what passes for fashion in pittsburgh

Of the 25 top-selling jerseys between April and August, three were from the Steelers: Polamalu at #2, Roethlisberger at #3 and Hines Ward at #11. No. 1? New Chicago QB Jay Cutler.

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The Bus is back!

Not so fast -- it was just a wardrobe malfunction at the Redskins game.

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all rosters have been loaded ...

... along with tentative starting lineups. Take a look and make sure you have who you think you have. The Add/Drop Cafe is also open for business.

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first trade of the year has been consummated

Please congratulate the happy couple, Rege Jr. and Kevin Simard. A trade of defenses -- Rege Jr. now has the Ravens, while Kevin gets the Patriots. The commish approved this whilst relaxing in the pool on Tuesday. No bribes were taken (and sadly, none were tendered).

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meet my high school football coach

He won't show up on any list of all-time Pirates greats, but Hugh McLaurin Pepper won a couple of games for them from 1954 to 1957 before coming back home to Mississippi. He had also been drafted by the Steelers (he was a running back in college).

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no hard feelings

Still smarting from three losses to the Steelers last year, Baltimore Ravens LB Terrell Suggs showed up for training camp in this T-shirt.

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best rolling stones songs ever. period.

Care to weigh in? Meet me at the beach. I'm bringing some friends.


* gimme shelter
* waiting on a friend
* paint it black
* sympathy for the devil
* let's spend the night together
* child of the moon
* under my thumb
* time is on my side
* dead flowers
* as tears go by

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greetings from the no-homer zone

The Panthers reported to camp Sunday. I offered this up for a front-page headline in light of QB Jake Delhomme's five-interception, one-fumble performance against the Cardinals in the playoffs last year. (Note the electric fan in his left hand.)

It was not accepted.


JAKE'S

ONE

FAN

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last year's scoring elite

a quick look at the top-shelf players from last year under our scoring system. but as they say on the mutual fund commercials, past results are no guarantee of future performance.

QUARTERBACKS (150 or more points)
* Drew Brees / Aaron Rodgers / Phillip Rivers / Kurt Warner / Jay Cutler (now with Chicago) / Peyton Manning / Donovan McNabb / Matt Cassel (now with KC)

RUNNING BACKS (140 or more points)
* DeAngelo Williams / Michael Turner / Thomas Jones / Matt Forte / Brandon Jacobs / Adrian Peterson / Maurice Jones-Drew / Ladanian Tomlinson / Brian Westbrook

WIDE RECEIVERS (100 or more points)
* Larry Fitzgerald / Calvin Johnson / Andre Johnson / Greg Jennings / Randy Moss / Anquan Boldin / Terrell Owens (now with Buffalo) / Roddy White / Steve Smith / Lance Moore / Antonio Bryant

DEFENSES (100 or more points)
* Steelers / Ravens / Eagles / Titans / Vikings / Giants / Bucs

Only 2 players scored more than 200 points last year: Drew Brees and the Steelers defense.

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draft order

1st -- pam
2nd -- ian
3rd -- laurie
4th -- kevin
5th -- rege sr.
6th -- rege jr.
7th -- neil
8th -- louis
9th -- diane
10th -- sherrie
11th -- babs
12th -- trent

RATIONALE:
* Allows ample time for all owners to perform due diligence -- especially Ian and Louis, who will be participating by phone.
* Having the draft order set early frees up valuable time for witty repartee as opposed to excruciatin' deliberatin' (a particular wish of Mrs. Commish).
* All grumbling about draft position can take place in the privacy of one's own home instead of at the draft table.

METHODOLOGY:
* Made an alphabetical list of all team names -- from 9th Miss. Cavalry to Your Original Champions.
* Used a random number generator -- www.random.org/form -- to generate a set of numbers from 1 to 12. The set came back as 12, 11, 5, 8, 2, 1, 9, 3, 6, 7, 10, 4.
* Assigned those numbers to the alphabetical list. Thus, 9th Miss. Cavalry picks 12th, Your Original Champions picks fourth, etc., etc.

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