Highlights & Lowlights

Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of SteelerTribute from the first 10 years:

• Prehistoric Days of the Internet: When I started this web site in 1997, it was housed on GeoCities for free. I was generously given 2 whole MB of space, which honestly at the time seemed like a lot! Also check out the original design of this site - talk about your HTML magic!



• Penn State Sucks: Being a huge Pitt fan, I naturally have a hatred for Penn State. Therefore every time I mention a PSU alumn, I put "Penn State sucks" in parenthesis next to their name - as in, "The pass was dropped by Bobby Engram (Penn State sucks)." Some of you have thought it was hilarious, while some of you got really ticked off at me for constantly doing it. Either way, I will admit that it has been one of my favorite things to do!



• Angriest Tirade: I've gotten ticked off at the Steelers many times over the past decade, but the incident that got a rise out of me more than any other had to be the time we almost signed Scott Mitchell. I was just overcome with both horrific shock and blatant anger that the Steelers were about to ruin their franchise. Fortunately, reports of the certainty of this signing turned out to be exaggerrated, and Mitchell never donned the black and gold.



• Greatest Prediction: I correctly predicted the outcome of the AFC North in 2005 and 2006, and in 1998 I wrote, "Look for the AFC to win the majority if not all of the next 10 Super Bowls". However, my proudest prognostication was the Elvis Grbac pic. In my preview of the 2001 playoff game against Baltimore, I predicted that the Ravens QB would throw an interception on his first pass of the game, which he ended up doing.



• Not-So-Great Calls: Of course, for every accurate prediction I ever made, there were about 20 statements that I regret writing! Check out these brilliant insights:
  
  
  • "Give [Kordell Stewart] time for the future, because he's going to be a superstar in this league." (1997)
  
  
  
  • "The Steelers have settled on an offensive coordinator. Reports say that Ray Sherman, who was the Vikings QB coach, will be the man. He should be good for Kordell.... I think he will be able to improve the offense." (1998)
  
  
  
  • "With their second pick in the third round, the Steelers took CB Hank Poteat from the University of Pittsburgh! This guy was one of my all-time favorite players when he was at Pitt. He reminded me so much of Rod Woodson.... I can't believe he's a Steeler now. What a great day!" (2000)
  
  
  
  • "This is also big for the defense. Washington and Scott give the Steelers something they haven't had for at least a decade - two solid starting cornerbacks." (2001, after the Steelers signed the two beleaguered corners to long-term deals)
  
  
  
  • "[Jeff Hartings] will replace Dawson at center, even though he is a guard and has never played center in his life!! The Steelers sure are asking us fans to show a lot of good faith here." (2001)
  
  
  
  • "New England rallied to beat Miami, but both would miss the playoffs as the Jets stole away the East by clobbering Green Bay. The defending champion Patriots proved to be a one-hit wonder." (2002)
  
  
  
  • "I am putting this in writing now: The Philadelphia Eagles will NOT make the playoffs this season." (2004, the season that the Eagles went to the Super Bowl)
  
  
  
  • "The Steelers have apparently wasted everyone's time with the token interview of Mike Tomlin." (2007)



• Free Publicity: To my surprise, I actually got some exposure from the local media for this web site. The Post-Gazette and WTAE-TV both did short stories on it.



• Bad Feedback: The nastiest email I ever got was from a reader who called himself "Concerned Fan", and who said - among other things - the following: "I am shocked and appalled at the audacity you have to write such garbage. You are obviously utilizing this medium to vent pent up aggression from goodness knows what?!!! How dare you speak so poorly of these professional football players like you have a clue what they go through to play at all.... Your commentaries are despicable." Ouch!!



• The Time I Almost Gave Up: After the game at Cleveland in 2000, I seriously never wanted to watch another Steelers game ever. Remember the setting for that game: the Steelers were coming off of two straight losing seasons, the "offseason from hell", and an opening day shutout at home. They went into Cleveland and inexplicably blew a game that they should have, at worst, easily sent into overtime. Plus it ruined the attention that my beloved Pitt Panthers were going to get for blanking Penn State that same weekend. That was definitely the low point in my life as a member of The Nation, and it shows in my bitter recap of the game (angrily written about 10 minutes after it was over).



• Ravens Hating: Although I'm starting to hate the Cincinnati Frauds even more, no team has been more blasted on this web site than the Baltimore Ravens. They have earned colorful nicknames like "The Murderer" (for their star linebacker who stabs people), "The Drug Dealer" (for their star running back who was sent to prison for dealing drugs), and "The Genius" (for their coach who thinks he is God's gift to football). They even have a special logo for their game previews.



• The America Loves Countdowns® Series: I love countdowns, I wanted to expand writing beyond just the Steelers, and I needed some filler material for that boring time between the draft and training camp, so I came up with these lists, which I must admit have been really fun to create.



• Favorite News Stories: The News Archives section of this site contains a decade's worth of columns. Here are some of my personal favorites:
  
  
  • My farewell to Mike Tomczak. You'd be amazed over how many people emailed me to say that they really appreciated this. Apparently Tomczak was more popular in this town than I realized. (3/2/2000)
  
  
  
  • The toolbag from Baltimore who complained about the Steelers fans. (1/24/2002)
  
  
  
  • Possible reasons for the Charlie Batch signing. It turned out to be a decent signing I guess, but it made zero sense at the time. (6/18/2002)
  
  
  
  • The sickening trend of overblown training camp news stories. These were all actual news items that year too - I didn't make any of that up. (9/2/2002)
  
  
  
  • The chronology of events that destroyed the Cleveland Browns. Seriously, every Steelers fan should read this. You will no longer hate the Browns. In fact, you will want to root for them to win something and make it up to their longsuffering fans. (12/20/2005)
  
  
  
  • The path of devastation left by the 2005 Steelers. The team not only won the Super Bowl, but they also destroyed four prominent NFL franchises! (5/25/2006)



• The Super Bowl: By far the #1 highlight of doing this site was getting to write about Super Bowl XL, both in the weeks leading up to the game and then after the Steelers finally won their fifth championship.



• The Readers: Last but certainly not least, I have to acknowledge the readers, because without you, I wouldn't keep up this site. I've been amazed at how many of you have been reading this site since the early days. Many of the emails I get are from out-of-town fans who use the web as their main source for following the Steelers (these folks are the REAL die-hard Steelers fans). I can't thank you enough for reading, and I hope you'll keep coming back for the next ten years!