When the clock strikes 12 on New Year’s Eve, it’s time for the resolutions to kick in and time for everyone to turn over a new leaf in their life. Pittsburgh fans however hate 2012 so far. The past week in sports has been arguably the worst week in sports history. The Pitt basketball team, always a favorite in the Big East, have lost four games in a row, a first under Jamie Dixon, including a three game Big East losing streak. The Pitt football team was hoping to put the past year in their rearview mirror in the BBVA Compass Bowl game but lost 28-6 at the hands of SMU. With the Penguins loss to the Devils yesterday, they find themselves losers of four straight games as Coach Dan Bylsma struggles to learn the names of all the players coming up from Wilkes-Barre due to injuries yet again. With all of these teams in ruts, the fans of Pittsburgh can count on the Steelers to at least win their opening game against the 8-8 Broncos right? Well, that’s what we all thought until the unforeseeable happened when the Steelers got “Tebowed” 29-23 in overtime.
Where is 2011?
Last year, fans had every reason to be excited at this time. The Pitt basketball team was once again dominating their opponents on their way to a No. 1 seed in the NCCA Tournament. Bradley Wanamaker, Gary McGhee, Ashton Gibbs, Nasir Robinson and company were making their case as the best team Coach Dixon has ever had. Even with the loss to UConn where Kemba Walker notoriously hit the game-winning shot as he crossed over McGhee, Pitt fans were still confident in their team. Despite the Cinderella Butler Bulldogs making a run in the NCAA tournament, with Pitt being the victim this time. Pitt lost when Robinson fouled Matt Howard with less than a second left as Howard rebounded a foul shot and attempted a full-court shot. Despite the loss, Pitt fans were still confident that next year’s team would be just as good.
This year, with the loss of Gilbert Brown, Wanamaker and McGhee, Pitt needed to rely heavily on Gibbs, Travon Woodall and freshman sensation Khem Birch. Coming into the season ranked No. 8 nationally, Pitt fans had every reason to believe they would compete at the top of the nation once again. So far this season however, Pitt has lost 5 games, including games to Long Beach State and Wagner, at home nonetheless. Birch decided to leave after appearing in only 10 games this season. Gibbs has continued to prove he can’t lead a team as he continues to only excel by coming off ball screens. Woodall, who has been hurt for half the season, has struggled to fill the void left by Wanamaker. With four of their next six games coming against top 20 opponents, all in the Big East, the road only gets rougher for Pitt.
Speaking of Pitt, last year will be looked at as a year that never happened with the football program. Pitt fired Dave Wannstedt after an 8-4 season and had Greg Gattuso serve as interim coach in their BBVA Compass Bowl game last season in their win over Kentucky. Before the game however, Pitt hired their new Coach Michael Haywood, the former coach of Miami (Ohio). After only two weeks on the job, Haywood was fired because of a domestic abuse arrest in his hometown of South Bend, Ind. Then Pitt was introduced to speed, speed, speed and explosive power in the hire of new Coach Todd Graham. Graham looked to switch the offense from a pro-style offense to a spread look with quarterback Tino Sunseri. Many fans were willing to give Graham a break during his first season since he was working with Wannstedt’s team. The first season however, would be his last.
Just a few weeks ago, Graham left Pitt for the Arizona State coaching job, only a day after telling his players he was there for the long-haul. Did I mention he told the director of football operations by text and asked him to forward it to his players? Many players such as Brandon Lindsey, Devin Street, Cam Saddler and Andrew Taglianetti were very vocal in their feelings with Graham’s departure, including calling him a “coward”, “used car salesman”, relating him to “Judas” from the Bible, and a “liar.” Others were going to let their play in their bowl game speak for them, including Sunseri. That didn’t go over as planned however. Pitt put up just 205 total yards, only 10 on the ground, in the shalacking by SMU. Sunseri, as he has all season, appeared scared to throw the ball downfield going 19-of-28 for 183 and a pick. All of this coming just three days after Pitt’s rival West Virginia unloaded on Clemson with an all-time record 70 points in the Discover Orange Bowl.
Penguins fans however viewed last year as a bittersweet year as they played half the year without Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal, but still finished just points behind Philadelphia for first place in the division. After Pittsburgh lost in a grueling seven-game series to Tampa Bay, Pens fans were already looking forward to this year’s campaign. Pittsburgh was on top of the standings in the beginning of the year and news that Crosby was returning against the Islanders on Nov. 21 only made the the Penguins look more and more like a serious threat for the Stanley Cup. That was, until the injuries started mounting up again.
Crosby once again has been suffering from lingering concussion symptoms and hasn’t played since Dec. 5 against the Bruins. Joining Crosby in the concussion department is all-star defenseman Kris Letang who has been out since Nov. 26. Arron Asham has been out since Dec. 31 with a knee injury and it was announced today that three more Penguins will miss time. Craig Adams injured his knee in a collision with Brooks Orpik in practice this morning, while Jordan Staal will miss 4-6 weeks with a torn left MCL after running into former Penguin Mike Rupp Friday night. James Neal will also miss “weeks” according to Coach Bylsma with a broken foot after blocking a shot against the Devils in their 3-1 loss on Saturday.
To make matters worse for the Penguins, they have lost their past four games and currently sit in eighth place in the conference, just one point ahead of Winnipeg and two points up on Washington. Pittsburgh has also played more games than most teams in hockey. General Manager Ray Shero is thought to be looking at the trade market now as the team needs help at forward desperately. He is however, being limited with cap space since Crosby and Letang aren’t on the injured reserved list which would free up their contract. The only move he could make is to trade Paul Martin and get his contract off the books, but what would he fetch in a down year by his measures? With the recent injuries to Neal and Adams, that leaves the Penguins with only four players; Chris Kunitz, Matt Cooke, Pascal Dupuis and Steve Sullivan, that have played in each game this season.
With all of this going on, fans thought they could count on the Steelers to win on Sunday. For the past week, the talk has been on if the Steelers will beat the Patriots next Sunday in Foxboro and then will they play Baltimore or Houston. The fans, and players for that matter, forget only one small detail. They had to defeat the Broncos first. The Broncos, who finished the season 8-8, crawled into the playoffs on a three-game losing streak and weren’t given much of a chance by many people, myself included. The Steelers came into the game without their starting running back Rashard Mendenhall and with their quarterback Ben Roethlisberger still nursing a high-ankle sprain. With a blood disorder that almost cost him his life in a 2007 game in Denver, safety Ryan Clark, who leads the team in tackles (100), was unable to lace up the spikes either. Despite all of the injuries, the Steelers were still looked at as the proverbial favorites.
One man felt differently and felt he could lead his team to victory, despite being the same man that made many critics pick the Steelers. I’m sure you’ve heard his name by now, Tim Tebow. Tebow has been arguably the story of the NFL season this year. To catch you up, Tebow was selected in the first round by the Broncos last year under then Coach Josh McDaniels. McDaniels was fired this offseason and John Fox was named the new coach. Fox and team executive vice president of football operations John Elway favored veterans Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn over Tebow, even as fans clamored for him to play. After starting off the season 1-5 in games started by Orton, Fox made the move to go to Tebow. Despite having the worst completion percentage in the league (46.5%) and running the ball for more yards in some games than throwing the ball, Tebow took over the team and was 7-1 in his first eight starts of the year. No one knew how he did it, but the man simply won football games. At least the praise went to him for winning, as is with all quarterbacks in the league.
Tebow lost his last three games of the season and was facing the No. 1 ranked defense in the league in the Steelers. There wasn’t a better matchup that Steelers fans could envision than a game against the Broncos in the first round. As the old mantra goes, be careful what you wish for. Tebow, who has been criticized by many, yes, including myself who was very vocal about Tebow could never be a quarterback at this level, came out and torched the Steelers. Tebow threw for 316 yards (3:16) on 10-of-21 for two touchdowns and a 125.6 passer rating. Tebow shocked the Steelers as they were hoping for another Super Bowl run on the road, similar to the path they took in the 2005 playoffs becoming the first No. 6 seed to win every game on the road and go on to win the Super Bowl.
This year wasn’t their year. Whether it was the injuries, the referees, an act of God (I had to), or the simple fact the Broncos outplayed them on this given day (I vote this option), the Steelers found themselves stunned and out of the first round of the playoffs.
To be frank about it, 2012 has sucked so far for Pittsburgh sport fans. With the tough schedule for Pitt and the injury bug of the Penguins, it could only get worse.
Hey, at least the Pirates season is right around the corner.
Photo Credit: LaTimes.com
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