Super Bowl 54 is set. It’s the Kansas City Chiefs against the San Francisco 49ers. The Niners will look to tie Pittsburgh and New England with a sixth Lombardi Trophy, while the Chiefs are back in the game for the first time in fifty years. Their only title was in New Orleans when coach Hank Stram became a star when he was miked up for NFL Films. It’s a very interesting matchup, and we’ll talk more about it next week. Let the hype begin.
· I was absolutely thrilled to hear that former Steeler Donnie Shell was selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “The Torpedo” was a heck of a player for the Steelers, and part of their four Super Bowl title teams in the 1970s. Donnie was a ferocious hitter who also had 51 interceptions over his career. He was also regarded as one of the really good guys on that team. I got to know Donnie and his sidekick Tony Dungy fairly well when I covered the team during my college radio days from 1977-1979. When I arrived in Miami for Super Bowl 13 the two players actually took me out to dinner. After the game the media that covered the Steelers were invited to the team’s victory party. I still have a photo of a young me with Tony and Donnie from the celebration. It took Donnie way too long to get to Canton. But at least he will join nine other teammates when he puts on the gold jacket this summer.
· The Pens keep rolling. How they are doing it continues to amaze me. Like the comeback win against Boston on Sunday. The team had their annual Dads trip this week and they had to be happy with what they witnessed. The Pens have to be the surprise of the NHL, given all their injuries and how they continue to push on. If they ever get healthy…look out!
· Is Sidney Crosby amazing, or what? The guy misses several weeks and in his first game back he scores a goal and dishes out a few assists and is clearly the best guy on the ice. Crosby is a simply amazing player and he proved it again.
· It was another great week for IUP basketball. Both the men and women kept rolling. The men are now 15-1 and the women are 16-1. What amazing programs we have right here in our hometown.
· I really like the hire of Matt Canada as the Steelers new quarterbacks coach. It never made sense to me that the team didn’t have a guy coach the most important position on the field the last few seasons. Canada was pretty good when he was at Pitt and is known as an innovative coach. I hope he has a lot of input into the Steelers offense and is more than just a QB coach. I also hope he can mentor the young quarterbacks who clearly weren’t ready to play this year.
· How many of you had Pitt sweeping North Carolina in hoops this year? Truth be told, none of us did. Give credit to Jeff Capel’s team for taking down one of the blue bloods of
college basketball both home and away this year. Granted, this isn’t a great Carolina team. Still, beating Carolina twice in ACC play in the same season is a big deal for this Pitt team.
· You know former Steeler Antonio Brown is a piece of work when Drew Rosenhaus said he will no longer represent AB until he gets professional help. Brown’s latest outburst this past week was just plain sad. Why any team would ever want anything to do with him in the future is beyond me.
