The Super Bowl Curse is supposed to apply to the loser in the Super Bowl game. That's the lore. And bad things have happened to the Seattle Seahawks this year with injuries to the starting QB and last year's MVP and the loss of their best offensive lineman to free agency. The football gods are not supposed to scorn the champs, but it sure looks as if the Steelers have gotten crosswise with those deities. The Steelers are 2-6 at the moment; they share that record with the likes of the Lions, Titans, Texans and Raiders; that's not championship company. If you want to talk about being accursed, check out the events in Ben Roethlisberger's life since last February. Last year, the Steelers found - or manufactured - ways to win games; this year they are finding ways to lose them. Against a less than wonderful Raiders' team, the Steelers gave up five sacks and threw four INTs; that accounted for one loss. Last week, Roethlisberger threw the ball 54 times and amassed 455 yards in a loss to the Broncos; the Steelers rarely tried to use that formula to win games last year.

Ben Roethlisberger started his career in a fairy tale sort of way. He won his first thirteen starts in 2004 and then won the Super Bowl in 2005. I know that the NFL QB Rating system is an imperfect measure; but in this case, it has some worthwhile information. So far in the 2006 season, Ben Roethlisberger's rating is 70.7 and that puts him in the company of two struggling rookie starters - Bruce Gradkowski (69.1) and Matt Leinart (66.9). Wow!

So, maybe there is a "proximity effect" at work here; maybe the Steelers are being afflicted by some kind of aura that emanated from the curse as it was hurled at the Seahawks at the end of the Super Bowl game last February. If you look at the rest of the Steelers' schedule, you'll see three games the Steelers ought to win handily [Cleveland twice and Tampa] and five others that will be very competitive. Yes, the Steelers could still run the table and finish 10-6 and that would probably put them in the playoffs; alternatively, the Steelers could finish 5-11. If the worst happens here, that would be the worst record for a defending Super Bowl Champion.

One more brief note from the Steelers/Broncos game. Champ Bailey had two INTs and both came at the Broncos 3 yard line. Bailey has 5 INTs for the season and all of them have come in the red zone or in the end zone. Maybe offensive coordinators need to take note of that as they select plays in the red zone against the Broncos?

On ESPN, Chris Mortensen reported that the NFLPA has asked Shawne Merriman to give them the bottle of the supplement that he says is responsible for his positive test for nandrolone. However, other reports say that Merriman cannot locate the container and he has refused to name the product/manufacturer on the basis of pending litigation. That sounds good at first; but when you think about it, what kind of litigation might be pending here? If Merriman were going to sue someone, he better have the container with the supplement in it so that he can demonstrate in court that it contained measurable amounts of nandrolone. It doesn't matter if he were going to sue the manufacturer, the testing lab, the NFL or Mother Goose; he would have to present evidence that the supplement he took was "tainted".

So, "I lost the bottle," makes no sense if Merriman were going to be the plaintiff in a suit. HOW - EVAH, that story makes a lot of sense if Merriman is worried that the supplement manufacturer and or the testing laboratory would sue him for making false statements about their product or their competencies by naming the product and/or calling into question the capabilities of the testers. You see, if there was no "tainted supplement" and the nandrolone found its way into his body through some voluntary means, then his accusation of a manufacturer or his claim of incompetent testers would be akin to slander/libel against the companies involved. I'm not a lawyer so I don't know if slander/libel applies to corporate entities, but I'd wager that there is some kind of provision in tort law that would allow a company to sue Merriman to regain their trade reputation since that is a corporate asset they might claim had been diminished.

For now, when hear, "I can't find the bottle," I'm going to do a transformation in my mind to, "My dog ate my homework."

Several months ago, I did a Topical Rant on the subject of too many Halls of Fame for too many obscure things. In case you think the list I presented was exhaustive, it wasn't. Consider this item from Greg Cote in the Miami Herald:

"Question: Are there way too many specialty museums in America? Answer: A new museum in Texas honors the 14 longhorn steers who have served as Texas Longhorn football mascots."

Cleveland Browns' fans have been less than kind in their opinions of Marty Schottenheimer over the years and particularly last week in anticipation of the Browns' visit to San Diego. It is in vogue to sneer at "Martyball" and Browns' fans were disdainful of the former Browns' coach. Whatever. Here's a fact they need to deal with. Marty Schottenheimer coached the Browns from 1984 through 1988. He left Cleveland with a 46-31 record; he won almost three out of every five games there. That's not bad on its own, but here's what makes it even better. No coach for the Browns - before or after the departure of the team to Baltimore - has left Cleveland with a winning record since Schottenheimer left. Oh, by the way, the Browns lost to Schottenheimer's Chargers last weekend.

The Pats sacked Peyton Manning twice on Sunday night and intercepted a pass. Going into that game, the Colts has not allowed a sack in their previous three games and Manning had not had a pass intercepted in any of those games. It wasn't enough to give the Pats a win but it does show that the Pats' defense remains a force to be reckoned with. The record and the schedule are very favorable for New England at this point. The Pats have played four road games this year and have won them all; other than a visit by the Chicago Bears to Foxboro in three weeks, their next six games should see the Pats as favorites and they close the season at home against Tennessee. The Pats should be looking at a 12-4 record - or better - unless a real disaster strikes.

Here are my five worst teams of the weekend. You'd think it would be difficult to fill out this list since the Cardinals didn't play on Sunday…

5. Falcons: I know all about the mantra of "on any given Sunday…", but the Detroit Lions clocked them. The … Detroit … Lions.

4. Vikings: They scored 3 points against the Niners. Before that, the Niners gave up an average of 33 points per game.

3. Packers: Losing by 2 TDs to the Bills will always get you on this list.

2. Titans: Losing by 30 points to anyone will always get you on this list.

1. Raiders: They were shut out on MNF by a Seahawks defense that had yielded 4 TDs or more in the previous 5 games. Oh, and they gave up 9 sacks in that game too.

Finally, here's how Bernie Lincicome described this year's Oakland Raiders in the Rocky Mountain News:

"They are waxed fruit. They only look like the real thing, fooling no one with half an eye or a working nose. You used to lock up your silverware and your children when the Raiders came to town.

"Now you send minivans to meet their plane."

But don't get me wrong, I love sports...

<< Back to the Recent Rants Index

= Home = Recent = Topical = Wagers =
= Archives = Pros = Scores = Contact =