Like Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen misfiring on the potential game-winning two-point try against the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday, I choked.
Specifically, I thought the Steelers could win a game against a very bad Cleveland football team and by so doing, win the AFC North. I said as much right here earlier today.
As I wrote then, I expected an ugly game and was not interested in watching, but the Steelers would win. Well, reports indicate it was ugly. But the Steelers didn’t win.
All I know is, I got around to checking for the final score in the evening, while my wife and I were visiting the granddaughters and before taking them downtown to look at the massive, musical Christmas tree, dislocated from Central Park, which now is pretty much a frozen mud hole, and relocated to PNG Park.
Imagine my surprise when I saw the Steelers had ended up on the short end of a 13-6 final. I guess that’s why I heard the yelp of so many kicked dogs while driving late Sunday afternoon.
For God’s sake, if one team in a Browns game is going to score just six points, it’s almost a given it will be the Browns.
Even the hapless Las Vegas Raiders, leading the pack to get the top pick in next year’s draft, the booby prize awarded to the worst NFL team, got 10 on the Browns in a 24-10 loss earlier this season.
That would be the 4-12 Browns, the NFL’s epitome of everlasting losing.
To say the Steelers failed miserably in the clutch is the same as saying Cackling Kamala slightly mishandled her $1.5 billion-plus war chest.
Unlike the cackling one, the Steelers get a second chance, this coming weekend against Baltimore. I will ponder that at a future date.
Meanwhile, my thoughts Sunday evening were in the Far East, with precious metals trading opening at 6 p.m. our time.
Owing to the way silver, and to a lesser extent, gold, had skyrocketed last week, there was great excitement surrounding the Sunday night Asian open, which is Monday morning there. I found numerous YouTube types doing live broadcasts of it all and tuned in to follow along, after getting back from the tree and losing a Monster Card game to granddaughter No. 3.
Silver ripped from the gate and got as high as $84 an ounce in the spot market before the actors behind the scenes hit the silver and gold prices, buoyed by word that the COMEX (called the CrimeEx by critics) would be raising margin rates yet again Monday a move designed to tamp down prices by raising the cost of holding positions for those using leverage.
Silver got beaten down to a tad over $75, but has rebounded and now trades at 80.60, down $3 and change from the high earlier tonight, but still up $1.33 from the Friday close.
This is why the Steelers’ collapse hasn’t darkened my mood.
I learned long ago, while still working as a sports writer, that there were bigger, more interesting and potentially more lucrative avocations than following sports.
The Steelers lost, but silver just might continue to win. I’ll accept that tradeoff.
Sam Ross Jr's site 