maniLA ice's Pittsburgh Steelers Fan Profile

KOBE EARNS MASTER'S DEGREE IN LEADERSHIP posted on 06/15/2009

By winning his fourth NBA championship and his first Finals MVP trophy, Kobe Bryant elevated himself to legend status. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Winning an NBA championship is kind of like graduation. You work all year to accumulate points and once it's done, you get to enjoy a big celebration in June.

On June 14, 2009, Kobe Bryant graduated from all-star to uber star. He scored an A-plus on his NBA report card and finally completed this master's degree in leadership.

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CELTICS' GLASS IS HALF EMPTY posted on 02/27/2009

Something is definitely wrong with the Boston Celtics.

Though the defending NBA champs are still a major driving force in the East, the Celtics' high-powered engine is beginning to leak and their once tireless energy on defense is showing some wear-and-tear. Coach Doc Rivers also hinted the team is severely missing two key cogs from last season's championship run: James Posey and P.J. Brown.

Both were outstanding bench players during the 2008 NBA playoffs, and their absence has exposed the Boston bench and forced Rivers to rely more on Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, who is beginning to show signs of fatigue.

Garnett may not admit it, but he's not the same player. The effort and the intensity is still there but KG's offense has fallen dramatically and his rebounding has become just average. KG still wants to push forward, but his gas tank is running close to empty.

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LAKERS' ODOM-ETER IS WAY UP posted on 02/27/2009

Lamar Odom’s game is as volatile as the New York Stock Market. Sometimes it is way up, and sometimes it is way down.

When the Los Angeles Lakers season tipped off, the Odom Meter was running low as all eyes were on Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. The casual fan and longtime basketball experts were curious to know whether the two 7-footers can co-exist when paired in the post in Phil Jackson’s triangle offense. That meant Odom was relegated to the bench, a move he openly accepted but with some reluctance. Trade rumors started flying around Staples Center.

Because of Odom’s massive contract, most in the organization and the basketball community anticipated that the Lakers were not about to keep a double-digit salary player, with reduced minutes, stay on the roster the whole season. That may have been the prevailing thought until….

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BIG BEN'S LEGEND GROWS posted on 02/10/2009

Ben Roethlisberger's legend just keeps growing. Peter King of SI.com recently reported that Big Ben played the Super Bowl with a broken rib. Just another chapter in the legend of the 26-year-old quarterback who now has more Super Bowl rings than three-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning and Brett Favre and two-time MVP Kurt Warner. 

When the Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this season, I threw my hands up and cursed the day the Steelers made Roethlisberger their franchise quarterback.

That was in October.

Fast forward to December when the Steelers traveled to Baltimore with the AFC North Division and a first-round bye on the line. All Roethlisberger did was drive the Steelers 90 yards and culminated the game-winning drive by being...well...Ben Roethlisberger when he scrambled left and right, found Santonio Holmes for a touchdown. Game over! I'm sold. That was the night Big Ben showed me HE IS the franchise quarterback and HE IS capable of leading the Steelers to the Super Bowl.

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STEELERS' OFFENSE WILL DECIDE SUPER BOWL XLIII posted on 01/30/2009

All eyes will be on the matchup between Kurt Warner and the high-powered Arizona Cardinals offense against the top-ranked Pittsburgh Steelers defense. It's the classic offense vs. defense showdown. The Cardinals have the second-best pass offense while the Steelers have the stingiest pass defense. Something has to give, right?

Though the highly anticipated matchup chess match between Cardinals offensive coordinator Todd Haley, who will relay plays into the ear of Warner, and Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, who will relay his signals to linebacker James Farrior, is the sexy choice, I don't consider it as the determining factor in the game. I see this matchup as a wash. Both units will have their moments and will pretty much cancel each other. It's a 50-50 action.

The game will come down to this one question: Can Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers offense score enough points to put pressure on the Cardinals?

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