When I first learned that it was a possible Buffalo stampede headed towards Heinz Field, I immediately became concerned for the fans, players and anyone that might be in the path of a disaster waiting to happen. By all accounts, Pittsburgh was not equipped to handle such a scenario. What measures could be taken to prevent a catastrophe? If last Saturday’s “scrimmage” is any indication of things to come, I would suggest that the trainers of the Buffalo Bills circus, along with their recently spotted diva Terrell Owens, steer clear of the venue sitting on the banks of the Allegheny with its mustard colored seats. If they run through the Steel City too often they may end up on the endangered species list. AUBREY BRUCE
Friday nights under the lights are back in western Pennsylvania. People will fill the stands in local high school football stadiums all over the region as this fall favorite re-appears. One team receiving national attention are the Indians of Penn Hills Senior High School. Pennsylvania Football News ranks them No. 10 in the state in class AAAA while they are No. 17 in the nation, according to rivals.com. SENIOR LEADERSHIP—Penn Hills captains Myles Davis, No. 6; Cullen Christian, No. 24; Aaron Donald, No. 59; and Brandon Ifill, No. 1, with head coach Ron Graham.
Series of the Week-Hill District (7-1) vs. Clairton (5-3) The Hill District youth football program have been nothing but impressive over the first three weeks of the 2009 season. In that time span, they’ve only suffered one loss. They continued that success as they swept second place Clairton 3-0-1. “All the hard work over the summer is showing on the field,” said Bo Turner, the Hill District’s ACMFL representative. “The coaches are also working hard and the kids are taking direction from them. This has added to our progress as a football program.” This is a game-by-game breakdown of what happened in this series:
With little time and resources, the Rights and Responsibilities Film group (Pittsburgh owned and operated) has finally introduced their film documentary “Lost in the Hype—African Americans in a Super Sports town.” “We started this film in January 2008 and expected to have this project completed by December 2008 so that we can be in time for this to be a part of the Pittsburgh 250 efforts, however, due to various setbacks, we were not able to (finish within that time frame),” said Aisha White, the film’s executive producer. MARTHA CONLEY
As I watched the Steelers and Redskins slug it out last weekend, a few things came to mind. The “Skins” won the game 17-13, yawn. The first thing that glared at me was this year’s group of young guns attempting to come north with the squad from the Steel City in September when the games have a tad bit more of importance attached to them. Pittsburgh has a very nasty new crew of fellows who seem not to be aware of the fact that they are still supposed to be wet behind the ears and are required to continue to wear a bib while eating and must also request an adult or someone responsible for their care to wipe the Enfamil from the corners of their mouths and to change their messy diapers. AUBREY BRUCE
SERIES OF THE WEEK—Homewood (1-3) vs. Braddock (1-3) The atmosphere was set with aromas wafting from the concession stands. Every seat was filled. It was a great day for football in the Homewood community. The scene was reminiscent of a party. The Homewood Bulldogs would respond to the call with heated gridiron completion. They improved tremendously as an organization, posting a 4-0 record in front of the home crowd on Sunday. The defensive effort was tremendous as they allowed a combined two scores in the entire series. CLOSE GAME—The North Side Steelers visited the Hill Disciples Aug. 22, in a battle between two of the Termite teams. The Disciples pulled out a close game that ended 13-0 as the Hill team improved to 2-0 for the 2009 season. Sportsmanship is always on display regardless of the outcome as the Disciples and Steeler players shook hands after the end of this game.
Food, fun, friends and celebration took place at the Schenley Park Skating Rink Aug. 9. The Ozanam Basketball Program hosted an alumni cookout in which there were artifacts of the past including old flyers, keepsakes, apparel, and photos. “We want to reconnect with our alumni,” said Curtis Cureton, executive director for Ozanam basketball. “We would also like to introduce them to our youth of today which will in turn serve as a big part of our future. There are thousands of our alumni throughout the nation and this is the way in which we would like to bring the vast majority back in and to get them involved with the program.”
The Allegheny County Midget Football League kicked of its 2009 season Aug. 15. Out of the four defending champions of the ’08 season, only the Clairton Midgets were able to pull out a victory. Garfield, as an organization, looks like they’re primed for revenge as they were the runner-ups in two divisions (Termites and Mighty-Mites) in the last campaign. They were in a three-way tie for a league best three wins.
PHILADELPHIA (AP)—Donovan McNabb says he has no problem with Michael Vick taking some of his snaps and warns opponents that the two quarterbacks could be on the field together at times. Vick was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles last week to add a different dimension to the team’s offense, not to push McNabb for a starting job. It’s likely that Vick, a three-time Pro Bowl quarterback in six seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, will be used in a variation of the Wildcat formation.
When ex-Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles last Thursday, there was a collective sigh of relief in Pittsburgh as well as other cities that currently have NFL franchises. How dare any team, especially the Pittsburgh Steelers, even contemplate giving a second chance to this incorrigible human being?
