It is Friday, a good time to stop and reflect on the week that was in sports.
The Steelers began the week laying an egg vs. the Houston Texans and getting quarterback Kenny Pickett injured in the process. Next up are the Baltimore Ravens, AFC North Division leaders and hated rivals.
Pickett insists he will play in this game. But Matt Canada still will be the Steelers’ offensive coordinator, at least at the point of this writing.
The notoriously bipolar Steelers fans are in a lather, about where they were after the season opener, a blowout loss to San Francisco, when we counseled them to hang in there for a bit. The Steelers winning two of their next three games followed.
Now, with most conceding another loss Sunday, it’s time to consider the Ravens have injury problems, are led by a mistake-prone quarterback and tend to play close, low-scoring games with the Steelers.
I would not be stunned to see a competitive game, and even a surprise Steelers win vs. Baltimore. Recall, I told you the Steelers are the sporting world’s Rasputins. You need to beat them, poison them, drown them, shoot them and maybe hang them before they go away.
On the other end of the spectrum are the Pirates, who more often just go quietly into the night. But it is Pirates management that this week boasted about yet another losing season, and having closed the gap on playoff teams.
If you believe this, you also believe the check is in the mail and someone will respect you in the morning.
But, let’s say the Pirates somehow slip into the 2024 MLB playoffs as a wild-card team or weak division winner.
Based on what happened this year, that won’t mean much.
The wild-card round of baseball’s playoffs were a tale of uncompetitive, boring baseball.
All four of the best-of-3 series were won 2-0. The winning teams in game ones of the respective series outscored the losers, 17-5. In game twos it was worse, 21-4.
Your 2023 playoff field included the Miami Marlins. No team in the history of MLB playoffs had entered the postseason with a worse negative run differential – having surrendered more runs than the team scored. And Miami was done in two games. Yay!
What about Pitt football? It speaks volumes that the former starting quarterback, who was upset at fans booing his ineptitude, has switched positions — to tight end!
On the lighter side, the Swimming World Cup, currently being held in Berlin, created a third category, Open, to deal with trans men dominating women. So, they have men’s, women’s, and open competition.
The number of entries in the Open class? ZERO!
This tells you much about the motives of transgender former men in sports. Along that line, how come we do not see transgender former women wanting to go out and compete with men?
Exactly.
Sam Ross Jr's site 