December 17, 1999
I watched the Blazer dismantle the Seattle Sonics last night by some 20 points or so. When rested, the Blazers are a mighty team with whom to contend. The Sonics have several very good players (notably the irritating Gary Payton), but lack the bench to stay with Portland.

But the big basketball question I have right now is why in the world teams have stopped playing Hack-A-Shaq with the Lakers? Early in the season teams were simply fouling Shaquille O'Neal whenever he got the ball down low close to the basket. His well-known lack of freethrowing ability meant that the Lakers would rarely score on the possession—occasionaly Shaq would make one—and the other team would have the ball again.

The strategy was very successful in the early season, but in recent weeks NO TEAM has tried it. I find this failure baffling to the point of wondering if there's an NBA head office-mandated secret prohibition against the tactic. Teams are now only rarely fouling Shaq, and it's not like they don't have the fouls to give. I don't understand this at all. It's not pretty basketball, but let's face it, it works.

December 11, 1999
Congratulations to the Sprague High School football team on an outstanding season. Despite today's loss to Beaverton in the 4A State Championship game, no Oly football team has ever come close to the marvelous season that just concluded.

This makes four years running that the local football team Erin and I cheer for has found itself playing for the championship. Perhaps Erin and I should move to Pittsburgh to lend our supernatural football fan talents to the Steelers.

December 2, 1999
There's very little that needs to be said about tonight's Steelers loss to the Jaguars that hasn't been said before. The offensive needs to be re-built, the wideouts and quarterback have to be replaced.

November 28, 1999
A second straight season of high expectation comes crashing down with today's 27-20 loss to the woeful Cincinatti Bengals. Kordell Stewart threw to 2 interceptions and was pulled before halftime. Backup QB Mike Tomczak threw 2 TDs, but it wasn't enough. Even the vaunted Steeler defense was poor today, with the secondary getting lit up like a roman candle.

Playoff hopes all but ground into a fine powdery dust, the Steelers probably need to use the rest of the season to figure how to make next year better. The defense, generally speaking, is good enough for a playoff run, but the offense is no better than last year's and in fact it may be worse. The offensive needs to be rebuilt, that much is clear, but what do you do when you also need a new QB and new wideouts?

Rumors have been floated that coach Bill Cowher is calling it quits after this season, even though his contract runs through 2002. It would be an unfortunate end to what has been a very good coaching career up until last year. I continue to like Cowher and think he's a good coach, but maybe defensive coordinator Jim Haslett should take a shot at the head job.

From here on out, everything about the Steelers is a question mark.

November 21, 1999
The dismal Steeler offense continues, this week in a 16-10 loss to the Titans. Two of the Titans' points were from a safety, so the defense actually only gave up 14 points. It's not too late to make playoffs in the AFC, but it's a moot point if the Steeler offense doesn't come around. Next up: The Bengals.

November 18, 1999
The Blazer victory over the Miam Heat the other night was all the more impressive since it was without starting power forward Brian Grant. Grant should provide the best defense against Alonzo Mourning ultimately, but the Blazers did okay without. The Heat is a good team, but they simply don't have the guns to keep up with a team like the Blazers who are at least two or three players deep at every position.

That should mean that if the Heat are the best in the eastern conference—and I think they are—that the western conference winner will likely win the championship. Like last year, I think that means Spurs or Blazers.

November 14, 1999
Well, if today's 16-15 defeat at the hands of the pathetic Cleveland Browns isn't enough to make Steeler fans want to jump off a bridge, I don't know what will give them the push.

I've long been tolerant of Kordell Stewart's up-and-down performances, but it's getting a little much to take. Stewart is simply far too inconsistent to tolerate this on a weekly basis. The Steelers would be much better off if they made him Slash once again, and stuck him at wide out, running back, quarterback, or punter returner as needed. Even Mike Tomczak, a pretty questionable talent, is worth a shot. Yeah, the Steeler offensive line has been in flux all year long, and yeah, the wide receivers are on the terrible side, but the QB has to do better or more losses to dreadful teams like Cleveland are in the offing.

November 7, 1999
Steelers roll 27-6 over the once might San Francisco 49ers. The Steelers "bend but don't break" defense pretty well did just that in allowing the Niners only a pair of field goals. Kordell Stewart, by most accounts, had a solid outing. The same cannot be said for Jeff Garcia and his backup (who played most of the 4th quarter). The Niners West Coast offense takes a really smart cookie to execute it, and as of right now, Garcia ain't that man. Of course the Pitt defense ain't too shabby, either.

The Steeler offense will come away feeling a bit better about themselves after this victory, but the Niner defense isn't a lot to write home about either. Nonetheless, being 5-3 keeps Pittsburgh playoff hopes alive. We'll take it.

November 3, 1999
We're two Blazer wins into the regular season, but it's not nearly crowing time yet. I mean, the Grizzlies and the Clippers are hardly world-beaters. Still, there's a lot to like with the Blazers performance, and given time, I continue to think that the road to the NBA Champship runs through Portland.

October 17, 1999
The Steelers ride "The Bus" for 111 yards and 2 touchdowns to beat the Bengals 17-3 and move to 3-3 on the year. Kordell was, by most accounts, mediocre. At the same time, the defense was quite good and Jerome ran for big yardage against a stacked defensive line. This would seem to indicate that Bettis is finally recovering from the pre-season knee injury which has kept him down in the yardage department.

Of course beating the Bengals, the NFL's losingest team of the '90s, ain't a lot to crow about. But at this point, until the passing game picks up, I think us Pittsburgh fans will take whatever we can get.

October 3, 1999
Well, the good news out of the Steelers 17-3 defeat at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars is that the Pittsburgh defense really is on-track to be Super Bowl quality. They were legitimately beaten for one touchdown, but other than that, they played very well. They also had to contend with Jacksonville consistently having terrific field position because of the woeful Steeler offense.

And what to say about the Steeler offense? Bettis and Huntley, the two backs, will do fine if the opposing team isn't able to stack the line of scrimmage with the linebackers. Unfortunately, Kordell Stewart continues to struggle with the passing game, so there's no reason for opposing teams not to stack the line. This spells big trouble, not only today, but every Sunday. Kordell either gets better or this team goes nowhere, despite having arguably the best defense in the league.

October 2, 1999
Blazers do a 6-for-1 trade, acquiring Scotty Pippen from the Houston Rockets. I can't really speak to the potential salary cap ramifications, but that aside, I think this is a stellar deal for the Blazers. Follow my more-than-likely pretzel-like logic here:

1. The Blazers really gave up nothing but cap dollars for Pippen. None of the players traded were first-string or particularly needed. Pippen's got a huge contract that will cost Blazer owner Paul Allen a small fortune, but he's got a huge fortune, so who cares? The only downside here is the cap.

2. The only question facing the Blazers going into this season was this: How do you stop the Spurs' David Robinson and Tim Duncan, especially when they swept you like a dirty floor in last year's playoffs? Up to this point, there was no answer. Now the Blazers have all but announced that they will attempt to deny the entry pass from the guards using defensive wunderkind Greg Anthony on the point and perennial All-Defensive Team player Pippen on the off-guard. The Spurs' big two can't score if they can't get the ball, and since the Blazers had no hope (and still have no hope) of stopping Robinson or Duncan once they get the ball, denying the entry is the best strategy available.

3. The Charles Barkley-based rule change that allows a player only 5 seconds to do something if he has the ball and his back to the basket is an additional incentive to use denying the entry pass as a primary defense against strong interior players.

3. Like him or not as a personality (I'm not a big fan personally), Pippen brings a lot of successful post-season experience with him—experience the Blazers need.

4. Worries of no having a "go-to" guy in the final seconds of a tight game are eliminated. Without a playmaker like Isiah Rider this was a concern. With Pippen, you've got a go-to guy who won't be happy unless he has the ball.

5. Grabbing Pippen insures that the Lakers won't add him to their roster and get him reunited with ex-Bulls coach Phil Jackson. Given Shaq's salary and the Lakers' lack of cap space this might not have been an issue, but if LA GM Jerry West had found a way to pull this off, it could have caused problems for the Blazers.

I think the Blazer starting five is now Stoudemire, Steve Smith, Pippin, Grant, and Sabonis. That leaves Greg Anthony, Detlef Schrempf, and Rasheed Wallace off the bench. O'Neal is in that mix somewhere too. That is a very, very strong team, and, with the Spurs' Sean Elliot on the disabled list for the year, I'm picking the Blazers to win the championship this year.

September 27, 1999
How dreadful were the Steelers in yesterday's 29-10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks? Four minutes played and we were down 14-0 without the Seattle offense even taking the field. Steeler quarterbacks Kordell Stewart and Mike Tomczak were awful enough to throw 5 interceptions. The Steeler ground game was nonexistent. The Pittsburgh defense was all right, but you've got play the game on both sides of the ball, and this is a prime example of what happens when you don't.

Next up, an even tougher challenge in the Jacksonville Jaguars. It also might be an ugly game for the Steelers, but it can't get uglier any faster than it did against the 'Hawks. That game was virtually over before it started.

September 19, 1999
The Steelers returned to earth with a 23-20 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. Goods news? It was a win, and Kordell Stewart played well. Bad news? Yeah, well there was plenty of that. Offensive lined got nicked up a bit, Jerome Bettis was ineffective (though Huntley was good), and the defensive allowed the Ravens to tie the score late in the fourth quarter. Nonetheless, a win is a win, and being 2-0 always beats being 1-1.

September 12, 1999
The Steelers crush the upstart Cleveland Browns 43-0. Nearly everything the Steelers did worked offensively and defensively. Are the Browns terrible? Are the Steelers great? Maybe both. Who knows? This wasn't much of a football game. The best news of all: No major injuries, and lots of rest for the starters. Baltimore Ravens up next week.

August 13, 1999
My beloved Pittsburgh Steelers returned to action tonight with a 30-23 preseason win over the Chicago Bears. Good news includes a good outing by Kordell Stewart and a Pittsburgh offense that looks comfortable under first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride. Even better, the Steelers played without injured starters Jerome Bettis, Dermonti Dawson, Wayne Gandy, and Joel Steed.

Yes, it's preseason, but 30 points on the board by an offense that reeked last year is a very hopeful sign.

August 2, 1999
The Portland Trailblazers trade bad-boy Isaiah Rider and whiner Jim Jackson to Atlanta for All-Star philanthropist Steve Smith and relative unknown Ed Gray. Smith, a 6-8 shooting guard, brings even more offensive weapons to the Blazer party and carries none of the baggage that made Rider the inconsistent chump he is. Assuming Smith's knees hold up (and they should), this is a big step forward both on the court and off. Smith is known far-and-wide as one of the classiest guys in the NBA, so perhaps I can start cheering for the Blazers again.

Of course even with the addition of Smith, the overriding question has been how is Portland going to match up against San Antonio's twin centers of David Robinson and Tim Duncan? Well, the Blazers made progress on that front as well, signing Jermaine O'Neal to a four-year contract and ex-Sonic Detlef Schrempf to a two-year deal. I don't know if it will be enough to stop the Spurs, but, hey, that's why we have playoffs.

July 13, 1999
After US Women's World Cup team player Brandi Chastain slotted her penalty kick to give the US the 5-4 shootout victory, she stripped off her shirt to reveal a Nike-labeled sports bra. (The maneuver prompted my friend Garr to exclaim, "Take it off! Take it all off!")

I can be a pretty cynical fellow sometimes, but even I can't fathom that Nike would have set up all this wonderful publicity in advance a la Disney's "You've just won the Super Bowl, what are you going to do now? I'm going to Disneyland" campaign. Can you imagine the marketing meeting with Chastain for something like what she did? "Okay, so when your team wins, we want you to take off your shirt so all 1 billion viewers can see your sports bra."

Despite all the wonderful celebration, US goalkeeper Briana Scurry—who had a great tournament—seems to have admitted to cheating to make the winning save. In penalty kick situations, goalkeepers are not allowed to move forward off the goal line until after the ball in kicked. Scurry was well forward on every kick she faced in the shootout, a fact that our goalkeeper friend Dennis commented on at the time. (Moving forward allows a keeper to cover more of the net and reduces the chances of a successful shot.) Scurry's incorrect and very unfortunate remark on the subject tarnishes what was otherwise a fine effort: "Everybody does it. It's only cheating if you get caught."

No, it's cheating whether you get caught or not. Scurry's a great goalkeeper, but she needs to be a better person and, one hardly needs add, a better role-model for all the young kids watching and listening to her.

July 10, 1999
Congratulations to the USA Women's World Cup team on their exciting victory over China. 0-0 after 90 minutes of regulation and another 30 minutes of sudden-death overtime led to a thrilling 5-4 win on penalty kicks. Penalties are a stupid way to decide a game, but I digress....

Michelle Akers played the best game I've seen from her in a long time and was dominate in midfield until she was injured and left at the end of regulation. The US defense, which is known to be a little suspect at times, came up very big in allowing China very few good scoring chances.

ABC/ESPN commentators for the game were, as usual, absolutely terrible, but even that couldn't ruin the wonderful victory and the giant boost that the game will receive in the US as a result. Seeing the Rose Bowl packed with 90,000+ fans was kinda cool, too.