in losing to Dwyane Wade. Or losing to last year's finalist, a team that came within 2-points of knocking off Duke.

And in a vacuum, either of those loses is perfectly acceptable to all but the most rabid Pitt fans, no?

But at some point, if you want to actually be deserving of elite status, actually be deserving of a 1-seed in the tourney, don't you have to win one of those games every once in a while? Not all of them. Just one or two of them. Because elite teams do sometimes win these kinds of games. Elite teams sometimes rise up and pull off the big win in the toughest setting.

After a while, don't legit reasons take on another shape and morph into excuses?

None of which is to say that I'm ready to make crazy changes at Pitt, like firing coach Dixon or something else equally extreme. But ... Dixon et al do have to examine some things this off-season. There are chinks in the armor that simply have to be mended. Pitt was badly out-coached by Jim Calhoun in the Big East tournament, and other weaknesses were painfully apparent against Butler, such as Pitt's inability to adjust to and/or cool off a hot 3-point shooter. Frankly, that's something that has been a problem for the Panthers over the years. So there are things for Dixon and his staff to work on, starting today; areas that they simply have to improve upon. Have. To.

Meanwhile, the NCAA men's basketball selection committee should cease and desist from ever conferring a No. 1 seed upon Pitt until the Panthers actually win one of these things tough games in March, because I'm sure the white hairs at the committee are just as sick of seeing this as Pitt fans are:

Sunday Recipe: Chicken Romano with Linguini in Lemon Sauce

The food cognoscenti, for many years, have looked down their noses at Italian-American cooking, versus 'authentic' Italian cooking, but I would argue that there's a difference between authentic Italian-American and over-cooked, mushy, disgusting Italian-American. It is not accurate or fair to judge Italian-American cuisine by a can of Chef Boyardee. That's a pretty unfair criticism. It would be like me disparaging all the food in Tuscany because I got food poisoning there. Oh wait ...

Of recent note, there has a been a bit of come to Jesus recognition of good Italian-American food. Spaghetti and meatballs is a distinctly American iteration, but it's a delicious one that I will defend. Along those same lines, I have no idea of the actual origin of chicken romano, but it strikes me as a particularly Italian-American dish. When done well, it can give you a right mouth-gasm.

You will need:
3 or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts halves (depending on how many you are serving)
2 c. flour
3 eggs
3 c. Pecorino Romano cheese (plus some Romano for your pasta)
1 shallot - finely diced
2 cloves garlic - smashed
1 pat of butter
1 lemon (juiced)
1 c. white wine
pinch of crushed red pepper
1 lb. of dried thin linguini

The prep:
Clean up each of the chicken breast halves, then pound each half thoroughly. If you don't have one of these:just put the chicken between some plastic wrap and use one of these:
Once the chicken is pounded out, cut each half breast into about three cutlets.

Make a dredging station. (I know, I know. This sounds complicated, but it's not. Really. Trust me.) Moving from right to left, put the flour in a shallow bowl. In the next bowl, whip the three eggs. In the last bowl, you should have several cups of romano cheese. I find it's easiest if I can go right from the dredging to the skillet, so once I set up the dredging station, I heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat/medium-low heat.

Dredge each chicken cutlet in the flour first, then into the egg wash, then in the romano cheese. Place immediately in the skillet, and dredge the next cutlet. When one side of the cutlet gets golden (about 5-7 minutes), flip it. Because the chicken is thin, it cooks quickly. I can usually fit about five cutlets in my skillet at a time. Salt the chicken lightly in the skillet. As each cutlet is done, remove it to a plate and keep on cooking assembly-line style.

After you've cooked all the chicken, in the same non-stick skillet (so that you can scrape up any little bits of residual goodness from the chicken cutlets), add the pat of butter, the garlic and the shallots and sautee those for about 5 minutes until they're soft. Then add the lemon juice and white wine. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer.

Put on a large pot of water when you are dredging the chicken. As to the pasta, unless I'm posting a recipe for fresh cut pasta, dried is always appropriate. I am going to link to the world's greatest post defending dried pasta. If you're not a pasta wizard, please refer to this post. For this dish, I really like thin linguini.

When the linguini is nearly cooked, remove the garlic cloves from the sautee pan, add the linguini to the sautee pan with about 1/2 c. of pasta water, and give it all a toss with the pinch of crushed red pepper. After you remove the pasta to a large serving bowl, top it with the chicken cutlets and drizzle the left over lemon-wine sauce over the whole thing. Serve with grated pecorino romano cheese.

Last Chance, Last Dance -- Ten Players to Watch in the Women's NCAA Basketball Tourney

One of the most satisfying things about watching women's college hoops is that you get a chance to know the players over a long period of time. Nobody leaves early for the WNBA. [To paraphrase a radio jock I once heard, if a WNBA game broke out in my back yard, I'd pull the blinds and go to bed.] And despite the fact that a new young player or two grabs my attention every year (hello Aaryn Ellenberg and Stefanie Dolson), there are those players who I feel like I've gotten to know over their careers. I know their strengths and weaknesses, I've seen them develop different parts of their games. In fact, it feels strange to sit down and watch the tourney without Jayne Appel and Tina Charles this year. In short, this is my last chance to see the players who I have enjoyed watching for several years, players who are dancing for the last time in their wonderful college careers. In no particular order,

TEN SENIORS TO WATCH IN THE WOMEN'S NCAA TOURNEY:

1. Deveraux Peters, Forward - Notre Dame. I've written about it many times before, but basketball in the Big East is like a prize fight. Last team standing wins. To win defensive player of the year in this conference, you have to play like a pissed off Dick Butkus. No doubt Peters' 60 steals and 58 blocks helped her win this award, you have to see her to see how disruptive she is on the defensive end of the floor. Plus, she's got the best shooting percentage (.583) on the team.

2. Courtney Vandersloot, Guard -- Gonzaga. I don't get to see as many of the 'Zags games as I would like, but when I do, it is a real treat to watch Vandersloot. She has extraordinary vision. It seems like she has eyes in the back of her head. She moves, ball fakes, dribble-drives and then, as they say in football, she throws her teammates open. I've never seen a better passer in the women's game. She is an assists machine.

3. Jantel Lavendar, Center -- Ohio State. Last year, the Buckeyes were bounced in the second round by Mississippi State, continuing a disturbing trend wherein OSU has lost to a team with a worse seed in the first or second round in four of the last five seasons. I know coach Jim Foster is fed up and I expect Lavendar is, too. She plays nearly every minute of every game and averages a double-double (22.7 points and 10.8 rebounds.) This is her last shot to make a deep run in the tourney.

4. Maya Moore, Forward -- UConn. What can I say about Maya Moore that hasn't been said before? She is a force of nature and while every player at this level is competitive, Moore's competitive drive 'goes to eleven.' Georgetown held her to 6 points in the Big East tourney, so the next day, she took it out on Rutgers. She couldn't be stopped. She has a great chance at going out on top, and the Huskies have been pretty near unbeatable as long as Moore has been in residence in Storrs.

5. Danielle Adams, Forward/Center -- Texas A & M. The thing about Adams is that she is quicker than she looks. Combine that with her tremendously soft hands and she rarely misses chances in the paint. She's really blossomed and grown into her game under Gary Blair. I love watching a player who appears to be having fun, which is another reason I like watching Adams so much.

6. Danielle Robinson, Guard -- Oklahoma. The team that used to belong to the Paris sisters is now totally and completely D-Rob's. She leads her team in scoring, in steals, in assists. Plus, she's silky smooth. Much as I enjoy watching her, she'll need help from Whitney Hand and freshman phenom Aaryn Ellenberg if the Sooners are going to make a run to another Final Four appearance.

7. Angie Bjorklund, Guard/Forward -- Tennessee. Bjorklund lived through the 2009 first round loss and lived to tell. Since then, the Summitt has rebuilt her Vols program back to her usual standards. Bjorklund played the SEC title game with big-time intensity, like she really wanted that number one seed in the Big Dance. Big Time. The big question on Rockytop is, can she and junior Shekinna Stricklen get Tennessee back to the Final Four?

8. Jeanette Pohlen, Guard -- Stanford. Is shooting nearly 42% from three-point range and leads her team in assists. Last year, it was Pohlen's last second heroics that propelled the Cardinal into the Final Four. This year, in handing UConn their first loss since Stanford beat them in the Final Four in 2008, Pohlen was en fuego, draining five three-point shots to lead her team. She played the game of her life. The way the brackets are set up, Pohlen and Stanford could meet UConn again in the final (thank you committee) and if that happens, can she do it again, can she play the best game of her career?

9. Ta’Shia Phillips, Center -- Xavier. The player who's heart was broken because of Pohlen's last minute heroics last year, Phillips is the all-time leading rebounder in the history of the Atlantic 10 conference (and second in the nation with rebounds per game this season.) She's also third in shooting percentage (60.8%). Watch a Musketeers game and you'll lose count of how many put-backs Phillips gets.

10. Victoria Dunlap, Forward -- Kentucky. She's such a smart player and has a beautiful burst of speed. Though they list her at only 6' 1" (only in women's basketball do I ever write things like, 'only 6' 1"'), she can really sky. Can Dunlap and the 'Cats bounce back from the whupping the Vols laid on them? Dunlap has to stay out of foul trouble, has to be on the floor, if they even want to get past the second round this year.

BONUS UNDERCLASSMEN TO WATCH FOR:

The Juniors -- Keisha Hampton, Forward -- DePaul; Nnemkadi Ogwumike, Forward -- Stanford; Shekinna Stricklen, Guard/Forward -- Tennessee; Jasmine Dixon, Forward -- UCLA.

The Sophomores -- Brittney Griner, Center -- Baylor; Morgan Stroman, Forward -- Miami (Fl.); Sugar Rodgers, Guard -- Georgetown; Skylar Diggins, Guard -- Notre Dame.

The Freshmen -- Aaryn Ellenburg, Guard -- Oklahoma; Stefanie Dolson, Center -- UConn; Odyssey Sims, Guard -- Baylor.

8 Easy Steps to Blow Up Your March Madness Brackets

If you want to win your pool, your best chance is to leave it to chance. Enlarge your bracket sheet, dip your cat's paws in paint and let him walk on it to make the picks. Or, have your addled great-uncle make your picks for you after you've plyed him with several whiskey sours at the VFW or American Legion.

But if you're like me, you revel in being out of the running before Vitale's dome turns that very unique, distinct shade of dark umber that he gets in the Sweet Sixteen. I like to make extra copies of my picks to throw at the television. It makes watching my picks go down one by one more fun. Here are some easy steps to royally screwing up your picks.

1. Pick your favorite team to advance to the final. This step is much less effective if you are a fan of Duke or Kansas, because you have somewhat decent odds with those teams. But, if like me, you root for a program that has never won a title, nay, even made it to the Final Four, be sure to pencil your team in to the National Championship game. Oh, and while we're here, if you are a fan of Duke or Kansas, from the bottom of my heart, kindly piss off.

2. Listen to the 'experts.' Were I a younger person, the kind who could stay up for many hours on end, I could have I been watching, listening to and reading bracket breakdowns, bracket busters and upset specials non-stop for the last 40-some odd hours. Too. Much. Information. And really, if you hear Doug Gottlieb say one thing, you'll hear Jay Bilas say another, then read Andy Katz saying something else, and have Dick Vitale shouting about something, baaabeeeeee! By then you're like a dog chasing his tail. Be sure to inundate yourself with information if you want your bracket sheet to be FUBAR.

3. Factor in Venue. Along those lines, everybody's looking for an edge and what better than pseudo-home court advantage? Oh, lookie! Gonzaga's playing St. John's IN DENVER. That will give them a huge advantage. Not.

4. Pick a huge underdog. For every George Mason and Butler, there are hundreds of other mid-major teams that fall in the early rounds. Everybody wants to be the smart guy who picks the big underdog winner -- the one jerk you knew who crowed about picking Vermont to win over Syracuse in the first round in 2005. (And yeah, I did know that guy and my phone blew up the second that clock hit 0:00.) But if you try it, more likely than not, woe be unto your bracket sheets. However, if you do make that pick, even though your brackets are otherwise as lovely as a rusted, mangled, twisted hunk of sheet metal, you get to crow about your prescience in picking the big upset that everybody's talking about. So you've got that going for you.

5. Pick just the favorites. The history of the tourney is rife with upsets and if you don't pick one or two, you will surely be screwed when some Goliath goes down. One year I tried to pick against all the lower seeds and just picked the favorites. I was bitter and spiteful, so I changed tacts. Still, I was out of the running before I even started to feel my first hangover of March Madness.

6. Pick all the 12 seeds over 5 seeds in the first round. Every year, there's a 12 over a 5, right? The trick is -- which one? Richmond over Vandy? Utah St. over Kansas St.? Memphis over Zona? TBA (seriously, I don't know who it is yet, so really how I am expected to make this kind of a pick?) over WVU? Screw it. Pick them all!

7. Pick Gonzaga to make a deep run. They seem to be poised, almost all the time. And every time I pick them to advance past the Sweet Sixteen I get hosed. So get hosed. Pick the Zags!

8. Make your picks based on deep-seated antipathy. No doubt I have screwed myself in the past by picking against the entire ACC, picking against a coach who I find irksome (hey, there, Mr. Pitino) or picking against a fanbase (yes, UNC, I am looking at you.) It doesn't work. If you want to give yourself a fighting chance, repeat Michael Corleone's mantra -- it's not personal, it's just business. However, if you want to flame out spectacularly, pick the teams you hate to go down in the first round. You may even get lucky. You never know when little Weber State is going to smite UNC.

Off to make one last go-around with my Bracket Sheet of Crap. Enjoy the tourney.

Back from the Boot: Spaghetti with a Traditional Bolognese Sauce

I am back from my "gone fishing," trip, which was really traveling through northern Italy, including a too brief but extremely delicious stop in Bologna. Bologna is a fascinating place, with a history that is progressive beyond progressive (the first to free the feudal serfs, home to the first university, which allowed women to study there and pursue careers in the Renaissance) and it remains a college town to this day.

Bologna was kind of an unplanned visit, so we mostly just wandered around aimlessly, enjoying the gorgeous architecture, then took a wonderful, vigorous walk up to the San Luca Sanctuary. Word is that you can see the Apennines from that vantage point high above the city, but there was fog of old testament proportions on this day and we couldn't see more than four feet in front of our faces, so I'll have to trust that the Apennines were, in fact, where they are supposed to be. It's around two miles up to the church, mostly a pretty steep incline throughout. It was misty and rainy all morning. Hardly ideal conditions for a walk, but one of the amazing things about Bologna is that there are miles and miles of sidewalks (paved with either huge paving stones or marble) covered with porticos or colonnades -- glorious, arched porticos, stretching miles in every direction all over the city. In sum, if you want to take a long walk in the rain, Bologna is the place to do it.

Also, and perhaps most importantly for my purposes here, Bologna is an eater's paradise. There are cheese and ham shops on top of produce markets, and more cheese shops, and pastry shops and gelato shops, and more fruit stands, and pasta shops, more cheese shops, and more cafes. I could get seriously fat in Bologna. If I lived there (and I'd consider it), I'd need to climb that hill to San Luca three times daily. At least.

Most importantly, it is the birthplace of bolognese sauce, the subject of this particular post, so on with the recipe. The sauce is not at all hard to make. It takes no special skills or special tools. What it does take is time and patience; you need to complete each step really well to let the flavors develop, so time is the most important ingredient in a good Bolognese. (WARNING: This recipe makes enough to feed a full army battalion, but it does freeze really well.)

You will need:
1 large onion or 2 small, coarsely diced
2 large carrots, coarsely diced
3 or 4 cloves garlic
2 shallots, coarsely diced
2 pounds ground chuck, ground brisket or ground round (or combination thereof)
1 large can of tomato paste
2-3 cups hearty red wine (more on this below)
1 bay leaves
1 bunch thyme
pinch of crushed red pepper

The prep, meet Mr. Time:
In a food processor, puree onion, carrots, shallots and garlic into a coarse paste. Really run these through because you don't want any big chunks -- the vegetables flavor the sauce, but you don't want to be biting into them. Heat a large, deep sautee pan over medium heat and coat with olive oil. Add the pureed veggies; season liberally with kosher salt. Cook on medium or medium-high heat until all the moisture has evaporated and the veggies turn nice and brown. It takes about 20 minutes and you have to stir frequently. This is a key step. Don't try to hurry through it. Let the veg cook. Don't worry if they stick to the pan a little.

Add the ground beef and season again with salt (you want to layer the seasoning throughout.) The beef will release a lot of moisture and you can use this to really scrape up any brown bits from the veg, then proceed to really brown the beef -- about another 20 minutes or so.

Add the tomato paste. Again, brown this - you can brown tomato paste. I usually let it brown for about 10 minutes.

Add the red wine. At this point, you can really deglaze the pan from any sticking, browned bits of beef or veg that have accumulated along your way.

A word about the wine. Some people say you shouldn't use wine to cook that you wouldn't drink. Fiddlesticks. First off, if you have really expensive taste in wine, that's just an untenable way to run a kitchen. Moreover, you can get a perfectly good wine for cooking purposes for under $10 (often under $8, depending on what's on special). Beyond which, I often cook with chardonnays and I wouldn't drink one of those with a gun to my head. Just saying. As to this wine, the wine most often served as the house wine in Bologna trattorias is a valpolicella, so I prefer to use a valpolicella to cook a bolognese sauce; but really, any hearty red will do. Reduce the wine by half, about 5 minutes or so.

Add the bay leaves, crushed red pepper, and the thyme, plus a couple of cups of water to the pan (just covering the meat by 1/2 inch to an inch.) Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Then break out a book or the paper, but give the sauce an occasional stir. It will cook down and then you add more water - about two cups. You repeat that process a ton - adding water and letting it cook down. But this is where the flavor really explodes and you keep doing this for about four hours - adding water, stirring, reducing, then adding more water and on and on. And yes, you did read that correctly -- you do this for about four hours. Remember I said time was the most important ingredient? As you do this, give it a taste to see if you need more salt (or anything else.) At this point, after four or five hours, the meat in the sauce should be like silk. Remove the bay leaves and the thyme (if you used a bundle). Take about half the sauce out and put it in another bowl or another saucepot.

In Bologna, this sauce is often paired with fresh, hand-cut tagliatelle, but you needn't roll out your own pasta to enjoy it. I like it with dried pasta and generally use a thicker cut of spaghetti (i.e., not an angel hair), cooked al dente, of course. When the pasta is just near al dente, finish it in the sauce pot with the bolognese sauce. You can use the extra sauce on your pasta, should you need it. Or, you have a second batch on hand for another night.

I serve it with pecorino romano, but you can use parmigiano-reggiano if you prefer that flavor. Mangia.

Gone Fishing

Gone fishing. Or at least to eat some fish.

Back in a few.

Sunday Recipe: Capellini with Brussel Sprouts and Pancetta

I haven't mentioned this here, but I am a whore for Top Chef. Seriously. I love it almost as much as I love hockey. I love most of the challenges and often think, "what would I make given those parameters?" Even though I have zero experience with large-scale event cooking and have never worked in a restaurant kitchen, and in the full knowledge that I would, no doubt, screw up everything, every step along the way, I still think it. I don't have any fancy gagetry and I don't work with liquid nitrogen. I loathe foams.

I know my limitations. I am purely a home cook.

But if the challenges were scaled back and the parameters were, 'meet the elements of this challenge in your own kitchen for six people kind of thing,' i.e., cook for this challenge on a small scale and, well, you can see the mental hoops I put myself through watching the show.

This season, the Top Chef All-Stars has been a blast, because they brought back contestants who did very well, but didn't win, so viewers like myself were familiar with the chefs and there were no truly out-classed contestants that made me think, "seriously, why are you here?!" And I actually missed some of them, Jennifer Carroll, the magnificent Carla Hall, Dale Talde, Fabio Viviani and, of course, the Black Hammer, Antonia Lofaso.

Two weeks ago, the nine chefs that remained had a challenge to do family style dinner service at Rao's in NYC (which is how Rao's does service. Big tables. Family style). And this time, I could have crushed the Rao's challenge because it was food to be served family style, because it was, essentially, Italian comfort food.

Three chefs had the antipasti course, three had the primi (or pasta course) and three had the secondi (meat course.) So many options, so many possibilities. And yet, across the board, the three chefs who each had to make a pasta dish f*cked it up. How the hell do you f*ck up pasta? Not to say it doesn't take skill -- it does. But these are great chefs, right? How do you screw up a pasta course?

One of the messed up pasta courses was courtesy of Dale Talde, who I think is very talented and I love watching him cook, but he screwed up his tagliatelli with brussel sprouts beyond repair. First, he made awful homeade pasta. You could see it without even tasting it -- it looked mealy and dry; if you've made pasta even twice in your life, you would have known to just scrap that dough altogether. Then, the shitty pasta was under-sauced and dressed sort of like a salad, instead of cooked properly in the sauce.

Watching it, I kept thinking -- but that should be good. The flavor profiles would be awesome. I love brussel sprouts. I love pancetta. What, I said to myself, is not to like? Assuming you don't just f*ck it up royally, that is.

So, with apologies to Dale, here's a great take on his dish, using dried pasta which makes for a fast and delicious dinner on a work-night.

You will need:
12-18 brussel sprouts
1/4 pound of pancetta (cut in one thick piece, if possible)
5 cloves of garlic
pinch of crushed red pepper
1 pound of dried pasta - I used whole wheat capellini, but use whatever variety you prefer

The prep:
Clean the brussels and quarter them (or half them if they are petite). Toss them in boiling, salted water and cook until they are almost, but not quite tender. I had to take one out and eat it to test it (because I'm a moron, so you may not need to do that.) The point is, you want them to be just a hair away from being cooked, but not quite there, because they'll cook some more in your sautee pan.

Clean the garlic and add it to a deep sautee pan with hot oil. You want to cook the garlic and then you're going to remove it, so don't bother trying to dice it or anything. Just smash the cloves to get the skins off and toss them in there whole.

Cube the pancetta into a fine dice. You want little pieces of pancetta all through the dish. Add the pancetta to the garlic and oil and really cook it down to render the fat from the pancetta. When the pancetta are crisp little cubes of porky goodness, remove the garlic, add the brussels and a pinch of crushed red pepper.

Cook the pasta in a pot of thoroughly salted water at a rolling boil.

Add about a ladle full of pasta water to the pancetta and brussel sprouts and let that reduce. Remove the pasta before it's al dente and add it to your sautee pan to finish for about 1 to 2 minutes.

Serve with grated parmesan or pecorino romano, whichever you prefer. Top Chef worthy, I tells ya.

Packers Win XLV, Pittsburgh Sofas Still at Risk

Steelers fans are miserable now, furious that the Steelers lost Super Bowl XLV and while the Steelers did their part to spit the bit, the narrative that the Steelers lost it, implies that the Packers didn't win it, that they were just passive recipients of the Steelers noblesse oblige. It denies the Packers agency in their own victory and that's just not cool. So allow me, for a moment, to write about how the Packers went about winning the game.

The best defense on the field was in green and yellow, not black and gold.
They were opportunistic, they sensed the big moments and responded. And they forced some of Pittsburgh's mistakes.

Exhibit One. Nick Collins' pick six was forced by Green Bay pressure. Somebody, and I'm not sure who, hit Pig Ben's arm as he was releasing the ball. Mike Wallace had a step or two on his man and had Ben hit him, he might have been gone. Instead, because of the hit, the ball fluttered out like a lame, dying dodo bird into Collins' arms. He did the rest. Whoever it was who beat Chris Kemeoatu like a wet noodle to get to Pig Ben, deserves a ton of credit on that play.

Exhibit Two. I've crushed Mendenhall in the past for his fumbling problems and after a season that was happily devoid of many fumbles, it came back to bite him last night. Still, I'm not going to pin it all on Mendenhall. He had the ball high and tight; Clay Matthews made a great play to hit him right in his elbow and force the ball out. Not that somebody couldn't have blocked Matthews. Not that Mendenhall couldn't have been alert enough to shout out "Ball! Ball! Ball!" when the ball popped loose to alert his oblivious linemen, rather than laying there like startled mannequin. Sigh. But truly the fumble itself was at least 80% Matthews.

In short, the Packers defense scored and then set their offense up to score some more. That's not just Steelers screw ups -- that's Packers' agency.

The Packers offense pounced.
When your defense hands you gifts, as an offense it is incumbent upon you to unwrap those gifts, squeal with delight and model those gifts while parading around like one of the Housewives of Orange County parading around in her new boobs.

Rogers stuck his chest out and turned both Steelers turnovers into touchdowns. Not field goals, but touchdowns. After the Jarrett Bush interception, Rogers took over at his own 47. Four plays later, he hit Greg Jennings in the endzone. After the Mendenhall fumble, the Pack had the ball at their own 45. Eight plays later, Rogers hit Jennings for another touchdown. Despite a slew of his receivers dropping balls, Rogers stared down the Steelers defense and didn't blink.

Life Rule Applies to Football Too: Timing Is Everything.
Although I find it hard to blame Mendenhall for his fumble, the timing could not have been worse. The offense had clawed their way back to within four-points of the Packers, the defense had held four times through the 3rd quarter, and special teams had flip-flopped field position after the idiocy of the 52 yard field goal attempt. So with the team driving, with a second down and short at Green Bay's 33 yard line, it looked like they might even take the lead in the game and pull off a miracle.

Then somebody misses a block on Matthews, he forces the fumble and it was one of those moments that will always cause Steelers fans to feel sick and empty, while Wisconsinite will think back on that play with warn fuzzy feelings in their private parts. It was too much, finally, too much for the Steelers to overcome.Mistakes Are Magnified.
Somebody much smarter than I did a breakdown of turnover differential in Super Bowls. It is hard to win a regular season game when you've lost the turnover battle; in the Super Bowl, it is virtually impossible. Mistakes are magnified, they somehow take on a life of their own, they go viral, grow exponentially, until the weight of them crushes you, leaving dreams of glory squashed like gnat under Casey Hampton's butt. Teams that have won the turnover battle, even if it's just by one turnover, are 32-3 in the Super Bowl. Well, now I guess that's 33-3 for the team winning the turnover differential battle.

No More Rabbits Out of the Helmets.
All year, the Steelers have been a team that made a big play (or two) when they needed one. You can look through nearly all of their close wins this season and pick out just one or two plays that basically won the game for them.

Against the Falcons, it was Troy's amazing INT on the sidelines and Mendenhall's overtime dash.

Against the Bengals, it was James Harrison knocking the ball out of Jordan Shipley's grip to seal the victory.

Against the Ravens in Baltimore, it was Troy's amazing strip sack and Redman's great run through tacklers into the endzone for the winning score.

Against the Bengals the second time around, Troy's pick six did the job.

Against the Bills, Troy made an amazing interception (and they had some help from Stevie Johnson's drop).

Against the Ravens in the playoffs, Harrison went on a complete tear for two series in the 3rd quarter and then Pig Ben had his huge throw to Antonio Brown on 3rd and 18.

Against the Jets, Ike Taylor's strip fumble and Pig Ben hooking up, again, with Brown were the story of that game.

Just one or two plays. A big play from Pig Ben. A big play from James Harrison. Next thing you know, the Steelers have won. And they count on that magic from those three guys -- Troy and Harrison and Pig Ben. And a few others, no doubt, but primarily, those are the big three. Last night, they needed at least one of those three guys to make a transcendent play -- just one amazing, game turning play, the kind those players seem to always produce. Troy was nowhere to be found, with just three tackles, no quarterback hits, no sacks, no interceptions, no turnovers, not even any tackles for losses.

Harrison had a couple of plays, but he was unable to force a ball loose, pick off a pass, or get to the quarterback on a key third down.

Pig Ben threw some of the worst passes of his career (and probably wants the one back where he overthrew a wide open Mike Wallace, more than any other.) To his credit, Ben got the Steelers back into the game, was a huge part of the recovery team that dug them out of the mine shaft he had helped to put them in in the first place. During the two minute drill, such as it was, he morphed into Kordell Stewart, rather than his usual clutch self and it all fell apart.

And that, my friends, is what happens when the guys who make magic run out of fairy dust, are rendered human, frail and vulnerable by a team good enough and smart enough to withstand a few shots to the chin and midsection and keep on firing, a team capable of making some magical plays of its own.

Congrats to the Green Bay Packers for Winning Super Bowl XLV

Seriously, many congratulations to Mike McCarthy, Aaron Rogers, and that whole team, as well as Packers fans in Wisconsin and every where. It's a well deserved win. Enjoy it!

Is XLV the Last of the Small Market Match Ups?

Through all the hand wringing over the health of the league, vis-a-vis players versus owners, what about the health of the league just among the owners? In September, 2009, Per ProFootballTalk reported,

“Right now, we are subsidizing this market,” Jones said, according to Sean Jensen of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “It’s
unthinkable to think that you’ve got the market you got here — 3 ½
million people — and have teams like Kansas City and Green Bay
subsidizing the market. That will stop.

“That’s going to stop. That’s on its way out.”

Jones has said, basically, that he'd like to see both the salary cap and revenue sharing eliminated from the NFL. In Jerry World, it's all Jerry, all the time.

Take away revenue sharing and the salary cap? All of a sudden, the Green Bay Packers, one of the most legendary franchises in the history of football, become the Kansas City Royals. Meanwhile, the most decorated franchise in the entire league, the Pittsburgh Steelers, could end up as relevant as the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Take away the salary cap and revenue sharing and you've just turned football ... into baseball. Which means that an owner like Jerr'Jones could simply buy championships. Perhaps they could even play those championship games at his own Deathstar, a facility Pat Summerall appropriately referred to as Jerry Jones' "monument to himself."

World + the history of the NFL < Jerr'Jones.

What makes the league great is a Super Bowl like XLV because it means hope. Hope for any fan of any franchise, that his or her team will draft well, hire competent scouts and coaches, and make smart free agency moves. If all that works out, and you get a bit lucky, your team can end up here, in the Super Bowl. Dare I say it, its as close to a meritocracy as you'll find. That's the beauty of the NFL.

It wasn't all that long ago that the NFL was not the cash cow we know today. Back in the 1930's and 1940's, and even the 1950's, owners didn't make much profit. They made a decent buck, but nothing like the astronomical figures bandied about today. Back then, some teams considered it a good year if they broke even, most teams made profits in the single digits; two and three and four percent profit margins were common and ten percent profit was a ridiculous windfall. It wasn't until the 1960's that the sport really started to take off, to make some serious money. Commissioner Pete Rozzelle (rightly) convinced the owners that they would all make more money if the league in total was strong top to bottom, not just a few teams at the top. What that ushered in was opportunity. It's this opportunity, this genuine hope that every fan of just about every team has from draft day through training camp to the opening games, that makes the NFL great, that makes it must see TV.

If Jones (and a few other Richy Rich owners) have their way, the amazing, forward thinking structure of the NFL, pioneered by guys like Lamar Hunt, Wellington Mara and Pete Rozzelle can all be undone by greed gone wild. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Jerr'Jones isn't fit to hold Wellington Mara's spit cup.

The NFL works because you can have Super Bowl XLV, pitting Green Bay, Wisconsin (Population 101,000-ish) versus Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (urban population 300,000ish). So enjoy tonight's Super Bowl. Enjoy seeing two historical, small-market teams battle it out, ironically, at Jerry World. Enjoy it while you can.

And hope that cooler, more visionary owners prevail over Jones in the off-season.

Fake Brett Keisel Beards for Sale

The Strip District may be my absolute favorite neighborhood in Pittsburgh. I have spent countless mornings there, and every now and again, I get really lucky and I can see the years, more than a century of life pass by me -- industry, workers, commerce, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, immigrants arriving and becoming a part of the place, the population shifting, growing, diminishing, and somehow growing again. It is a beautiful thing and a magnificent place. Truly. But yet, for all of that time, all of those mornings and afternoons and nights spent there, I only recently noticed this - "Troy Plaza" in brass plate laid in the corner of the sidewalk at 20th and Penn Avenue.Given it's location at the epicenter of sales of all things black and gold -- t-shirts, Terrible Towels, hats, scarves, dog collars, onesies, Troy Polamalu wigs and Brett Keisel beards -- I believe that it should be renamed "Troy Polamalu Plaza." Any Burghers out there know why this is named Troy Plaza? I really do want to know.

There were a huge number of Polamalu jerseys being worn this morning (no kidding that guy is No. 1 in jersey sales in all the NFL; at least half the population of Western Pennsylvania has a #43 jersey), but I also saw a good number of other players, both current and old timers represented: James Harrison, Heath Miller, LaMarr Woodley, Ben Roethlisburger, Hines Ward, Jack Lambert, Franco Harris and Terry Bradshaw. I even saw a Ryan Clark jersey, so that was cool.

Even though moshing our way down Penn was a bit like salmon swimming upstream (they blocked Penn to car traffic before XL, why not XLV?), everybody was feeling festive, happily waiting in line for biscotti and coffee, cheese and salsas, bread and t-shirts. There was a line out the door for DeLuca's that had to have been 40 people deep. At least.

Then, this guy was stationed just past Mike Feinberg's, playing the flute along to that ridiculous "Here We Go Steelers" song. Flute solos. I just don't hear enough of them.[If you're not from Pittsburgh, you don't know the song I'm talking about and for that you should be grateful. If you are from Pittsburgh, you know what I'm talking about and, hey, sorry for the nasty earworm.]

I stopped in at Prestogeorge to pick up some Antigua Guatamala coffee and was greeted by this sign.Best story of the day came courtesy of a friend who was working down at the Pittsburgh Public Market. Sadly, I had just missed it, but a couple was fighting right next to his vendor spot, and not a cute, "Honey, you know I'm right ..." kind of fight. They were fighting, genuinely hopping mad, really yelling at each other. He thought they might come to blows. The subject of the fight?

Who got to wear the Brett Keisel Beard.

Only in Pittsburgh. Is it time for the kick off yet?

Pittsburgh Has Steelers Fever. And the Only Prescription Is More Steelers

Today I had a bunch of errands to run. My first stop was the bank, where my teller was decked out in a Heath Miller jersey and Heath Miller earrings. She loves Heath, she told me. (And I'll tell you, just from my anecdotal research, the ladies love them some Heath Miller.) I was not surprised that she (and the other staffers at the bank were wearing Steelers jerseys - three staff members - one Troy, one Hines and one Heath) because for too many years, I worked downtown where most offices relax their dress code to allow for the ubiquitous and inevitable Steelers jerseys on Fridays before games. Attorneys who have to appear in court cannot adorn themselves in such manner (though a few do), so they opt for Steelers earrings or ties or something along those lines. That's just during the regular season, mind you. Steelers fever is viral when the team advances to the Super Bowl. The hypocycliods. They are everywhere. Terrible Towels become decorating rage de rigueur.

Of course, after my transaction, my teller and I parted ways with a mutual, "Go Steelers!" I had to think that, although Pittsburgh is a city which loves and respects idle chit-chat between strangers year round, we take it to heretofore unknown heights during the playoffs, particularly Super Bowl week. Instead of passing the time with comments about the weather (always popular) or some idiotic politician or some idiot driver, etc., the idle banter goes all-Steelers, all-the-time. Productivity must fall into a veritable crevasse throughout Western Pennsylvania on a day like today.

If a person landed in Pittsburgh today, understanding not a drop of English, they would surmise based on the circumstantial use of the phrase, "Go Steelers," that it meant "good-bye" or "have a nice day."

Then it was off to Waterworks to hit a few stores (chief among them, Bed, Bath & Beyond because the g-d supermarket never has parchment paper or butcher's string and, really, why is that?) and a few other stores. As I walked from one end of the strip mall to the other, nearly every store had a sign in the door to the effect of, "We are closing at 6:00 on Sunday. Thank you for your understanding. GO STEELERS!"

It's a sickness.

Tomorrow, a dispatch from the Strip District, the epicenter of Steelers ridiculousness and fun.

A Dozen of the Super Bowl's Greatest Hits

With Super Bowl XLV just about upon us, I started thinking about great moments in the Super Bowl. Sure, there were some stinker, blow out games, but there have been some stupendous moments in the sport's biggest game. While I'm sure that hundreds if not thousands of other writers and other bloggers have compiled their own lists, here are my twelve cents, my twelve plays or moments that stand out. I'm sure I've missed some and will put a burr under the saddle of Cowboys fans or Ravens fans or something, but these are moments that resonate for me.

12. SB XXXI: Desmond Howard's 99 yard touchdown return. New England had crept back into the game, cutting the Pack's lead to just six points. On the ensuing kickoff, Howard rambled 99 yards for the score that put the Pats away for good. Video here. (the return comes around 0:35).

11. SB XXII -- Doug Williams to Ricky Sanders. Based on my sheer fondness for Doug Williams, I could move this into the top five. I always had a soft spot for the guy. This Super Bowl just captivated me and I have no idea why. Also, I can remember it like it was yesterday. Strangely (and pathetically) enough, I remember that I skipped socializing that night and I was home folding laundry when Doug Williams starting raining touchdowns down on the Broncos defense in the single most dominant quarter in Super Bowl history (the Redskins scored 35 points. For reals). It all started with Williams lofting a nice, soft pass into Sanders around midfield. Video here.

10. SB XVI -- Dan Bunz and the Niners goal-line stand. The 49ers were up on the Bengals by the score of 20-7 late in third quarter when the Bengals drove to the San Fran 3, but the Niners defense denied them four times, highlighted by Bunz' fantastic tackle on a pass to Charles Alexander on third down. How many things in life are as satisfying as a great goal-line stand? Video here.

9. SB XXXVI -- Patriots Final Drive. Yeah, yeah, I know. I hate the Patriots, but ... this was a great, gutsy drive and if I'm being fair, I have to list it. The Rams had all the momentum. They scored two touchdowns in the 4th quarter, including one with just 90 seconds left in the game to tie it up. John Madden was blabbering on the TV feed about how and why the Patriots had to play for overtime. Not so quick there, bub. We didn't know it at the time, but Tom Brady was simply showing us who he would be for most of his career in the last 81 seconds of his first Super Bowl -- dumping the ball off to J.R. Redmond (J.R. Redmond?), hitting Troy Brown and calmly managing the clock to set up Adam Vinatieri's game winning kick. Video here.

8. SB X -- Lynn Swann's gravity-defying, floating catch. I know, the list is a little Steelers heavy, but you cannot deny the sheer artistry of this magnificent grab. If you have ever watched NFL films in your life, I'm sure you've seen this catch. It's like a magic trick and words don't do it justice. Video here.

7. Super Bowl XXIII -- Joe Montana's touchdown pass to John Taylor. Despite having the magnificent, chicken-legged Joe Montana at the helm, the Niners had scored just one touchdown all game and were trailing the Bengals by the score of 16-13. Then with about three minute left in the 4th quarter, Montana put together an amazing drive from the San Fran 9 yard line to the Bengals' 10. With 39 seconds on the clock, Jerry Rice goes in motion, Montana drops back, looks in one spot, and then hits Taylor streaking to the back of the endzone. Sorry, Boomer, you don't get to go to Disneyland. Video here.

6. SB XLIII -- Santonio Holmes TipToe Catch. It took 20 years for somebody to top the Montana-Taylor hook up above, but this is the most dramatic score I can think of -- given the time, the length of the drive, Ben's ability to shake free, the pass into a ridiculous spot, and Holmes ability to simultaneously control the ball and tap his toes at the edge of the endzone. It wows me. Every time. Video here.

5. SB I -- Max McGhee's one handed catch. Legend has it that McGee was miserably hungover for this game. And I'd like to believe that. In a game the Packers really had to win, McGee made a spectacular grab of Bart Starr's pass, then took it for a touchdown, the first in Super Bowl history. I'm pretty sure I've seen video of him surreptitiously smoking a cigarette on the sidelines after this catch, which, again, makes me like him more. Funny thing is that McGee caught four passes all season. It's not as lovely as Tone's catch above, but it's pretty darned nice and, given the historical impact of this game, I have to put it in the Top 5. Video here.

4. SB XVII -- John Riggins' rips 4th and 1 run for 43 yard touchdown. I can picture exactly where I was sitting for this. It's strange, but this particular run just burned itself into my brain. Washingon trails the Fins 17-13 with 10:10 remaining. They are faced with 4th down and 1 yard to go at the Miami 43 yard line. Out of the I formation, the handoff goes to Riggins, who bounces outside behind one of the Hogs (don't remember which one), sheds a tackler and then runs the length of the field for the TD. Even without the video, I can picture Riggo just chugging down the sidelines. It was beautiful. Fortune favors the bold, indeed. Video here. (The Riggins run comes up around 1:35.)

3. SB XVIII -- Marcus Allen's 74 yard touchdown run. God, this seems like a long time ago, and I know for pure yardage, it has been surpassed by Willie Parker's 75 yard dash in XL. But for drama, for artistry, there's nothing like Allen's reversal of direction and run up the gut. Video here.(Just ignore Todd Christensen's blubbering.)

2. SB XLII -- David Tyree's helmet catch. Is there a bigger catch in Super Bowl history? Sure, Santonio Holmes' catch is more elegant, but none was more clutch, than Tyree clutching the ball to his helmet. While I'm no huge Eli Manning fan, his ability to pull away, with a Patriot hanging on his jersey, moving around in the pocket, ducking tacklers, and all of this against the unbeaten, unbeatable New England Patriots? This could easily be number one on the list. Video here.

1. SB XLIII -- James Harrison's 100 yard interception touchdown return. Talk about high drama. I am not alone in ranking this first and it's not because Harrison is a Steeler. It's because, holy hell, a pass rushing linebacker intercepted a pass, and ran 100 yards for a touchdown, with no time left in the half and his teammates blocking out 10 would be Arizona tacklers. Take that play away, and the Cardinals have one Lombardi trophy on display. It just doesn't get any better than this. Video here.

BONUS MOMENT: SB IX -- Dwight White's Safety Dance. Okay, this is a special, childhood favorite, on for sentimental reasons here because I'm a Steelers fan and Dwight White was the first player I recall thinking, "that's my guy." On a team of superstars, I just loved me some Mad Dog. It's personal and, I'm sure if I were a Broncos fan, John Elway's 'helicopter run' in XXXII would be in this spot. Point is, your mileage may vary. In SB IX, the whole backstory of White battling the flu and a raging fever spilled into the confluence of the Steelers defensive domination and the franchise's history of futility. Plus, I love safeties. For a person who loves defense, as I do, they are so very satisfying. The tall guy on the right is White celebrating and, if I close my eyes, I can see him making the safety signal in my head. This one play summed up the complete and total dominance of the Steelers D in their very first trip to the Super Bowl.

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics: Super Bowl Edition

I was prepping some notes for a radio bit I did this morning, and it seemed to me these were some interesting numbers to play around with. Do with them as you will:

QUARTERBACK COMPARISON - 2010 Season Stats:

QB RATING
Rogers -- 3rd in NFL at 101.2
Pig Ben -- 5th in NFL at 97.0

YARDS PER ATTEMPT
Rogers -- 2nd in NFL with 8.26 yards per attempt
Pig Ben -- 3rd in NFL with 8.23 yards per attempt

COMPLETION PERCENTAGE
Rogers -- 6th in the NFL at 65.7%
Pig Ben -- 15th in the NFL at 61.7%

YARDS PER GAME
Pig Ben -- 6th in the NFL at 267 yards per game
Rogers -- 7th in the NFL at 261 yards per game

PASSES of +20 YARDS
Rogers -- 4th in the NFL with 54
Pig Ben -- 6th in the NFL with 52

PASSES of + 40 YARDS
Rogers -- 5th in the NFL with 10
Pig Ben -- 14th in the NFL with 8

TOUCHDOWN PASSES
Rogers -- 6th in the NFL with 28
Pig Ben -- 19th in the NFL with 17

DEFENSIVE COMPARISON:

FEWEST POINTS ALLOWED PER GAME
Steelers -- 1st in NFL with 14.5
Packers -- 2nd in NFL 15.0

THIRD DOWN CONV. PERCENTAGE AGAINST
Steelers -- 2nd at 34%
Packers -- 9th at 36%

RUSH YARDS ALLOWED PER GAME
Steelers -- 1st with 62.8 yd/game
Packers -- 18th with 114.9 yd/game

RUSH PLAYS ALLOWED OF + 20 YARDS
Steelers -- 1st with 1
Packers -- 10th with 10

AVERAGE RUSH YARDS PER ATTEMPT
Steelers -- 1st with 3.0 yards per attempt
Packers -- 18th with 4.7 yards per attempt

PASS YARDS ALLOWED PER GAME
Packers -- 5th at 194.2
Steelers -- 12th at 214.2

TOTAL SACKS
Steelers -- 1st with 48 sacks
Packers -- 2nd with 47 sacks

QB RATING AGAINST
Packers -- 1st at 67.2
Steelers -- 2nd at 73.1

PASSING TOUCHDOWNS AGAINST
Steelers -- 3rd -- allowed 15
Packers -- 4th -- allowed 16