by Aubrey Bruce, For New Pittsburgh Courier
On December 23, 1972, the late Franco Harris made a catch that transformed the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise from garbage pickers to gold miners. Harris died just a few days from the ultimate honorarium that was planned for him as part of the 50th celebration honoring that most unlikely feat. On Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023, the Pittsburgh Steelers visited M&T Bank Stadium to take on the Baltimore Ravens in a game that many people expected would be the final meaningful game of the Steelers’ 2022 season even though Lamar Jackson, Baltimore’s franchise starting QB, would not play because of injury.
I can’t prove it, but I have a gut feeling that the spirit of Franco Harris locked arms with the spirit of destiny and caught the last Southwest Airlines flight that wasn’t canceled and landed in Baltimore in possession of the gold and diamond encrusted “football of forever.” After trailing for most of the game, the Steelers trotted out both of their resident magicians, QB Kenny Pickett and running back Najee Harris onto the field for the last time. With a mere 56 seconds remaining in regulation, the “dynamic duo” went on to score the final TD that clipped the wings of the Ravens by the final score of 16-13. The Steelers’ rookie starting QB Kenny Pickett performed an “immaculate escape” just to avoid a sack. That play had the signature of the late Franco Harris written all over it. Later in this column, I’m going to address the “manufactured criticism” of Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin offered up by a few biased and subjective politicians masquerading as so-called sportswriters, but let’s tackle a few other issues first.
Shortly before the end of the first half, two Steelers, defensive lineman Cam Heyward and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, held a soul-cleansing “prayer meeting” and kumbaya moment on the sidelines after a questionable “keep the visitors in check” penalty was called on Heyward awarding the Ravens a first down. That penalty led to a touchdown and gave Baltimore the lead going into the locker room. It appeared as if the kumbaya hymn worked well for the Steelers. However, when Baltimore began singing the well-respected hymn in the fourth quarter with just seconds left on the play clock, conductor Minkah Fitzpatrick informed the Ravens that they were singing the timeless hymn just a bit out of tune, so he promptly intercepted the pass of Ravens QB Tyler Huntley providing the Steelers with another week to pursue their 2022 postseason hopes.
After the Steelers defeated the Ravens, this celebratory bag of fertilizer was posted on the Trib Live website Monday, Jan. 2, by their star ultra-right-wing sports idealist Mark “Mad Dog” Madden. Madden had this “positive” reaction saying this: “At best, if dominos continue falling, it gets them (the Steelers) slaughtered in the first round of the playoffs for a second consecutive season. If they beat or tie visiting Cleveland next Sunday (Jan. 8), coach Mike Tomlin maintains his record of never having a losing season. His other failures thus continue to hide in plain sight.”
These people are paid, honest to God, given a platform for no cost, and compensated hourly, daily, and weekly to fill space for these outlets with self-concocted and imaginary b-lls—t. Here is another nugget of cow chips that I discovered on the barrettsportsmedia.com website that was posted on Oct. 14, 2022, by the Barrett Sports Media staff. The article featured Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 The Fan. The article quotes Fillipponi as saying: “For a long time for the national media, Mike Tomlin has been off-limits. There have been very, very, very faint criticisms of Tomlin even after things like the Jaguars playoff loss. The Browns playoff loss. Three playoff wins in the last 11 years. He generally has avoided the harshest criticism. That’s been reserved for Ben (Roethlisberger). Well now that Ben’s gone, there’s no more cover.”
Fillipponi also said that: “ESPN: (is a) ‘Propaganda Place’ for Mike Tomlin.”
Seriously folks, I can’t make this stuff up. Is he crazy? Mike Tomlin has never been off-limits! If anything the vitriol reserved for Tomlin from the moment that his tenure began to the present has never ceased but has steadily increased. Ben Roethlisberger has always only covered his own rear end and was always ready and willing to throw Mike Tomlin or any other teammate under the bus and run them over. I am not a bleeding-heart liberal or a gun-toting right winger. My name is Aubrey “Cosell” Bruce, just telling it like it is. The New England Patriots’ headmaster Bill Belichick has had hundreds of positive articles written about him with the press more often not singing his unearned praises. However, in many cases over the last 20 years, the Patriots have been accused of manipulating, breaking, and making up their own rules. Regarding the debacle named “Spygate,” it was pretty cut and dried that they broke the rules. In other cases, like “Deflategate,” the violation couldn’t be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. There is a propaganda machine in place fueled by many sports media outlets. However, this propaganda machine’s purpose is to protect the New England Patriots ownership, their head coach Bill “Belicheat” and his eternal co-cheater, ex-Patriots, and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Tom Brady. I wonder what the won-loss record of the Patriots would be if they had followed the rules. The G.O.A.T, yeah right, you mean the greatest of all-time cheaters. I am afraid because I have viewed photographs of a few of these “media folks” with their bald heads and goatees and they seem to project images of organizations that are, “ethnically insensitive.”
Mike Tomlin and his young team have earned the right to bask in the glow of this one victory. However, many of these hacks can’t resist stabbing them in the back when they lose and stabbing them in the heart when they win.
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