STEELERS
Playing to the whistle. Mrs. Black-N-Gold briefly weighed in on this earlier in the week with The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. Allow her to expand. Athletes are paid handsomely to do a job. That job may be to run with the ball, to catch the ball or to separate said ball from an opponent. When this task is performed accordingly, it can lead to an outburst of emotion on both the player's and spectator's part. Mrs. Black-N-Gold singled out S Mike Mitchell earlier this week for prancing and preening after her caused a crucial fumble in the Oakland game. Lucky for him, teammate Jarvis Jones had the presence of mind to pounce on the ball or the celebration may have been for naught. What Mrs. Black-N-Gold failed to do was admonish RB Roosevelt Nix for the same infraction. She, too, was too busy celebrating the fumble to actually notice that the ball was still in play. That's ok when a fan does this. It is definitely NOT ok when a player does it. Gentlemen, please allow me to explain again that you must play all the way through, until the official blows his little whistle thus ending the play. Then you may go off and do your little dance and play to the crowd and celebrate with your teammates. ONLY if it's an exceptional play. Do not celebrate tackling someone on 1st & 10 if your team just gave up 8 yards on the play. Do not celebrate a 1st down in an exhibition game. In other words, act like you've been there before. And for crying out loud, DO NOT get a penalty for any of these ridiculous celebrations. Thank you.
PENGUINS
No doubt about it, G Marc-Andre Fleury is playing crazy-out-of-his-mind hockey right now. Without Flower the Pens would surely not carry a 9-5-0 mark, 18 points, and 4th place in the Metro division. Yes, MAF is M-V-P. This is a good thing because the Pens have most certainly been without their other M-V-P, C Sidney Crosby. Sid has been dreadful in the early part of the season, managing just 7 points in the first 14 games. Some people think it's due to Coach Mike Johnston's 200-foot system. Others feel maybe Sid is too concerned about the injuries he has suffered during his illustrious career and may be playing scared. Sid himself has bristled about the Pittsburgh media making such a big deal of the slump. First of all, Mrs. Black-N-Gold is not a member of the media so she can expand on the topic of Sid's slump all she wants. Secondly, now that Crosby's offensive woes stem all the way back to last season, is it considerded a slump or is Sid on the downside of his career? Mrs. Black-N-Gold thinks that the Pens can't continue to play winning hockey without their captain contributing offensively. Maybe Sid is finally coming around. In last night's 4-3 shootout win over Montreal, he recorded 2 assists as well as putting one on the net in the shootout. If it was a fluke, and he's not coming around, it's time to put on the big-boy pants and start finding the net, Sid.
PIRATES
Pirates LF Starling Marte was honored this week when he received the Rawlings Gold Glove Award for NL leftfielders and the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award for leftfielders. It was the 1st time Marte received such an honor but more than likely will not be the last. He came close to snagging the award last year, as he was named a finalist. This season he recorded a .995 fielding percentage by committing only 1 error in 196 chances. His 24 defensive runs saved was 3rd best in the Majors. And Marte led the NL with 16 assists. He is the 1st Pirate to do so since Jose Guillen had 16 in 1998. The converted centerfielder is considered one of the fastest players on the team and has the best arm, to boot. Not to take anything away from CF Andrew McCutchen but Mrs. Black-N-Gold can't help but wonder why Marte is in left and Cutch remains in center. In an age where saving runs is as important as scoring them, don't you want to give your team the best possible chance to win? Doesn't that include putting your best lineup on the field defensively? Yes, Cutch himself finished as a Gold Glove finalist this year. But the fact remains, Marte is younger than Cutch, faster than Cutch and has a better arm than Cutch. The Pirates once prided themselves on good defense. That trait seems to have trailed off the past few seasons. It may be time to put stock in defensive metrics again. Your best outfielder belongs in centerfield.
That's it for Mrs. Black-N-Gold's Takeaways. There may come another day when she needs to set the record straight with some issues regarding our favorite teams. Until next time, Black-N-Gold fans. Let's Go Steelers!!!!!! Let's Go Pens!!! Let's Go Bucs!!!!!
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