For the past month or so, we’ve been all in on the Penguins.  Sure, we might have been able to catch a Pirates game or two but in a 162 game season it’s ok to miss a couple of May matchups unless there is something major going on.

Last week when the Pirates called up their top prospect Jameson Taillon we all flipped over to check it out and were impressed.  But then management shipped him back down to AAA and if it wasn’t cup season we might have held a small riot.

In a page out of the silver lining’s playbook Gerrit Cole would sustain an injury only days later and open an immediate spot in the rotation for Jameson.  The only downside would be that Jameson would face the same team he debuted against, leaving skeptics to cringe at the potential of the Mets getting to the kid the second time around.

Instead Jameson dazzled to the tune of 6+ no hit innings and it wasn’t until a lazy groundball beat the shift that the Mets had a number in the hit column.  After a double play Taillon took his one hitter to the dugout before a solid 8th left him with a terrific line of 8.0 IP, 2H, 1BB, 5K’s.

A couple more starts like this in Cole’s absence and we will no longer have to worry about Jameson going back to AAA and can focus on the other pitching stud Tyler Glasnow making his debut.

The HBK Line was all the rage during this playoff run. From the legend of Phil Kessel, to the real HBK showing up, to the infamous BONINOBONINOBONINO call, it’s been HBK the whole way. 

In the next logical move at this place to bring HBK full circle, the original HBK’s best friend Triple H tweeted out the championship belt on the way to Pittsburgh. 

The best part of being president is when you welcome the champs to the White House and get a free personalized jersey. One step higher might be being the actual champion so you can get your own WWE Championshp. 

ESPN.com When it comes to classifying golf courses, Phil Mickelson likes to break them down into three specific categories. On the topic of Oakmont Country Club, this week’s U.S. Open host for a record ninth time, he espouses this theory.

“Courses are either fun, great or hard,” he explained. “There’s nothing fun about Oakmont. There’s nothing great about Oakmont. But it’s extremely hard. It’s probably the hardest course I’ve ever played.”

In theory its fun when the pro’s go out and have an afternoon that resemble my own game.  The folks at Oakmont did a hell of a job making that happen this year with conditions that would trigger my typical temper tantrum by the second hole.

I don’t know if were going to see great golf this weekend, but we are in line for some incredible shots out of nowhere and hopefully a freak out or two.

Snoop Dogg was in the SD to toss out the first pitch yesterday where he became the latest celebrity to attract attention for the wrong reasons…

Silver lining, the publicity Snoop garnered allowed him the chance to pimp his collaboration with Steelers Running Back Le’Veon Bell that’s due out soon.

If you’re gonna mess up on live TV your best bet is to do something bigger than can hopefully take over whatever you’re trying to cover up.

Le’Veon has put out some real solid music this offseason, when Snoop mentioned his interest in working with the Steeler’s running back, my ears perked up. Hopefully Le’Veon can fill the void we’ve been left since Wiz Khalifa went mainstream.

And now we wait..

Yesterday some Steelers got together and had themselves a good old fashioned race.  Naturally the teams three burner wide outs Antonio Brown, Marcus Wheaton, and Sammie Coates were at the starting line and the betting public had no problem throwing all their money on one of these guys.

But the little linebacker that could waited, focused, and watched as few bettors risked their money on his underdog odds.  To the few who did however, he made sure they left with a couple extra stacks in their pockets.

Photo finish?

Lets go to the tape:

The ascension of Shazier continues.Murdering Gio Bernard was just the beginning of a 2016 calendar year that’s going to have a lot of people talking about his dominance.

WTAE Public Works crews began going to various parts of the city Wednesday to enforce a little-known ordinance in advance of the Penguins potentially winning the Stanley Cup Thursday night at Consol Energy Center. Guy Costa, the city’s chief of operations, said crews are removing couches from front porches, collecting abandoned furniture and emptying trash containers before Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against the San Jose Sharks.

We are a night away from becoming hypocrits.

We spend most of the year scoffing students down at WVU who infamously lit their couches on fire once upon and time and now we’re making mental notes of what we can set on fire around the house.

Unfortunately “The Man” is having none of that and is wrangling up all that fuel and imposing a 90 minute celebration window.

Tomorrow’s win would be the first home championship win since 1960 and they’re trying to force us all to celebrate it in the blink of an eye? Come on people.

All this means is we now have to treat this celebration like the open bar at a wedding before dinner.  No wasting time on light beers, we’re going shots only, maybe a long island here and there.

Did I mention championship gear?  The fine folks at Center Field Smoke haven’t dropped any bombs yet however if you’re into looking like a genius and wearing your Nostradamus you should be wearing their BONINOBONINOBONINOBONINO T Shirt tomorrow night.

When the Penguins acquired Phil last offseason the he was immediately a perfect fit on his love for hot dogs alone.

Then on Halloween his costume earned him a few more points, with many of us loving how a guy that looks like us could be so awesome.

The rest of the world jumped on and fell in love with Phil a few weeks back when he informed Pierre McGuire that he probably had bad breath.

On today’s Pardon My Take Podcast former Penguin Ryan Whitney recounted a story from the 2010 Olympics where he and Phil spent there off day cheering on the women.

“Phil Kessel is a legend.  I remember the day before the Olympic Gold Medal game in Vancouver, 2010.  The game was at noon on a Sunday, we went to the women’s gold medal game (US vs Canada) at 3:00 Saturday.  We walked up and get our seats and Phil goes down and is walking back up with a LARGE plate of nachos, COVERED in cheese.”

–Ryan Whitney 6/8/16 Pardon My Take Podcast

Now I know what you’re saying…. “they would have won the Gold medal if he wasn’t in a food coma” and yes you may be right however I’d argue that you’re forgetting about how they lost that game.

If you’re keeping score at home that means we have Sidney Crosby AND Phil Kessel suiting up tomorrow, put it in the books.

And if you’re superstitious lets all go out for lunch here and order some nachos.

 

 

My god its perfect.

I like to think I could take a class and create such a master piece but that’s a lie and thankfully there are people on the Internet producing FIRE content. 

My attenion span for viral content is maybe 30 seconds tops. I usually see a 2+ minute video and don’t even entertain the idea, this video however had me right out of the gate, I could watch Pittsburgh as a Game of Thrones city for weeks. 

Remember how excited we were in 2013 when we had ace’s in the waiting with Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon? Gerrit came to the majors and looked like a stud but a torn UCL in Taillon’s throwing arm threw a bucket of ice on that boner.

Fast forward three years and we find ourselves once again drooling at the farm leagues with future ace’s Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glassnow waiting for that phone call.

Both guys were great in spring training and continued to pitch well in AAA but the Pirates thought they had a full pitching rotation.  But with Ryan Vogelsong likely done after that horrifying injury, Juan Nicasio shakey at best as a starter, and whispers that Francisco Liriano may be headed to the bullpen it’s the perfect time to promote one of your studs and this time its Jameson Taillon.

In AAA Jameson’s sported a 2.04 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 61:6 K:BB in 61.2 innings.  He’s an imposing 6-foot-5, 240 pound right hander with a fastball in the mid 90’s but it’s his 12-6 curveball that misses bats and will be fun to watch this summer.

If your mouth isn’t watering already, let me add the guy they didn’t select is described as having “nasty stuff.”

The legion of arms in NY stymied the hitting Cubs last year.  If things piece together as they should over the coming month’s this fall Pittsburgh could be hoisting another trophy.