the 4th star

Offence versus defence. It’s the biggest match-up of the Super Bowl. Which team wins that will win the game. So, how do the Pittsburgh Steelers best to prepare for the Arizona Cardinals offensive attack? Here’s what a certain Manitoba Bisons offensive coordinator had to say. His comments in italics.

I was thinking the Steelers might play with an extra defensive back and play some Cover 2 (noting they are not usually a Cover 2 team). This would help address Arizona’s success at attacking the seams in the pass game. The Steelers might even play some man cover under the Cover 2 shell to try and disrupt the timing of the receivers.

Agreed. I think the Steelers need to bump all the Cardinals’ receivers at the line and disrupt the timing of the patterns. That will make Kurt Warner adjust his reads, too, keeping him with the ball for an extra second or so. By that time, he could be on his back.

How might Arizona adjust? Well, playing Boldin and Fitzgerald on the same side would make paying Cover 2 more difficult (keeping them on opposite sides would be what the Steelers want if they are in a Cover 2 shell … enabling them to keep one safety deep over each of Boldin and Fitzgerald). If the Steelers over shift to the Boldin/Fitzgerald side, this might open up the short side of the field for the run game (one less player on that side) – which I think will be important if the Cardinals are to win.

That’s the biggest problem for the Steelers. If the Cards load up on one side, they have to follow suit, leaving the weak side open for big gains. And what do you do with Troy Polamalu? Do you throw him right on Fitzgerald and hope the other defenders can make plays? If the Cards do overload on one side, whoever the outside pressure is has to make sure they don’t over-pursue. That would be dangerous as Arizona tries to cut the flow back.

I think it will be suicide for the Steelers to try and blitz Warner. I think they should only rush three, drop off into coverage and force Warner to make perfect throws into areas which are tightly covered. He is arm is OK, but I don’t think he has the arm strength to get the ball into tight areas. Make him be patient. Force him to throw to underneath players. I think the Cards want to throw the ball down the field. I would not be scared of their run game, despite the small level of success they have had in the playoffs this far.

For the Cards to have any chance in the game, I think they need to come out and do to Pittsburgh what they did to Philadelphia in the NFC Championship. They marched it down the field early, and that gave them confidence. They’ll need to do that again. The Steelers wear teams down on both sides of the ball. Whether the Cards can match them blow for blow, and take advantage of their opportunities in the red zone, will be the difference. I don’t think they can.

I like Pittsburgh to win and cover the seven points. Once I’m logged out of the Bowmans account, then I’m cheering for Arizona. As preachy as all his God Squad talk is, Steelers fans (and the people who have jumped on their bus) are even more annoying. I would like to see Warner win again. After all, he’s a former New York Giants quarterback. Incidentally, the G-Men are still the champs for another day. Get out there and celebrate.

If past poetry hasn’t convinced you, let it be known that the 4th Star is a liberal blog and that sexuality is cool. If you want to date boys and marry them, go right ahead. We’ll celebrate with you and slow dance with your father at the wedding. David Beckham seems like a liberal guy, too. Certainly the gay community loves him, so why wouldn’t he give some of that affection back? Tough gig. Having both the male and female population in love with you. That’s why he’s up here today and that’s why I’m singing The Hold Steady right now.

But if you get tired of your boyfriend’s things, there’s always other boys, there’s always other boyfriends.
If you get tired of your football pranks, there’s always other boys, there’s always other boyfriends.
If you get tired of the car he drives, there’s always other boys, and you can make him like you.
If you get tired of the music he likes, there’s always other boys, and you can make him like you.

For some strange reason, Bruce Springsteen has decided to sell his brand to the NFL and now finds himself all mixed up in the supercharged spectacle that is the Super Bowl. I’ll watch the halftime garbage, but I won’t be happy. It’s one thing when Lenny Kravitz attempts to resurrect his career by playing these hokey things (Grey Cup, lest we forget), but when a true legend of cool lowers himself to this level, it bothers me. Does he really need the money? If he does, after all the great songs after all these years, then he’s an idiot. The Friday Wrap Jam moves past The Boss and into a little Mike Ness. Not saying SD is better than BS, but it’s pretty OK.

Again, holy crap.

Seven points. That’s where the line has settled, telling me that people do not like the Cardinals to win this game despite putting up some impressive offensive numbers the last month. Seven points. A friend not unfamiliar with the process of laying money down and then bitching about how shitty the team he bet on is for not covering, told us he’s totally flip-flopped on his selection. He loved Arizona the first week of the break. Now, he’s re-thinking that, willing to lay the seven for the suffocating Pittsburgh defence. They’re good, no question, but seven points good?

Usually I agree with this guy, but his second guessing has me second guessing, too. What I’m trying to say is that I have no pick yet. You’ve come this far for no reason (not that you care who I’m picking, anyway). The point of this post is a simple one: To give you guys something to read today.

For something funny, check this out. Is it NSFW? Good question.

Wow. And I’m not talking about Hank Zetterberg’s lady friend. No, this is just a bad idea. Don’t think so? Here’s a look at how the recent massive, multi-year, multi-ridiculous contract extensions in the National Hockey League have gone to this point:

Superstar Vinny Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning

Let’s see. The Lightning signed the forward to a eleven-year, $85 million contract extension in the summer. His new contract begins after the 2008-09 season, and runs through the 2019-20 season. How’s that looking now? Well, Tampa bay is reportedly trying to move him before the deal kicks in this summer. Good job. Cornerstone, or anchor?

Small centre Daniel Briere, Philadelphia Flyers

Damn. How’s that eight-year, $52 million contract with a no-trade clause deal working for the Flyers these days? Last season measured 72 points for a whopping $10 million. Ugh. There’s only seven years left, but this season has been a write-off thanks to various injuries. Oh, how Philly would like a do-over on this guy. Or at least a write-off.

Goaltender Rick DiPietro, New York Islanders

Sept. 11 might have been the worst day in New York history, but Sept. 12, 2006 isn’t far behind. DiPietro signed a 15-year, $67.5 million contract with the Islanders that day. With 12 years left to go, he’ll miss the rest of this season due to a knee injury, with whispers he might not ever be the same when he gets back on the ice. You’d think the Isles would learn from their mistakes. This is the same organization that signed Alexei Yashin to a 10-year deal before the start of the 2001-02 season. Yashin sends his love from Russia, New York.

Is it only January 28th?

Do you realize we have at least two more months of winter left? And that doesn’t even take into account the awful April slushfest we always hope to miss but never do. Can’t wait for that, where topping up the windshield washer fluid is like brushing your teeth (twice a day at least) and every single pair of pants gets ruined thanks to the brown/grey dirt/snow and all that effing salt. In years past, I’ve taken to hiking my jeans up around my knees while driving, so that the cuffs don’t rest in the salty pool of Pacific Ocean that is on the floor mats of the Red Rocket. The parking attendant guy looks into my car and probably thinks either Milhouse is leaving the lot or the biggest Rafael Nadal fan in Western Canada has to open the door to pay because the window won’t roll down.

Just a guess, but I doubt Melissa Baker has that problem. Nope. Not at all. As an aside to this little piece of time wasting, did you know the dude taking the pictures has to take his shirt off, too? Fascinating.

Two more months, people.

I’m still working on my Super Bowl pick. I have it narrowed down to two teams, but I’m not sure where to go from there. They both are so annoying. At least the fans are. There are the bandwagoners and then there are the front-runners. Bandwagoners are OK. They don’t mean any harm, but clearly they don’t know jack about football if they haven’t even taken the simple step of choosing a club to cheer for. The front-runners are actually worse than the bandwagoners. I don’t mind talking to people about the game or defensive schemes if they’ve shown themselves to be true fans of that club (for more than 10 years), but when people jump around and cheer for the team that everyone is masturbating about, treating them like their own, well that just makes me want to give little dancers a punishing back-breaker, too.

You know who you are.

Two Manitoba Moose posts in a week!

There better be some tickets under my pillow when I get home tonight.

Not only were the Moose on track to clinch top seed in the American Hockey League’s Western Conference, the local hockey concern just got that much better with the inclusion of the fabulous Fabian Brunnstrom from the Dallas Stars today. Brunnstrom, as you may recall, was the prize non-drafted free agent last summer, as a number of teams wanted him. So what’s he doing in Winnipeg? OK, he hasn’t lit the world on fire in Dallas, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a pretty good player. He might be a tweener right now — not quite good enough for the NHL but certainly too good for the AHL.

The ladies at Moxie’s will like him.

I guess we’ll see. One thing is for sure, even with this guy backpacking through Europe for a few games, the Moose have the best team on paper in the West. Jason Krog, Jason Jaffray, Michel Ouellet, Mike Keane, Cory Schneider, Curtis Sanford, Nolan Baumgartner, Max Fortunus, Mike Grabner (when he gets back), Mark Cullen — this team could give the New York Islanders a game. There is no excuse for the Moose not to have an extended post season run this spring.

Maybe we should be worried about losing the Moose to Kansas City.

Growing up playing the lowest levels of hockey possible, the kids I hung around with were worried about: a) not breaking the new blade they just bought for their shiny Gretzky Easton; b) finding enough sock tape before the game: and c) explaining to Mom and Dad why they smashed their new blade on that shiny Gretzky stick over the net in the aforementioned game. Oh, and that they need some money for sock tape, too.

Being teenagers, we also worried about chicks, coolness, pretending we weren’t drunk after two beers, and how we could avoid the long bus ride home after school. “You got a car today?” Trying to gain a competitive edge by camouflaging our equipment was not high on our list. Not that it’s not a good idea. It’s a great idea. We wonder if it will make it past the high school hockey level, though.