THE PITTSBURGH Sports CHATTER

[POJO_Risin]

The Steelers sign Batch...who wants to compete for the 2 job...who cares...both Maddox and Batch suck ass...

here's a little more about Brown...nothing substantial...but from the Post Gazette...

Brown says he wants to return
Agent expects contract talks soon
Thursday, April 28, 2005

By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Steelers want to sign veteran linebacker Chad Brown, and he said he wants to come here in the worst way, but there remains one small matter standing between them: A contract.

Yet Brown sounded as if he would take less money to rejoin the Steelers than he might elsewhere.

"The level of interest is very high," Brown said during his visit with the team yesterday. "It's tough to replicate the Steelers' experience anyplace else. This is a very special place to play, and to come full circle and end my career here would be awesome."

Brown met with the coaches, and the Steelers' medical staff evaluated him. A three-time Pro Bowler, he battled several injuries the past three seasons, including a broken fibula and a knee injury that limited him to seven games last season with Seattle, but he finished the year healthy.

Brown, who turns 35 in July, was released by Seattle last week after he declined to take a salary cut from $4.2 million to $1 million. He visited the New England Patriots Monday and Tuesday. The Steelers drafted him in the second round in 1993, and he became a starter at inside linebacker and outside, where he had 13 sacks in 1996 before signing with Seattle as a free agent.

The Steelers start Pro Bowl linebacker Joey Porter and Clark Haggans on the outside, but Brown said he'd be willing to play any role for them.

"I don't want to end my career at a place that's rebuilding for the future," Brown said. "I want to end my career at a place that has an opportunity to really win some games and make some noise in the playoffs.

"I was in Seattle for eight years and have three playoff losses to show for it. I need some playoff victories and, hopefully, a Super Bowl victory to round out this game that has given me so much."

Seattle wants to re-sign him. Brown will visit New Orleans next, and Denver also has an interest. Pete Schaffer, Brown's agent, said no substantial talks with the Steelers have taken place but should soon.

Charlie Batch, who signed a one-year contract Tuesday to remain with the Steelers, said he'd like to compete for the No. 2 quarterback job behind Ben Roethlisberger. "Right now, the only job guaranteed is the No. 1 spot, and that's Ben's spot. ... I can't sit back and say that I'm content at three and just happy to be here. That's not the case."



My guess here...is that Brown is using the Steelers to get the Pats more interested...just a guess...

signing him would be a coup, as it would keep him from going to a bunch of contenders...

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Didn't sound that way, when he talked to the press that day....

Sounded sincere, to me anyway....

The thing about LB is that beyond the starters, they have NO decent backups....

Kriewalt is basically a special teams guru... Alonzo Jackson, aka The 2nd Round Bust, is gonna get cut this camp, especially if they sign Brown...

I think Brown is still a pretty effective backer, not a starter mind you, but in 3rd down situations....

[POJO_Risin]

So Va...in ALL your years of watching the Steelers...you haven't ever heard someone sound sincere about wanting to play for the Steelers...knowing that they would never get the deal they want...and end up signing somewhere else for more money?

I agree about the linebackers...and this signing would be a sign of depth...not great depth...but depth...which they generally never have...with the exception to last year...

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Well, I see your point, but I guess you'd have to watch his press conference to see what I meant....

There's also the feeling that Joey Porter hasn't been, well, Joey Porter since about 2001....

[POJO_Risin]

I can agree with the Porter comment...but I don't know since 2001...

but Porter is better than Brown...and is the leader of the D...

it would certainly be a mistake if they were signing Brown to take over for him...

but like I said...it would be awesome to have a player of his calibre playing 50-75% of the downs...

[ALinChainz]

Uneasy rider: Roethlisberger not getting off motorcycle

By ALAN ROBINSON, AP Sports Writer
May 6, 2005


PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Despite Kellen Winslow Jr.'s accident and his own coach's admonition, Big Ben isn't hopping off his big bike just yet.

Ben Roethlisberger was lectured Friday by Steelers coach Bill Cowher on the dangers of riding a motorcycle without a helmet -- as Roethlisberger has been spotted doing recently -- but the quarterback isn't ready to get off his $20,000 cycle.

``He talked about being a risk taker and I'm not really a risk taker. I'm pretty conservative and laid back, but the big thing is to just be careful,'' Roethlisberger said as the Steelers opened their minicamp. ``I'll just continue to be careful. I told him we don't ever ride alone, we always ride in a group of people, and I think it makes it even more safe.''

Asked why he doesn't wear a helmet -- something he wouldn't think about doing on a football field -- Roethlisberger pointed out Pennsylvania's 35-year-old state law requiring helmets to be worn was amended two years ago.

``Obviously Pennsylvania doesn't think people need to (wear a helmet),'' he said. ``There's a law you've got to wear it in football.''

Steelers linebacker Joey Porter was surprised to hear the NFL offensive rookie of the year is taking such risks so soon after Winslow's accident. The Browns tight end, drafted five spots ahead of Roethlisberger last year, was injured Sunday when he flew off a newly purchased motorcycle after running into a parking lot curb.

``Some guys are real good on motorcycles and know what they're doing, but accidents happen,'' Porter said. ``I can't knock the guy for doing it, but it's probably not the wisest thing to do. I don't own a bike because I don't trust them.''

Porter occasionally gets on a Jet Ski, but he said that's different from steering a motorcycle through heavy traffic. Roethlisberger acknowledged many drivers become distracted when they see him riding, shouting or waving at him.

``If I fall off a Jet Ski, I hit the water, and I like my odds,'' Porter said. ``I'm going to get wet. What I say about motorcycles is that concrete is undefeated.''

Of course, Roethlisberger was, too, as a rookie, going 13-0 during the Steelers' team-record 15-1 regular season before losing to New England in the AFC championship game.

The Steelers are understandably cautious about combining a first-round draft choice and a high-speed vehicle. Gabe Rivera, the defensive lineman they chose instead of quarterback Dan Marino in the 1983 draft, was paralyzed after wrecking his sports car midway through his rookie season and hasn't walked since.

Many NFL contracts prohibit engaging in dangerous activities, but Roethlisberger's deal apparently doesn't specifically ban motorcycle riding.

Cowher didn't criticize Roethlisberger's riding, but is visibly uneasy with it.

``I certainly don't condone that,'' Cowher said. ``It (playing pro football) is a very small time in your life and you've got to be very careful -- you can see it documented with Kellen Winslow in Cleveland. There are choices and consequences ... not just in riding motorcycles, but where you go and who you associate with. You have control over them but once you make your decision, they control you.''

Meanwhile, all players reported to the minicamp, the formal start to the final month of the Steelers' offseason workouts. Most players will remain in town through mid-June for ``coaching sessions,'' daily workouts that technically are voluntary but usually are fully attended.

[POJO_Risin]

Fear the cycle...

Winslow is a dipshit...rider's permit...hits a fucking curb going 35...in one of his first rides...

coming off a major injury the first year of his contract...

and with a strict no motorcycle clause...

fuck Kellen...

ride away Ben...

[ALinChainz]

I read where a cop had seen him earlier. He was popping wheelies on it. Said he seemed unsure then.

Ben is obviously experienced, thought I wouldn't be against the helmet. It's the law here in Michigan and would seem to be safer than riding without one.

[POJO_Risin]

I've never really understood people not wearing the helmet...seems imbecilic to me...

when I was just out of college...I bought my cousin's Ninja so he could have moving money down to Florida...

I was living in PA at the time...and I have to tell you...there isn't a fucking chance in hell I was riding that fucking think without a fucking helmet...I had it for a summer...and sold it to help with the downpayment on my new house...

but damn...you get that fucking think on the highway at night...and you couldn't help but open it up...

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Concur 100% Poj...

I just don't get the people who don't want to protect your head...

All I had to see what my cousin in a closed casket in a Erie funeral home when I was a kid after a motorcycle accident...

But specifically relating to Ben's riding, it's apples and oranges IMO comparing him to Winslow...

Winslow was riding a Suzuki racing bike, and recklessly I might add, and didn't even have a license...

Ben rides a Harley with a group of people, albeit without a helmet...

Not being a cycle guy at all, but I just think that riding a cruising bike would be relatively safer than riding a racing bike....

[POJO_Risin]

Well...having owned a crotch rocket myself...and having riden a Harley once...

I can say a couple of things...

The Ninja makes you do stupid ass things...like I said...I had the thing bored out a couple of times rollin' down 90 and both times I did it...you really have an instant of thinking...I'm going to fucking die if I hit a pothole...

The Harley wasn't mine...so I was much more careful...but I can tell you this...they are powerful...powerful bikes...

that being said...they aren't really build to act like an asshole...although you could...very easily...

it's safer...if you are using it to cruise...but it is really...really...easy to lose control of a motorcycle under certain circumstances...Harley's are heavy bikes...you get bent the wrong way...and I could see it getting messy...especially without a helmet...

[Va Beach VH Fan]

My buddy here has a racing Kawasaki, and he regularly has that thing kicking 140....

On top of that, he also goes to these snaking mountain roads, like in Tennesee... Can't remember what the name is....

I constantly tell him the same thing, "just one pothole"....

You probably know that funeral home I'm talking about, I think it's up on the upper East side...

[POJO_Risin]

I probably do...but couldn't fucking name it for you right now if you had a million dollars...

the only one I can think of right now is Bruggers...and I think that was on W38th...

[POJO_Risin]

From the AP wire...

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Don't tell Bill Cowher it's only May.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are barely halfway through their offseason, but Cowher is displaying a midseason-like look of determination -- and, yes, that scary-as-ever scowl -- during their three-day minicamp this weekend.

He delivered a start-of-camp talk Friday that was so motivating, wide receiver Cedrick Wilson wished there was a game that day. Cowher also unexpectedly tossed a pack of rookie offensive linemen into a blitz-heavy drill minutes into their first workout, and even admonished quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for recklessly tooling around on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle without a helmet.

If Cowher seems overly impatient for his 14th season as a head coach to arrive, it's probably understandable. Cowher, who turns 48 on Sunday, is the league's most tenured coach with a single team, although his mostly successful stay (a 130-77 regular season record, eight division titles) does not yet include a Super Bowl championship.

He was close again as the Steelers turned a Cowher-worst 6-10 season in 2003 into a franchise-best 15-1 in 2004, and with a rookie quarterback running the show. But a season that was successful beyond all expectations had a familiar ending, with a 41-27 loss to New England in the AFC championship game.

It was the Steelers' fourth loss in five AFC title game appearances under Cowher, all of them on their home field, yet this latest loss appears to be driving Cowher even more than similar defeats after the 1994, 1997 and 2001 seasons.

``We need to take the next step,'' Cowher said. ``What you did last year means nothing.''

No wonder some Steelers rookies already are wondering when they'll see the first public eruption of Mount Cowher.

``As we talked about with the team, there are no guarantees, there are no shortcuts, and it's going to be demanding,'' Cowher said. ``That's how we're going to approach this year.''

It certainly is a different, sterner Cowher, and for a reason.

After the Steelers followed six consecutive playoff seasons by going 22-26 from 1998-2000, Cowher second-guessed his own methods. He wondered if he allowed his veteran players too much leeway in determining their practice schedules and offseason routines, and questioned if they came back hungry enough following previous title-game losses.

Now, Cowher isn't about to let it happen again, not with a mostly veteran team that appears to have several more Super Bowl runs left in them.

``We did a lot of good things last year, but we did not end it the way we needed it to end,'' Cowher said. ``We're starting over and not assuming anything with any player. The guys who had good years last year need to have better years, and some of the guys who did not play up to expectations need to do that.''

That's one reason why, for all of Roethlisberger's successes in winning his first 14 NFL starts, Cowher is focusing more on the quarterback's postseason failings -- the five interceptions thrown and the number of poor decisions made in an overtime win against the Jets and the New England loss.

Cowher's show-me-more attitude helped motivate Roethlisberger to return to Pittsburgh to start his offseason workout program barely a month after that Jan. 23 AFC title game loss.

``We did not play our best game, we did not coach our best game and that's the reality of it,'' Cowher said. ``Around here you've got to have thick skin, and we're going to have high expectations of everybody, myself included. Ben is no exception -- he set a high standard for himself he expects to live up to, and everybody else to live up to.''

Losing to the same team in the AFC championship game twice in four seasons appears to be additional incentive to Cowher. New England is coming off three Super Bowl championships in four years but, privately, the Steelers think the Patriots' coaching staff defections (Romeo Crennel, Charlie Weis), health issues (Tedy Bruschi) and personnel losses (Ty Law, Troy Brown) translate into a beatable opponent.

Now, the challenge is for the Steelers to become the team that can beat them.

``I'm just excited about this year, and everyone is,'' Roethlisberger said. ``There's like a buzz going around you feel coming off last year. Coach said it best: If we went 5-11 last year we'd be pretty disappointed. We had a great season, but we're disappointed about the way it ended.''


SOUNDS good...we'll see if it is good...

will miss that homo Lou to beat up on...

[POJO_Risin]

I'm thinking there was a Bruggers on East and West 38th though...

owned by brothers...