Tag: Super Bowl XLIII (Page 4 of 5)

      Great Super Bowl Grub

      January 30, 2009 /

      There are three things a great Super Bowl party must have to be effective. One is the game obviously, and if you can get it on a high def big screen – good…for…you. Two, Super Bowl squares is a must to ensure both guy and girl remain interested in the game the entire time because there is no “B Channel” on Super Bowl Sunday. And the third thing is good food, whether it is your standard pizza and wings or if you do something a little special – you’ve got to have good grub.

      Check out these killer Super Bowl Sunday menu items by Mike Farley. And for a sample, below are his directions for slow roasted BBQ ribs.

      Slow Roasted BBQ RibsSlow Roasted BBQ Ribs

      Does the thought of making ribs with homemade BBQ sauce intimidate you? I felt the same way, until I watched Guy Fieri and Tyler Florence do it on the Food Network. The key is patience, because the actual cooking process is pretty simple.

      4 to 6 lbs. babyback pork ribs
      Olive oil
      Kosher salt & pepper

      Sauce
      1 Tbsp. dried thyme
      3 slices bacon
      1/2 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
      1 garlic clove, minced
      14 oz. can tomato sauce
      1 jar chili sauce
      1/2 of a 6 oz. can of tomato paste
      2 jars apricot or peach preserves ( I used Saucy Susan)
      1/4 cup hot pepper jelly (you can omit or add hot sauce instead if you can’t find this stuff)
      1 Tbsp. paprika
      Kosher salt & pepper
      1/4 cup cider or malt vinegar
      2 Tbsp. yellow mustard
      2 Tbsp. molasses

      DIRECTIONS
      Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Brush both sides of ribs with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put on a baking sheet and cover with foil, then place in oven. Meanwhile, in a large soup pot, preferably a nonstick one, heat 2 Tbsp. or so of olive oil for 2 to 3 minutes over medium heat, then add onion, garlic, thyme, a bit of salt and pepper, and the whole slices of bacon. Sautee for 5 to 7 minutes or until the bacon starts to render its fat. Remove bacon slices (you can chop one up and put it back in if you like). Add remaining sauce ingredients (tomato sauce through molasses), reduce heat to low and cover, keeping on a slow simmer for a few hours. Turn ribs every 30 minutes or so for 2 hours. Then baste with barbecue sauce and turn every 20 minutes, for 2 more hours. Total oven time for ribs should be around 4 hours for maximum tenderness. Remove ribs from oven, and grill over medium-high heat to finish, for about 2 minutes per side (no more than that, or they will burn) to crisp. Slice into 2 to 3-bones-per servings, and serve with barbecue sauce on the side. This recipe will serve about 4 people, so multiply accordingly, depending on how much other food you have.

      NFL, Super Bowl

      Sorry Steeler fans, no parade for you

      January 29, 2009 /

      SPORTSbyBROOKS.com shares info that the city of Pittsburgh will not be holding a parade should the Steelers beat the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII this Sunday.

      Ben RoethlisbergerAccording to Pittsburgh’s WPXI CHANNEL 11, the city has decided against another title celebration because of the unanticipated budget overruns it would cause, meaning that the Steel City is choosing to defend public services over jubilant Steelers fans.

      That’s probably a smart move by mayor Luke Ravenstahl, but in the short run it’s a scary one to make. Consider just how mental Steelers fans are about their team. WPXI’s Alan Jennings talked to a number of disappointed Steelers fans about what they felt about the potential lack of a parade, and the open disappointment was about what you’d expect, considering the fact that the team’s 2006 victory parade drew some 250,000 fans to the city’s Golden Triangle neighborhood.

      Then again, and stop us if you think this is going so far, but could Pittsburgh officials be jinxing their team just be discussing celebration plans before the game? Surely this is a golden example of abject hubris, right? It’s understandable that Ravenstahl would want to set expectations low — if he’s not going to have a parade, it’s easier to weather that blow if you consciously start the process of disappointment early — but the very existence of this discussion has to be the ultimate motivator for the Cardinals.

      Either way, having a champion go without a parade seems like a bit of a snowjob to the Steelers, if they were to win. And it begs the question of whether cities may begin to try to pass on the costs of teams’ celebratory needs onto the teams themselves. If this has all been an exercise in Pittsburgh angling to get the Rooney family to pick up the ticker tape check, something tells us it’s not going to work.

      How much would a riot cost the city of Pittsburgh if one broke out after a Steelers’ win and no parade? Just sayin’…

      NFL, Super Bowl

      Super Bowl XLIII Notes 1/29

      January 29, 2009 /

      Hines Ward– Steelers’ wideout Hines Ward did not go through 11-on-11 drives on Wednesday, but he did catch passes and made cuts on his sprained knee. He’s still expected to play on Sunday. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

      – The Cardinals are expected to use rookie cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to shadow Pittsburgh wideout Santonio Holmes. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

      – Speaking of Holmes, he admitted to the press on Wednesday that he used to sell drugs as a teenager, but now hopes to help at-risk teens in the same situation he was in growing up to turn the situation into a positive. (Associated Press)

      – Former Steeler Rod Woodson believes that Kurt Warner and the Cardinals may go straight into their two-minute offense to start the game so that Pittsburgh’s defense can’t get into their blitz-checks right away. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

      – Kurt Warner hopes the young Cardinals can avoid the pitfalls that come with playing in the Super Bowl. (theSpread.com)

      – Need picks for the Super Bowl? Head to our partners at Sports Gaming Edge.com for daily picks & previews from some of the best handicappers in the business. They’ll give you top picks throughout the year.

      NFL, Super Bowl

      Is Big Ben underappreciated?

      January 26, 2009 /

      Clark Judge of CBS Sports.com writes that Ben Roethlisberger is one of the most underappreciated quarterbacks in the game.

      Ben RoethlisbergerRoethlisberger had big numbers last season, but that was the exception. Normally, he’s more efficient than he is overwhelming, doing what he must to win. As Fassel said, he’s at his best when his team needs him to be, which it did this season when Pittsburgh pulled off a raft of come-from-behind victories.

      But let’s not stop there. When Pittsburgh held off AFC favorite Indianapolis three years ago to advance to the conference championship game, it was none other than Roethlisberger who made a game-saving tackle of Nick Harper after the Colts defensive back scooped up a Jerome Bettis fumble and seemed headed for the go-ahead touchdown.

      So why doesn’t he get more attention? I mean, if you talk about what makes the Steelers tick you start with the league’s top-ranked defense, pump up coordinator Dick LeBeau, move over to Hines Ward, shift to the team’s trap running game, the club’s storied history and its stable ownership, then get around to Roethlisberger somewhere before dessert is served.

      “Things have worked against him,” said an AFC offensive coordinator. “He has the best defense in the league, so people ask, ‘Is it the defense or is it him?’ He typically has one of the top five rushing attacks in the league. So is it him or the other two?

      “But with the combination of the three, he’s a miracle worker. If he had just an ordinary defense or running game, the guy would be unbelievable because he would be forced to make plays.”

      Big Ben’s career breeds the perfect debate. On one hand, his numbers aren’t eye-popping and he’s been fortunate enough to have played on good teams his entire career. And if you want to get technical about his game, he holds onto the ball way too long and he’s a bit turnover prone.

      But there’s no denying that he’s clutch and he wins. He also played behind an offensive line this year that didn’t gel until the end of the season and one could make the argument that this was the worst Steeler o-line since Big Ben came into the league. So if you can’t appreciate what Roethlisberger has done this season, you’re either a Raven/Brown/Bengals fan, or you’ll never appreciate him.

      NFL

      Michael Silver is a copycat

      January 21, 2009 /

      In his Wednesday column, Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports draws comparisons from Super Bowl XXXVII between the Buccaneers and Raiders to make points about Ken Whisenhunt’s knowledge of the Pittsburgh Steelers for this year’s big game.

      His entire article revolves around this:

      Super Bowl XXXVIIThe reason I bring this up now is that a seemingly similar scenario exists for Super Bowl XLIII. One of the many questions we’ll be hearing over and over until kickoff on Sunday, Feb. 1 is this: Can Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt, a Pittsburgh assistant from 2001-06, pull a Gruden and exercise mental mastery over quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers?

      Hmm…I wonder who also compared this year’s Super Bowl to the one in 2002 between the Bucs and Raiders?

      From my column posted Monday night:

      2. Kurt Warner vs. the Steelers defense.
      The Pittsburgh-Arizona matchup reminds me of the 2002 Super Bowl between the Buccaneers and Raiders. Like Pittsburgh this season, Tampa Bay led the league in total defense that year. Oakland had the best passing offense in the league and was led by long-time veteran quarterback Rich Gannon. Arizona doesn’t have the best passing offense in the league (they were second to New Orleans), but they are led by trusty 11-year vet Kurt Warner at quarterback. In Super Bowl XXXVII, Gannon threw a record five interceptions, three of which were returned for defensive touchdowns as the Bucs routed the Raiders 48-21. Granted, this isn’t Warner’s first Super Bowl (it will be his third), but his situation is eerily similar to Gannon’s. The Steelers’ defense excels at making quarterbacks (young and old) look silly when they drop back to pass. And while he hasn’t shown signs of it yet this postseason, Warner can get awfully turnover prone if he feels too much pressure. The Eagles were able to get to Warner in the third quarter of the NFC Championship Game and the Cardinals’ offense wilted. But they couldn’t do it on a consistent basis (neither could the Falcons or Panthers), and Warner picked them apart with the help of Larry Fitzgerald. Can the Arizona offensive line protect Warner long enough for him to find open receivers? Or will Warner suffer a similar demise as the one Gannon did?

      4. Does Ken Whisenhunt hold an inside edge?
      Mike Tomlin and Ken Whisenhunt were hired eight days apart in 2007. Some believed that when Bill Cowher decided to retire, that Whisenhunt (the Steelers’ offensive coordinator at the time) would take over as head coach. But Whisenhunt eventually decided to head west and take over the seemingly impossible rebuilding plan in Arizona. Tomlin was then plucked from his defensive coordinator position in Minnesota to coach the Steelers, and now two years later the two will meet in the Super Bowl. The question becomes: Will Whisenhunt have inside knowledge of how the Steelers run their offense since he was their offensive line coach when they beat the Seahawks in the 2006 Super Bowl? Of course not, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know ways to help Arizona defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast defend Ben Roethlisberger (who Whisenhunt coached for two seasons in Pittsburgh) or find ways to exploit the few weaknesses the Steelers have defensively. Remember, Jon Gruden helped Monte Kiffin scheme against Rich Gannon (his former quarterback in Oakland) in Super Bowl XXXVII and the Bucs wound up intercepting the Raider QB five times. It would be unwise to overlook Whisenhunt’s knowledge of the Steelers.

      Just what the hell is going on here? Is Silver a copycat? Did he read my column and then use my thoughts as his own? Did he think nobody would find out? Two people can’t come up with similar ideas/comparisons independently of each other, can they?

      Calls to the Yahoo! Sports desk have not be returned…because, well, I didn’t make them. But clearly that son of a bitch Silver stole my comparison.

      NFL, Super Bowl

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