A mere week into my new job as Steeler’s beat writer for Pittsburgh Sporting News, and here I am, writing a second piece detailing an injury to a Steeler rookie. Steeler nation grimaced a familiar scowl Thursday night as rookie linebacker Sean Spence’s knee all but pulled a 360 degree spin toward the end of the third quarter. Spence immediately fell to the turf and remained there while play was stopped and a team of trainers and concerned teammates flocked to his side. Spence was carted off ... Read More
Archives for August 2012
Clarion defense pitches shutout in season opener
Clarion, PA - They say defense wins championships, but tonight it won a season opener. The Clarion University football team defeated visiting Fairmont State University in a defensive battle, 7-0. “Pitching a shutout, those aren’t easy. It doesn’t matter who you are or who you are playing against. The defense came up with play after play,” Head Coach Jay Foster said after the game. Before the game, Foster said that the x-factor would be the young wide receiving core and if they would be ... Read More
Slippery Rock Football Rolls Seton Hill in Season Opener
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- Redshirt sophomore quarterback Jared Buck (McDonald/West Allegheny HS) passed for three touchdowns and ran for one and The Rock defense recorded six quarterback sacks and interceptied three passes as hosting Sippery Rock University blitzed Seton Hill University, 52-6, Thursday night in season-opening college football action at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. Buck threw TD passes of 17, 10 and 28 yards and rushed in from a yard out, completed 11 of 14 passes for 127 yards with ... Read More
AFC East Round Up
With the Dolphins in a transition mode with a new head coach and new rookie QB Ryan Tannehill, the near future looks especially rough. The Dolphins wide receivers are a bunch of no names, especially since Chad Johnson was released last week following his encounter with wife Evelyn Lozada. Hopefully Reggie Bush paired up with Daniel Thomas can take some of the pressure off of Tannehill and the receiving core. Offensive Coordinator Mike Sherman, who was the head coach at Texas A&M last season ... Read More
Panthers look for quick transition in 2012
To say the 2012 football season is a transition period for the Pitt Panthers would be a huge understatement. Paul Chryst comes in from Wisconsin to become the fourth Pitt head coach in a two-year span. Chryst also brings with him a pro-style offense, which could be good for senior quarterback Tino Sunseri, who’s under his fourth different offense since enrolling at Pitt. While there’s a ton of excitement surrounding the arrival of Chryst and what the future holds for a Pitt program that’s ... Read More
Minor League News Wrap
Cory Giger of the Altoona Mirror first reported yesterday that top prospect Gerrit Cole will head to AAA Indianapolis for the remainder of the season-which will include at least a first round series in the International League playoffs, as the Indians have already clinched a spot. Cole got off to a slow start in AA Altoona, but has only allowed 5 earned runs in 33 innings over his last six starts. He has however walked ten batters in his last eleven innings pitched. Cole is still seemingly ... Read More
Done with Doan
For the first week of free agency, the big stories were Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. The rumor mills were having a field day, it seemed like a consistent rotation of teams that were interested. Pens fans were loving every minute of it, since Pittsburgh seemed to be the destination for at least one of them. The thought of a Parise-Crosby-whoever pairing on the top line got Pittsburghers more excited than eating a Primanti's sandwich at a Donnie Iris concert. Then they both decided to sign with ... Read More
Robert Morris looks to make vast improvements in 2012
The 2011 season was a rough one for Joe Walton and the Robert Morris Colonials as their 2-9 record tied for the fewest wins since Walton and the program got started back in 1994. Although Robert Morris was picked to finish only sixth in the preseason NEC Coaches’ Poll, the Colonials have some talent in place to potentially be a surprise in 2012, as Walton returns 17 starters and 39 overall letter winners from a season ago. The strength of the Colonials could be on the defensive side of the ... Read More
Pirates led by Pedro and a Wandy-ful performance on ESPN
It's been seven years since the Pirates have been a nationally televised game on ESPN. That was prior to to the All-Star game in Pittsburgh. No one on this current team was here. Last season, John Kruk was pushing for the mothership to make an appearance in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, the Pirates were out of the race by the time ESPN considered it. So with their success last year, ESPN had to consider a trip to Pittsburgh at the beginning of the year right? Actually, no. In their N.L. Central ... Read More
Fleury Closing in on Franchise Records
Marc-Andre Fleury has a lot of critics to answer heading into the 2012-2013 season and rightfully so; his performance this past spring in a six game series against the Philadelphia Flyers was disappointing to say the least. As a result, the Penguins traded for Tomas Vokoun hoping to solidify their backup goalie position in the event that Fleury melts down again. Fleury, undoubtably, has his eyes set on more positive results in 2012 with several of the franchise's goaltending records in ... Read More