Just Watch the Game Blog

Remember a few years ago when a father-son team came out of the stands in Chicago to beat up a first base coach and then got no jail time?

Maybe this is the beginning of a new trend to cut down on the drunks in the stands at sports events. The kid in Philadelphia who purposely threw up on a fan in front of him is going to jail.

Unfortunately, he only got three months. He’s fortunate that I wasn’t the judge. He’d be doing the maximum two years.

I hope everybody he meets in jail knows exactly what he did and makes his stay there as uncomfortable as possible.

I haven’t sat in the stands for an NFL game in at least 20 years, but I’m amazed at the number of people who tell me that they stopped going to Steelers games because of the drunks.

The law needs to start coming down hard on the public drunks. This is a nice start.

I’ll be sitting in with Stan Savran and the boys at ESPN1250 for the Sports Reporters today at noon.

FYI

Remember when Fancy Nancy and the Deomcrats took over the house in 2007 and she said they were going to empty the swamp?

Looks like the biggest alligator is one of theirs.

Charlie Rangel, who has been in charge of deciding how much you should pay in taxes, just might be a crook.

Charlie is another in a long line of examples of why these people should have as little control over our lives as possible.

Now, here’s the Metro Index Scouting take on Brett Favre.

I think the consensus among the local media is that Ben Roethlisberger did a really nice job of establishing himself as a jackass, but he can change that perception with his actions from here on out.

I’ve said that he has a clean slate with me even if I’ll never be convinced that he didn’t commit a crime that night in Georgia. I’m not convinced that he did, either, so I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because he was never charged.

The fans are split on the issue and I think that his one-on-one interviews got a good number of them back on his side.

I had said earlier that the Steelers should trade him, but I don’t feel as strongly about that as I did couple of months ago, probably because of the perception–justified or not–that he has won a lot of fans back.

The perception of Roethlisberger locally is one thing. The view from outside Western Pennnsylvania is another. Fans here want to be able to cheer for him again because not being able to makes watching the Steelers a lot less enjoyable.

The national media don’t have that issue and if Jeff Pearlman of SI.com is any indication, Roethlisberger shouldn’t be cheered when he comes back.

It’s been four months since he was suspended and this guy is as tough on Roethlisberger as anyone was at the time of the incident.

This is why I love having Joe Butler of Metro Index Scouting to go to when I need a serious, unbiased evaluation of a football or basketball player.

There have been a lot of words written and spoken about Terrell Owens since he signed with the Bengals and varying opinions on what he’ll mean to the Bengals.

Nobody has a better analysis of what kind of player the 2010 version of  Owens  is and what he  will do for the Bengals than Joe Butler.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the day when Obamacare kicks in.

Here’s a little piece of art work to show you just how quick and easy it will be for all of us to benefit from Obamacare

What could go wrong?

I don’t know how much play it got here, but Max Talbot made big news in Canada yesterday when he ripped Alex Ovechkin.

That’s a nice little rivalry between the Penguins and the Capitals and the Winter Classic will make it even stronger.

The best thing about it is that the Crosby-Ovechkin, Penguins-Captials rivalry could go on for the next 15 years.

The Bengals signing Terrell Owens is not good news for the Steelers.

Owens is an idiot and a soap operal waiting to happen, but he caught 55 passes last year and, although he’s 36, he appears to be a fitness freak.

He still has something left and he takes some of the pressure of Chad Ochocinco and gives defenses a little more to think about.

He’s no longer a superstar or even a pro bowler, but he’s still a big guy who can give small corners and safeties fits.

The Bengals also have Antonio Bryant, another head case who can be a difference maker in a game. If the three of them cancel each other out in the distraction department, they can make the Bengals a tough team to stop.

And keep in mind that Owens was signed at the recommendation of the quarterback.

Carson Palmer has been working out with him and he liked what he saw.

Trying to go through an NFL team’s schedule game-by-game to predict what kind of season it’s going to have can be a dangerous propostion.

But, then, Danger is my middle name, so here goes.

SI.com was nice enough to come out with its pre- training camp NFL power rankings and, since I’m way too busy to do my own evaluation of each team, I’ll go with theirs.

The Steelers are ranked 14th, which puts them almost exactly in the middle of the pack.

Don Banks, who does the rankings, mentions the uncertainty at quarerback, the identity problem because of the off season talk about running the ball more and keeping Troy Polamalu healthy.

Most of the focus has been on those first four games that the Steelers will have to play without Ben Roethlisberger, but it’s possible that they could go 3-5 in the first half.

The Steelers play four teams that are ranked higher than them in the first eight weeks and they play three road games in a row in Miami, New Orleans and Cincinnati. Three and five is a distinct possilbity.

The second half of the schedule is easier. For one thing, it has a stretch of three consecutive home games.

There are two gimmes on the schedule. At Buffalo and the last game of the season in January in Cleveland, but they also have to go to Baltimore and they have to play the Jets at home.

Right now, I’d be surprised if they won more than 8 games..