Pittsburgh Sports, Opinion and Politics | Just Watch the Game Blog

Dejan Kovacevic sums it up pretty well in today’s Trib. He wonders how the hell so many doctors could spend a year poking, prodding, x-raying and MRI-ing Sidney Crosby for over a year and not spot a broken neck.

Everybody should remember that, after Mario Lemiuex went through at least one major back surgery and missed huge chunks of seasons because of pain in his back, it was a rolfer who got him back to playing almost if not totally pain free again.

Rolfing is a form of deep tissue massage.

And, oh, by the way, Crosby has been complaining of balance issues.

The cracks were in his c1 and c2 vertabra.

Check this out:

The ATLAS VERTEBRA is the name of the first bone of your neck (cervical spine).  It is also known as C1 (Cervical Vertebra #1).  We refer to the Atlas or C1, along with the C2 vertebra (the axis) as theUPPER CERVICAL SPINE.

The Atlas is the foundation of your head and the center of balance of your body. It weighs only 2 ounces, yet it supports your head, which is the weight of a bowling ball!  Those anatomists were clever when they named this all-important bone named after the Greek mythological figure, who held up the earth on his shoulders, weren’t they?

Last week I posted the news about the death of former coach at St. Bernard grade school and South Hills Catholic High School, Bernie Powers.

I mentioned that he was the coach at St. Bernard during the time when it had one of the great football dynasties in Western Pa. history –three losses from 1949 to 1961.

There is a chapter in my book, “Just Watch The Game (Again)” devoted to those teams.

I wanted to make sure that I posted this response where lots of people would see it:

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Sorry for the loss. Chapter 36, the best of the books in my reading opinion. “What football means at St. Bernard”.I must tell you that I changed the sport to wrestling and the school and copied almost every word. I handed it out to the junior high and high school teams after reading it to them approximately 2 weeks ago. I thought i’d find the letter left behind or in the trash in the locker room after practice. Yes i looked in the trash. I found 2 left behind but not in the trash. I received 6 phone calls and was approached by 3 other parents thanking me for showing concern for their positive progression in the sport of wrestling but also a positive progression that they may have in life. The letter is posted in the locker room and on the doors going into the wrestling room as a motivational tool when things get tough. Just throwin some credit your way for putting the statement in the book. I’d love to have Father Lonergan as a banquet speaker, not only to hear his words but also to see the looks on all the parent faces.

(Thanks to Sherm.)

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Here’s the mission statement that Sherm was referring to:

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Football at St. Bernard is not merely a form of recreation; it is much more. Every person has certain fundamental problems to face in life. It makes all the difference in the world whether a person faces his problems honestly, with courage and intelligence, or tries to sneak around the problems of life… There is no place on the football field for the sluggard, the shirker, the coward, the scatterbrain, the dolt, the leaner, the quitter, the egotist.
Most of these faults are the result of pampering. In a football game, the opposing team is seldom inclined to do much pampering. Football is just clean, hard give and take.
What a training to face the stern realities of life.
We have a lot of fine boys in St. Bernard’s School and our aim is to bring out all of the best in them. We saw what football did to the boys last year. (Undefeated championship team.) The benefit was almost unbelievable. It is a pity that many boys are physically unfit to take part in the training. They are missing something, just on account of their physical handicap, they need most urgently. They are our problems. The real football boy is seldom a problem. He has learned to tackle problems.

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I think 98% of the parents (at least the fathers) would agree with what Father Lonergan wrote 60 years ago. What I’m not so sure about is how many of them would have the guts to admit it publicly.

Sherm’s response alone makes writing the chapter worthwhile. It’s exactly why I wrote it.

Bernie Powers, the first football coach at South Hills Catholic High School (Now Seton-LaSall) has died.

He was also one of the coaches featured in my book, “Just Watch The Game (Again)”  who helped create one of the great football dynasties in Western Pennsylvania history at St. Bernard in Mt. Lebanon.

St. Bernard lost three games from 1949 to 1961.

There will be a lot of solid citizens at this guy’s funeral –all of them former players of his.

I watched the memorial service for Joe Paterno on TV.  Gene Collier of the Post-Gazette does a better job of describing it than I could ever hope to do.

Man, that guy can write.

Today my guests on TribLive Radio will be:

12:30 Rob Rossi of the Trib from Ottawa where the NHL All Star game will be played on Sunday

1:00 Jerry DiPaola of the Trib. He covered the Paterno memorial service in State College yesterday.

1:30 Joe Rutter Trib College and Pro Sports editor.

I used to like Newt Gingrich.

I remembered him as the guy who put together the Contract for America and helped the Republicans clean a lot of corrupt Democrats out of congress.

I also liked a lot of ideas that I’ve heard coming from him over the years.

It turns out he’s a fraud.

He’s not a conservative and he’s not a Reaganite.

Ronald Reagan’s greatest accomplishment was helping to orchestrate the collapse of the USSR.

Democrats were calling him crazy and people on his own staff were telling him to tone it down.

He was advised not to use the “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” line.

Listening to Gingrich now, you would think that Gingrich was cheering Reagan all the way. During debates and in speeches, he’s been saying, “I helped Ronald Reagan bring down the Soviet Union.”

Bullshit.

Here’s what Gingrich said on the house floor:

“Measured against the scale and momentum of the Soviet empire’s challenge, the Reagan administration has failed, is failing and without a dramatic, fundamental change in strategy will continue to fail. … The burden of the failure frankly must be placed first upon President Reagan.”

I don’t care how many wives he has or how he treated them.

He shouldn’t be president.

The good news is that Romney has moved into an eight point lead in Florida.

(By the way, if Gingrich does run against Obama, I will hold my nose and vote for him.)