Ike Taylor looking phenomenal in coverage. Gay was getting killed early. Surprised they didn't continue to attack him on the second drive.

That missed interception was a bit frustrating but understandable with both Gay and Polamalu going for the ball.

Texting blog

My text-to-blog isn't working right now... I wanted to do a play-by-play commentary during the game, but probably won't.

Here we go...

I absolutely love Monday Night Football. So far Tomlin is undefeated on MNF. Hopefully that streak continues tonight. Big game!

Preview: Steelers vs. Broncos

I didn't do my regular Saturday preview post because I was busy formatting and reinstalling software on some Army laptops all day long. One of them caught a virus right after I installed all the software it needed and I had to start over from scratch.

I was so ticked.

But onto tonight's game!

Like I've said in a previous post, I'm actually quite a bit worried about this game especially because Denver got demolished by Baltimore in their last game and are going to want something to prove in this matchup.

Suddenly the critics are questioning the Bronco's physicality and toughness, even though they boast the number one defense in the NFL. This will be a game decided in the second half for sure, and it's certainly going to be one of those "most violent team wins" kind of games.

I think this is going to be a decisive game where we will find out a lot about our running game. The Broncos are ranked third against the rush, but the Ravens were able to churn out about 120+ yards on the ground. I believe Fright Night can take the load with several hand-offs to Parker and Moore here and there.

Statistically the Broncos seem solid in the Defense all around, although Blitzburgh from BTSC argues that it's more because of the opponents they played than their actual talent. I'm not sure I'm convinced by his argument, but I do believe we will move the ball effectively (not with ease, but effectively) when it counts.

These two teams are pretty even when it comes to sacking the quarterback, but I think our game plan is going to rely more on pressuring Kyle Orton than it is for the Broncos to attack Big Ben.

Ben is by far the better quarterback here, and Orton hasn't proven to be tested under pressure.

If we get to Orton frequently enough, we win this game. I will pin this win on the fact of us sacking and pressuring him more than the Broncos can pressure us.

Steelers (bold statement coming up) come out of this game with six sacks and a six point win.

Yinz Luv... Jim Shearer

For those of you who have checked out my blog in the past will know I'm a big fan of the low-budget, no-budget Yinz Luv Da Stillers web show. I'm also gaining a lot of respect for Jim Shearer, the creator of the show. So much so that I wanted to write a feature story on him for the Post-Gazette. Unfortunately, the editors there didn't show interest (because, I think, they don't get the importance of the revolution going on online). So instead, I asked him to do a Q&A session with me regarding the world of web shows and web journalism in general.

Jim is 34 yars old, grew up in Pittsburgh, attended Shaler Area High School, and now lives with his wife in New York City. His day job is with VH1 hosting Top 20 Video Countdown. He started Yinz Luv 'Da Guins during the 2008 playoffs and had so much fun doing it, he started Yinz Luv 'Da Stillers when their season kicked off later in the year. He has been working in television since 2001 when he started with MTV, and his dream is to come back to Pittsburgh if he had the opportunity to do a show here.

I got hooked on YLDS when I was in Iraq and couldn't catch all the games because of the time difference. So, onto the Q&A:

Q: Most journalistic reporters are not allowed to be “fans” of the team they cover. Your web show allows you the freedom to also be a fan. How would YLDS be different if you had to remain “objective”?

A: I don't think YLDS could exist if I had to remain objective. The easiest thing about doing YLDS every week is that there is always a good guy and a bad guy, a protagonist and an antagonist. The story curve is already written for me. The show takes a Pittsburgh fan's perspective, instead of an x's and o's approach, and as a Pittsburgh fan I can only be so objective to the opposing team.


Q: You’ve already done a two-part episode interview with Jack Ham for your show. What has that interview taught you about the direction of your show? Are there any other ambitions or projects you would like to take on?

A: I would love to interview more Steelers and people associated with the team (beat writers, training staff, ex-Steelers, dedicated fans, etc.), but living in New York makes that very difficult. If I could ever find my way back to Pittsburgh, you'd find more episodes like the one with Jack Ham--instead of me just sitting in my bedroom all the time. As for ambitions, my main is goal to to eventually find some type of media work in Pittsburgh; the reason I started the series in the first place.


Q: What motivated you to record and put together this weekly web-show in the first place?

A: Oops, looks like I already answered this question. After my contract ended with MTV I began looking for work in Pittsburgh. The consensus was I didn't have enough on-air sports experience (although I had interviewed a slew of athletes and worked on many a sports show while at MTV). I started the Yinz Luv series to create a make-shift sports reel and to gain the sports experience that I apparently lacked for the Pittsburgh market.

Q: You also have a career on actual television and experience with both VH1 and MTV. How is the production of YLDS different from your television work?

A: Instead of working with a team of many people, it's just me. Also, the equipment I use isn't nearly as expensive as the stuff we use on VH1. My eight years of professional production experience has helped me out a ton though. Conversely, Yinz Luv has helped me on the professional side of things. Since YLDS doesn't have a budget for a teleprompter (obviously), I'll memorize the script in my head, a technique that has helped me out on many a VH1 Top 20 shoot.


Q: If somebody approached you and said, we want to pay you and take YLDS to television, and they offered you a half-hour weekly show, what would you do to make the show fill that half hour?

A: Oooh, that would be the dream. Believe it or not, content-wise it might be easier to do a 22-minute show (can't forget about those commercials) than a 10-minute YouTube show. There's a lot of stuff I end up cutting out for time constraints. With highlights, the gratuitous comedy skit, analysis, the occasional song parody, and interviews, I'd have no problem piecing together an awesome half-hour weekly show.


Q: What opportunities has the world of the web provided you in show production that regular media could not allow you?

A: An audience and not having a chain of command saying "no" to me for whatever reason.

Q: Do you ever run into people who recognize you from YLDS but have no clue you’ve ever been on regular television?

A: It's funny, I've been on VH1 for nearly a year now, was on MTV and MTV2 for six years, and every time I'm noticed out in public, it's for YLDG and YLDS. I don't even get a monstrous amount of views, so it's odd that I'm noticed more for a low budget web-show I run out of my bedroom.


Q: How is your television fanbase different from your web shows fanbase?

A: On YLDS and YLDG it feels like I'm part of the team, part of one big Pittsburgh family. On TV, it's a crap shoot. People will like or hate me depending on my music tastes, how my hair looks, or how well I did when interviewing their favorite artist.

Q: How do you push yourself to record a show after a Steelers loss?

A: I try to make a loss as entertaining as possible, and try to make the next game feel as hopeful as possible.


Q: Do you have any crazy pre-game rituals?

A: Whenever there's a big Steelers or Penguins game, I'll make a Roethlisweiner sandwich (smoked sausage, onions, tomatoes, hot mustard, saurkraut, salt-and-pepper). The Steelers and Pens have never lost when I made them; that's why I don't press my luck and eat them before every game.


Q: You have a degree in Journalism from Waynesburg College, so I’m sure you’ve noticed how, because of blogging and the web, many of the news industries are dying out or are forced to strategize new ways of delivering their information. Do you envision television shows ever having to face that sort of crisis in the future? Do you ever feel like YLDS is ahead of the curve in that sense (having established a web base)?

A: We're in such a weird place right now. I think, eventually, TV and the web will mold/evolve into one entity. When I was younger we had 13 television channels, then 50, now I have well over a thousand. Think of all the blogs and web-shows on the internet, there's the same number of eyes with a gazillion more outlets to choose from. Although it'll be easier to reach niche audiences, it's going to be tougher to reach the mass audience. Because everything is becoming so scattered, media professionals are going to have to know how to do it all, so in that respect, I may be a wee bit ahead of the curve, since I'm an on-air host, who can produce, write, shoot, direct, and edit.


Q: You’ve said (in a Pittsburgh City Paper interview) that the local sports media are sort of “missing the big picture” when it comes to sports shows. What is that “big picture” in your mind?

A: Whenever I've heard back from the Pittsburgh sports market, it's always comments like, "We could never do a skit with copyright material." The "big picture" is that I can handle myself in front of and behind a camera, fully capable of hosting any type of sports program coming out of Pittsburgh. Half of the stuff I do on YLDS couldn't fly on TV, I realize that, but I wish someone would say, "Eight years of national TV experience, three years of making sports web-shows in his bedroom, this guy's got more than enough professional tools to work on-air in the 'burgh."

The man inside the suit

This post doesn't have to do with either faith or football, but with writing.

I'm now in my final weeks of my internship at the Post-Gazette. Yesterday I had the tremendous pleasure of doing an over-the-phone interview with Anthony Daniels, the British star who played C-3PO in all six Star Wars movies.

He was an extremely charming and delightful man to interview. He spoke quickly (and with a British accent), which made it difficult at times to catch the whole quote, but I think I came away with a very good story. Mainly, it focused on his part-time role as adjunct professor at the Entertainment Technology Center, which is a graduate program run by CMU.

I focused the story mainly on that, which unfortunately made it difficult to include some of the funnier or more colorful tidbits that came up during the interview.

But this is why we blog, after all, isn't it? So that we can include and write about snippets and pieces that don't always fit elsewhere.

Right now, Daniels is on tour with with Star Wars: In Concert, a multimedia event that combines all six movies into a two-hour concert. The show will be coming to Pittsburgh on Nov. 29.

During our phone interview, Daniels was having trouble with his phone, which started beeping.

"It's R2D2 on the other line," he said.

A few years ago, CMU started the Robot Hall of Fame, which Daniels hosted in 2003. R2D2 was the first of four robots inducted into the Hall. C-3PO wasn't inducted until the following year in 2004.

I asked Daniels if C-3PO might be jealous that R2D2 was inducted first.

As a complete gentleman, Daniels answered charmingly, "No, no, no, no. ArToo was first because he had to tidy things up and make sure everything was ready for C-3PO to arrive. C-3PO was probably doing something important then."

Which is funny because he was in fact doing something important: He was hosting the awards.

He also said that he never understood the underlining webbing of the Star Wars storyline until he became involved with this concert. I've never been a big Star Wars fan (gasp!), but the way he talked about the concert, he really made me want to go catch the show.

As he talked about the concert, and the lighting and the live music, and the standing ovations the show has received, he said, "I'm getting goosebumps just thinking of it."

He is also a big fan of Pittsburgh, but not so much of the road systems here (I did include this in the story). And, he doesn't know the difference between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Shame on you, Mr. Daniels.

By the end of the interview, which lasted about 45 minutes, he made me feel very at ease. I came away from it thinking I had interviewed a friendly college professor rather than an actor involved with one of the biggest epic stories in movie history.

The article I wrote should come out sometime this month in the Post-Gazette. I'll let you know...

Jesus Loves...

Matt sent me a link to a T-Shirt that has a picture of Jesus, and reads: "Jesus Loves The Steelers."

He asked what I might think of the shirt, and quite honestly, I find it revolting. There's several reasons for why I feel this way, but the main one is this: Christ came on Earth to sacrifice His life so that we may gain ours. He died for the atonement of our sins. He is the incarnate God. He is the King of Kings. And to commercialize God for the promotion of a football team (even my very own personal favorite football team) is a ridicule of His reign. It is to use God for personal pleasure and gratification.

I actually want to thank Matt for providing the link. Don't think I'm mad at you for doing so.

Bill Cowher question resurfaces

The Cleveland Browns recently fired their GM, who apparently was hand-picked by coach Eric Mangini. That's an absurd scenario, but let's move on.

I was listening to Tunch Ilkin with Craig Wolfley on 970 AM this morning, A caller came on the air saying he's a long time friend of Bill Cowher and still talks to him and Cowher said he's interested in returning to coaching within the next couple of years, but only under a couple of condition. One, he wants to go into a team that requires rebuilding, and two, he wants to have total control, both as coach and as GM, I imagine.

It didn't sound like the caller was BS'ing (though he could have), and both Tunch and Wolfley seemed very intrigued by the call.

Do you guys think the Browns will be calling up Cowher soon? It's a couple of years now that we've been talking about this, but hey, seems more possible now than ever. If not the Browns, what other team?

Redskins and Panthers are definitely two other options.

Predestination: An unpoular truth

I would say that all Christians can agree on the major doctrines of the faith, in which we know that we are sinners and Christ died on the cross in order to atone our punishment so that, if we believe, we may receive salvation and enter Heaven.

This, as Christians, we know.

There are, however a slew of topics that have brought forth heated discussion and debate throughout the years. Three that come right to mind are child baptism, observance of the Sabbath (which many Christians now call the Lord's Day), and whether Salvation can be lost.

None of these topics, however, have generated as much opposition as the discussion on predestination.

In the most basic terms, "predestination" means that believers in Christ were predestined for salvation even before the beginning of time. Even before the first sin, God knew we would be saved.

Now, the debate becomes heated on the matter of choice, or as some want to refer to as free will.

In other words: Does the Believer choose God, or is it God who chooses the Believer?

This is not your typical "chicken or the egg" question. This is a question that really confronts who we are as human beings before God. And in the next following weeks I'd like to bring to light passages that help shine the light on the answer of predestination.

Do we choose salvation? Or are we chosen for salvation?

I've already alluded to where I stand on this by the title of this post, but I'd like people to discuss and talk in the meanwhile. If you know of any particular passage that may be helpful in answering this question, please let me know.

On my next post on this topic, I will take a look at Romans 9, which, I believe, is the most explicit in discussion predestination.

And then ther was one...

Until last week, there were three different undefeated teams in the NFL. Yesterday, the Baltimore Ravens bumped the Denver Broncos off that stool, and now only the Saints remain. They play tonight on MNF against rival Atlanta Falcons at home.

The Saints are still phenomenal, so I'll give them the nod for tonight to remain undefeated.

My bigger concern is actually the Broncos.

With a decisive win over Denver, the Ravens established that they are not the scum of the division. Even after they lost three games in a row, I didn't think they were all that bad. All losses were in close games against good teams (yes, I'm willing to say the Bengals are a good team).

Their win over the Broncos worries me for two reasons. One: The Ravens (4-3) are back in it with confidence and an important win, and they are now only one game behind the Steelers (5-2). Two: The Steeler face the Broncos next on a Monday night showdown, and after they were exposed by the Ravens, they're going to come after us a little bit harder. I would have liked to see the Broncos win over the Ravens in a tight and physical game so the Steelers could roll into Denver and knock off an undefeated team two games in a row.

Despite losing to Baltimore, Denver is still a good team. They allowed a lot of points in this one (30 points), which is uncharacteristic for them this year (They had been averaging 10 points per game). I expect an aggressive and physical game once we fly into Mile High.

I'll break things down as we go through the week.