And with that folks, we have a 20 minute delay so a new umpire can suit up. 

Real bizarre situation from start to finish here.  3-2 count and Miguel Cabrera check swings a pitch high. Instead of Francisco Cervelli catching it he deflects the ball into umpire Jerry Lane. 

No call is made, the Pirates want an appeal on Cabrera’s swing, Miggy starts to walk to first, Mark Melacon orders him back to the box, he struck out, he foul tipped it, no one has a clue and here comes the trainer.

In the end we get a new umpire and the Bucs lose. On to the next one.

MetroNews Mindful of resurrecting “The Backyard Brawl,” West Virginia athletics director Shane Lyons said he plans to reach out to Pitt once the Panthers settle on their new AD. During an hour-long appearance on MetroNews “Sportsline” Monday night, Lyons said both programs could benefit from restarting the always-intense football series, which has been on hiatus since 2011 when conference realignment intervened. Lyons replaced Oliver Luck as the Mountaineers’ athletics director in February. Pitt has yet to hire a successor for Steve Pederson, who was fired Dec. 17. “That’s on my radar,” Lyons said, “Obviously at this point I’m kinda waiting to see who their athletic director is. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I have a relationship with that individual to be able to work something out.” To that end, Pitt chancellor Patrick Gallagher told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he hopes the forthcoming AD gives “strong consideration” to scheduling West Virginia.

Alright Shane Lyons that toothpaste is out of the tube and there is no getting it back in.  You want some come get some.  Pitt should go ahead and name me the Athletic Director right now, there’s some open dates in 2018 and it would set up for an epic out of conference schedule vs. Penn State, at Notre Dame, and then against WVU somewhere.

The problem with Pitt football is their lack of a true identity. They have done one hell of a job creating NFL superstars between Larry Fitzgerald, Darrelle Revis, and Shady McCoy, but between their conference jumps and recent dip, they aren’t as big time as they could be.

Pat Narduzzi was a great hire to get this ball rolling. He made his living coaching up 2 and 3 star guys in East Lansing, building Michigan State into a household name and can swing that same stick here. Michigan State couldn’t do it all on their own however, and needed to conquer elite programs like “Big Brother” Michigan and Goliath Ohio State to complete their ascension.

While Penn State and West Virginia are nowhere close to elite, they are close in proximity to Pittsburgh. That kind of local rivalry fire turns everything up to the next level and teams like Florida/Florida state and Clemson/South Carolina have made rivalry week work across conferences so why can’t the Backyard Brawl return to its Thanksgiving Saturday post?

Side note, it would be great for this to become a full fledged real deal rivalry like Bama/Auburn and Ohio State / Michigan. Lets make it common place to openly take a shit on your Mountain Queer co-workers and question their academic background.

A few weeks ago I came across this hooptie in the Consol Energy Center parking lot…

This shouldn’t happen for all kinds of reason. Number one, nobody should be that proud to be affiliated with West Virginia.  Additionally, no car should be able to survive on their rivals turf all willy-nilly, there has to be at least the threat of a steel beam being dropped on this car.  Hopefully wherever this assclown works makes sure he knows they had to come back to Pittsburgh for their cushy job because Morgantown is a shit city, with shit jobs.

We’re just going to leave this here, I dare you not to get chills.

Spring has finally sprung. Baseball season is a week in, the Masters has wrapped up, and iced coffees are $1 at Dunkin Donuts.

It is nice to get away from your desk mid afternoon and go for a stroll to take in the fresh air. But beware, you do not want to take in too much fresh air because you could inadvertently choke yourself out.

The Pyrus calleryana, or Bradford Pear is known more commonly by its street name “Cum Trees” thanks to its nasty odor in its flowering stage.  A stage in which we are only days away from experiencing.

The insane thing is you can go to HomeDepot.com right now and order one of these things for $89.99. Buying and planting a cum tree is pure reckless abandon. The universal rule is stank overrules looks. If you find yourself a nice sexy tinder date and arrive only to find their favorite pastime is rolling in shit you’re high tailing it out of there without so much as a handy.  I don’t think it is too difficult to supplement a yard of cum trees for something much more appealing to the nose.

So when you’re out and about, remember to keep your eyes peeled for the these bad boys and if possible, avoid at all costs.

You have been warned.

SI Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lester overthrew first base on Monday night against the Cincinnati Reds after coming into the game without attempting a pickoff throw since 2013. he throw happened in the second inning, with the game tied at three. The runner, Reds shortstop Zack Cozart, was thrown out at third on the play. Lester also threw to first in the first inning. After Lester’s first start of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals, Lester told reporters that his lack of pickoff attempts was not a big deal.

“This really wasn’t a big issue until somebody brought it up on TV,” a perturbed Lester said. “Now I’m sitting here answering questions about it. I don’t know. I think I had eight or nine or 10 stolen bases off me last year — it was not a lot.”

Lester actually had 16 bases stolen off him last year, which was tied for 24th-most in the league. In the season opener, the Cardinals stole three bases, and on Monday night, Reds rightfielder Jay Bruce stole a base off the pitcher in the first inning.

I can remember a simpler time when teams shelled put the big bucks for a complete package. Guys like Manny Ramirez and Randy Johnson went out and got paid and guess what, they also performed. These days, teams are breaking the bank for career .258 hitters (bye Russell Martin) because its a position of need. Other teams are going all in one guys they deem the complete package only to learn on opening night he can not complete a pickoff play.

Opening night on ESPN was a complete embarassment for the promising, and Pirate rival, Chicago Cubs. Originally scheduled as an unveiling of sorts to the new friendlier confines of Wrigley Field, what we really got was a stadium without outfield seating and a concourse filled with cups of piss.

Things were no better on the field when the 155 Million Dollar Man, Jon Lester, was getting taken behind the woodshed by Cardinal runners openly disrespecting his abilty, or lack there of, of a pickoff move.

In a game where left handed pitchers have a natural advantage of holding runners at first it only made things worse that Lester had a front row seat at the runner lead off first. If you were dropped on the planet that night you’d think St. Louis built their system around the art of the steal. 

Tonight, in his first start since the opening nightmare, the Reds tried the same tactics, questioning Lesters arm.  This time, extended leads were finally ,et with a throw to “first” but as speculated, the ball sailed wide left into right field and required the standard 1-9-5 pickoff play to catch Jay Bruce stealing. 

The Buccos travel to Wrigley for the first time in the final week of April. That gives Clint Hurdle a solid two weeks to impose the killer instinct on the base paths and hopefully come out of that matchup with no less than a dozen steals.

Good news. We got baseball action on the north shore. 

Bad news. The Pirates start a 3 game set with the Detroit Tigers who have been straight mashing. 

The Pirates bats came alive yesterday in time for today’s home opener so let’s hope that rolls into PNC Park this afternoon. 

Your lineups. 

Mind blowing that Neil Walker bats cleanup.

After 4 seasons, the gratuitous nudity pendulum has drastically swung the in the other direction. 

There used to be a time when you saw the nudity disclaimer before an episode and perked up with the hopes of maybe some action in Littlefinger’s Brothel or some sluts in Pentos. 

But now the Mother of Dragons won’t allow nude scenes and we’re forced to suffer through her bae’s bare ass while she hides her tits behind the covers. 

The good news is she’ll always be naked someone somewhere on the internet but unfortunately for us were stuck with dudes asses and it’s borderline creepy. 

Women mature sooner than men. That’s the foundation they teach you in elementary health. When the producers of Game of Thrones throw naked 18 year old girls out there, it’s for pure aesthetics. They’re women at that point and at that age look better in HD than an older woman who’s spent more years fighting gravity. This new found equality to have these little boy’s asses front and center doesn’t feel right and had a much stronger child porn vibe than I bet HBO was going for. 

Hopefully our poor eyes are just throwing pennies into the karma fountain in anticipation for Cersei’s epic and expensive walk of shame naked through town.

Bleacher ReportWith the movement on College GameDay taking place with Rece Davis stepping in as the host of the show, we’ve already known that this college football season at ESPN will be looking a little different. Well, one other thing won’t be looking the same either, as Lou Holtz will no longer be a part of the college football analyst team.

Sorry about that click bait casualty there…

I really dislike the direction ESPN is taking with college football. Last season they promoted a guy with no expirience to lead announcer and put Brent Musberger in the corner.

Today they announced we won’t get anymore mumbles or slobber from our favorite elderly man, Lou Holtz. He was the only person who had any chance of keeping that idiot Pitt alumni in check and for that he will be missed.

Hands down the shot of the tournament. 

Sinks that chip, smiles, waves to the crowd aaaaaaaaand he misses the cut. 

I know the Masters gets ripped for the lack of TV coverage early on but in light of these events they may want to consider adding style points to the golfers score. Just sayin. 

How pumped is this guy?

We couldn’t call it a week without a Rock update. We mentioned a few weeks back that Rocky was doing a great job hyping his new show Ballers. From photos of Dwayne in uniform, to him pumping iron, any dedicated Rock follower has been ready for more about this show.

“Baller’s” has always been explained as another “Entourage”. Dwayne Johnson would be an ex-player turned Ari Gold who was trying to cut his teeth as a sports agent.

Based on this trailer we’re going to get a lot more brotherly love than we did in “Entourage” and unfortunately I don’t think this super agent is going to have as many epic rants as Ari Gold.

HBO is throwing all their eggs in one Sunday night basket with “Baller’s” debuting after the second series premiere of “True Detective” (broke that down here yesterday).

I’m all in on everything Rock*. Love the concept since day one and while I do not expect it to blow me away or run away with an Emmy’s I know for a half hour every Sunday I’ll be entertained.

*I’ve never seen the Fast & Furious movies but that’s their problem not mine. If the movies were on Netflix or HBO I’d have no problem flying through them in a week. If those fuckers in Hollywood expect me to buy all those DVD’s they are out of their god damn minds. Be better Hollywood.

https://twitter.com/fsmikey/status/586529766460760064

Via

Time stopped last night when word broke of Troy Polamalu’s retirement. Sure Troy was a shadow of his prime years, but his decision to hang up the cleats after 12 great years left me with many questions.

I turned to the internet to see what football’s holiest had to say…. nothing…

Flipped on ESPN, ESPN 2, the Ocho, the app, the webiste. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Where was Tim Tebow and why had he not yet graced us with his official comment? Something had to be wrong.

Fortunately our prayers were answered this afternoon when the ESPN App sent out word that Tebow also felt Troy Polamalu was indeed tough, smart, and kind.

Thank you ESPN for connecting Steeler Nation with Tim Tebow in these times of grief. You nicknamed yourself the Worldwide Leader in Sports, and today you showed us all exactly why you earned that nickname.

Thank you Tim Tebow for your kind words.